Crazy Love(84)

The door clicked shut and Krista stood, nerves swirling around inside of her like a tornado. So she could add nervous. She was a nervous, overwhelmed, embarrassed fidgeter. Lovely.

“Hi, beautiful.” Chase’s deep voice vibrated through her.

She looked up, and when their eyes met, all of the stress and nerves washed away like sand on the shore.

“Hi.” Krista just needed to keep looking into his golden-colored eyes and everything would be okay. That was her new plan.

After closing the distance between them in two steps, he reached for her, fanning his fingers out on her hips and gripping her tightly as he pulled her towards him. Her body went melting against his solid strength. When he rested his forehead on hers, she could hear him breathing out through his nose and a thrill raced through her.

“God, I missed you,” he said in a whisper.

“I missed you, too.” Reaching up, she threaded her fingers around his neck as he held her firmly in place against him.

“I want to kiss you so badly right now,” he rasped.

“I’m good with that,” she said as she rocked her hips pressing against his straining erection.

His chest was rising and falling rapidly as he said, “If I kiss you now, I won’t be able to stop myself from stripping you out of this dress, bending you over, and burying myself in you.”

“I’m good with that,” she breathed in need.

A growl sounded from deep in his chest. Pressing his lips to her forehead, he kissed her tenderly before moving away from her, grabbing a water, and leaning against the edge of the table casually a few feet away.

Her eyes drank him in. He was wearing a black t-shirt, dark jeans, and boots, which she just realized should have made him look out of place among all the guys in penguin suits but it hadn’t. He was still breathing heavily, and even from a few feet away, she could feel the tension radiating off of him.

“So no stripping, bending, and burying then?” she asked, trying to lighten the mood.

He laughed, giving her the exact response she’d been hoping for. Then he said, “Not here. Not now. But that will happen tonight.”

She loved when he made promises. One, because it built anticipation priming her body for what was to come—her! Two, because he always made good—and then some—on them. She shivered with sensual expectancy.

Knowing that Chase couldn’t go onstage with a raging hard-on, she decided to change the subject. “So that was crazy out there.”

“Yeah,” he said, not really seeming to get just how crazy it was.

“How do you deal with that?” she asked with genuine curiosity.

“It’s gotten easier over the years. I try to stay in the moment. Just talk to each person on an individual basis, really listen to what they’re saying, and not pay attention to the noise around me.”

“Well, it seems to be working.”

Chase halfheartedly nodded as he pushed off the table and ran his hands through his hair. Blowing out a puff of breath, he paced to the other side of the room. Then he suddenly turned on a dime and headed her way. Stopping in front of her, he motioned towards the couch as he said, “I need to talk to you.”

Forget warning bells. Blaring sirens were going off in her head. A yellow neon sign reading “Danger!” flashed in her mind’s eye. Her stomach was flipping and flopping like a fish out of water as she slowly sank back down on the couch.

“What is it?”

Chase sat down beside her and leaned forward, resting his elbows on his legs, staring down at his hands. “I wanted to have more time to tell you about this, but a lot of the media already know.”

Oh god. Krista thought she was going to throw up.

“Basically that prick of a manager has committed me to a forty-city US tour that kicks off tomorrow night in Atlanta.”

“Uh huh.” Krista swallowed hard, still waiting for the bomb to drop and her happily-ever-after to explode into pieces.

He turned towards her and held out his hands like he was trying to make her understand the significance of the words coming out of his mouth. “I leave tomorrow before the ass-crack of dawn.”

“Is that it?” she asked.

“Yes. I’m going to be gone for six months,” Chase stated, dramatically emphasizing the timeline. Seriously? She knew she couldn’t hit him, but she felt her hands fisting. So instead of socking him, she threw the cap to her water bottle dead at his chest.

“Hey! What was that for?” he asked, looking down at where the clear plastic had tagged him.

“New rule, rock star.” She pointed her finger at him. “No more saying ‘I need to talk to you’ over your schedule! You travel for your job. A lot. I get it. Stop being so dramatic about it. You almost made me throw up.”