A MATTER OF TRUST (5 page)

“No, this is fine. Better than fine,” he said after he’d taken the first bite, albeit a bit clumsily since he had to use his left hand. “I’ll be lucky if I don’t put on twenty pounds over the next month. Have you ever considered becoming a chef yourself?”

“No, my heart has always been set on being an artist.”

“Are you any good at it?”

Maddy shrugged. “I’d like to think so.”

“I’d like to see your work sometime, if you don’t mind that is.”

“I…I wouldn’t mind.” She shuffled the food around on her plate for a few minutes before looking up at him. “You’d be the first.”

For one ecstatic moment Chase forgot they were talking about her painting. “You mean you’ve never…”

“No,” she laughed nervously, “I’ve been too afraid to show anyone. I mean, it’s one thing to think I might not be good enough but to have someone else confirm it would be heartbreaking.”

Chase leaned back in his chair. “Have you thought about what you’d do if it didn’t work out?”

“I have other skills I can fall back on if I have to. I suppose I could be a chef, but I have a degree in accounting and financial planning so that’s probably what I’d choose if I can’t make it as an artist.”

“You have a degree in accounting and financial planning?”

Maddy shot him a heated glare. “Why is that so hard to believe?”

“My, you are a bit prickly aren’t you, sweetheart? I don’t find it difficult to believe, I just find it somewhat of a coincidence since that’s what my company does.”

“You aren’t…but of course you are,” she said incredulously. Oh this was bad, very bad. “You own Malone and Associates.”

“You’ve heard of me then?”

She stood up an carried their dishes to the sink. “Not you personally, just your company.”

Her father employed the services of Malone and Associates, which meant it was entirely possible they knew one another. That’s all she needed. What would Chase do if he figured out she wasn’t the impoverished struggling artist she was pretending to be? The only reason he’d agreed not to press charges and have her tossed in jail was because he thought she didn’t have any money and had taken pity on her. If he found out she was Alexander St. Claire’s daughter he’d be furious that she’d duped him and probably wouldn’t think twice about pursuing a lawsuit or putting her behind bars. She didn’t know what the sentence was for negligent driving and wasn’t too eager to find out.

“This little arrangement just might work out,” Chase said. He drank down the last of his coffee and brought the cup to Maddy. “It’ll be easier having you help me since you’ll be familiar with the terminology.”

She rinsed out his cup and set it in the dishwasher. “What exactly will I be doing for you?”

“First, you’ll need to help me get dressed.” That rattled her, he noted with some satisfaction. “After that I’ll need your typing skills to respond to my e-mail and then we’ll probably work on some contracts.”

“I thought you were on vacation.”

“I am, but that doesn’t mean I can afford to be completely out of touch with the company. I’ve chose my staff carefully and for the most part they can run the place just fine without me, but there’s always a few things I prefer to handle myself.”

Maddy shook her head, making a clicking noise with her tongue. “I’ll bet you couldn’t relax if you tried to.”

“I know how to relax,” he said defensively.

“Really? When was the last time you took more than a day off, and by that I mean two or more consecutive days where you did absolutely nothing work related.”

“Well, I planned on taking some time for myself on this vacation.”

“When exactly?”

“I don’t know, just some time during the next few weeks.”

Maddy didn’t believe it for a minute. “What were you planning on doing?”

Chase rubbed the back of his neck, trying to come up with something plausible. “I was going to…read a bit and maybe take in a few movies.”

"Geez, you really know how to live it up, Malone.”

“So I hadn’t really given it much thought,” he said irritably. “That doesn’t mean I never intended to get some down time.”

“Prove it.”

“And just how do you propose I do that?”

“Easy, take a walk on the beach with me.”

“Right now?”

“Sure, why not?”

Chase thought of all the work he’d planned on getting done that morning and shook his head. “I can’t.”

She crossed her arms, a smug smile playing on her lips. “So you admit you’re too uptight to just take some time off to enjoy that magnificent beach down there.”

The beach wasn’t the only thing magnificent he’d be missing out on. Maddy’s sudden spark of boldness made her even more desirable, if that was possible, and just looking at her sucked the air right out of his lungs. Why shouldn’t he spend his day in the company of this beautiful woman thinking of nothing but how pleasant it was to be with her? He’d put in his time over the last eight years making his company the success that it was, he’d earned some time off.

“I’ll admit no such thing, Miss Sawyer. Just help me get dressed and we’ll be on our way.”

****

Maddy followed him to his room, her moment of triumph dampened by the anxiety she felt at having to dress him. Chase directed her to the closet and told her what to pick out; a warm pullover and sweats. At least she wouldn’t have the embarrassment of trying to work the zipper up on a pair of jeans, although she did find it a bit unnerving when she came out of the closet to discover he’d already divested himself of the shorts he’d been wearing. He sat down on the edge of the bed while she put on his socks and slipped the sweats over his feet then stood up so she could hike them up over his hips.

“Can you tie the string a little tighter?” Chase asked with just a hint of a grin. “You wouldn’t want my pants to fall down while we’re walking.”

Maddy gave him a wilting look. “I think you’re enjoying this way too much.”

“I’m enjoying it immensely as a matter of fact, but I’m sure you’ll agree it’s necessary as I only have the use of one arm.”

Biting back a nasty retort, she turned down the waist band and found the string. “Tell me if it’s too tight,” she said sweetly, deliberately giving the string an unnecessarily hard tug.

“Too tight,” he gritted.

Her apology was less than sincere as she loosened it then tied it off. “It’ll be easier to put on your shirt if you’re sitting down.”

“Are you planning on torturing me with that too?”

Maddy couldn’t stop herself from smiling. “The thought did occur to me to only pull it half way over your head. It would be quite amusing to watch you struggle to get it down the rest of the way, but for the sake of getting to our walk I’ll play nice.”

“Your kindness is overwhelming,” Chase said dryly.

She helped him get the shirt on then retrieved his tennis shoes and helped him with those as well. “Just let me grab a sweater and we can go.”

“I’ll meet you downstairs,” he called after her.

Chase waited for her on the deck, a sense of both anticipation and anxiety nibbling away at him. When was the last time he’d genuinely looked forward to being with a woman for something other than a romp in the sack? And as far as he could recall, he’d never felt anxious about it. The idea that he couldn’t hold any woman’s interest or seduce her into his bed was inconceivable. Consequently, he’d never had any reason to feel anything but completely confident, but Maddy was different and he’d recognized that the moment he’d first set eyes on her. He didn’t want to blow it by taking things too fast, but he was finding it increasingly difficult to keep from kissing her and had to fight for control anytime she was within arm’s reach.

“All set,” Maddy said from behind him.

He turned around and was quite literally blinded by her beauty. Big blue eyes sparkling with excitement stole his breath at the same time Maddy’s dazzling smile worked his heart into an erratic tempo. Sunlight played off her long tresses making it look like spun gold and despite his firm resolve not to spook her by moving too fast, he couldn’t stop himself from reaching out and touching it. His fingers sifted through the fine strands and curled around the back of her neck.

“Maddy, I’m sorry. I can’t…” Chase gave up the fight and lowered his mouth to hers.

A soft moan vibrated in the back of her throat the instant his lips made a tentative brush against hers. Shock registered first; not because he was kissing her, but because she felt the intense heat of it to the very morrow of her bones. Then a tranquil sense of belonging enveloped her when Chase slanted his head and deepened the kiss, his tongue grazing over her teeth then pushing between them to conduct a slow, sensuous tango inside her mouth. Maddy leaned into him, entwining her arms around his neck and surrendering to the passion he so quickly aroused in her.

Chase let out a growl of frustration when he tried to pull her closer and realized she was as close as she was going to get because of the cast. For a brief moment he considered removing the sling but that would mean he’d have to stop kissing her, and right now that simply wasn’t an option. He hadn’t been expecting Maddy to respond like this and certainly hadn’t anticipated the effect just kissing her would have on him. Oh, there was no denying the strong sexual desire that was coiling heavily in his loins but there was more to it than that. It was the honeyed taste of her mouth, the velvety softness of her lips and the undying certainty that he could kiss Maddy forever and never get enough of her.

That thought alone should have made him want to shove her away from him and bolt in the opposite direction. Instead, Chase found himself devouring her mouth hungrily with a growing need that had no hope of ever being satiated. He’d never felt anything like this before and greedily demanded more, then damn near came unglued when something akin to a jolt of electricity shot straight through him when Maddy somehow managed to wheedle her lithe form beneath the sling. He felt every delicate inch of her as their bodies melded together, her feminine curves soft and yielding against his firmer, more masculine planes and angles.

A harsh growl rumbled deep in his chest when Maddy’s tongue darted between his teeth just as she shifted and aligned those curves where they would do the most good. The taut peaks of her breasts pressed into his chest while her slender hips nestled between his thighs, giving rise to an aching need that could only be satisfied in the most primal manner. His body begged him to take her upstairs and spend the day making love to her, but his mind nagged him with the irritating argument that it would be the biggest mistake of his life. Taking Maddy to bed would no doubt be the single most pleasurable experience of his life, but it might also end up being just that; a one time thing. Bewildering as everything else seemed at the moment, Chase did have one crystal clear thought; he wanted a real relationship with this woman.

His withdrawal was slow and reluctant but for all his good intentions, the granite wall he’d intended to erect around his heart started to crumble the second he caught a glimpse of the serene look on her upturned face. She didn’t open her eyes, not right away. Her body swayed unsteadily and there was a soft smile on her lips; lips that were moist and swollen from the amorous kissing and even more alluring now that he’d tasted them. Cursing his own weakness, Chase lowered his head and sought her mouth once more.

****

Maddy was drowning in a sea of sensuality. She’d been kissed before of course, but never like this, never with such fire and passion and intensely sexual heat. She wanted to stay wrapped in Chase’s strong arms forever while the masculine scent of him sank into her skin and the taste of him sent her soaring higher and higher. Desire ripped through her with all the grace of a tidal wave and pooled in her abdomen where it throbbed and ached and begged for release. God, how she wanted him. Maddy pressed her hips into the rigid length of him, a moan of want and need erupting from her lips when he cupped her bottom and ground himself into her.

From far away, an annoying sound invaded the sanctity of the moment, threatening to distract them both. Maddy could feel Chase slowly pulling away from her, the muscles in this shoulders growing tense beneath her finger tips as the droning noise continued. He mumbled something about the door and the poor timing of the postal service before drawing her back into him, his mouth coming down hard and demanding in a searing kiss that left her gasping for air.

“Chase?”

He lifted his head, feeling every bit as intoxicated by their encounter as Maddy looked. “What, sweetheart?” Her puzzled expression made him chuckle. “You called my name…didn’t you?”