Only Pleasure (Bound Hearts 10)

"Understand this," she told him fiercely. "You won't control me, Chase Falladay. Period. And the minute I'm able to push my butt out of this bed and stumble to that front door of yours, I am so out of here. "

She jerked her pillow to her, slapped it, and laid her head gingerly against it.

Chase grinned. He waited, counting down the minutes, the seconds. Then easily, gently, he pressed his fingers back into her neck and began to knead the tense muscles again.

Nearly six inches separated them. For now. Until he could ease her into sleep, then he would have her in his arms once again. And in his arms was exactly where she belonged.

As her shoulders relaxed and her head settled deeper into her pillow, Chase moved to her. A while later, she was backing into his warmth once again, and it wasn't long after that he was following her into sleep with his arms around her.

Holding her completed him. He wasn't going to explain that one to himself, nor was he going to look into it too closely. It was that simple, and for the time being, he was going to let it stay simple.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?"

Five days later Kia froze in the act of attempting to slip from the bed and from beneath Chase's arm when his drowsy voice grumbled from the depths of the huge bed he had forced her to sleep in.

"I have to go to work. "

She had lain around and done nothing but sleep and eat for nearly a week now. Her parents had driven her crazy, flitting in and out. That insane doctor had made her want to shoot him every time he woke her up, and Chase had her so frazzled she wondered if she would ever be able to settle her nerves again.

"Like hell. Sanjer said a full week. " He hooked his arm around her waist and dragged her back to his chest. "Go back to sleep. You really don't want me to wake up yet. "

But he sounded very awake. And he felt awake. The hard, thick length of his erection was pressed against her back. Because he slept naked. Because he had come to bed after she fell asleep and wrapped that hard, warm body around her.

And he made her like that. That was what he did. After she went to sleep, chilled and achy, he slipped into the bed and got her all warm and relaxed, and when she woke up the next morning all she wanted to do was stay there.

Well, she'd had a headache then, she assured herself. She didn't have one now.

"I really don't care if you wake up, Chase," she informed him irritably. "Or what Sanjer said. I have a job, and I have my own bed. "

"A bed you don't sleep in," he snorted, holding her to his chest.

"I do now," she told him, her voice firm. She had to be firm when arguing with Chase, she had found.

He was quiet behind her. "What the hell does that mean?" he finally growled.

"It means exactly what the hell I said. " She pushed at the arm wrapped around her and gave a moment's thought to just biting him if he didn't let her go.

A second later she was on her back, staring up at what had to be the sexiest sight God had ever gifted a woman with. Chase, long black hair tousled around the dark, arrogant features of his face. His light green eyes were narrowed down on her, thick, dark lashes doing nothing to shield the hunger, nor the fire in his eyes.

"When did you start sleeping in your bed?" His lips were tight, a muscle flexing in his jaw.

"The night before I bought my electric blanket and a vibrator," she said sweetly. "Why, Chase, I do declare, I've learned that that bed can be quite comfortable when I want it to be. "

She relaxed beneath him as much as possible with the sight of those hard, powerful biceps flexing by her shoulders and the hard flush washing through his cheeks.

She was counting down to the explosion now.

"What kind?"

She blinked back at him. "Excuse me?"

Where was the anger? The fury? Drew had blown a gasket when he found her tiny personal vibrator years before. Wouldn't Chase be just as angry? Especially when she had done everything but demand he not touch her for the past few days.

"What kind of vibrator?" He leaned closer. "When you're using it, do you think of me, Kia?"

Her eyes widened. "What?" she stammered, her hands pressing against his chest, but not pushing him away.

She felt uninhibited suddenly. The look in eyes, that wasn't anger. The flush on his cheekbones, that was arousal.