Only Pleasure(100)

And Khalid's bodyguard would be there as well, armed.

The thought of Khalid had Chase massaging the muscles of his neck as that dark, wicked need began to rise inside him. He knew what he needed. He knew as the emotions intensified inside him for Kia that this would happen. That just the two of them wouldn't be enough any longer.

Son of a bitch. His fists clenched. He couldn't get past it; hell, he didn't want to get past it. He wanted to see her, watch her take all the pleasure she could possibly take at one time, and to know he had given her the freedom to have it.

Sometimes he wondered if his enjoyment with a third would ever fully go away, and there were times he knew he didn't want it to. He enjoyed it. Like he enjoyed kissing her, tasting her, throwing her into climax with his lips and tongue. It was a desire he craved. To watch her, to see her pleasure, to aid in it, and yet to keep his head clear enough to watch, to know how each touch affected her, how each touch pleasured her.

He wanted more of it. Not all the time, he was learning. And he had a feeling as he spent time with her, then it would ease until the periods between the need would be longer. But he couldn't imagine never seeing her pleasured again. Never seeing another man fuck her, yet knowing she belonged to him, her eyes on his, trusting him, taking the pleasure he was giving her.

But if having it meant not having Kia? Hell, he'd do without it. It was only a part of what he needed from her. Relationships meant compromise, he knew. He would compromise. If he had to.

"What did you order for dinner?" Kia was moving through the apartment, a brush in one hand, dressed in a soft cotton lounging set.

Those lounging sets were created to drive men insane, he decided. The loose, soft gray pants and matching top.

"Greasy cheeseburgers," he told her. "They'll be here soon."

"I should have guessed." She sat down on the couch and began to brush her hair slowly, working around the cut in her head as she tugged at the shoulder-length strands and winced painfully.

"Come here." He sat down beside her and took the brush.

"I can do it, Chase," she told him quietly, watching him with a wary light in her eyes.

"I can do it without hurting you."

He turned her, started at the bottom of the long, silky strands and began to work through the tangles the day had given her.

Not that there were many of them.

"I wasn't able to style it this morning," she sighed, as he felt her relax marginally.

Anger surged hot and deep inside him at the knowledge of how painful that cut must still be.

The doctor hadn't had to shave the area the attacker had sliced open. The wound was less than an inch long and had taken only a few stitches.

"I'll wash it for you when you bathe," he told her, his cock howling in agony now.

"You don't have to do that." Her protest was mild, her voice soft, relaxed.

"I want to do it."

And he did. He wanted to care for her. He needed to care for her. That hunger struck inside him with dizzying force. Even the women he had lived with before, the need to care for them hadn't gone this deep. Not so deep that the slightest knowledge of their pain cut into him.

As he stroked the bristles of the brush through her hair, his heart clenched and something melted inside him. He'd never given much thought to the idea of a wife, a family. But as he sat with Kia, that thought began to form within his mind.

Kia, soft and round with their child. Maybe a little girl who looked like her mother, with long, soft hair that needed to be untangled gently. Or maybe a son. And Kia would be there, holding all of them.

He worked the brush higher into her hair as her head moved, shifting and allowing her hair to flow around her as he brushed it.

He was harder than a rock, but his heart was melting in his chest. Who would have guessed something this simple would bring the knowledge it did.

The fact that Chase knew, clear to the depths of his spirit, that he had fallen in love with Kia.





Chapter 23





Kia thought that having Chase at the office with her would be confining. That his male presence, arrogance, and determination would begin to stifle her. It had in the past when she had Drew following her everywhere she went.

Instead, she had found out that he could be comforting. He knew how to be quiet, yet the heated looks, the reflection in his expression, had kept her primed for him. Unfortunately, there had been no time for anything more than that brief, hard kiss he had given her.

She had expected, once they returned to his home, that he would cash in on that kiss. But dinner arrived, and then so did Cameron.

And the party wasn't going to wait on her. A party she wished now that she could just skip. She wanted to roll around in Chase's big bed with him, wanted to feel him, touch him.