Page 5 of Chase’s Kind of Trouble (Obsessive Protectors #3)

FIVE

Celeste

The world tilts, my heart flipping over onto its side like a listing boat.

Maybe it’s overloaded with adrenaline. Maybe it will never be right again.

But seconds later, an ice-cold smack of reality hits me, a sucker punch to the stomach.

I was being watched.

Chilled from my head to my toes, I stare up at a stranger…

No, he’s not a stranger if he’s been watching me. He’s a stalker.

“Where…” I clear my throat before I can continue. “Have you been watching me?”

The question feels surreal. My voice floating somewhere outside my body.

Solemn eyes the color of whiskey hold mine as he lifts his hand slowly. I’m too frozen to draw back when he gently moves a knuckle along my cheek.

Burning a path, his touch acts like a fuse, rushing a spark toward the cold, broken place in my chest.

The impossibly tall stranger, dips his broad shoulders and rests his lips against mine, drawing on them gently.

“Christ. Your lips are so soft,” he whispers against my shocked mouth.

All I can do is breathe, “Wow.”

And this must be an invitation because he steps closer, cradling my head in his palm. This time his lips are firm, but reverent, and then he tastes me with the tip of his tongue, sliding it along mine as a very male groan vibrates into me.

In an instant, nothing exists but his touch, the sound of his ragged breathing as he touches me in a way no man ever has.

When he pulls back, his expression is fierce, his eyes crackling with laser focus. On me.

His next remark is in a thick voice that sends my skin lighting up in goosebumps. “You’ve waited on me before in the restaurant.”

“I have?”

Admittedly he just scrambled my brain. Hard. Like Vitamixer hard.

“Yeah, sweetheart, a while back.”

Searching my mind, I press my lips to stop the trembling. “How do I not remember you? You make an…impression.”

His expression softens, as he continues to stroke that gloriously rough thumb against my jaw. “It was takeout and you were super busy. Don’t beat yourself up.”

“Oh gosh. I’m so sorry, I hope I was nice.”

His gaze drops to my mouth and he grips his lower lip in his teeth. “You were perfect.”

A ray of sunshine breaks loose inside my ribcage, heating ip places that haven’t felt warm in…forever.

Maybe the dark, damaged part of me was suppressing the ability to acknowledge him. All men, really.

“Sorry…I’ve just…” I shake my head. “Had a lot going on. I’m distracted a lot when I’m working.”

I rifle through the jumble of memories, trying to force something to return. But I’m in that foggy state a lot—the kind that leaves me staring out the window, unsure how long I’ve been there.

These are crevasses inside of me. Big, dark, ominous voids.

He shifts, the angles of his oversized shoulders bunching as he begins to frown.

“Like I said, don’t worry. But I should have made a point to talk to you. I feel bad about that, maybe I could have prevented tonight form happening if I had.”

“That’s crazy. How would you have?—”

“By asking you out.”

This causes me to laugh harshly, but that sound morphs into more of a sob.

“Oh god.” I dash the tears away angrily, embarrassed. “I’m a freaking mess.”

I’m not sure if the fact that I’ve just had the best kiss of my life is making me more emotional or if it’s the whole disaster that my life has become.

“Hey, angel, it’s okay,” he rumbles softly, “you’re safe now.”

There’s a sharp spasm in my heart. If only that were true. But that’s a promise he can’t make.

When I open my mouth to say something, I’m swarmed by the echo of that warm, kind voice which has now set up shop inside of me. You’re safe now.

“Let’s get you out of here,” he says kindly, magical fingers working at the top of my neck, soothing the knots.

Velvet.

He’s gravel, and dynamite, and velvet. A dangerous combination.

I lean into his touch without thought until I give myself a hard mental shake to see if I can get myself off of this crazy rollercoaster. “I should go back to work.”

“You don’t need to. You’ve been through enough tonight.”

His voice does something to me, but his touch? God. I’m starved for it.

So I don’t pull away. Not just yet.

Gliding, smoothing, working my skin and muscles, he’s vacuuming the fear right out of me.

Along with my energy.

“I do…feel like I need to sit down. I’m not sure what’s wrong with my legs.”

Reaching out, I clutch a fistful of his flannel shirt to stop myself form sliding to the grimy pavement, but he’s already in motion.

“I’ve got you. Let me take your weight.”

A wall of warmth surrounds me as he pulls me into his body. Taking the entire weight of not just my body, but of my existence.

Strength brackets every inch of me. “You’re safe. That fatigue…it’s the adrenaline crash.”

“Oh…” I murmur, unable to hold my head up. “I just need to close my eyes for a few seconds, then I?—”

When my cheek presses against his chest, all coherent words vanish. I’m swamped with sensation. Heat. So much heat.

The man is as warm as a summer afternoon. Solid as a mountain. Big as an NFL player.

He tucks me closer.

“I’m taking her home,” he says and it floats into my mind like a dream.

His deep tone rumbles below my ear, but my eyes are blurry, drifting closed and I don’t know who he’s talking to.

Or why I’m completely zonked out against his chest.

Is this…?

“Is this what safety feels like?”

Tightening his hold on me, my hero makes a deep masculine sound. “It is, honey. There’s no safer place than in my arms. Nothing can hurt you now.”