Breathe (Colorado Mountain 4)

Chace pushed out of the couch, got to his feet and rounded it as he watched her put the phone to her ear and start pacing.

“Mom,” she said into it before he got to her, “I want to talk to Dad. Immediately.”

Since he didn’t make it to her in time, Chace decided to settle in and enjoy the show. So he rested his ass on the back of the couch, stretched out his legs, crossed them at the ankles, his arms on his chest and did just that.

“Yes, there’s something wrong,” she continued, still pacing. “Let me talk to Dad.”

There was a pause while she halted in a stilted way and stared obviously unseeing out his French doors.

Then she went on, “I know it’s time for church. I don’t care if you’re late. This is important. You can sneak in the back.”

Another pause to let her mother speak before she carried on.

“I don’t care if Dad’s favorite part is singing the hymns at the beginning of the service, I told you, this is important.” Pause then a hissed, seriously pissed, “Yes, it’s about his visit to Chace.”

She listened again as she yanked her hand through her hair, pulling it back, her body jerked with agitation and she started pacing again but when her hand went out of her hair, it fell right back around her face.

She was cute. She was being funny. She looked f**king fantastic pacing through the space between his kitchen and living room in her sexy nightie and his shirt, her long legs on display, her hair swinging around. Not to mention, his stomach was full of her damned fine food and the taste of her was still in his mouth.

All this meant Chace was amused, relaxed and content.

Therefore he was completely unprepared for Faye rocking his entire f**king world.

“That was not fraking cool Mom. It wasn’t cool. Dad doesn’t know and it’s none of his business but I’ll tell you since you won’t let me talk to him then you can tell him, Chace has been through enough. He doesn’t like surprises. He doesn’t need hassle. And I won’t stand for it!”

Chace felt his body get tight and he stopped watching her and started staring at her.

“Yes! I know that fraking means the f-word, Mom. In a television show! I’m the one who told you, remember? When the Cylons explode our world and we’re aboard a spaceship in a ragtag convoy trying to stay alive and find earth, you can take me to task for saying the word frak! Until then, no and definitely not now!”

She halted facing his French doors again and stared out as she listened.

Then she spoke again.

“Right, well, don’t hold your breath for that, Mom, seeing as I’m going to be a kickass fighter pilot like Starbuck so I’ll be out in my Viper most of the time, fighting the Cylons to keep you alive so you won’t have time to give me a lecture about cursing.”

Another pause, this one lengthy.

Then, “I don’t care. It’s not good that he shared his thoughts about Chace to Chace, thoughts he had because of town gossip. That’s not good. That doesn’t say nice things about Dad not Chace. It was judgmental and uncalled for. But it’s more, Mom. It doesn’t say good things about me. Because it says Dad doesn’t trust me to be smart enough to see past the hot guy Chace is to who he really is underneath. That would be a good man I can trust, who takes care of me, makes me feel safe, makes me feel good, teases me, likes me for me and who’s worth my time. Even if Dad had concerns about Chace, he should know me better than that. I may be a dreamer, Mom, but you raised me, so did he so I’m not a stupid dreamer. I’m just a dreamer. And I’ll point out he should have showed Chace respect not only as a man but as the man everyone in this fraking town knows him to be but also Dad should have shown me respect by keeping his mouth shut.”

She fell silent but this didn’t last long.

“No, I still want to talk to him. Tell him to call me after church. I have a few things to say.”

An even shorter pause.

Then, “Okay, and just so you know, I’m angry but still, if I found you were an unknown model of Cylon, I wouldn’t kill you because you’re my Mom. But I would find you a habitable planet and dump you there. I’m also angry enough to dump Gaius there with you. He’s brilliant but he’s annoyingly arrogant, smug, a total jerk, completely self-serving and unpredictable. You’d hate him. So that tells you just how angry I am at you for not letting me speak my mind to Dad. Enjoy church and I’ll see you next Saturday.”

Then without waiting for a response from her mother, she beeped off the phone and whirled to him.

Once she had his eyes, she snapped, “God!”

Then she clamped her mouth shut and glared at him.

Chace studied her, her cheeks pink, her eyes heated, thinking, with that hair, he shouldn’t be surprised her temper was fiery.

He studied her thinking that he was feeling something he didn’t quite get, didn’t know what it was because he’d never felt it before. He just knew that whatever it was was huge and it was good.

She took him out of his thoughts when she said quietly, “Chace, I’m so sorry Dad did that.”

“Faye,” he called softly. “Come here.”

“Give me a second,” she replied. “I’m fighting the urge to throw your phone across the room.”

She was too far away and what he was feeling was too big so he pulled out the big guns.

“Baby, come here.”

She came to him immediately.

Chace buried a smile, uncrossed his arms and ankles, bent his knees so his feet were to the floor but his legs were open and he leaned forward, reaching for her hand when she got close. He took the phone out of her other hand, tossed it to the top of the couch and guided her between his legs. When he had her where he wanted her, he let her hand go but both of his arms circled her loosely though not loose enough not to communicate he didn’t want her pressing close. As she always did, she got the message he didn’t need to verbalize, leaned her body into his and looked into his eyes.

“We got a problem,” he murmured.

“I know,” she agreed.

“Actually, you got a problem,” he told her.

“I know,” she agreed again. “I have an overprotective father who I’d like to kick in the shin.”

Chace gave her a squeeze and shared his thoughts. “He did right. I took no offense. Honest to God, I had a daughter whose first boyfriend had my reputation, I’d do the same f**kin’ thing. Wouldn’t think about it, wouldn’t give a shit she got pissed. I’d make my thoughts known, feel him out and make sure he knew he had in his hands something precious. It ended good. I understood why he did it. I admire him for doin’ it and it shows how much he loves you. And, I’ll repeat, I’d do it myself. So quit bein’ pissed.”