Chasing Strength: A Harper Family Romance Page 12

  Chris shook his hand. “Thanks.”

  A few minutes later, he pushed through the glass doors of the Sheriff’s office onto the sidewalk just off Main Street. He’d darkened the doors of the station more times than he could count in the years he’d been working for the Gazette, but somehow, the place felt different now that Robin was the reason he stopped by.

  A familiar woman rounded the corner at the end of the block, her blond hair blowing behind her in the slight spring breeze. He looked closer, not wanting to make the same mistake again.

  As she closed the distance between them, her head lowered over her phone, it was clear that this was Alexis and not her sister. The way she walked… the position of her shoulders. He couldn’t quite explain it, but he recognized her individuality. And her sister didn’t send tingles through his gut. Chris yelled to get her attention. “Alexis!”

  Her head snapped up and she smiled. He strode up to her and folded her into a hug. His lips found hers as though he was thirsty and she was a big glass of water. Had it really only been a couple of days since he’d seen her? Even though they texted throughout the day, it felt like an eternity, and the moment their lips touched, all his stresses melted away. She relaxed into him and kissed him back, her lips sweet and soft on his.

  A car horn startled him. Kissing on the sidewalk in the middle of downtown Cedar Hill, such as it was, was probably not the most dignified thing to do. One thing about small towns was that the gossip mill was alive and well. Oftentimes it served to his advantage. Others, like now, he didn’t welcome the attention focused on him.

  He broke the kiss and tightened his arms around her. “Sorry. I just couldn’t wait another moment to kiss you.”

  “No need to apologize,” she said, her lips swollen from their kisses and her eyes glazed over. He was glad he wasn’t the only one. “What are you doing out here?”

  “I could ask you the same thing. I was coming from the Sheriff’s department.”

  Her gaze softened and she tightened her grip around him. He appreciated the silent show of support. “Has there been a development in Robin’s case?”

  He loved that she remembered and cared about the details of his life, even the painful ones. What would it be like to have a partner to stand by his side during his ordeal? “No news. I just like to check in once in a while. Make sure they don’t forget her.”

  “I’m so sorry you have to go through that. I can’t imagine losing one of my siblings.”

  Neither could he, until it had happened to him. His phone beeped on his belt. “Hold on a sec.” He glanced at the text from Zach and his heart fell. “I’m sorry. Duty calls. But listen… My buddy Zach is coming over tonight. I was hoping you’d come, too. I’ll cook for us.”

  She hesitated and bit her lip the way she did when she was nervous.

  Had he lost ground with her when he’d begged off making love the other night? “Why don’t you call up Jessica and bring her along?”

  Alexis’s features visibly relaxed. “Good idea. Hold on a minute.” She whipped out her phone, her fingers flying across the keys. A minute later, she smiled. “What time do you want us there?”

  “How about seven?” His phone beeped again. He pressed a quick kiss to her lips and then hurried toward the curb. “I have to go. I’ll text you the address.”

  Her laughter followed him until he closed his truck door. The sooner he got to the accident scene, took his notes, and filed his story, the sooner he would see Alexis again.

  Chapter 12

  Alexis’s belly clenched as her fist hovered in front of Chris’s door. Why in the hell couldn’t she knock? Chris had been to her house several times. What was the big deal about going to his? Granted, on their last date, he’d rejected her. She’d tried to cover, but he immediately picked up on her disappointment. He’d said it was him and not her, but that didn’t stop her mind from cycling through self-doubt.

  After thinking about it further, she agreed that they weren’t quite ready.

  Was tonight the night?

  She wasn’t sure, but she’d picked a matching bra and panty set, just in case.

  Jessica nudged her shoulder. “Are we going to stand on the porch for the entire night?”

  Before Alexis could second guess herself again, she pounded on the door.

  Footsteps sounded on the floor inside the house and then the door flew open… and it wasn’t Chris. She whipped out her phone, swiping up to the text message with his address. Right house number, but was she on the wrong street?

  She glanced at the man, his wide eyes scanning her face. He sputtered and then finally spoke. “Wow, you really can’t tell the difference.”

  What in the hell was he talking about? She was mortified enough that she might have approached the wrong house. “Excuse me?”

  “Between you and your twin.”

  Of course, he was talking about her sister. “Oh, you’ve met Serena.”

  “Yeah, at Java with Chris. I couldn’t believe that he had trouble telling you apart, but now I see why.” He stepped back. “I’m sorry. Come on in. Chris is in the back.”

  Her shoulders relaxed when she realized she was indeed at the right house. Alexis motioned to Jessica who barely made it up the stoop before the man extended his hand. “I’m Zach. Chris’s friend. And you are…”

  “Jessica. Alexis’s friend.” She practically cooed the words.

  “Come on, Jessica.” Alexis grabbed Jessica’s elbow. She and Chris’s friend would have enough time to get to know each other later. Right now, she needed her BFF by her side.

  Zach led the way through the house, but Alexis wasn’t about to be rushed. This was her first glimpse at his home. The layout was similar to Izzy and Tanner’s house around the corner but definitely had a bachelor feel. The dark leathers, the hardwood floors, empty walls adorned primarily with a wide-screen TV. But there was a warmth to the blanket slung over the back of the couch that faced a stone fireplace, the newspaper folded into thirds and discarded on the coffee table, as if Chris intended to get back to it and just hadn’t yet.

  She passed through a cozy kitchen on the way to his patio where she found him manning the grill.

  Zach cleared his throat, and Chris spun around, a huge smile on his face. “You’re here. Nice to see you again, Jessica.” Chris pressed a kiss to Alexis’s cheek and rested a hand on her hip. “I take it you met Zach. Sorry I couldn’t answer the door. The grill decided it would flame up right at that second.”

  “It’s all right, although I think I shocked him.”

  Zach said, “You weren’t kidding, man. Even now, I don’t know how you tell them apart. It was much easier with—”

  Chris coughed and scowled at Zach, and the other man snapped his mouth shut. What was he about to say?

  “The steaks and potatoes are almost ready. Can I offer you guys a soda or some iced tea?”

  Jessica threw her a look, but Alexis ignored her friend. “I’d love a soda.”

  Drinks were passed around and Jessica and Zach moved to the other side of the deck, their heads lowered as they spoke to each other. She figured they were giving she and Chris a moment alone, but she still envied Jessica’s ability to make friends wherever she went. Alexis would never be able to strike up a conversation with a practical stranger. At least not without some liquid courage to loosen the words that stuck in her throat.

  Chris leaned on the railing, his feet crossed, as he brought a bottle of root beer to his lips. Her gaze locked on his throat as he swallowed. Damn, if Zach and Jessica weren’t here, she’d be jumping his bones about now.

  “I’m glad you came tonight.” He rested his hand on her waist, not pulling her to him, but not letting her get out of his reach. Before Chris, she never would have thought that a simple touch could convey so much emotion. “I missed you.”

  She chuckled. “It’s been, like, two days. And besides, you saw me this morning on the street.”

  He smacked his hand on his chest and feig
ned shock. “Are you saying you didn’t miss me?” And at last he pulled her closer.

  Of course she had. He’d filled her thoughts during the day and had starred in her dreams practically every night since the day she’d met him. She remembered the feel of his erection against her the other night and squeezed her thighs together against the ache building in her core. “I missed you. I haven’t known you that long, but somehow, you snuck in.”

  “I feel the same way.” He glanced across the deck at Zach and Jessica, their heads pressed together discussing who knows what. “I wish we could be alone, but I wanted you to meet Zach. He’s a good friend.”

  She gestured at her friend and his buddy. “I think Jessica is getting to know him better than I am.”

  “If that’s the case, then all the better. I want your friends to like my friends.” He brushed his lips over her cheek and released her.

  That was an interesting perspective. Alexis had never been involved enough with a guy to worry whether they got along with her friends. And growing up, her selection of dates had been more about finding boys her father would hate.

  She wanted her family to get to know Chris. To like him as much as she did. She’d never wanted that for anyone else in her life before.

  Chris tended to the grill as Alexis admired Chris’s back yard. A wide expanse of grass stretched from the patio to a row of trees and brush at the back of the lot. A fence circled the entire yard. It would be a perfect place for Bandit to stretch his legs, to run around the edges like he did at her house.

  It both shocked her that she could envision a future with Chris and frightened her that she could possibly ruin a good thing.

  Before long, the steaks sizzled their way to a perfect warm pink and the potatoes steamed to fluffy perfection, so the four of them carried their plates to the picnic table.

  Alexis had barely brought her first bite to her mouth when Zach hit her with the question she’d been fielding most of her life.

  “So, Alexis. What was it like growing up as a twin?”

  “Zach,” Chris growled.

  She rested her hand on Chris’s arm, not quite sure why he was annoyed. Yeah, it was irritating to be asked over and over, but she couldn’t blame anyone for being curious. “At times it was great. I always had a best friend, no matter what. From the time Serena and I were little, we seemed to have a unique way of communicating. We can almost hear what the other person is thinking. It used to drive my other sister and my brother nuts when Serena and I could carry on an entire conversation in our minds and they wouldn’t know what we were talking about.”

  Zach propped his elbow on the redwood picnic table as she spoke. “That sounds pretty cool. I don’t have any siblings.”

  “Mine are great.” Even when they were up in her business, she knew it was because they loved her. “They’re all engaged or married now. I’m the only single one.”

  Jessica jumped into the conversation. “Tell him about the times you and Serena switched places.”

  Alexis chuckled. “It was back in middle school. Serena was really good at math and I hated it, so when we had a long-term sub, we used to switch classes so that she could take my tests. It’s the only way I made it through math and it’s how she passed English.”

  Chris snaked his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. “The teacher never knew?”

  “If she did, she didn’t say anything. By the time we got older, it was harder to pull that off because we would wear our hair and clothes different.” And Serena always had a smile on her face while, by that time, Alexis sported a permanent scowl. How her sister had managed to stay positive through the turmoil of their teenage years, Alexis still didn’t quite understand.

  “I should have known that it wasn’t you when I saw your sister on the street,” Chris added.

  “You mean while she was snuggling up with Chase?” Alexis teased. She would have been shocked, and pissed, if she’d seen Chris with another woman. She couldn’t imagine what he had thought, but that was no reason not to have a little fun at his expense.

  “Well, yeah. If I’d have considered it for a minute instead of jumping to the wrong conclusion, I would have put two and two together.”

  “In Chris’s defense,” Zach added, “when he first saw you, I mean your sister, she was pretty far down the sidewalk. Even seeing you now, I don’t know how he could be expected to tell the difference.”

  “If you look close enough…” Chris snuggled her tighter. “You can tell. It’s in their eyes. And the way Alexis tilts her head when she’s thinking. And I bet that they don’t—”

  She smacked him across the chest. Embarrass her much? “I think they get the point.”

  Zach and Jessica laughed and then Zach darted his gaze to Chris. He shook his head, almost imperceptibly but enough that she noticed. They had a secret. Something Chris didn’t want her to know. He was entitled to his privacy, but she was a thriller writer for a reason—she loved to solve the mystery.

  Chris was a mystery she planned to solve.

  The rest of dinner continued much as it started, easy conversation and heated looks between her and Chris. She felt every minute of his thigh pressed against hers, and partway through the meal, he snaked his hand under the table and intertwined their fingers together. The sweet gesture had the butterflies doing the backstroke in her belly and every nerve ending standing up at attention. She was wound tight, and it wouldn’t be long before she exploded.

  As the sky darkened at dusk, Chris lit the fire pit in the middle of the patio, where Adirondack chairs circled the flames. After plates were cleared, the four of them nestled in the warmth of the fire. It was all Alexis could do to remain in her own chair instead of climbing into Chris’s lap, straddling his legs, and kissing him until he didn’t remember his own name.

  It grew quiet, only a few words from time to time to break the silence. Jessica and Zach had scooted their chairs together, their legs intertwined. Alexis sank into the comfort of the cushions on the wooden frame, the structure surrounding her as though it protected her from what hid in the dark. She tucked her feet beneath her and pulled her cardigan tight around her shoulders.

  Chris leaned over and whispered, “I’ll be right back.”

  Alexis took a sip of her soda. Soon enough, Chris returned with a guitar in his hands. He plucked a couple of the strings, made a few adjustments with the knobs at the top, and a minute later, the gentle strains of chords filled the air. As though they were joining in the orchestra, the spring peepers began their own song. For a long time, the music filled the space between them. Once in a while, Chris would hum or sing a few words, his deep voice washing over her, but other times, it was just his fingers on the strings, the soulful strains telling the story without any additions.

  This man continued to amaze her, and she learned new things about him every day she spent with him. He’d never mentioned he played the guitar.

  Any other time, sitting in the dark listening to music would have been accompanied by a cocktail or two. Or ten. Alexis didn’t like the silence, the darkness spinning her thoughts toward a place she didn’t want to go. But Chris didn’t have any alcohol… and if she was serious about forging a future different from her father’s, it was better that way. The sooner she stopped depending on a drink to get her through a rough patch—or a good patch—the sooner she could focus on the positive things in her life and not the ones that dragged her down.

  Jessica’s voice broke the silence after Chris had finished playing. “Well, you guys, I don’t know about you, but I’m beat. I’ve got an early day tomorrow.”

  Alexis hated breaking the spell that Chris had woven, and she really wasn’t ready to leave, but she’d picked Jessica up on her way over here. “I guess that’s my cue.”

  Chris popped up beside her and then Zach rose as well. “You don’t need to leave. I can take Jessica home.” He turned his attention to her friend. “If it’s okay with you?”

  Jessica’s gaze met Alexi
s’s, searching for her opinion. Alexis nodded. There was no way Chris would introduce Jessica to someone he didn’t completely trust. Not after the way he reacted to the bastard at the bar and the way he’d pushed Eric to walk Jessica to her car the other night. But the bottom line was that Jessica was Alexis’s responsibly. “I appreciate it, Zach, but I can’t ask you to do that. I can take her home.”

  He hooked his arm around Jessica’s shoulder. “You didn’t ask, I offered.”

  Jessica leaned into Zach’s hug. “Really, Alexis. It’s all right. I’d like Zach to take me home.”

  That seemed to be all the permission Zach needed. He grasped Jessica’s hand and hurried her into the house. A minute later, his engine started up on the curb and pulled away, the sound fading until she could no longer hear it.

  And then she and Chris were alone.

  * * *

  As the sound of Zach’s car diminished, Chris stepped up behind Alexis, wrapping his arms around her. She relaxed into him, her backside pressing against the erection he’d been fighting since the minute she’d emerged from his house wearing a T-shirt that clung to every curve and a pair of faded jeans that hugged her hips and thighs. Now that they were alone, he didn’t hesitate to show her what she did to him.

  She spun to face him and snaked her arms around his neck. Their mouths came together as though they’d known each other forever and, at the same time, as if it was completely new. He had a feeling that he could spend his entire life getting to know all of Alexis’s intricacies.

  He sipped from her lips, teasing and tasting, her body pressed against his, until she broke the kiss. He rested his forehead on hers, his breathing ragged as he struggled to control himself. He wanted Alexis in his bed, in his life, but it wasn’t fair to take that step until she knew everything there was to know about him.

  Now was as good a time as any.

  He squeezed her tight and then settled back onto his chair, pulling Alexis onto his lap. Her ass teased his erection and he sucked in a breath, willing it to relax for a little while longer. Once he’d revealed his final secret, he’d be free to move forward with Alexis.