An Engagement in Seattle - Debbie Macomber [127]
By the time they stopped for lunch, Lesley was famished. Chase was, too, gauging by the amount of food he ordered.
“I’ve got to build my strength up,” he told her.
Lesley didn’t know she was still capable of blushing, not after the wondrous night they’d spent. She hadn’t known it was possible for any two people to make love so fervently or so frequently. Just when she was convinced she’d never survive another burst of pleasure, he’d convince her that she could. And she did.
“You’re blushing.” Chase sounded shocked.
“Thank you for calling attention to it,” she chided. “If one of us is blushing, it should be you.”
“Me?”
She leaned across the table, not wanting anyone to overhear. “After last night,” she whispered heatedly.
“What about last night?” His voice boomed like a cannon shot, or so it seemed to Lesley.
“You know,” she said, sorry now for having introduced the subject.
“No, I don’t. You’d better tell me.”
“You’re…a superman.”
He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
“Chase!”
“As soon as we finish lunch, let’s go back to the hotel.”
“We’ve only seen half of the gardens,” she protested, but not too strenuously.
“We’ll come back tomorrow.”
“It’s the middle of the afternoon.”
“So?”
“It’s…early.” The excuse was token at best. She couldn’t fool him, nor could she fool herself. She wanted him as badly as he wanted her. It was crazy, outrageous, wonderful.
“Don’t look at me like that,” Chase said with a groan.
She gave herself a mental shake. “Like what?”
“Like you can’t wait a minute longer.”
She lowered her eyes, embarrassed. “I don’t think I can.”
He swore under his breath, stood abruptly and slapped some bills down on the table. “Come on,” he said, “let’s get out of here.”
“We came on the tour bus, remember?”
“We’ll get a taxi back.”
“Chase—” she laughed “—that’ll cost a fortune.”
“I don’t care what it costs. If we don’t leave now we could be arrested. There are laws against people doing in public what I intend to do with you.”
Lesley was sure her face turned five shades of red as they hurried out of Butchart Gardens. They located a taxi, and the second after Chase gave the driver the name of their hotel, he pulled her into his arms. His kiss was wet and wild and thorough. Thorough enough to hold them until they got back to the hotel.
Chase paid the driver and they raced hand in hand into the hotel and through the lobby, not stopping until they reached their room.
Chase’s fingers shook when he inserted the key and Lesley’s heart was touched by his eagerness.
“This is the most insane thing I’ve ever done in my life,” she said, trying not to laugh.
The door swung open and Chase drew her inside, closing the door and backing her against it.
“I was going to go berserk if I couldn’t touch you the way I wanted,” he whispered, kissing her with a hunger that echoed her own.
“Chase…” She wasn’t sure what she wanted, only that she wanted.
Apparently he knew, because he scooped her into his arms and carried her to the bed.
An hour later, Lesley smiled to herself and buried her face in her husband’s neck. With Chase she’d never be alone again. With Chase she felt whole, complete. Was this an illusion? She wasn’t sure.
But right now she needed the feel of him, needed the reality of this man, this moment. She pressed her hands to his face and with tears she couldn’t explain blurring her vision, she looked up at him.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
He kissed her, his touch gentle.
“What’s happening to us?” she asked, thinking he could help her understand.
“What do you mean?”
“Is this just good sex or is it more?”
“More,” was his immediate response.
“Do I love you?” It obviously wasn’t the question he’d expected her to ask, which was fine since it astonished even her.
“I don’t know.”
“Are you in love with me?”
His brow creased as if that required serious consideration. “I know I’ve never felt like this about any woman. What’s happening