“You really are a stupid fuck, Jasper,” he growls, and then his two hands are wrapped around Jasper’s throat, and my ex-boyfriend is coughing and sputtering, his eyes bugging out of his head. Jasper is big guy, but Chase manhandles him like he’s a ragdoll, forcibly dragging him over to me. He shakes Jasper hard. “Apologize to her.”
Jasper chokes, and I’m sure he’s unable to speak with the grip on his throat.
Chase shakes him again. “Now! Fuckface.”
“S—sorry,” Jasper sputters, face turning a deeper shade of purple with each passing second.
“Chase, you can let him go. Please? He’s not worth it.”
Chase snarls in the other man’s face, causing Jasper to physically tremble. “Leave her the fuck alone, you dipshit. You ever call her that again, speak to her again,lookat her again, and I will bury your body somewhere you will never be found. Do I make myself clear?”
Jasper jerks his head in a nodding motion. “Y—yeah.”
Then Chase moves his mouth close to Jasper’s ear. “Stay the fuck away from my girl, asshole,” he says in a deep, low growl and I’m not sure if I was supposed to hear that, but the possessiveness in his tone has my entire body trembling, and now it has nothing to do with Jasper’s behavior.
Chase shoves him roughly away and Jasper stumbles backward, rubbing at his throat. “Now, fuck off!” he growls.
This time, my ex-boyfriend gets the message and he slinks away in the direction he came from.
Chase is beside me in an instant. “Are you okay?” Gently, he takes my hand and inspects my wrist. “Did he hurt you?”
“No. I’m fine.” It’s a lie. Jasper showing up here out of the blue has freaked me out. And he scared me. He was always a little pushy when it came to sex, but there was a look in his eyes tonight that truly frightened me. “Thank you for coming to my rescue.”
He slips an arm around my shoulder. “Always, Firefly. You want to go back inside and dance?”
I shake my head. “I don’t feel like dancing anymore.”
His eyes travel over my face and I’m reminded of the possessive words he spoke to Jasper just now, and how he called me his girl. Perhaps he was simply saying that to warn Jasper off, but it doesn’t make the impact any less. “You want to go back to our cabin and finish that bottle of bourbon?” His voice is deep and seductive.
I nod. Nothing has ever sounded better.
Chapter 24
Chase
# Saran Wrap is not an effective method of contraception
Itold Addie’s parents we were leaving and then I draped my tuxedo jacket around her shoulders, ignoring the sass she gave me aboutpretending to be a gentleman.After all, there is nothing gentlemanly about the things I’d like to do to her when we get back to the cabin.
Nothing at all.
While we walk, she tells me about the time she was traveling in Europe and thought she’d got lost in a wood like this one, only to find she was behind a huge housing complex the entire time. She’s giggling by the time we get through the door of the cabin, her cheeks flushed and her eyes sparkling. I close the door behind us and she leans against it, head tilted up and staring into my face.
I can’t help it. All of the restraint I’ve been desperately holding onto crumbles. I eat up the distance between us, placingmy forefinger under her chin so she can’t look away when I tell her. “You are so fucking beautiful.”
“Chase.” She pants out my name on a breath. “We can’t.”
I dip my head lower, until her breath dances over my neck. Her breathing gets heavier. “Give me one good reason why not, Addie.”
“I—I can’t think of any,” she whines, frustrated. “But we still shouldn’t.” Her hands fist in my shirt, pulling me closer, and now my hard length is pressed up against her abdomen. I know the moment she feels it because she gasps and her eyes dart downwards for a second.
“Can you feel what you do to me, Addie?”
“That’s all because of me, huh?” she purrs.
“Who else would it be for, Firefly. I have spent the last four days with an almost-permanent hard-on.” I dust my lips over her neck and she grinds her hips against me, making my cock ache with need. “Tell me to stop, Addie.” It’s a challenge and a plea. Because if we do this, it can’t be undone. This time I won’t fuck it up. I’m not letting her go a second time.
She tips her head back. “Don’t stop, Chase.”
