Page 105 of Chasing Grace
Dragging her tail, she trailed Grant into the foyer and made a concerted attempt to jam her feet into a pair of rubber boots. The process made all the more difficult by her refusal to put socks on first. She hopped around on one foot for a while, then the other.
When she finally had the boots on, she grabbed an oversized lumber jacket and put it on. The sleeves hung well past the tips of her fingers. Grant shook his head and rolled both cuffs up to her wrists. “You ready now?”
Since a walk had been his idea in the first place, she didn’t bother to respond with words. Instead, she narrowed her eyes and let her bad mood communicate her state of readiness with a look that shot daggers at his head.
He laughed. “I’ll take that as a yes.” He opened the heavy wooden door leading to the porch, and at the sight of the man on the other side, her heart stopped dead before it threatened to explode by taking off at a hundred miles an hour.
Her feet followed suit, and she crashed into Chase like a wrecking ball. Arms and legs wrapped around him, she clung to him while she bit back the sting of tears.Oh God!He was here. He’d come back.
He’d promised he would, but she hadn’t dared to believe it. Not completely. Not until right this moment. Now. In his arms, with his capable hands holding her as tightly as she held him, she was home.
Chase laughed. “Miss me?” he asked, planting a kiss to the side of her head.
“Nope,” she lied. “Tak?”
“Still no sign.”
“I’m sorry. It’s my—”
“This is not your fault.” His tone of voice brokered no argument. “None of this is, okay?” She nodded, and he continued, his voice as gentle as the fingers running through her hair. “Trust me. We’ll find him, baby. I promise.” He trailed his hand down her back until it landed on her ass. “Are you going to get down so I can kiss you properly?”
He squeezed her butt cheek before trying to shake her loose, and she hooked her rubber-clad ankles behind his back. “Nope.” She had a strong desire to go nowhere fast and fully intended to stay within the circle of his arms for as long as possible. A week sounded reasonable. Maybe longer.
“So we can go inside and…mmph?”
“Nope.”
“How long am I going to have to carry you?” he grunted, hitching her higher as he crossed the threshold.
She huffed. “It’s gonna be a while, Rambo.” Like forever. Forever sounded pretty fucking good to her.
“I need to start working out.”
“We have a gym.”
A snort from Grant reminded her they had an audience. It also reminded her he’d been looking forward to Chase’s return almost as much as she. Grant Kincaid wasn’t JTT. The only reason he’d stuck around was because Chase had asked him to watch over her.
She didn’t want him to go but had no reason to ask him to stay.
“Kincaid,” Chase said as he made his way past.
“Fucknut.”
“Glad you finally made it,” Z said, coming down the hall and offering his hand when he reached them.
“Nice place, Z. We hitting the iron later?” Chase clasped Zander’s palm with a meaty smack.
“You bet. Maybe do some cardio too. Looks like you packed on an extra hundred and seventy-five there.” Z poked her in the ribs and then had the nerve to laugh at her scowl as he dodged the swat she aimed at his head.
“Anything new?” Chase asked Jay as he rounded the corner with an empty cereal bowl in one hand and a coffee mug in the other.
“Sorry, Mac.” Stress level evident in the set of his shoulders and the roughed-up look of his curly black hair, Jay broadcast all the signs of some extreme fatigue. The online search for Tak wasn’t going well, and it had taken its toll.
Chase nodded. “You need some sleep. Take a break and knock back some rum. We’ll catch up later.”
“Is that an order?” Jay asked, a tired smile playing with the corner of his hairy lip.
“You bet your ass it is. Speaking of asses, how’s Cody?” Chase made another attempt to set her down, and she tightened her hold.
