Crazy Love(32)

Krista had remained silent when Abby had been solely excited about her son’s return and the chance to see him again, but she couldn’t stand by and let a woman who was so emotionally fragile begin to believe in something that had absolutely no chance of coming to fruition.

Continuing to braid the thick, dark hair, Krista casually said, “I think that you may have watched one too many soap operas. Chase and I were over a long time ago. He’s here to see you, Abby.” She added that last bit to try to refocus the woman’s excitement.

“Hi, Mom,” Chase’s deep voice sounded from the doorway, startling Krista and causing her to jump, sending the brush that had been lying on her lap crashing to the floor.

“Chase.” Abby whispered. Krista could feel Chase’s mom shaking beside her.

She stood to get out of the way and make a quick exit so that mom and son could have their long overdue reunion   privately. Reaching down to retrieve the brush, Krista froze as a large hand encircled hers when Chase also reached for the brush. Shivers of electricity shimmied up her arm from Chase’s heated touch. When she looked up, her eyes locked on his caramel irises. Suddenly everything else in the world disappeared. All that existed was Chase. His eyes. His touch. His heat.

A small voice that must have been put in charge of her self-preservation, screamed in her head, Get out now!

After pulling her hand away as fast as if she’d been burned by fire—which, in a way, she had!—she straightened and began walking out the door. She needed to get out of there.

“I’ll let you guys catch up. See you later, Abby. Let me know if you need anything.” The words poured out of her like water flowing down the rapids.

“Krista.” Chase’s raspy voice stopped her at the door.

A few more feet and she’d be safe. Staring straight ahead at her exit, her back towards Chase and his mom, she stood frozen aside from the movement of her peach-colored scrubs which covered her rapidly rising and falling chest as she took in choppy breaths.

Get. It. Together, she sharply admonished herself.

* * *

Chase knew that Krista’s great escape had less to do with giving him and his mom time and more to do with the fact that when they’d touched it had been so powerful it had almost knocked him on his ass. The second he’d touched her always cold hands, he knew that she’d felt it too. He’d seen it in her eyes.

So he waited to see if Krista was going to make a run for it or turn and face the music. He hadn’t seen her in a lot of years, but if she was anything like the Krista he knew and loved, she would turn around. She wouldn’t be happy about, but she would do it. Krista would not let anything get the best of her, especially something she would think she should be in control of—like her reaction to the explosive chemistry between them.

Just as he’d predicted, she slowly turned on her heels. With a very contrived casualness, she arched her brow. “Huh?”

Once again, Chase had gotten her undivided attention, and once again, he had no idea what to do with it. This wasn’t the time or the place to have a real talk, which absolutely needed to happen. So once again, he shot out the first thing that came into his mind.

“You look really pretty today.”

He saw her green-blue eyes soften slightly. “Thank you.” Then they narrowed as a small smile tilted her lips.

“What?” He knew something was going on in that beautiful head of hers, but he had no idea what.

She shrugged as if it were insignificant. “Nothing really. Just maybe next time you give a lady a compliment, you shouldn’t qualify it. I think your game may be a little rusty, rock star.” Leaning around him, she waved at his mom. “I’ll come by and check on you after my shift.”

Chase watched as she turned and left the room. Sure, he had a thousand comebacks he could have said. But in a tactical move, he’d decided to remain quiet and let her go. First, it was good to let her feel like she was in control of what was happening between them. He knew the truth—that she had no more control over it than he did—but he was not about to burst her delusional bubble. Second, she had just unwittingly thrown down the gauntlet to him. It might have been said as a smartass comment but Krista had just said that he was off his game. Chase was more than looking forward to proving her wrong.

“She still likes to keep you on your toes,” his mom’s voice sounded behind him.

Right. His mom. Krista had a way of making him forget that anyone other than the two of them existed.

“Yes. She does,” Chase said as he pivoted back around. Leaning down, he wrapped his arms around his mom’s tiny frame. “How are you feeling?”