He’d gone about it all wrong.
Chase flipped his signal and gunned his Yamaha, sending an unhealthy stream of exhaust into the atmosphere as he zipped past the traffic moving way too slow for him at seventy miles an hour. The machine vibrated under him as he opened it up to the road, forcing it to perform like it did in younger days.
Like the machine between his legs, his and Desire’s first encounter was supposed to pulse to life. It was supposed to be one of anticipation, possibilities, illumination, and it wasn’t supposed to happen at her place of business.
When Chase had finally decided to return to Evergreen, he’d scheduled the first week of his homecoming down to the last detail. He would take care of his professional business in the first couple days, and then on the third day, he would take care of his personal life—his wooing of Desire Summers.
Desire was to receive a bouquet of red roses, and an anonymous note to meet an admirer in the lobby of Hotel Andreas—the most luxurious venue in the area—and a very public place where she wouldn’t have had reservations about meeting with a stranger. No matter the outcome of that first meeting, Chase had been prepared to date her, pamper her, spoil her, and convince her that they belonged together.
He’d imagined he would walk away from their reunion with a smile of elation on his face, his heart beating with the knowledge that Desire Summers loved him and wanted to be with him even after the years they’d spent apart.
Instead, here he was, madder than he’d been before he’d seen her, and speeding along Route 80 East toward Evergreen on his old bike that threatened to collapse from age and neglect at each mile he devoured.
If he’d followed his agenda, he would have gotten out of bed much earlier than he actually had, responded to the emails that had accumulated overnight from his European contacts, make some vital local calls over a cup of coffee, ridden over to the motorcycle shop on the east side of town, and while his bike was being tuned, scout out the areas around the Mannis River and Cedar Lake where construction of the new residential developments—the ones Chad had mentioned this morning—would begin in a few weeks.
Once he’d had a physical visual lay of the land, he would have headed over to Fontaine Enterprises to meet with Bryce and his team of real estate brokers, developers, surveyors, and engineers, and of course the representatives and architects from Carron Designs—the bid winners for most of the projects. Then he would have shown up at a very important meeting tomorrow morning where he would have finally flushed his enemy down the sewer.
Everything had been shot to hell. Chase flipped his signal, took the River Drive exit off the highway and cruised between row after row of red brick buildings and large granite mills that once powered factories along the Mannis River.
His plans had begun spiraling downward the moment he saw Lisa at the airport yesterday. If she hadn’t been his limo driver, he wouldn’t have had her card; he wouldn’t have called her; they wouldn’t have gotten wasted together; he wouldn’t have slept with her; and Desire’s contempt for him wouldn’t have been revived.
Chase knew that it wasn’t the idea of him sleeping with another woman that had Desire fuming, but the fact that it was her cousin and her best friend. He should have known better, he thought, as he turned into a narrow alleyway and slowed his speed to accommodate the crowds of pedestrians crossing the street, and walking along the sidewalks. He should have thought of the consequences of his actions instead of charging headfirst into a situation he knew would be revolting in the eyes of the woman whose heart he was trying to win back.
After the shame and stupidity of his blunder had worn off last night, Chase had realized that he needed to make a small detour in his plans. Instead of waiting a couple days, he’d decided to send Desire the flowers and the invitation to meet for brunch today. But with Lisa blabbing about their sexual encounter, and Chad’s mention of his and Desire’s lunch with the reporter, there was no time to waste before the engagement became public knowledge.
Ignoring the delicious aromas coming from his mother’s kitchen, Chase had crept out of the house, hauled his old motorcycle from the garage, and dusted it off. Like a spurned lover, it had sputtered and groaned with his first attempts to start it, but it had eventually given in and had welcomed his attention, his touch to its contours, and eventually his weight when he’d climbed on and settled his ass on its leather seat and flanked its belly between his thighs.
On his way to Granite Falls, Chase had rehearsed a million ways to approach Desire once he saw her. He was supposed to convince her not to marry Chad. He was to show her in no uncertain terms that he was still in love with her, and make her admit that she still loved him, still wanted him after all these years.
He’d accomplished nothing. Well, not nothing. He had accomplished one thing. He’d reminded Desire of the passion they once shared. It was the tactless manner in which he’d reminded her that had ticked her off.
Chase parked in a space in front of Andy’s Motorcycle and Bike Shop and climbed off. He looped his helmet over the handle bar, adjusted the satchel strapped across his body, and walked into the shop.
A few minutes later, he was back outside, discussing the tune-up with Will, the mechanic assigned to him.
“It needs a lot of work,” Will said, scratching his head as his gaze combed the length and breadth of Chase’s twenty-one-year-old navy blue Yamaha XJ600S. “It’s gonna cost. Plus because it’s so old, I’m not sure if we have all the parts in shop, which means it might take a few days.”
“Money is no problem. But can we check for the parts so I’ll know if I need to rent a car until she’s ready to take the road again?”
Will’s eyes lit up. “You know, it would be more economical in the long run to use the cost of a tune-up as a down payment on a newer model, or even a brand new bike.” He pointed to a row of motorcycles in the parking lot—some new, some not so new. “We can give you a good deal and you’d be on your way in thirty minutes instead of waiting a couple of days.”
“No, thank you. This bike and I go a long way back. I’m not abandoning her just because she’s old and has a few hiccups. She’s my first love.” His heart somersaulted in his chest at the mention of first love.
“It’s just a suggestion.” Will wiped his greasy hands down the front of his navy blue overalls, adding to the stains that already lived there.
“Can you go back in and check for the parts now? I’ll wait out here.”
“Sure, Mr. Bennett.”
Chase pulled his cell from his pocket. He had several missed calls from his mother. He speed dialed her number. “Hey, Mom,” he said, when she answered on the third ring.
“Chase. Where are you? Please don’t tell me you skipped town again.”
His gut contracted at the hysteria in her voice. “No, I haven’t skipped town, Mom. I just had a few things I had to take care of.”
“So early? I made your favorite breakfast of western omelette with grits on the side, thinking we would have some time to sit and talk. But then I heard your old bike and knew you were gone.”
“I’m sorry, Mom. I promise to make it up to you.”
“I missed you, Chase. I just want to spend some time with my son. My firstborn, before you leave again.”
“We’ll have our time, Mom.”
“How about today? I rearranged my schedule at the hospital.”
I wish you hadn’t done that. “You haven’t told anyone that I’m home, have you?”
“No Chase, I haven’t. I promised you I wouldn’t, although I don’t understand your reasons for secrecy.”
“Everything will be explained soon. I promise. And I’ll call you later?” he added, as he saw Will walking toward him. “I have to go. I love you, Mom.” He hung up before she could do any more prying.
“We have all the parts,” Will said. “But it will take a good while to get your bike in tip-top shape.”
“I have time.” Time is all I have.
“You sure you don’t want to take one of our newer models for a test while you wait?”
“Yup.”
“A man with time and money,” Will said, giving Chase a sly smile.
Satisfied that the young man would follow his instructions, Chase handed over his key. “Take good care of my baby, Will,” he said.
“I will, Mr. Bennett.”
Chase crossed the street, jumped the railing, disappeared into the forest of trees, and followed the familiar path that would take him to the river, his mind once again infused with thoughts of his encounter with Desire.
He hoped that shakeup would be enough to at least give her pause before she made her engagement to his brother public. He knew it was awful to even entertain, but he hadn’t missed the look of terror on her face when he’d pointed out the scandalous backlash of an affair between her and her brother-in-law.
Chase grimaced. He’d been with only one married woman in his entire life, and looking back now, he knew it was one too many. He’d just turned nineteen, and she was thirty-nine. He’d know she was married to a local politician, but he’d been too young and horny to let it deter him. Blame his raging hormones. They’d met at a restaurant in Evergreen where he’d been waiting tables the summer before he’d been shipped off to college. She’d shamelessly flirted with him and complained about her husband’s inadequacies in the bedroom during Chase’s one-too-many trips to her table to fill her water glass.
She’d left him a big fat tip, had returned for dinner two more nights in a row and asked to be seated in his section. On her fourth visit, they were making out in her car in a dark corner of the parking lot. A week later, she took him to a motel in a neighboring town where they began meeting three to four times a week during the rest of the summer. She’d given him his first taste of alcohol, and had taught him how to please her, and every other woman since her. Even to this day, and after being with countless faceless, nameless women, Chase’s experience with Sophie Totten was high on the list of the best sex he ever had.
Then one afternoon when his bike refused to start, Sophie decided to make a house call.
His mother, who’d unexpectedly returned home from work, busted them in Chase’s bedroom, right in the act.
Remorse slowed Chase’s stride through the woods, as he recalled the look of horror on both his mother’s and his lover’s faces. After the shock of finding her baby boy in bed with a married woman old enough to be his mother had worn off, Azura had made Mrs. Selectman stand in the middle of the room—butt naked as she’d found her—while she laid into her. She’d told her that for a married woman in the public eye, she should have higher moral standards, and no wonder our young people were so out of control if it was women like her they had as role models. By the time Azura was done lecturing, Sophie Totten was shaking her head in agreement.
Then Azura had sat Chase down and told him that if she ever heard he had lain in a married woman’s bed again, it didn’t matter to her how old he was, or where he was, she was going to find him and give him a good whooping.
Chase inhaled sharply. Screw-ups like that had made it easy for his mother, and everyone else in Evergreen, to believe that he’d deliberately publicized that X-rated clip the night of the talent show. He’d been charged with intent to distribute pornography, but because his stepuncle was the chief of police at the time, he’d avoided jail time and gotten away with just paying the fine—a fine that had wiped out all his savings.
Now, fifteen years later, Chase knew without a doubt that if Desire married Chad, she would be the second married woman whose bed he would visit time and time again. His mother would be meting out a whole lot of whoopings because he and Desire wouldn’t be able to keep their hands off each other. Some things were just meant to be, and no amount of threats, obstacles, space, detours, or time could change their destiny.
He and Desire belonged together. He’d known it since the day fourteen-year-old Desire had matured into womanhood while snuggled up against him, holding on to him for dear life as they’d cruised through the back roads of Evergreen on his motorcycle.
He’d been seventeen, old enough and wise enough to realize that in order to protect her from himself, and protect himself from her father, who never hid his dislike for Chase, he had to stop hanging out with her.
Chase took a turn in the path and was immediately inundated with memories as the rushing sound of the river graced his ears. A few more yards along, the swift flow of the current rushing downstream, and a long abandoned one-story red brick building that had once been a boarding house sitting up on a gently sloping hill, filled his line of vision. Wheaton Boardinghouse had been home to the young women who’d moved to the area to work in the numerous mills along the river during the Industrial Revolution. On the other side of the river, traffic whipped by in a constant stream on their journey north.
As he walked toward the building, Chase’s heart stirred with heated memories of making out with Desire in one of the rooms during the most exciting, enjoyable, passionate week of his life.
Desire had been eighteen, an adult in the eyes of the law, and old enough to make her own decisions. In effect, even if Gerald Summers hadn’t been ready to accept the reality of his daughter’s adult choices, his threats had no longer mattered to Chase. Nevertheless, Chase had played it safe and kept his and Desire’s budding relationship a secret from the world.
If they hadn’t hidden their love, at least from their families, maybe, just maybe, Chad would not have moved in on his girl, or at the minimum, he might have checked with Chase first to make sure there weren’t any lingering feelings between him and Desire, and the threat of another scandal wouldn’t be looming over their families again. Maybe, just maybe.
Chase took the flight of stone steps leading up from the river shore and strode along a cobbled path toward the front of the building. With the door to the main entrance missing, he stepped inside and removed his sunshades. He stood still for a moment, his eyes scaling the perimeter of the open space that had once served as a foyer, dining, and meeting room. To his right a long hallway, that used to separate two rows of bedrooms on each side, stretched the width of the building. The missing back door afforded him a partial glance of the Presidential Range rising majestically against a clear blue sky, peppered by an array of wispy clouds.
Pulling his camera from his satchel, Chase picked his way carefully through the debris scattered around the entire wing. He inspected, surveyed, and snapped photos of what remained of the interior—the concrete floor, the brick walls, and the exposed ceiling beams. Weather-beaten from a combination of wind, rain, snow, and fallen trees, the roof had been caved in, the interior fixtures gutted, and the windows shattered. The remaining doors barely hung on by their hinges, like stubborn fall leaves, clinging to their branches, refusing to accept the approach of winter and certain death.
The structure had gone from bad to worse in his absence, but what really mattered, the essential qualities, the backbone—rafters, walls, and support beams—were as strong and sturdy as when the foundation had first been laid, well over a hundred years ago. The skeleton of Wheaton Boardinghouse was as sure and sturdy as the majestic mountains behind it. All she needed was a little cosmetic work, a touch up here and there, new interior fixtures, and she would be thriving with life again.
Like Granite Falls, Evergreen had also been one of the most prosperous mill towns in New England. With most of the old buildings in Granite Falls restored and fashioned into thriving businesses, developers—both local and foreign—had set their sights on Evergreen. Because of its perfect location, with the White Mountains serving as a picturesque backdrop and its proximity to the Mannis River that made for some breathtaking views, Wheaton Boardinghouse had been earmarked to become Wheaton Estates, an exclusive assisted-living home for those who could afford to live out their lives in style.
Not a bad place to spend the last of your days, Chase thought as he picked his way along the hallway on the eastern and better preserved wing, also flanked by rows of bedrooms running the width of the building.
Chase’s heart drummed in his ears as he came to a stop at the last room. The door was closed, but the visions of lying on the floor with smooth brown arms and legs wrapped around him wheeled across his mind. Age-old, soft feminine sighs, deep masculine groans, and the sounds of lips smacking intimately against lips and skin resonated in his ears. He’d burned for her, tortured himself by waiting to make love to her in the perfect setting, somewhere more romantic than the musty room of an abandoned building. He’d wanted it to be different with Desire, because she was different from the other girls he’d already been with up to that point—girls he’d taken in a hurry in all kinds of sleazy locations. He’d wanted Desire’s first time to be special because she was special, and so he’d waited.
Chase’s gaze fixated on the black doorknob. For his own peace of mind, the prudent thing would be to leave without going inside where the memories would be even more intense, but being a glutton for punishment, he turned the doorknob and crossed the threshold.
He was greeted by the warm scent of vanilla emitting from three candles on a small table in a corner. His gaze drifted to the floor where a foam mat was spread flat next to the table, a folded fleece blanket in the middle of it.
His stepfather’s old army mat. Chase had provided the mat, and Desire had provided the candles when they had made this building, this room—the biggest and cleanest one on the wing—their temporary love nest.
As his vision lingered on the mat, steamy memories of love in the dark came down on Chase like a crushing waterfall. His skin tingling from Desire’s soft caresses along his back, his buttocks, and his thighs. His heart racing as her lips trailed along his bare chest, her tongue licking his nipples, her mouth moving south to his belly and beyond until he stopped her, pulling her up, laying her along his body, his hard shaft pressing into her hot moist heat as he sucked on her succulent, firm young breasts while they rubbed up against each other, simulating licentious mating rituals until she sighed her climax into his mouth, shaking like a horse-drawn buggy over cobbled stones on top of him.
Chase knelt and ran his palms along the vinyl covering of the mat. No dust or debris from the broken windowpane, and the floor had been swept, he realized, taking a quick glance around the rest of the room. A blue folding card table and two matching folding chairs had been added to the sparse furniture, and a battery operated lamp hung from a nail driven into a block of wood on the wall. A boom box sat on a shelf above the table, with a stack of tapes beside it. Had Desire been visiting their love nest in his absence? Chase wondered. Or had some other love-struck couple found their intimate hiding place and made it theirs?
With a sigh and a mixture of conflicting emotions, Chase chose to go with the former as he stood to his feet, made his way to the door and closed it behind him.
Desire’s love for him was as strong, as steady, and unwavering as it was before he left. If it weren’t, she wouldn’t have let him under her skin this morning. She would not have fought with him, kicked him out of her place of business. He’d felt her struggle to hide her feelings for him, her desire to cave in to the cravings of her heart and body. And he’d sensed her jealousy that he’d slept with Lisa. She still loved him. She just wasn’t ready to admit it.
Chase hoped she came to her senses before her engagement to his brother became public knowledge. Neither the Hunters nor the Summerses could survive another scandal in this town.
He’d made his move. The ball was in her court.
* * *
Chase veered his newly tuned Yamaha into the underground garage of Fontaine Enterprises and cruised toward the area of Bryce’s private elevator. He parked his bike in a space near the back of the garage and climbed off.
“Thanks for the ride, old girl,” he muttered, running his fingers along the newly polished leather seat like it was a lover’s voluptuous bottom, still warm from cuddling his body. He smiled, basking in the pleasure she’d given him on his way back to Granite Falls. Now, if he could only convince Desire to give him a chance, show her that they still fit together, his world would be complete.
Tucking his helmet under his arm, Chase adjusted the strap of the satchel across his shoulder, his heart dancing to another beat as he headed for the elevator. He’d never set foot on the grounds of the building, but he knew it like he knew the back of his hand.
He’d drawn up the designs long before he’d met Bryce Fontaine, one of Granite Falls’ young emerging business moguls. Fontaine Enterprises was operating out of an old mill building by the Aiken River when Bryce had approached Carron Architecture Designs about constructing the headquarters for his company.
Chase was just a gardener at Carron, a college dropout, who—in the eyes of everyone around him—wasn’t headed anywhere in particular. No one had any idea of the passion burning a hole in his heart. Chase had been fascinated with the stunning natural landscape around him ever since he’d had his first panoramic view of the area from a hot air balloon. Even at the age of twelve, his mind had been teeming with visions of large and esthetically designed structures that would enhance the twin towns’ beauty and attract more visitors, residents, and businesses to the area.
And so when Bryce had commissioned the architects at Carron, Chase had begun sketching in secret. His designs—the ones Desire was supposed to display that night—had won the bid. But his name had been removed from the file and someone else’s inserted in its place.
Chase stepped off the elevators into a commodious waiting area, and before he could decipher the merger of emotions that attacked him at being in this building for the first time, he found himself enveloped in a bear hug from Bryce Fontaine, founder and CEO of Fontaine Enterprises.
A giant at six feet four inches tall and a couple feet wide, Bryce was probably the tallest man in the region. They exchanged hearty pats on the backs as if they were best friends seeing each other after years of separation, when in fact they’d met only a few weeks ago in Casco Viejo, a beautiful old historic area of Panama City, Panama.
Bryce had purchased the two rows of dilapidated buildings on one entire street in Casco and had solicited Chase’s architectural expertise to restore the buildings for both residential and business purposes.
“Chase. It’s good to see you, man. In Granite Falls, that is.” Bryce’s grin was wide and bright as he led Chase into his office and closed the door.
“You too, Bryce.” Unable to help himself, Chase scanned the office, his fingers itching with the memory of months of sketching as he’d prepared for the night of the talent show.
“Does it feel strange?” Bryce asked, following his gaze.
Chase nodded. “Yeah, yeah it does.”
“I’ll give you a tour before the others arrive. The caterers are setting up one of the conference rooms down the hall.”
There was a catch in Chase’s voice as he removed his satchel from across his body and wrapped the strap around his wrist. “It might take a week to show me around. I’ll probably want to take my time and thoroughly inspect every nook and cranny. Make sure it meets my initial specifications.”
Bryce nodded. “Totally understand. But you need not worry about any inadequacies. This building has been voted the most esthetically beautiful in the area. The towers come in second and third, and—”
“’Who’s that, Daddy?”
Chase glanced to the other side of the room. He immediately recognized Eli, Bryce’s four-year-old son, from the family pictures Bryce had shown him. The boy, a spitting image of his father, was dressed in a suit and tie, and was seated behind a small desk equipped with a laptop, a phone, and all the other supplies one would find on an office desk.
“Who are you around these parts?” Bryce asked Chase in a lowered voice.
“Mr. Bennett, a potential employee of Fontaine Enterprises. Just for today.”
“Let’s make it Mr. B. for Eli. He hasn’t yet mastered the art of discretion. He thinks everything he hears should be shared with anyone who will listen.”
Chase nodded his acquiescence. It wouldn’t be fun to have his cover blown by a precocious four-year-old, he thought, as he watched Eli remove a pair of enormous headphones from his ears and set them on the desk.
Bryce turned to face his son. “This is Mr. B.”
“Is he one of our employees?” Eli asked, as he climbed down from his chair and walked toward his father and Chase.
“No, Eli. He’s not an employee.” Bryce indicated for Chase to follow him across the office.
“Is he an associate?” Eli asked, following them.
“Something like that,” Bryce said with a grin, as they stopped in the seating area under the wall of glass that overlooked the White Mountains.
Eli held out his hand to Chase. “Hi, I’m Bryce Henry Eli Fontaine, but you can call me Eli. I’m four, and I have a sister named Elyse. She’s four, too ‘cause we are twins. But I’m older, and bigger. I also have three cousins: Jason, Alyssa, and Anastasia, but they’re older than me. Do you have brothers and sisters and cousins, too, Mr. B?”
Whoa. Chase blinked in rapid successions. Bryce wasn’t kidding about his son’s proclivity to share information. “Hello, Eli, it’s an honor to meet you. And yes, I have one brother, no sisters,” he said, equally impressed with the child’s firm grip.
“It’s nice to meet you, too, Mr. B.”
Now, this was the kind of son he’d fantasized about making with Desire, Chase thought. Handsome, smart, and cultured. His son or daughter would be about ten or eleven years now. But from his encounter with Desire this morning, his gut told him there was still hope.
“What kind of business are you in?” Eli asked. “Are you rich like my daddy? Are you a billionaire?”
“Okay, that’s enough interrogation,” Bryce interjected in a stern voice. “Go back to your movie, Eli. Mr. B and I have business to discuss.”
“Okay, Daddy.” Eli reluctantly returned to his desk and replaced his headphones.
“Wow, you’ve got him trained,” Chase said, grinning. “I realize he’s your son, and that he’ll take over Fontaine Enterprises one day, but isn’t he a little young for grooming? I mean, he has his own desk in your office. Aren’t there child labor laws in this state?”
The roar of Bryce’s laugh resounded around the room. “Don’t you worry, Mr. B. I’m not breaking any laws where my son is concerned. Kaya is taking Eli and Elyse to Tashi’s Photography for a sitting. They model for her. Well, all five of my kids do. Tashi is doing a piece on twins’ fashion for some fancy New York magazine. Eli begged to come in with me this morning. Kaya’s picking him up on her way to Tashi’s studio.”
“Tashi is, um—” Chase tapped his finger against his forehead and furrowed his brows. “Adam’s wife, right?”
“Yes.” Bryce indicated a club chair, and then sat in the one across from Chase.
Chase placed his satchel and his helmet on the floor at his feet. “And Erik is married to Michelle. They have four kids between them, and—”
“Soon to be five. They’re adopting a little six-year-old boy from Columbia. Matthew.”
“Good for them. And Massimo is married to Shaina. They have a daughter and a new son.”
Bryce nodded. “Mass Jr.”
“And you and Kaya are pregnant, again. Congratulations.”
“Thank you,” he said, his smile warm and affectionate as he obviously thought of his child growing inside his wife’s belly. “You’ve been studying.”
“I make a point of knowing the major details about my clients’ lives, especially those who live in my hometown.” As he observed Bryce’s expression, Chase knew that he would also be beaming with pride and wonder when Desire’s belly became swollen with his own child. He stretched his legs out in front of him as an indefinable feeling of rightness filled him. “Was Baia degli Amanti to your satisfaction?” he asked Bryce.
“It exceeded it. We were all awed at the luxury and coziness of the cottages, the landscaping. It was spectacular.”
“I’m not going to ask about the last-minute dance pole request. I can only imagine the lascivious acts that took place on that island.”
Bryce laughed. “You can ask, but what happens in Baia degli Amanti stays in Baia degli Amanti. I can only tell you that those poles enhanced the honeymoon experience for all of us.”
Now that was the kind of silly, elated expression one would expect from a man in love when he talked about his woman, Chase thought, as he watched Bryce’s grin widen and deepen as he obviously recalled flashbacks of his honeymoon last year. “As long as my clients are satisfied.”
“Oh, we were immensely satisfied with everything. Our time on the island brought us closer together as husbands and wives, as friends, and families. We shared information with each other that we’d never shared before.” Bryce sobered up and leaned forward. “And speaking of sharing information, have you told your family who you really are?”
“No, not yet.”
“What about Desire? Have you seen her?”
Bryce was the only other living soul who knew how he felt about Desire. “I saw her this morning. She wasn’t happy to see me.”
“No?” He quirked an eyebrow.
“She’s engaged to be married to my brother.”
Bryce sat up straight. “You don’t say. Since when?”
“He proposed four days ago, and she accepted. But they haven’t made it public yet.”
“And, I assume that it won’t be made public.”
“Your assumption is correct, my friend. I just have to get this business with DC Designs taken care of first.”
“When it comes to matters of the heart, you can’t play around. You can’t delay.” Bryce admonished.
“Oh, I have no intentions of playing. As to delaying, twelve years is enough. Desire Summers will be mine by the end of the week,” Chase stated with a pulse-pounding certainty.
“A man after my own heart. I’m so glad you’re finally home, Chase.”
“It is good to be home, Bryce.” Chase smiled for a plethora of reasons.