Crazy Love(24)

Her sisters had even tried to talk Krista into forgiving the girls. They’d said that it was better to forgive and forget. He could still remember like it was yesterday, sitting at the Sloans’ kitchen table after Haley had said that and Krista immediately answering back with a cold look in her eye. “Oh, I forgive them. But I will never forget.”

Chase just never imagined he’d be on the receiving end of that look in her eye. But here he was. Staring right at it.

“You can bring Bear back here. I can keep him,” Chase offered.

The company would be nice, and Chase had never had a dog. His dad hadn’t allowed pets in the house, and once he’d left, he’d started touring almost immediately. It wasn’t really a lifestyle suitable for pets.

“No,” she said firmly. “Bear doesn’t like men. Well…men he doesn’t know.”

“I’m good with dogs,” Chase countered, his lips turning up into a smile.

He’d lived in a world where most people didn’t tell him no. In fact, no one told him no. It was oddly refreshing to have someone not just be a ‘yes man,’ or ‘yes woman’. In this case, Krista was definitely all woman.

“You’re good with a lot of things. That’s not the point,” Krista immediately shot back. Challenge glimmered in her mesmerizing eyes.

“What is the point then?” Chase raised his left brow, loving this exchange.

“The point is Bear stays with me. Who knows how long you’ll even be here.” Krista turned on her heels back towards the door.

“Can I take you to dinner tomorrow?” he asked just as her hand wrapped around the doorknob.

She froze. He saw her shoulders tense. “No.”

“Why not?” he countered before she could turn the knob.

“Because,” she said curtly as he watched her wrist pivot, turning the handle down.

Chase closed the distance between them, stepping behind Krista. Out of pure instinct, he reached up and flattened his hand on the door.

“Because why?” he asked, as the scent of her shampoo once again wafted up into his senses. He inhaled deeply as he stared down at the top of her head.

She turned around slowly, her sea-green eyes lifting beneath her thick, dark lashes, and he felt his heart slam into his chest. She was only inches away from him. Her head tilted up to accommodate his six-foot-one stature, which was in stark contrast to her five-foot-two. He watched as her lips parted and she breathed slowly but heavily.

“Because. I don’t want to go to dinner,” she said spacing her words evenly apart.

Her voice wasn’t as steady as he was sure she’d wanted it to be. And as much energy as she was putting into hiding her body’s response to him, the eyes really were the windows to the soul. She might very well have shut him out on a mental level, but she definitely was not having the same success on a physical level. Her eyes were telling the whole story.

“You sure? From what I remember, you do like to eat,” he stated with a questioning tone, cocking his head to one side, knowing full well what reaction he would invoke. He was as sure of her response as he was that the sun rose in the east and set in the west.

Her eating habits had always been a sore subject to Krista. Chase could remember countless times when her family had teasingly referred to her as the bottomless pit, said she must have a hollow leg, compared her eating habits with that of an entire football team, and they were always quick to point out the fact that she could out-eat any of her older male cousins. It was all done good-naturedly, but for some reason, it had rubbed Krista the wrong way. Instead of taking pride in the fact that she could eat anything and not gain a pound, Krista found it insulting somehow.

Not that that had stopped her family, or, it seemed now, Chase. Normally he wouldn’t intentionally try to ruffle Krista’s feathers, even though it was sexy as hell when said feathers got a little ruffled. But desperate times called for desperate measures. He wasn’t going to get into Krista’s good graces, that much he knew for a fact. His only hope was to get her talking. And if exchanging verbal jabs was the only way to get her in the ring, then so be it.

As if on cue, she locked her jaw, her lips pursed in a forced smile, and her eyes slanted in irritation.

It was too damn cute. He didn’t even attempt to hide the amusement in his eyes. His blatant enjoyment at her reaction caused her expression to grow even more irritated.

“Let me rephrase. I don’t want to have dinner with you.”

Feigning innocence, Chase nodded with mock understanding, “Ooh, is that what you meant?”

“You enjoying yourself, rock star?” she asked flatly but through gritted teeth.