He was harder than a rock, but his heart was melting in his chest. Who would have guessed something this simple would bring the knowledge it did.
The fact that Chase knew, clear to the depths of his spirit, that he had fallen in love with Kia.
Chapter 23
Kia thought that having Chase at the office with her would be confining. That his male presence, arrogance, and determination would begin to stifle her. It had in the past when she had Drew following her everywhere she went.
Instead, she had found out that he could be comforting. He knew how to be quiet, yet the heated looks, the reflection in his expression, had kept her primed for him. Unfortunately, there had been no time for anything more than that brief, hard kiss he had given her.
She had expected, once they returned to his home, that he would cash in on that kiss. But dinner arrived, and then so did Cameron.
And the party wasn't going to wait on her. A party she wished now that she could just skip. She wanted to roll around in Chase's big bed with him, wanted to feel him, touch him.
She had teased them both today, especially after the confrontation with Drew. Not that she thought Chase would actually kill Drew, but she knew that should it come to a fight, then Chase would likely break bones Drew didn't know could be broken.
As it turned out, her ex-husband wouldn't be back to her office. Her father had barred him from the main offices, and Drew had sent word his resignation would be forthcoming.
Rutherford's would lose a talented security and Systems analyst when that happened. Drew didn't just sell the products his talents protected, but he had devised the most exacting measures in making certain Rutherford's offices and warehouses were secure.
She shook her head as she carefully arranged her hair into a soft style that flowed around her face and shoulders rather than pinning it up. Her head was still too tender to pin it up.
She wore the violet and silver-threaded bra and matching thong. She had her stockings on, and her violet and silver dress hung on the door behind her as she checked her makeup carefully.
She smoothed a finger over the smoky shadow on her eyelid, adjusted the shadowing and turned back to check the look.
She didn't wear much makeup, but tonight she needed the added confidence. She had fought to push back the knowledge that someone out there wanted to hurt her. It wasn't easy, unless Chase was holding her.
She fiddled with a few strands of hair at the top of her head, arranging them over the stitches and making certain the wound didn't show.
Vanity. She almost chuckled at the thought before her gaze slid to a shadow of movement in the bedroom. Chase stepped to the doorway. His eyes held her. That look in them.
When he was hungry, his eyes became just a little darker, but still a pale green so light as to be icy. And he was hungry now. The color glittered in his dark expression.
Kia licked at her lips nervously before reaching for her robe.
"You don't need that." He slipped into the bathroom, staying her hand before she could reach the silky garment.
"Cameron's gone?" She breathed in roughly as his hands gripped her h*ps and pulled her back against him.
"The men of the club don't touch other women when they're in relationships," he told her.
Kia almost rolled her eyes. "That wasn't what I was referring to."
His gaze met hers in the bathroom mirror. "I want to bring Khalid back, or another if you prefer someone else."
Her heart rate spiked. "The sharing doesn't stop?" she whispered.
"Not unless you want it to." His lips smoothed over her shoulder.
She stared back at him, and she saw that hunger raging in his eyes, reaching out to her. Flashes of memory, in the back of Khalid's limo, in her bed, raged through her. Both of them touching her, taking her.
"What—what if Khalid finds his own woman?" she whispered.
His expression became darker, hungrier. "If I had my choice, it would never be the same man, Kia. Each third brings his own strengths to any encounter. A different type of pleasure."
Her heart was racing, and she couldn't help it, her ni**les were spiking.
She watched as his lips parted, his teeth raking her shoulder.
"That's the strength of the club. A trusted member, someone who will never speak of the encounter, that you never have to be embarrassed to meet in public. Men who know a woman's body, how to pleasure her in different ways. Some are incredibly gentle. Some are rougher, some know the very boundaries of pleasure and pain. I want to give that to you."
"Or to yourself?" Her lashes fluttered closed as his fingertips slid beneath the band of her panties. "It doesn't work that way for a woman, Chase."
"To both of us," he whispered at her ear. "Your pleasure is mine, Kia. All of it. And I want to know all of your pleasure."
Her head fell back against his shoulder as his lips moved to her neck, gentle kisses, rougher kisses. She felt herself sinking into that pleasure despite the confusion rolling through her mind.
"And later?" she finally asked, barely forcing the words past her lips. "Where does that leave us later? When you decide you want a woman who knows only your touch, who has no experience taking another man after you've had her? Where will that leave me?"
"Look at me, Kia. Look at me, sweetheart," he ordered her roughly.
She opened her eyes and stared at him miserably. He was asking her to accept a darkness, even within herself, that she wasn't certain she was comfortable facing.
"Do you think that will ever happen? That the day will ever come when it wasn't something I wanted?"
"Wanted, or needed?" she asked as she felt his fingers moving ever closer to the swollen bud of her clit.
He was arousing her, tempting her. And he knew it. She could see the purpose in his eyes, to make her think about it, to make her want it.
"I need it. Sometimes," he finally told her. "Sometimes, Kia, there's something inside me I can't control. That darkness, that hunger, it finds its outlet only one way."
"And when you don't have that outlet?" she asked him.
His lips quirked. "I'll never hurt you, Kia. You know that."
His fingers curved over her pu**y, a finger sliding into the syrupy wetness gathering between the folds.
"Feel how wet you are," he crooned. "So wet and ready. Just thinking about it."
"You want me to have sex with strangers," she moaned. "That isn't something I want, Chase."