A small smile tilted her full lips but her eyes remained closed, “I love you.”
Helping Krista up he stood and grabbed a towel that was hanging on the side of her table and quickly cleaned them both off. Looking down he noticed that the t-shirt she’d pulled from the drawer looked familiar. It was the one that she’d “borrowed” from him when they were in middle school. When she first grabbed it, Chase hadn’t recognized it because he’d been too concentrated on the fact that she was walking around in a bra, panties, and “fuck me” heels.
“I can’t believe you still have this. Do you still wear it?” he asked as he lifted it up the tattered and faded shirt.
Her eyes followed his hands and she nodded happily as her lips parted in a huge yawn.
Chase smiled at just how unbelievably adorable Krista managed to be while being smokin’ sexy hot. Knowing that she needed sleep, and if he didn’t cover up her insanely tempting body he couldn’t trust himself to let her get that sleep, Chase placed the shirt over Krista’s head and she pushed her arms through it.
Lifting her into his arms, Krista’s body melted into his as he carried her to her bed. After he laid her down, he removed both of her heels and made a mental note to ask her to wear them again (soon!). Then he crawled in beside her, wrapped his arms around her and pulled her as close to him as humanly possible.
Chase was finally home.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chase stepped out into the darkness and pulled the front door to Krista’s house shut as quietly as he could. As he walked down the driveway, the song “Walking on Sunshine” was playing in his head. For the first time in his life, everything was going well. His career was better than he could ever have dreamed it to be. He finally felt like he had some closure with his past. He and his mom were closer than they’d ever been, and she was doing better than he could have hoped for.
And none of those came close to comparing to Krista. Things between them were good. Really good. Last night, instead of sleeping, he’d held her in his arms and they’d talked for hours. About life. About the past. About the future. About everything.
He’d almost asked her to marry him there in her room while she’d been lying in his arms. He’d had the ring with him. He’d bought it when he was in Austin. The only thing that had stopped him from proposing was that Krista deserved more. When he proposed to her, he wanted it to be at the Empire State Building or the Eiffel Tower. Not her bedroom the night before he was leaving for a six-month tour.
Not that they would be apart that entire time. They had worked out a rough schedule, and it looked like they would be able to see each other every two weeks. Sure, it wasn’t ideal, but it was doable. Anything was doable as long as he had Krista. He felt not only like he had a new lease on life, but also more inspired than ever before. He was ready to take on the world.
Opening the door, he hopped into the SUV. “Morning, boys.”
“Mornin’,” Chip said out of the corner of his mouth as he held his unlit cigar between his lips.
After shutting the door, Chase looked over to see Tully pouring over the iPad he held in front of him as the SUV rocked, pulling away from the curb. Tully’s shaggy hair had fallen in a curtain around his face so Chase couldn’t read his expression, but his body language seemed tense.
“Everything okay?” Chase asked, getting a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach. When Tully did not answer immediately, the sinking feeling grew to the size of the Grand Canyon.
After several moments, Tully glanced up at Chase with a grave expression on his face. “We have a situation.”
“What?” Chase really didn’t need the lead-in. He was beginning to understand why Krista had gotten so frustrated at his declarations that he’d needed to talk to her.
Tully turned the iPad so that the screen was facing Chase’s direction. “They’re running the story later today. But it’s already leaked to several online publications.”
Illuminated on the screen were side-by-side photos. One was of him kissing Serena, the model he’d dated from Los Angeles, as she left his hotel room in Austin. It had to have been taken when she’d come out to visit a couple of months ago. Beside it was a photo of him kissing Krista down by the river. She was in his arms, his hands gripping her backside, her legs wrapped tightly around him. It was taken the day of the parade.
The headline read: Hometown Sweetheart or Hollywood Sexpot…Who Will Chase Choose?
The caption read: Chase Malone has been a busy boy. A source close to the superstar tells Scoop exclusively that over the past few weeks Chase has been splitting his time and affection between Serena James, the Victoria’s Secret model who will be making her acting debut in the much-anticipated summer blockbuster Steep Cliffs, and Krista Sloan, who, sources tell us, was the inspiration for “Saving Me,” Midnight Rush’s biggest hit to date. Click below to cast your vote on who will win the race to Chase’s heart in this sexy love triangle.