Hot Protector(53)
Warmth flooded her core. And a wave of tenderness swept through her heart. “Do you want to be naughty, Chase?”
“Oh, hell yeah.”
“We just got dressed,” she said as his fingers slipped beneath her sweater.
“Is that a problem?”
He found her nipple, tweaked it. Sophie bit her lip to stop the moan in her throat.
“Definitely not.”
“Good, because I want to strip you naked and bend you over. Then I’m going to fuck you from behind until you scream my name.” He licked her neck and she shuddered hard, her pussy tingling with anticipation. “How does that sound?”
“Like something I’m going to enjoy.”
“Fuck yeah, it does.” He straightened and turned her toward him. “But first, call Madame Renard.”
He held out his cell phone and she took it with shaking fingers. “I have to call Tyler to get the number. It was in my phone, but I don’t remember it.”
Chase’s expression went carefully blank. “Then call him.”
“Do you want to talk to him?”
The corners of his mouth tightened. She wanted to kiss that tension away, but she didn’t move. Her fingers were sweaty where she gripped the phone and her heart throbbed.
But Chase didn’t get angry—or if he did, he didn’t show it.
“No, I don’t want to talk to him.”
She started to punch in the number, but he reached out and touched her hand.
“Don’t stay on the line, Sophie. Any tracking attempts will be jammed by the system, but the longer you talk, the more information you give away. Just ask for the number and get off the line.”
She blinked at him. “I’ll do my best.”
“Do better than your best, babe. Our lives depend on it.”
24
She’d gotten the phone number while Chase stood there and listened to the call, gritting his teeth and trying not to snatch the phone away and tell Tyler what a motherfucking asshole he was. And not just because of how he’d treated Chase’s mom.
Now he added Sophie to that mix. She was a tender, sweet, lonely girl who’d deserved better from the asswipes who’d raised her. He’d thought she’d grown up with everything she’d ever wanted, but he understood now that the things she’d wanted couldn’t be bought.
She’d managed Tyler well enough, getting the number and getting him off the phone quickly, and then she’d called Madame Renard. She’d spoken in French, and he’d stared at her as if she’d turned into an alien. She hadn’t spoken French at the airport, nor with the estate agent—though there was that one moment when she’d said merci. But anyone could do that. He’d thought nothing of it, but damn if she didn’t speak French.
And it was sexy as all fuck.
When she got off the phone, she shook her head. Chase’s gut churned at the look on her face.
“Madame says there have been men in and out of the building all day. She won’t give Tyler’s mail to a strange man she doesn’t know.”
Chase wanted to punch something. Instead, he focused on the obvious while he worked to control his temper. “You speak French. You didn’t tell me that.”
“And you quote Shakespeare.”
“Fucking to be or not to be, baby. That is the question. Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows, blah, blah, blah.”
“Damn, Chase, listen to you rock Hamlet old-school.”
“I’m a man of many talents.”
Sophie handed him the phone and then shoved her hands into her pockets. “So I guess I have to go with you after all.”
A flash of anger sizzled into him. “How do I know you even suggested she give me the package without you there?”
Because she spoke fucking French. For all he knew, she’d been discussing the weather with Madame Renard.
Her eyes widened. And then her brows slanted down. “You think I would do that?”
“I don’t know,” he growled. “Maybe. You didn’t tell me about Madame Renard until we hit Paris—not to mention how determined you were to come with me in the first place.”
Her cheeks were red, but not with embarrassment. With anger, he decided as her eyes flashed. “I’m not stupid, Chase. Yes, I wanted to come to Paris because it’s my life in danger, and no, I didn’t tell you about Madame Renard at first. I already told you why.”
“Will she give the package to you?”
“I think so. I told her that Tyler would call her and give her permission to do so.”
“Fucking hell. So now you have to call that asshole back.”
“Yes, I do. But not right now.”