AllFreeNovel
Share Us
But Cass was on a roll. “Then you tell me you’re singing all over the country and even in foreign ones. And Chase knows. Not me, your supposed best friend, but my brother, the nailer of all women everywhere.”
“Can you stop repeating that? I get the point.” Summer rubbed her hands up and down her cold arms. The sleeves of her uniform shirt weren’t doing much to alleviate the chill in the back room, and she’d forgotten a jacket. And her apron.
And her brain, if she’d been dumb enough to sleep with Chase, the so-called bad boy of the major league. So what if it had been the best sex of he
r life? Clearly every gut instinct that told her there was more to him than everyone said—including him—had to be wrong. He was bad.
She wanted to be bad. She wanted him again. God.
“Though, honestly, I don’t see him that way. I think he’s…misunderstood. Even by himself.”
Cass rolled her eyes. “You did not just say that.”
Yes, she had. Though Summer knew she’d probably never turn Chase into a devoted boyfriend—not that she wanted to, necessarily—her heart was sending out a constant busy signal to her brain’s distress calls. Apparently when she’d opened her legs last night she’d also abandoned her last shred of sense.
“Hear me out. Chase told me the same thing, that he only sleeps with women once, blah, blah, blah. But I gotta say, he hasn’t been like that with me. Not about the sex,” she added at Cass’s impervious look. “But in general. He’s so thoughtful and caring most of the time and he’s been genuinely concerned about my wellbeing. He even…” She let out a breath and crossed her arms to ward off her best friend’s steely-eyed gaze. “I have nightmares sometimes. About that day at the dry cleaners.” Cass’s face immediately softened. “Sometimes I wake up crying. I think—no, I’m pretty sure I did last night. And he held me. That’s basically all I remember. His arms around me, his voice. I’m not sure what he said, but it didn’t really matter.”
Yet she’d walked out on him that morning, because he’d tried to fob her off on Jax. Probably not because he didn’t want her—he didn’t want to want her, and that was a vital difference. If she let his own self-perceived limitations shut them down before they even had a chance, then she was no better than he was. He needed someone who believed enough in how inherently good he was to prove it to him.
She wasn’t adept at the whole relationship thing either. And they had so much history. The idea of walking down Main Street in Yardley while everyone snickered about her boyfriend straying at the first opportunity didn’t sit well. And that was if she even managed to convince him he could be decent boyfriend-material. If he ever consented to try.
Cass picked up her water again, then set it down without drinking. “He’s very sweet. I love my brother, you know that. I also love you. And I wish I thought he was capable of—”
As the door to the back room swung open, Summer turned to face a glowering Chase. “So do you make a habit of leaving a man’s bed with no warning or am I special?”
The flush that spread up her neck into her cheeks absolutely pissed Summer off. Liberated women didn’t blush. “Last I checked you don’t own me.”
“Check again.” Her eyes widened as he strode forward and gripped her upper arms as gently as a baby bear cradling a cub. But with just as much subtle, undeniable force. “I was worried about you. I knew you didn’t have your car. You didn’t even leave me a note, for fuck’s sake.”
“I texted you,” she muttered, ducking her head as her embarrassment turned to shame. She’d been annoyed at him for the whole Jax thing, but in retrospect, that hadn’t been the best way to handle it. Still, she was an adult and—
And she was really getting tired of singing the same old song, even in her own head.
“Saying ‘I had to go, see you later,’ is not an adequate explanation. What?” Summer looked up at Chase’s indignant tacked-on question, only to realize he was staring over her shoulder at Cass. “You have a problem with me seeing your friend?”
Uh, say what?
Cass rose from the desk and cast her brother a cool look. “Are you actually seeing her, Chase? Maybe you should think about that.” She strolled out without giving him a chance to answer, the door swinging shut behind her.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
With one question from Cass, Summer was right back in the same well of despair she’d been in before. Chase’s territorial routine did not equate to a basis for a caring relationship. She had to be careful about not seeing things that weren’t there. The dream she’d nurtured for years would sustain her, as long as she didn’t get sidetracked.
Yeah, he needed someone to believe in him, which she did with her whole heart. She cared about him deeply. Always had, always would. That didn’t mean she should open up her chest and invite him to start doing wheelies on her vital organs.
“How do I know what Cass meant?” Summer nudged him away, far enough that she could try to catch her breath. She shoved her hands through her hair, belatedly remembering she’d braided it. Escaped curls spilled around her face. “Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left when I did, but I was supposed to work this afternoon, and I wanted to talk to Jax. Why delay the inevitable?”
He stepped closer and smudged his thumb over her cheek. “Is this about last night?”
Her throat tightened. “I told her we had sex.”
“I’m not talking about that, and I figure she probably suspects as much considering I mentioned you were in my bed.”
“You don’t care?”
“Of course I care. She’s my sister, and her opinion of me matters. Do I like that she’ll add this to my list of fuckups? Hell no. But what can I do?” His thumb slid lower to the curve of her jaw, still rubbing lightly. “Besides, right now I care about you more.”
That word care seemed to be popping up all over the place. In her head, from his mouth. It felt so inadequate to describe the storm of emotions he created inside her with a look. A touch. “Since when?”
