Chasing Bliss (12 page)

“Oh my God! Are you okay, Mr. Brown?”

J.T. clapped him hard on the shoulder. “He’s great, Bliss. Continue your interview. I’ll walk him
to the door.” J.T. turned Cyrus toward the door with the hand he had on his shoulder. He threw it
open and gave Cyrus a shove. “I’d love to throw you out on your ass, but I’m afraid people will
talk.”

Cyrus watched the door to his own club slam in his face. It was, in his opinion, completely
disrespectful, and whether they knew it or not, they’d just started some shit, and regardless of what
Chase thought, Cyrus wasn’t afraid of him.
Your ass is gonna pay dearly for that shit you just did. Nobody
fucks me over and gets away with it. I shoulda gotten rid of your ass before you took your first breath.

Chapter 8

A
fter five interviews, Bliss had hired a hostess and two bartenders. Her next interview was
an hour later, and she was thinking of going back to the office to check on Chase. She
hadn’t heard a peep out of him since Cyrus left, though she had seen J.T. disappear back there and
come back all frowned up. She stood and smoothed her dress as J.T. came out of the unfinished
bathroom with a hardhat on his head.

He smiled at her and gave her a non-invasive look of appreciation. “Hey, Bliss. Takin’ a
break?”

She smiled back. “Yeah. I’ve got a little free time between interviews, so I thought I’d go pay
Chase a little visit and see if he’s okay.”

J.T. nodded. “Go ahead. If anything out here needs your attention, I’ll come get you.”

“Thanks, J.T.” She folded her arms across her chest and took a step closer, lowering her voice.
“Hey, what happened in there this morning? Did I really see Cyrus leaving with a bloody nose?
Was it broken?”

J.T. laughed, but in his eyes, he didn’t really look amused. “Well, let’s hope, for his sake, it
wasn’t broken, but I really can’t say what went down between him and Chase.”

Bliss frowned. “You mean you don’t know?”

He smiled again. “Of course I know. I just can’t say. Go ahead though. Maybe if you sit on his
lap for a while, it’ll smooth him out.”

Bliss took his advice and went down to the office, wondering what the hell kind of violent
relationship Chase actually had with his brother. Obviously, it was the kind of brotherhood where
breaking somebody’s nose was no big deal.
What could Cyrus have done to deserve that from Chase?
she
had to wonder. She didn’t want to make snap judgments about Cyrus, but Chase
had
spent all the
time she’d known him avoiding Cyrus in a very big way. He didn’t seem to act the same way about
Corey. When she’d met Cyrus earlier, she noticed that he was tall and fine, obviously cut from the
same cloth as her Chase from a physical standpoint, but her gut reaction left her feeling like he had
all the charm of a snake oil salesman. At the moment, though, she didn’t really care about Cyrus or
his broken nose; she cared about Chase. “Chase? It’s Bliss,” she announced, knocking softly since
she wasn’t sure what kind of mood he was in after his big brother’s visit. “Can I come in?”

“Yeah, come in.”

She opened the door and stepped inside. Chase was in the big chair behind the desk, slouched
in his seat with his fingers laced across his stomach. She stood across the desk from him, studying
his face. He looked like he’d been crying, of all things. “Are you okay, Chase?”

He looked so sad, but he smiled a little. “I’ll live. Come here, Bliss.”

She came around the desk. Chase reached for her and really did pull her into his lap. Bliss put
her arms around his neck and hugged him fiercely. His strong arms circled around her and held
her close. They sat like that for a while, not speaking and just holding each other, with their faces
close and touching.

She’d stepped into his office to comfort him about whatever was happening between Cyrus
and him, but sitting there so close to him was making her yearn to be even closer—as close as she
could possibly get. Bliss put her fingers on his hair and her lips on his. She kissed him with soft,
closed-mouth kisses, loving the feel and taste of his lips against hers. She darted her tongue in his
mouth, and Chase moaned, kissing her back with a skilled, but tender passion.

Chase swung his chair around with his feet, placing his back toward the door. He leaned past
her and closed the window blinds. He kissed her on the hollow of her throat, and she trembled and
kicked off her shoes.

“Oh, Chase! Put your hands on me…
please!
I can’t take this anymore.”

He kissed her chin, and she could feel him smiling.

She looked down into his beautiful, clear, cognac eyes.

“I’ve been
dyin’
to. Take your hair down for me, Bliss.”

She reached behind her and started taking her hair down as Chase put one hand on the small of
her back and used the other to pull down the zipper on her dress. Bliss fluffed her hair out over her
shoulders, and Chase pulled the top of her dress down. Bliss took her arms out of the sleeves and
reached behind herself again to unhook her lacy bra. She held it in place and smiled down at him,
teasingly, even as somewhere in the back of her mind she wondered what the hell she was doing,
sitting in that man’s office, on his lap, taking her clothes off.

Bliss pushed her doubts back as she looked at his face. There was no doubt that Chase Brown
was a strong, virile, dominant male, but there was a very large part of his makeup that she found
vibrantly and refreshingly boyish. The way he spoke, his enthusiasm, and the open way he displayed
his emotions—hell, even his good looks were boyish—and Bliss found all of these incredibly
endearing.

He was looking up at her, his eyes seemingly undecided on whether they should stay on her
face or drop to her soon-to-be-bare breasts. His mouth was slightly open, and his breath was a bit
rushed, just like hers. Chase’s hands drifted up her sides, his thumbs skimming over her ribs; but
it was the look in his eyes that floored her: He was looking at her like he couldn’t believe he was
sitting there with Bliss on his lap, as if he absolutely adored her.

He moved to kiss her, but Bliss put her hand on his chest. She could feel his heart racing. Chase
looked surprised, and she laughed softly. “Not so fast. I took my top off, so you have to take yours
off too.”

Chase reached down and pulled his T-shirt over his head, as he had in so many of her daydreams,
and she was just as impressed as she’d been in her fantasies. He was lean, muscular, and well
defined. The muscles in his stomach rippled nicely when he threw his shirt over his shoulder.

Chase smiled at her and tugged at her bra. The boy in his face was gone, replaced by the man
who wanted to fulfill her request and put his hands on her. “This is pretty, but I’m tired of lookin’
at it,” he said, pulling at her lingerie. “It’s gotta go.”

Bliss slipped it off and dropped it on the floor, and Chase’s mouth was on her instantly, licking
at her like she was the most delicious, delectable dessert in the world. Bliss’s back arched with
pleasure, and she put her hand on the back of his head. Her breath puffed between her lips as he
changed breasts. She squeezed her thighs together and sighed in delight. Chase closed his mouth
and did some little swirling, sucking thing that curled her toes.

She ground against him, and he ground back. That bit of highly intimate contact seemed to
shock them both. They stared at each other, moving against each other leisurely, like they had all
the time in the world to pleasure each other. Chase’s hand slipped under her dress and made its
way to her panties…

KNOCK! KNOCK!

Chase held Bliss close to his chest, and they both stopped moving like two deer caught in the
headlights. “What?” he shouted over his shoulder.

There was a silent pause, and then, “Damn, man. You ain’t gotta shout! It’s me, Corey. Can I
come in or not?”

Chase sighed deeply, and Bliss shivered at the warmth of his breath. Chase smiled and kissed
her, holding her a little closer.

“Chase?” Corey called again, but he didn’t wait for an answer, and the door burst open
unceremoniously.

Chase ran his hand over Bliss’s thigh and shook his head. “I’m busy, Corey. Leave.”

“Yeah, but Chase—”

Chase lost his patience, but he didn’t quite yell at his little brother. “Come on, Corey. Give me
a minute, okay?”

“Yeah, but Chase…” he repeated, taking a step further into the room. He caught himself when
he realized Chase wasn’t alone. “Whoops! I’m sorry, man. I didn’t know you were in here with
your woman. Hey, Bliss.”

Bliss wiggled her fingers around the back of the chair, careful not to reveal anything more of
herself to the unexpected visitor. “Uh…hey, Corey.”

Chase frowned at her. “Don’t answer him, or he’ll never leave,” he said in a low voice.

Corey retreated to the doorway, snickering. “So…uh…what y’all doin’?”

Chase stuck his head out from behind the chair. “Get outta here, Corey!” He didn’t sound
entirely pissed off, just irritated.

Bliss kissed his neck to calm him down.

“All right, I’m out. Don’t do nothing I wouldn’t do.”

“Bye, Corey.”

Corey laughed. “Bye, Chase. Um…bye, Bliss.”

“Bye.”

After Corey slammed the door behind him, Chase looked around the chair to make sure he was
gone.

Bliss laughed and pulled her dress up, covering her breasts. She hopped off his lap, stuck her
feet back into her shoes, and picked up her bra.

Chase stood up, but he didn’t make a move to stop her; he just watched her put her bra back on
and fix her dress.

Bliss looked at him as she ran her fingers through her hair and licked her lips. She’d thought
he looked good sitting down, but on his feet, he looked even better. She turned her back to him to
prevent things from going any further. “Would you zip me up please?”

Chase walked up behind her and put his hands on her small waist. He moved his body against
hers and spoke into her ear. “Are you
tryin’
to torture me, Bliss? Don’t go.”

She turned in his arms and put her hands on his biceps. “No, but I’m not going to stay in here
with you a second longer. Corey already walked in on us.”

He looked past her like he wasn’t really trying to hear what she was saying, but he also didn’t
seem to want to press the issue. A little more, and he’d be sulking. Bliss pursed her lips to keep
from giggling, because it was kind of funny.

Chase looked at her with mild annoyance and zipped her up, speaking volumes without saying
a word. He stepped back and pulled his T-shirt over his head, covering up his wonderful body.

This time, Bliss
did
laugh. She couldn’t help it because he
was
sulking. “Oh man, Chase. That
is sooo childish.”

He shrugged. There was a hint of a smile on his lips. “Oh well. Sorry.”

She took his hand. “No,
I’m
sorry. I’m not trying to tease you, baby…really. Corey made me
feel a little uncomfortable, walking in here. You’re the only man I want to see me…
like that
.”