He was still on his knees, although he'd lowered his hands. “Uh, you can get up now, if you want,” Connie offered. “I promise I won't try to brain you. Would you like some coffee?”
Ash cleared his throat, eyes still closed. “Ah. Perhaps you would care to put on some clothes first?”
Connie looked down at herself.
“Yes,” she said, her voice going rather higher-pitched. “Yes, that would be a good idea.”
#
Even with clothes on, conversation with Ash proved to be an uphill struggle. The Fire Commander was perfectly polite, but so blandly noncommittal that Connie gave up on questioning him at all. He seemed content to sit in utter silence, gazing thoughtfully into the depths of the coffee she'd offered him. He exuded such an intimidating aura of reserve, Connie found herself involuntarily edging backward in her chair.
Ash abruptly looked up from his contemplation of his untouched coffee, his head turning toward the door. A moment later it slammed back on its hinges, and Chase bounced into the room.
“Oh good, you're up!” he said cheerfully to Connie. “I see you've met my Commander.”
“Twice,” Ash said under his breath. He looked hard at Chase.
Chase's grin slid off his face. Connie had an odd sense of some unspoken communication going on between the two men for a moment.
“Oh,” Chase said in a small voice. He turned to Connie. “I'm sorry about that. Next time I'll remember to warn you.”
“Next time?” Connie rolled her eyes. “Next time I throw you out of my apartment, don't take that as meaning I need you to provide someone to replace you.”
Chase's grin reappeared. “Ah, so there will be a next time?”
“Next time is about to be right now, if you don't stop smirking at me,” Connie informed him.
Commander Ash got to his feet. “I believe that my presence is no longer required.”
“It was, uh, nice meeting you,” Connie told him, with as much sincerity as she could muster. “Thank you for watching over me, anyway. Sorry for threatening you with a lamp.”
“Please accept my sincere apologies as well,” Commander Ash said, which was rather weird given that she'd been the one threatening him. With a last inscrutable look at Chase, he left.
“You tried to hit Commander Ash with a lamp?” Chase sounded utterly tickled.
Connie glared at him as she gathered up the coffee cups. “You're lucky I didn't actually take a swing at him. Honestly, Chase, what were you thinking?”
“I didn't mean to surprise you. I thought you'd never even know he'd been here.”
Connie dumped the coffee cups into the sink with a loud clatter. “Really not helping your case, you know.”
“That came out a little different to how I intended,” Chase admitted. “I only meant, I planned to get back before you woke up. But I got delayed.”
“Delayed doing what?” Connie said suspiciously, her back to him as she rinsed out the cups.
“Shopping,” Chase said, as if this was a perfectly reasonable thing to have been doing before dawn.
“Shopping?” Connie turned around to stare at him. “What were you—”
She stopped mid-sentence. Chase was down on one knee, holding up an engagement ring with an enormous solitaire diamond.
“Constance West, will you marry me?” he said, utterly seriously.
Connie threw up her hands. “Chase, I've turned you down twice already. What on earth makes you think I've changed my mind?”
Well, apart from the absolutely incredible sex...
Connie stomped down on the traitorous thought. Fantastic sex couldn't make up for Chase's reckless, unreliable behavior. They couldn't spend all their time in bed.