Page 75 of Chasin’s Surrender

“I met you on a Friday,” she started and settled back in. “And by mid-afternoon Sunday, I was in love with you. At first, I didn’t believe you didn’t know who I was, but after a few hours, I knew you were telling the truth. Part of why is because while we were sitting on the porch talking, the radio was playing, and twice my songs came on and there wasn’t even a flicker of recognition. Then we started talking about our favorite music and you told me you hated country.” Chasin felt her smile against his chest and thought back to that night.

“You don’t like country?” Genevieve pouted.

Fucking adorable.

“Nope.”

“What do you like? That screamo, death metal?”

“Mostly rock.”

“I guess rock’s okay.”

“You guess?”

“Don’t worry, I’ll still like you even if y’all don’t like my music.”

“Your music?”

Something flashed in her pretty eyes but he didn’t know her well enough to decipher it, then it was gone and she was smiling again.

“I’m from Nashville. Country music’s my jam.”

He’d totally missed it. And thinking back, she’d slipped up a few times, but he’d been so caught up falling for her, he’d missed them all.

“We talked a lot but not about anything important. I didn’t know what you did for a living, you certainly didn’t know what I did. We talked, we laughed, we had sex, and I was falling in love with you, but I was scared because everything was built on a lie of my making. I didn’t want you to know who I was. That last night when we were in bed, you fell asleep first, and I was lying awake trying to find a way to tell you before you left in the morning. I didn’t want what we had to be a weekend hookup. I wanted to see you again, and I knew you felt the same because you’d asked me to go to dinner with you. I said yes, even though I knew I couldn’t go because there’d be a chance someone would recognize me.”

She shifted in his arms. “When I got up to call Bobby back, I was gonna tell her about you and ask her for help about how to tell you. But she started in about me being safe and how worried she was. Then you caught me on the phone and everything went to shit. I’m not happy about that part, that hurt. But now I’m thinking it was better that way. Everything came out and there’s no more hiding.”

Chasin disagreed. He wasn’t happy he’d hurt her, and he wasn’t happy he’d acted like a dick and lost her. But he also couldn’t say that after the two days they’d had together, where he’d fallen in love with a woman he barely knew, how he would’ve reacted to her telling him who she really was. He wanted to believe he would’ve understood, but knowing himself, he would’ve found her omission to be a lie and probably ended it almost the same way. Maybe worse.

So she was right.

“Means a lot to me you had my back earlier. That was part of what I was sorting out. You gave me that, and I didn’t want to repay that gesture with my anger, so I left.”

He stroked her face. “No games, no bullshit, I’m in deep, Evie. I’ve fallen in love with you. So I’ll take that deal. But you have to know I understand, too. I know why you retreat, I’m just not gonna let you do it anymore. You’re safe with me; safe to be who you are, who you want to be, how you want to act.”

“I’m getting that,” she mumbled against his chest.

“So we’re moving forward, together.”

“Yeah,” she answered, even though he hadn’t presented it as a question.

“Good. Now that that’s settled, we have one more thing to talk about. And I hate to bring this up in bed, and it will be the last time this shit encroaches on us, but I need you to know.”

He held her tighter, to brace her for his next words. “We found prints on the envelope left at your uncle’s house, and since Len was in the system for his DUI, we had his prints. We also ran them against Chad’s. Neither is a match but, honey, Len’s into you. I know you saw it. You fired Melissa so there should be no further communication with him, but if he tries, I wanna know about it.”

“Okay.”

“Now, Holden told me you and Bobby were talking while I was gone. Everything go okay with that?”

“Yeah. Can I tell you about it in the morning?”

Genevieve’s leg hitched higher, her heat pressed against Chasin’s thigh. For the first time since he’d laid down next to her, he allowed himself to fully take in their position. Her full tits pressed against his side, the smell of her hair, her skin, the feel of her bare leg over his. Now that the conversation they needed to have was over, he was moving them along, or as it would be, Genevieve was. The hitch of her leg indicating she was done with their talk.

Fire shot through him as he wrapped his arm around her tighter then hauled her up over him, until her knees were on the bed and she was straddling him. Good God, she was beautiful perched on his lap in his tee. His gaze dropped to her bare thighs, then moved higher. The cotton material was bunched at her waist, giving him a clear view of her black panties. Just panties, no shorts.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.