Page 1 of On the Chase
Chapter 1
“I don’t trust him.”
Kaylee stared at her friend—her apparentlyinsanefriend. “How can you not trust him? Haven’t you seen his cheekbones? And those eyes? And pretty much his entire face? He looks like a freaking Disney prince. How can you not trust a Disney prince?”
“Pretty is as pretty does,” Penny muttered, shoving dresses aside with a little too much force.
Kaylee snorted, reaching toward the rack despite the risk of losing a finger to Penny’s violent sorting. She grabbed a dress and moved out of the closet so she could toss it on the growing pile on her bed. Not for the first time, Kaylee was grateful for her expansive walk-in closet. Not only did it hold her excessive amount of clothes and a truly extravagant number of shoes, but it also made it possible to give a wrathful Penny some space. The woman had pointy elbows and knew how to use them. “You’re channeling your grandma Nita again.”
Yanking another dress off the rack, Penny used the hanger to point at Kaylee. “She’d totally agree with me on this. You’re blinded by hormones and can’t see that your prince is actually the villain—or at least the semi-villain. I deal with men like him every day. I know what I’m talking about.”
Crossing her arms, Kaylee leaned her shoulder against the closet doorframe. “Do you think that maybe, just maybe, the guys you come into contact with at work are making you a little bitter and jaded? I mean, it’s an emergency women’s shelter. That’s a pretty skewed sample of the male population.”
“I’m not bitter and jaded.” Penny paused before adding, “Not yet, at least. And I’m really good at spotting a toad in prince’s clothing. It’s my superpower.”
Despite her best efforts at keeping Penny’s gloom and doom from darkening her mood, doubt tugged at Kaylee. Trying to hide her sudden frown, she turned to stare at the mound of dresses on the bed, a rainbow of silky fabrics and wonderful possibilities.
The California sun streamed through the window, making the entire room glow and turning the white bedding silver around the edges. When she’d been searching for a condo two years ago, Kaylee’s top requirement had been light—a lot of it. After spending her childhood in a cramped Midwestern basement apartment, she couldn’t get enough sunlight. Her condo was everything her home growing up had not been—warm and bright and clean. She’d spent too many years cold, poor, and helpless, and she wasn’t going to go back to that…ever.
The scrape of a hanger against the rod brought her back to the present.
“It’s been so long since I found a good guy,” Kaylee said wistfully, keeping her gaze on the dresses. “They’re out there, though, and I need to believe that Noah is one of them. After all, he invited me to his uncle’s house, and the man pretty much raised Noah. A toad wouldn’t invite me home to meet his family, right? You just need to give him a chance.”
Risking another glance at Penny, Kaylee hid a half smile. She knew that scowl. It meant her friend was seconds away from caving. “Please? Let me have my fairy tale for a few more dates? If he turns into a complete ass, then I’ll even let you say ‘I told you so’ while we throw darts at his picture—the really pointy, dangerous darts that they’ve banned in the U.S. because too many kids lost their eyeballs.Please?”
“Fine,” Penny grumbled. Kaylee had known that she wouldn’t be able to resist. Besides peanut butter ice cream and motorcycles, Penny’s favorite thing in the world was being right—and getting to crow about it. Now if Noah could keep acting like the perfect boyfriend he’d promised to be, then Penny would be proven wrong, and Kaylee’s story could have a happy ending. “Here.” Penny thrust a dress toward Kaylee.
“Oh, Penny…you’re the best!” As soon as she accepted the hanger, Kaylee knew it was the one. The dress was simple and elegant and just perfect. Pressing it against her front, she did a little spin, her happiness bubbling out of her. The dress felt silky and sinfully good under her hand, and she couldn’t help but remember all the thrift store hand-me-downs she’d had growing up—all the thin coats and musty-smelling boots and scratchy blankets that never managed to be warm enough. The memory of that bone-deep cold was the main reason she’d fought so hard to be here in California, a place where winter never came.
Penny snorted a laugh. “What’s with the dress-dancing? Are you trying to be an ethnically ambiguous Sleeping Beauty right now? Since that makes me the helpful rodent, I’m not loving this theme.”
“No,” Kaylee huffed, although she couldn’t hold a straight face. “You’re the twittery bird.” Grinning, she dodged Penny’s mock punch and twirled around the bedroom again. “I’m just happy. Everything is going right. I have a job I love, a home I love, a Penny I love, a dress I love, a new boyfriend I…”
Narrowing her eyes, Penny warned, “Don’t say it.”
Even Penny’s death glare couldn’t dampen Kaylee’s spirits, and she laughed merrily. “A new boyfriend I could really, really come to like. How about that?”
Penny made a skeptical sound. “As long as you don’t let that ‘like’ blind you to any creeper warning signs.”
“I won’t,” Kaylee promised. The sunlight soaked into her skin, warming her, and she wiggled her toes in delight. It was going to be an amazing night. She could just feel it.
* * *
“You really are a Disney prince,” she blurted.
Noah’s eyebrows drew together even as he laughed and leaned closer so the other guests around the table couldn’t hear their conversation. “What?”
“I mean, your hair alone is pretty much irrefutable evidence.” Kaylee fought the urge to reach over and muss it a little. It was gold and perfect, just long enough to frame his handsome face. Sure, credit could be given to a talented and expensive stylist, but Kaylee was leaning more toward princely genes. “And you open doors and pull out chairs and—”
“That’s manners, not proof that I’m animated royalty,” Noah interrupted, his mouth still curled in amusement. “If I really were a prince, I would’ve picked you up tonight. That was very unprincely of me.”
Kaylee waved off his apology as she leaned to the side, giving the server room to place a delicate cup holding her after-dinner coffee in front of her. After thanking her, Kaylee turned back to Noah. “You had a meeting,andyou offered to send a car. I don’t think that qualifies as being rude.”
With a playful frown, he said, “An offer you turned down. I hate that you have to make the drive back alone.”
As smitten as she was with Noah, she had to roll her eyes at that. “It’s a thirty-minute drive. I’ll survive.” Kaylee didn’t mention that the seed of doubt Penny had planted had prompted her to decline. It made her feel safer to have her own transportation, just in case.Not that I’ll need to escape, she thought, taking in Noah’s warm smile and amused blue eyes.
Martin, Noah’s uncle, cleared his throat, drawing her attention to where he sat at the head of the table, framed by the wall of windows behind him. Darkness transformed the glass into a mirror, reflecting the enormous room back at them—as if it needed to look twice as big. The house was huge, set like an island on lush, irrigated, and landscaped acres. Kaylee couldn’t even imagine how much the sprawling LA property was worth.
