Chasing After Him Read Free Page B

o’clock on a Saturday night, and she wilted like Mom’s
tomato plants without rain. Dark smudges lay beneath eyes still shadowed by
exhaustion and what I guessed to be depression.
    While I’d enjoyed getting to know more about her, the stories she told
reaffirmed my belief she worked too damn hard. When she drifted off to sleep,
still curled in the corner of my couch, I sat and watched her for a while. Her brow
furrowed as she shifted.
    She needed a good night’s rest and a dozen or so days off. Not that
she’d take a single one even if given the opportunity. While I admired the shit
out of her, she was just too damn focused for her own good.
    I lifted her off the couch into my arms. She weighed next to nothing
and smelled like a ripe southern peach. My cock took note with a little twitch,
but I frowned him down.
    It’s Charlene, you greedy
bastard. Charlene.
    She didn’t so much as crack an eyelid as I carried her up the dark stairs.
I’d opened the large grate over the fireplace earlier in the day, so my bedroom
above the living room would be warmer than her own. I laid her on my un-made
bed and pulled the comforter up to her chin.
    My LED alarm clock threw off enough light I could see her brow smooth
as she snuggled against my pillow. A sigh parted her lips, and I stared again. I
wondered if she tasted as good as she smelled—all sweetness and sunshine.
    With a shake of my head, I left her alone and headed outside into the
cold to cool off the sudden interest my cock had taken in my neighbor.
    ****
    Took me a long fuckin’ time to realize the dinging annoying the hell
outta me was my cell. Still half-dead to the world, I reached over to the
coffee table and felt around, knocking over one of the empty cocoa mugs.
    Charlene .
    I scrubbed a hand down my face and sat up, grimacing at the crick in my
neck from sleeping on the couch. “Morning.”
    “Hey. Sorry to bother you so early.” Her breathless voice stirred my morning
wood to life.
    Eyelids half-mast, I glanced at the windows. No light filtered around
the blinds. “What time is it?”
    “Five-thirty-ish.”
    Too fucking early. “You still upstairs?”
    “No. I left a half hour ago to get ready for work, but my car won’t
start.” Panic laced her voice. “I have to be at Boston Children’s in a half hour.
I’m sorry to bother you, but—”
    “No. No.” I threw off my blanket, realizing the heat had kicked back on
during the night. “Not a problem. I’ll be out in two.”
    I disconnected without waiting for her reply and threw on my coat atop
the clothing I’d fallen asleep in. I probably didn’t smell too great, but
Charlene wouldn’t give a shit about anything but getting to work on time.
    If I had her dedication and driven spirit, I’d have been more than a mere
regional manager in the Risso Family business.   I tripped over my boots in the entryway and
let out a string of curses over my stubbed toe before tugging them on.
    At least I’d shoveled our entryways while she’d slept. Keys in hand, I
pulled my door shut behind me and stepped out into the fresh three inches that
had fallen while I’d slept. “Hey.”
    Bright blue eyes latched on to me as I neared her floodlight lit driveway,
and I grinned.
    “Are you always this happy?” she asked with a frown, her foot tapping.
    “Pretty much, yeah. Come on.” I motioned her toward my Cherokee. “I’ll
drive rather than give you a jump. Save five minutes.”
    Charlene grumbled something beneath her breath and hurried after me.
    We settled onto the cold leather seats, and I blasted through the mound
of snow the plows had left in front of my driveway.
    “Thanks for last night.”
    “Not a problem.” I pulled up to a stop sign and turned left.
    “You didn’t need to give me your bed. I could have slept on the couch.”
    “Did you get a good night’s sleep?”
    She sighed. “Like a baby.”
    “I sleep like the dead regardless of where I am. My cell rang a few
times before I