Chapter Thirty-One
Chase
It’s late when I finally hear the knock on the door. I let Kaylee in. There’s a lot to tell her about the progress I made tonight on the real estate front.
She comes in and gives me a boozy smile, placing a hand on my chest as she makes her way past me.
“Hey, I found some great properties to look at tomorrow.” I say, still excited about tomorrow.
“That’s great,” she says as I join her in the living area, where she’s gone to the window to stare out at the ocean.
“Hey, are you okay?” I ask.
I wait for an answer. Kaylee’s quiet for a moment before she turns to face me. Her being quiet should have been my first clue that something was off.
“Hey, Chase Covington, why are you still single, anyway?”
I don’t know what to say to that. All I know is that she’s probably had a little too much to drink. This isn’t the Kaylee I know.
She takes a step closer to me and continues. “I mean, you’re sexy, and you’re sweet. I have to say, you’re not making the fake part of this engagement easy.”
I can feel the heat between us. Even now, my body responds to her. Because my body responds to just about everything that Kaylee does. Why is she asking me these questions all of a sudden? I decide to try to disarm her with my patented brand of smirk and sarcasm. “From everything I hear, fake engagements are far easier than the real thing.”
Unfortunately, the joke seems to have no effect on her.
“You’re making me all confused because I’m not supposed to have feelings for you, but I do.” She keeps eye contact with me as her hand touches my chest again and then trails downward. I take a step back.
Kaylee gets distracted for a moment and breaks the eye contact. She glances down at the couch, which I made up earlier into a bed. I’m not going to lie, I wanted to have sex with her earlier. But I also felt bad about breaking her ground rules for the arrangement we made.
“Hey,” she says, smoothing out the sheets. “This couch-bed isn’t really necessary, you know.” She pulls off her shirt and throws it onto the floor.
I swallow hard and feel my pulse race. Seeing her drives me wild. I want Kaylee. More than anything. Everything she does turns me on. But not like this.
Then, to my horror, she wriggles out of her shorts as well. “What do you say we finish what we started earlier?”
My heart is pounding now and I’m instantly hard. I swallow again and try to breathe to calm myself. “Oh, no,” I tell her. Whatever this is, it isn’t right. She stumbles forward and I catch her. And yet, she’s still looking up at me and waiting for an answer.
“Kaylee, I’m flattered. You have no idea how badly I want to take the rest of your clothes off right now. Trust me on this. I’ll tell you what, if you still feel this way in the morning, I’ll be happy to rip your clothes off.” It’s true on my part, but I’m positive she’s not going to be happy in the morning at all. Not with the hangover she’s going to have. “But you’re drunk.”
“No, I’m not,” she objects, “I only had like, five drinks or something like that. And lots of chips.”
“I love chips, tell me more about the chips” I jump in, trying to distract her. The smartest thing to do right now is to get her into bed. My bed. I mean, the bed in the other room. It’s not what my body wants to do, but I’m not going to take advantage of her.
I put a hand on her back in an effort to guide her toward the bedroom. “Hey, come see how comfortable this bed is,” I say as I lead her to the bedroom. I lay her gently onto the bed and drape the comforter over her. “That’s right, you just stay put and get some rest.”
“Mmm, this is comfortable.” She sighs. Then she sits up.
“No, no. You enjoy the comfortable bed, okay?”
I know that if I can keep her still for a couple of minutes, she’ll fall asleep. “You rest. We’ve got a big day tomorrow.”
“Oh yeah, house hunting,” she mumbles.
“That’s right, house hunting,” I answer, “now get some rest.”
I tiptoe out of the room. A few minutes later, Kaylee is fast asleep. I’m on the couch trying to sleep, but I can’t turn my brain off. Did Kaylee mean what she said about falling for me? Or did she only say those things because she was drunk? Either way, now I can’t stop thinking about it.
It’s true, she’s the opposite of all the other girls I’ve ever dated. Maybe I’ve been looking in all the wrong places. What if she’s exactly what I need?
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chase
I wake ready to go. There’s a real estate market to conquer. I glance at the countdown timer on my phone. I’m not going to be able to hold off the board much longer, they are going to have to decide soon. It’s a game of high-stakes chicken that I’m not about to lose. I have some time to work with, and now I have a plan.
Then I remember Kaylee and what happened last night with a deep sigh. She’s going to need coffee and lots of it. And breakfast too.
Luckily, the couch was more comfortable last night than I expected. I yawn and stretch and stare out at the early morning beach walkers. The sun is just now starting to peek over the horizon.
I get up and cross the to the kitchen to brew some Nespresso coffee for me and Kaylee.
After I hit the button, there is a knock on the door. Oh yeah, Kaylee’s clothes. I open the door and bring in the three large boxes.
Okay, now, where was I? Oh yeah. Breakfast. We should probably order room service before we
