Bachelor CEO (McDaniels #1)

Chapter Nine

Chase coughed, trying to get his breath back. After tonight in the gazebo, he’d half expected her to retreat into her shell. Her declaration floored him.

In the moonlight she was a goddess. Her black hair shimmered. Her skin glowed like porcelain. She was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

Like a siren, she planned to seduce. And he’d do anything to please her.

“I know this will be a one-night stand but only because that’s all it can be. You’re leaving and I just have to know what it feels like to be with you.”

He reached out and stroked her cheek, his touch gentle. “Who hurt you?”

She turned her face into his palm. “Enough people. As I said, everyone’s wanted something. But you don’t.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.”

“No, you just want what our bodies can do together. Every kiss we’ve had has been magical, unlike any other. I know we’ll never be together after tonight, but I wish it could be otherwise.”

Her words touched him. She’d left herself open and vulnerable, and Chase could only run his thumb along her lips. He, too, needed to know how truly being with her felt. He’d sensed something the first moment he’d met her, when she’d snapped at him because of her flat tire. He wasn’t sure if his heart would survive, but tonight he would leave her well loved.

He’d spent his whole life sacrificing for the good of the cause, and this was a cause he could champion. He used his free hand to retrieve her cup and toss it aside. He wanted no regrets, no excuses.

“Make love to me,”

she murmured. “Show me what I’ve been missing. What it should feel like to be alive.”

Her honesty touched him and he didn’t hesitate. He could say something to reassure her, but what she wanted and needed was his lips on hers. They could talk later and he promised himself they would. He might be exiled, but he could still use the telephone. This would not be an end, but a beginning.

He found her mouth, tasted the merlot mixed with a sweetness that could only belong to her. He deepened the kiss, every one of his senses heightened by the woman in his arms. Miranda. He tried to commit every inch of her skin to memory as he slid his lips down her neck and kissed the hollow at the base of her throat.

“I’ve never done this before,”

he whispered.

“What?”

“Made love outdoors, and here. There’s never been anyone else on this lake.”

“Then make me the first,”

she begged him.

He pressed her back onto the blanket. “Yes, ma’am.”

IT WAS HAPPENING. Already, her body hummed like a tightly strung bow and all Chase had done was kiss her.

She’d never felt a touch so gentle and tender. Tonight was all about pleasure. She’d removed her bra when she’d changed, and he slid the tank top she wore off so he could bend his head and taste her taut nipple with his warm tongue. Miranda’s legs clenched.

“Do you know how beautiful you are?”

he asked as he bestowed the same favor to the other side.

“No,”

she whispered back.

“You’re gorgeous.”

His fingers worked on her shorts. Then, as she lay naked before him, he began to drop kisses on her stomach, her exposed thighs and finally between her legs.

Miranda could do nothing but give herself over to him and the reaction he called forth from her body. She’d been right; Chase’s lovemaking was unlike anything she’d experienced before. If this was just a physical connection, it was a powerful one. She’d definitely made the right decision.

“Stop thinking and relax,”

he told her. Then his fingers worked in tandem with his mouth and she rode both to a release that left her limp.

“Much better,”

he whispered. He raised himself up then, and she watched as he began to remove his shirt.

His movements were deliberate and sure, and his gaze never disconnected from hers. He dropped his shirt to ground and Miranda got her first real look at his body. He was lean and hard from exercise, and she longed to touch his honed chest and abs. She wanted to feel his arms clamped around her, skin to skin. A light breeze flitted across her heated body, but did little to cool her.

His belt went next, with a click and a slide as the buckle came undone, and a rasp as the zipper of his shorts slid down. The boxers he wore did nothing to hide his growing desire. “See what you do to me?”

“Show me…”

He smiled at her brashness.

And then he was naked, and standing before her. She reveled in how beautiful he was, and ran a finger lightly up his leg. She reached her trembling hand to stroke him.

“Am I doing this right?”

she asked.

“Absolutely,”

he groaned.

“Then I must continue.”

She shifted, bringing her lips to that most intimate part of him. She only had tonight and she wanted everything. Wanted a memory burned deep, so that she’d know Mr. Right immediately, because he would be the only man who could top this moment.

Because without even entering her, Chase had already given her the best sex of her life. She wanted to please him and drive him crazy. She wanted to put all the other women he’d ever been with to shame.

“My turn,” he said.

He lay down beside her. His mouth and hands roamed her body, leaving her skin tingling and sending her close to the edge again.

“Please,”

she gasped, and Chase obliged to fill her completely. She closed her eyes, savoring the moment.

Here she was, bathed in moonlight, with Chase deep inside her. He began to move, and she splintered, coming before he’d really begun. “That’s one,”

he teased. “Ready for two?”

“There’s more?”

she panted, breathing hard as she tried to regroup.

“Much more,”

he promised. “In fact, you’ll lose count.”

“Really?”

Chase gave her another kiss. “Oh yes…”

Her “prove it”

died on her lips as he changed rhythm and brought her to somewhere her body had never been. A place where she saw stars, and not the ones in the sky above. He throbbed inside her, and she gathered him into her arms as they rode the waves together.

“Are you okay?”

he whispered afterward, shifting to lie on his side facing her. He reached one arm across her body to brush the hair from her face.

“Oh no.”

Miranda marveled at his concern and tenderness. “I feel wonderful. That was wonderful. Thank you.”

Chase’s fingertips traced her eyebrows, nose and lips. They stayed like that for a long time until Miranda began to realize how exposed they were. “It’s lucky you live on a very quiet lake!”

she whispered.

Chase grinned. “I’ve been watching. No one’s been by.”

“They’re probably all in bed.”

“A great idea,”

he said. “But how about a swim first?”

“Swim?”

She rose up on her elbows. “But I’m naked.”

He chuckled. “So? I don’t think the fish will mind, and the water’s perfect.”

A moment later, Chase was wading into the lake. “The sandbar slopes a little here, so you can get in easily and quickly.”

He slid into the water, and executed a short dive. When he popped up again in the moonlight, his hair and chest were gleaming. “Come on.”

Miranda glanced around. They were more than a half mile from the mainland, so no one could see. Boldly, she raced into the lake, quickly wading deeper until the water covered her shoulders.

Chase was soon beside her, and he pulled her to him and kissed her. He slipped a hand between her legs and touched her gently. “See? Lake water’s good for cooling off.”

As he stroked her she emitted a small cry and dropped her forehead on his shoulder.

“Ah, that’s what I like,”

he teased.

She marveled at how sensitive she was, and how ready. “We’re supposed to be cooling off.”

“We have the whole night ahead of us.”

And with that he wrapped her legs around his waist and brought her to him. Miranda floated there as Chase made love to her again. Then they returned to shore.

“We need to go. Our bug spray’s washed off and we’re going to get eaten,”

Chase told her. “But don’t think the night’s done.”

He tugged her tank top down over her head, and Miranda pulled on her shorts. Soon they were on their way back to the dock, Chase steering the runabout and Miranda sitting in his lap.

He docked the craft and grabbed the bag, carrying it into the boathouse to dispose of the wine and cups. Then he led Miranda to the center of the room.

His gaze searched her face. “You doing okay? No regrets?”

How could there be? This was what she wanted. Regrets could come later, once the sun came up. She knew she’d have them. But she would have regretted even more not risking, not knowing the truth of how wonderful being with Chase could be.

He bent to kiss her and she began to tug on his shirt.

“You are insatiable,” he said.

“You’ve made me that way.”

She pushed him back against the pool table and pressed against him, kissing him.

“You’d better move or you’re going to be in trouble. This has always been a fantasy of mine,”

he said when she let him come up for air.

She drew back for a moment. “You have fantasies? From the way you talked at the gazebo tonight…”

“It was all I could do not to lay you out and take you on that picnic table. That’s what a pirate would do.”

“Then be a pirate,”

she offered in a husky voice. “Claim your spoils.”

“You know, I’m the one being spoiled,”

Chase told her after they’d made love once more. “I doubt I’ll ever be able to look at this pool table again without thinking about tonight. I need to get you to bed.”

For a moment she panicked. “Your grandfather. He’ll know. How will I face him?”

“Shh. We’ll sleep in your room. I’ll leave early in the morning. He gets up after six, so we have plenty of time. Now let’s go find a shower. Lake water’s great, but hot water’s even better.”

CHASE WOKE UP at 10:00 a.m., having left Miranda about four hours earlier. He stretched, realizing his body felt great. It should; he’d had the best kind of workout a man could have.

He sobered slightly. They’d never really talked. Instead, they’d pushed everything aside and existed in a bubble of pure passion. They’d made love. He’d held her. She’d slept in his arms.

He’d had the best night of his life. For hours he’d had perfection in his grasp.

He walked to the windows and looked at the lake. Leroy stood on the end of the dock, fishing. As usual, he hadn’t caught a thing.

As Chase dressed, he wondered if Miranda was awake, and on impulse, he dialed her cell phone. She answered on the fourth ring. “Hello?”

“Hey, sleepyhead. Time to get up.”

She sounded groggy and disoriented, as if she hadn’t slept at all. “Who is this?”

He grinned. Poor thing was worn-out. “The guy who knows what time you got to sleep.”

“Chase!”

He could picture her sitting up in bed, now wide-awake.

“Hey, calm down. It’s all good. My grandfather’s fishing, which means he’ll be on his way back to Chenille in about an hour.”

“What time are we leaving?”

“Later. I still have to hoist the boat and cover it for the week. We have a cleaning service that comes every Monday, but I want to check out the boathouse and make sure we didn’t leave a mess.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah.”

He heard the silence on her end. “Hey. No regrets, or I’m going to come over there and…”

He let his words drift off as she shrieked and hung up on him.

Chase left his room and went down to the dock. “Having any luck?” he asked.

“No. I just like wasting lures. I’m already packed. I was waiting for you to surface. Late night?”

“Nope,”

Chase lied. “I was tired, so I took advantage of being here and slept in. Getting used to the fact that after tomorrow I don’t have to set my alarm clock if I don’t want to.”

“I haven’t set mine for years.”

Leroy closed his tackle box. “My body wakes me at six-thirty no matter what day it is. I just gave up and got used to it. So, you good for tomorrow’s board meeting? And afterward?”

“Yeah. I figured maybe I’d go to Colorado and do some mountain climbing. Brice lives out in Estes Park. You remember him?”

“Your college roommate?”

“He’s some sort of park ranger at Rocky Mountain National Park. He got divorced a year ago. Figured I’d go bunk with him for a few days. Weather’s perfect out there right now.”

“Sounds like a good idea,”

Leroy said. They began to walk up to the house. “I’m glad you’re making the best of this.”

“It won’t be so bad,”

Chase replied. Actually, it probably would be, but at the moment he just wanted his grandfather to leave so he could make love to Miranda again. He’d seen her in the moonlight; he wanted to see her beautiful body in daylight. As for Colorado, he hadn’t even called Brice yet.

She was waiting in the great room when he and Leroy entered. “Hi,” she said.

“Hey. Glad I saw you before I left,”

Leroy declared. “You did great this weekend. Chase will show you how to lock up. Usually I leave earlier than this, so if you sleep in you’ll have to know what to do. I’ll see you both tomorrow.”

Fifteen minutes later, Chase and Miranda watched Leroy’s Town Car drive away. Chase pulled her to him.

“Alone at last,” he said.

She stiffened and he frowned. “Okay, what’s wrong?”

“The night’s over.”

“So?”

He threaded his hands into her hair and drew her face close to his. “I’m on sabbatical as of tomorrow. Let us have until then. Afterward we’ll talk. See how we can make this work.”

“I can’t.”

“Shh. You can,”

Chase insisted. “Let go for once.”

“I let go enough last night,”

she said. The practical Miranda had returned. “I overslept and…”

“No regrets,”

he told her, releasing her. “What we had was wonderful. I’ll never forget it.”

“Me neither,”

she admitted in a voice so low he had to strain to hear. “But I’d like to get back to Chenille. I have to prepare for tomorrow, when I take over.”

Disappointment consumed Chase. Then again, what had he expected? Last night had been a one-off. Two people coming together with an urgency driven by fate, passion and lust. The night was over.

She didn’t want him, just his job. The one she’d have for a year. Although that was it. He didn’t plan to give her one day more. Despite what had happened between them, he would never lose sight of the fact that McDaniel Manufacturing belonged to him.

“I have to put the boat away. Give me about an hour and we’ll leave,”

Chase told her.

He began to walk away but she called to him. “Chase?”

He turned. “What?”

“Thank you for respecting my wishes.”

“Yeah. No problem.”

He gave a curt nod and strode to the dock.

MIRANDA WATCHED CHASE from the window. She’d woken up this morning torn in half. Oh, her body thanked her. She was sore in all the right places. For one night she’d let herself loose to enjoy everything Chase offered. She loved the shower interlude, and the final lovemaking that morning before Chase headed to his room.

But the moonlight had disappeared. Tomorrow she would take over Chase’s job and he would leave for parts unknown. Better to break it off now, and quickly.

That’s what plain old sensible Miranda planned to do.

Besides, if she made love to Chase again she’d be doomed. Last night he’d branded her as his. If she didn’t get a grip she’d pine for him the entire year.

The truth was she had work to do. One year to prove herself and make herself indispensable to the company and to Leroy. Being with Chase muddled her thoughts, made her want to throw caution to the wind. Made her think that maybe there was a way to have it all, after all.

As Chase finished with the boat and walked back toward the house, Miranda hurriedly packed. When she finished, she gave the room one final glance. This weekend would have to last her a lifetime. She wouldn’t have time to date, and if she did, she already knew the results.

Chase would be impossible to top.