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“I don’t suppose he’s too happy with what happened this afternoon,” Dani observed.
“I’d say he’d like to kill me,” Chase said. “He seems to think I owe him my life.”
“Maybe you do,” she said gently. “Two-hundred-thousand dollars is nothing to sniff at.”
One corner of his mouth lifted sardonically. “I know you probably won’t believe this, but I can’t be bought.”
“Does Caleb know it?”
“Not yet.”
Dani sighed and ran her fingers through her long hair. “Don’t let him know it. Otherwise, you’ll find yourself in a world of hurt.”
“Like you?”
“I do okay.”
He chuckled and as he gazed into her eyes he felt as if he’d finally come home after a long hard-fought battle. “Yep,” he agreed. “I suppose you do.”
“And you?”
“I can handle myself.”
“Even with Caleb?”
“Especially with Caleb.”
“I hope so,” she said, glancing anxiously away.
He offered her a lazy smile. “Do you?”
Dani lifted a shoulder and the strap of her sundress slipped. “I don’t want anyone to get caught in Caleb Johnson’s trap.”
“Including me?”
“Yes. Including you,” she admitted honestly.
“Then we’re friends?”
“Of a sort, I suppose. I don’t really know . . . but . . .”
“But what?”
“But sometimes I’d like to think so,” she admitted, adjusting the wayward piece of fabric.
Chase reached forward and helped her place the strap back on her shoulder. His fingers lingered against her neck and Dani shivered unexpectedly.
“What about now?” he asked. His expression became less cynical and his eyes darkened as he stared at her. “Are we friends now?”
Nervously she lifted a brow and then swallowed. “You mean, because of this afternoon, when you came rushing to my defense against Caleb?” She paused and bit her lower lip pensively. “Well, yes, I guess I’d have to say that tonight we’re definitely friends.”
His gaze softened and he offered her his most engaging smile. “Then why aren’t you inviting me inside?”
“Good question. And one that I don’t have a good answer for,” she admitted, taking a step backward. “Probably because I’m not sure it would be such a good idea to be alone with you.”
“Why not?”
“I thought we settled ‘why not’ at the creek . . . and again, in Caleb’s house.”
