Lost Hart, page 7
He slid inside, and they both sighed.
“I love you, Chase,” she said, gazing up at him. “Welcome home.”
Chapter 7
It was like coming home after being away for way, way too long. Chase’s weight on her, his manly, fresh scent enveloping her, helped mend the broken heart he’d left behind all those months ago. His kisses were powerful enough to make her forget her anger toward him and only bask in the now, in the fact that he was back and apologizing to her with his body in the best way he knew how.
He wasn’t a talker.
Had never been.
So if he needed action to apologize, then she’d take it.
“I’ve missed you, Chase,” she said, relishing him finally being inside her again. She hoped to God she was tighter now. It felt like she was. She did her Kegel exercises whenever she remembered—which wasn’t that often, but hopefully it was enough.
When he hit the end of her, they both groaned, smiled at each other like idiots in love, and then he began to move.
Like a dark sky at night struck by a bolt of lightning, her whole body lit up when Chase slid across her channel, when his mouth fell to hers and he pried her lips apart and wedged his tongue inside.
He leveraged up on one hand, pushing it into the mattress until his forearms bulged with ropey veins and his muscles popped. With his other hand he tugged on an already tight, achy nipple.
God, how she’d missed him.
They’d only had one night together, but it’d been a memorable one.
An incredible one.
It had kept her warm these past months as she remembered the way he moved, the flex and dip of his hips, the gentle yet firm caress of her breasts. His strong grip on her thighs as he palmed them open to put his face between her legs. The rough pads of his thumbs as he strummed her clit or nipples—she’d woken up several times over the last several months panting from a sex dream. A sex dream about Chase and just how good he was at making her come.
Each pull back had her squeezing her body around him, unwilling to let go of even an inch, only to be satisfied once again, moan and smile into his kisses as he thrust back inside, ending each drive home with a manly grunt she felt down to her toes.
She wasn’t going to last much longer.
The intensity of his passion, of his need for her, of their time apart was too much. Her emotions were hanging precariously near the edge. She was close to tears. To feel him inside her, above her, around her, on her. The man consumed her in every imaginable way.
She raked her nails down his hard, muscular back.
The man’s muscles had muscles.
He was a killer.
A warrior.
A hunter.
And yet, when he needed to be, when he wanted to be, like when he was with her or her children, he was as gentle as if holding a new lamb. His patience abounded for Connor’s millions of questions, and Thea preferred him to give her a bottle and calm her down almost more than she preferred Stacey—at least she did. And the baby had been drawn to him again when he arrived at his mother’s house earlier in the week. As if she remembered Chase having the warm arms she loved to fall asleep in.
There was no doubt about it; He had a protective presence that she knew even her children felt.
When Chase was on duty or around those he cared for, nothing—and no one—would ever hurt them.
Chase broke the kiss and dipped his head to draw a beaded nipple into his mouth. She loved it when he scissored his teeth over her puckered bud, tugged until an ache sprinted down her body, landing firmly on her clit.
He picked up fervor, and she felt the orgasm begin to build in her lower belly. Like a pot threatening to bubble over, she was incapable of staying at a gentle simmer. He filled her up until she was overflowing.
With another hard thrust in, his lower belly raked across her clit, and she detonated. Squeezing her eyes shut until they were sore, she bowed her back and let the climax crash through her. It broke the dam and flooded every corner, nook and cranny of her body. Her fingertips tingled, her scalp prickled and her toes curled until a charley horse threatened to ruin everything.
Chase kept moving. He slowed down, exaggerated his hip dips and finished each decadent plunge with a delicious swirl that had her seeing even more stars.
She released the breath she hadn’t been aware she was holding and collapsed into the pillows, satiated and so damn in love it nearly killed her.
“Did you …?” she asked, opening one eye and glancing up at him.
He released her nipple and smiled. “Not yet.”
Chase dropped his head again and slid his tongue down between her breasts to her belly until his cock slipped out of her. He shimmied down the bed farther, planting warm, wet kisses over her tingling torso, setting her entire body into a frenzy. His feet broke free of the sheets, and he was face-to-face with her pussy.
Those big, warm, calloused fingers pushed her thighs apart, and he nuzzled her mound. “Fucking dreamt of this, Stace. Your scent, your taste. Fucking craved them.” His tongue flicked out and hit her clit dead center. She was already sensitive from her first orgasm, so when her whole body jerked, it was no surprise.
The flat of his tongue swept up from her perineum to her clit and back, sending every neuron into a spasm. She quivered when he fingered her slick entrance, pushing one digit in and then another, pumping like his cock just had. He pressed up hard on her sweet spot, and another surge of pleasure speared her.
“Chase …” she whimpered, her hands running over his smooth, bald head.
She’d never been a big fan of bald men, but Chase—and Rex for that matter—both pulled it off like they’d been born to be bald. Vin Diesel had nothing on Chase.
He tilted his head to the side and pulled his fingers free from her, moving them down to her crease. One finger pressed against her tight hole, and she puckered against it.
“Let me in,” he said with a gruff grumble.
She did as she was told, relaxing her body so he could slide a finger into her anus.
Despite the invasion, she relaxed.
His other hand came up, and he rested his forearm on her belly, his thumb finding her clit again while his tongue slid into her pussy and began to fuck her.
The sensations were new, unlike anything she’d felt before. Even though she’d had a thumb on her clit and a finger in her ass, his tongue inside her pussy, slippery and strong, fucking her hard was new and exhilarating.
“Oh my God …”
“Good?” he murmured, pushing his tongue deeper into her pussy.
“Unlike … anything … God, this is like … my new … my new favorite thing.”
Her hips churned and her core clenched. She was on the verge of another climax, this one setting itself up to be even wilder, even more intense than the last.
She tapped his head. “Close. So … close.”
He pushed his tongue into her deeper, added another finger in her rosette and went double time on her clit. She was coming before she knew what was happening. Her body arched against the bed. Her head dug into the pillow beneath her as he fucked her thoroughly with his mouth and fingers.
Every muscle tightened inside her; the euphoria blossomed from her center outward, unfurling like a flower blooming in summer sun, the petals extending out to her fingertips and toes.
The orgasm began to ebb, and her body went limp with a heavy sigh—she was exhausted. All the crying, the stress and now being with Chase again at long last had finally brought her to a point where she figured if she closed her eyes long enough, she might finally get some sleep.
Chase removed his fingers and thumb and raised himself up to his knees, covering her once more. He slid inside her and began to move again.
She wasn’t sure she could come again, but the feeling of being full of Chase brought her a different kind of pleasure. This was a pleasure she didn’t necessarily feel in her erogenous zones but deep in her chest. He was picking up the pieces of her fragile, shattered heart and closing up the cavity where it’d been ripped from her body.
Her heart had been broken when they met, and he’d mended it back then. Then, he’d broken it again by leaving. Now, he was healing her again—and hopefully for good.
As much as it sucked that she’d been threatened by a Greek crime family, she owed Ted that small bit of gratitude, because if the Petralias hadn’t come after her and Freya, she never would have met Chase. She never would have been inducted into the Hart family or found friendships in Emma and Krista that she would hold close to her heart probably for the rest of her life.
“I missed you,” she said, feeling fresh tears sting the corners of her eyes and her throat begin to get tight again. “So much.”
“Missed you, too, baby.”
“Don’t ever leave like that again … promise?” Her words felt almost like a warning, but she didn’t intend them to be. She just wanted him to know how much he was loved, how much he’d been missed, and how much the last time he’d left had broken three hearts.
He picked up speed and started hammering into her with more intent, his face taking on a sexy, almost mean expression as he bared his teeth, furrowed his brow and flared his nostrils.
“Chase?”
Her nails traced a delicate path down his back, and she felt the muscles of his ass clench and squeeze with each thrust. She’d noticed and appreciated his delectable ass nearly the moment she met him. And then when she finally got to see it in the flesh that first time, she’d been unable to stop herself from biting it.
Fortunately, Chase didn’t seem to mind.
“Promise,” he grunted, lunging forward and capturing her mouth at the same time she felt him still inside her and his breathing became shallow and erratic.
A low, gravelly groan burbled up from the depths of his throat and into her mouth at the same time his quick pants came out in forced breaths through his nose, hitting her upper lip.
He pulsed inside her as he came.
She locked her legs around his back and squeezed her Kegels, hoping she was enhancing his orgasm even just a little bit.
With a deep exhale, he collapsed on top of her and broke the kiss, his chest still heaving against hers, his weight heavy but not unwelcome.
He slid out and off her a few moments later, and she quickly and quietly swung her legs over the side of the bed and went to the bathroom.
“Come back when you’re done,” he said behind her, which only prompted her to grin at him over her shoulder and wiggle her butt.
She finished in the washroom, let Chase go in after her, then the two of them climbed back into the bed. He promptly tugged her back against his front and buried his nose in her hair.
She had to get home, get back to her kids and relieve the babysitter. But being there in Chase’s arms, finally, was an indulgence she would allow herself, even if just for a few more minutes.
He squeezed her tighter. “When do you have to go?”
“Soon,” she said, her throat feeling tight. “Got a babysitter, but she has school in the morning.”
He made a guttural noise.
“Come over tomorrow night. When you can. If you want to see the kids, come over for dinner. If you’re not ready for all of that again, come over when they’re in bed. But—”
“I’ll come for dinner,” he said, pressing a kiss to her neck. “Connor and I can have another sword fight.” The thick, deep gravelly laugh had her nipples pebbling.
“Been using those swords a lot these last few months,” she chided. “Particularly the big blue one.”
Cupping her breast, he pulled on a nipple until she gasped. “Put ’em away. I’m back now.”
He was already hard as an iron bar behind her again. She shimmied her butt against him. “Yes, you certainly are.”
Chapter 8
“And then we jumped off this rock as big as a dinosaur and Ms. Allegra screamed because she was so surprised and scared to see us,” Connor said with so much enthusiasm and gusto, Stacey tossed her head back and laughed. It didn’t matter that she’d heard this story at least five times since it happened earlier that day while Connor was at preschool. The way her son told his tales was Oscar-worthy for sure and deserved to be appreciated with a laugh and a clap.
She might not be so enthralled when he told her for the fiftieth time come Sunday evening, but for now, it was still fresh enough to be funny.
But now, he had a new audience.
Chase sat patiently at their dinner table, listening to Connor’s full story, giving the little guy all his attention as Connor pantomimed and made noises describing his fun-filled day at Seedlings Preschool.
Chase’s green eyes went wide when Connor roared like a dinosaur. “Great dinosaur impression, little man. What is that? A T. Rex?”
Connor nodded. “Yeah, how’d you know?”
“Know my dinosaurs.” Chase shoveled another forkful of the sundried tomato alfredo and fettuccini Stacey had made into his mouth.
Thea, who had a bowl of noodles cut the length roughly as long as her little finger, was wearing the majority of her sauce on her face and would most definitely need a bath afterward. But she seemed to actually be getting some of the pasta into her mouth as well and watched her brother with such love and amusement, it was hard not to smile despite the mess Stacey knew she’d have to clean up later.
“Are you staying the night, Chase?” Connor asked, reaching for a cucumber from the tray of sliced veggies Stacey always had on the table. He dipped it into his small ceramic bowl of ranch dressing. It was the only way she could get her kid to eat his veggies.
Chase shook his head. “Afraid not, little man. Just came by for dinner and a visit. Missed you guys.”
“We missed you, too,” Connor said. “I thought you were mad at me.”
Chase and Stacey exchanged glances across the table.
After their encore of sex last night, they discussed, albeit briefly as she got dressed, how they would approach things with Connor. He was such a happy child, even after all the crap he’d gone through over the last year: dad dying, new sister, moving, threat to the family, Chase leaving without saying goodbye.
Connor didn’t deserve everything he’d had to endure, not at four years old. Hell, she didn’t think she deserved it at thirty-three, but her well-being wasn’t her priority; her children’s was.
“Not mad at you, little man. You didn’t do a thing wrong,” Chase said gently.
They needed to make it clear to Connor that whatever was happening between Chase and Stacey wasn’t going to affect the way Chase felt about Connor and that Chase would always be in his life.
Chase had made that abundantly clear last night.
He hadn’t made Stacey any promises about the future, besides the fact that he wouldn’t leave like he had without saying goodbye, and she knew after speaking to Joy and Emma and seeing the agony in Chase’s face when he toyed with the idea of telling her more that that was all he could promise her.
For now, she’d take it.
They had time to work on whatever they were.
He loved her.
She loved him.
That was enough to build on for now. No matter how slowly they needed to build it.
He said no matter what, though, he would be there for Stacey and her kids. That all the Harts would be, regardless of whether Stacey and Chase were together or not. He said he saw how much his family had embraced her and how much they meant to her and the kids and that after everything they’d been through, he would never dream of ripping that away from them.
She’d nearly peeled off all her clothes again and tackled him to the floor, but it was late, and Elena the babysitter had texted her asking what time Stacey expected to be home.
“I’m glad you’re not mad at me,” Connor said. “I was mad at you for leaving and not saying goodbye, but then Mama told me you had to leave for work, so I forgave you.” He made a pouty face and glanced up at Chase. “Can you say goodbye next time, please?”
Chase looked like someone had just knifed him in the back. He nodded slowly before reaching over and ruffling Connor’s shaggy head. “I will, little man. And I’m sorry.”
Just like kids did, Connor bounced right back like a rubber ball, and his radiant smile curled the corners of his lips once again. “Thanks, Chase.”
Chase wasn’t as quick to bounce back as Connor, but he smiled nonetheless and pointed to Connor’s half-eaten plate of dinner. “Eat up, little man. Your mama’s pasta is delicious, but I brought dessert.”
Connor’s blue eyes lit up. “Is it ice cream?”
Chase shrugged but grinned. “Dunno. You’ll need to eat more dinner to find out.”
Connor bounced in his seat and looked excitedly to Stacey. “Did Chase bring ice cream?”
Stacey played along and shrugged as well, exchanging coy glances with Chase. “You’ll have to eat more to find out.”
Connor’s smile grew even more. Like the Grinch’s heart. He dove back into his pasta and started hoovering big heaping forkfuls.
“Easy, little man. You don’t want to choke.” Chase rested his arm on Connor’s. “Slow down.”
“Or get a tummy ache,” Stacey said.
Connor did as he was told and seemed to finish his dinner in record time.
Chase helped Stacey clear the dishes, loading them into the dishwasher and sink, then he opened her freezer like he would at his own house and pulled out a tub of Chapman’s Tropical Wave Sorbet.
Connor’s eyes were as big and round as the dinner table. “That’s my favorite,” he said.
“Is it? I had no idea.” Chase tapped his chin playfully, brought down bowls from the cupboard and grabbed spoons and an ice cream scoop from the drawer. Again, like he would at his own house. All that time away did not seem to change his comfort or familiarity in Stacey’s home. He fell right back into the groove he’d carved out for himself as if he hadn’t been gone a day, let alone half a year.
Connor nodded in earnest. “Yeah. My very favorite.”
Stacey finished wiping Thea’s face, though the baby still had alfredo sauce in her hair, and she sat down at the table.
