“Oh, you know, with everything.”
“What’s everything?” Chase grinned playfully at her, and Norah felt herself suck in her bottom lip again and tug on it with her teeth, an annoying new habit she’d found herself doing lately whenever Chase was within a certain proximity.
“H7J1? Things are getting real here. It’s scary. And sometimes this job can be, you know, a lot. I just wanted to make sure you’re doing okay.”
“You heard me talking to Jamie out there, didn’t you?” Chase’s grin grew.
“How do you do that? How do you always know where I am?” Norah scoffed.
“I had a tracker implanted in you years ago.”
Norah frowned at her. “Really.”
“I just… God this is going to sound so stupid. I can just sort of feel you there. There’s no other way to say it that doesn’t sound weird or obsessive, or like some Ted Bundy shit. But it’s true. When you’re nearby, I get this warmth. It’s like when you’re sitting in front of a fire in the dead of winter. Everything behind you and next to you is freezing cold, but your chest, your stomach, your face, everything from there on forward is warm and safe and, I don’t know, right. When you’re nearby, everything just feels right. It’s been like that since we met. You settle me in a way I can’t even explain. Always have.”
Chase’s cheeks colored, and she shook her head.
“Sorry. I know that sounds dumb,” Chase added with a sheepish laugh.
Norah’s mouth had fallen open, which she was grateful for because her lip was damn near bloody, and her pulse throbbed in her neck. She couldn’t find a single word to say to Chase. Shemoved, almost levitating without any degree of consciousness, until she was standing between Chase’s open legs. Chase looked up at her with her confident, calming eyes and cautious smile. Her chin was angled perfectly toward Norah’s, and all Norah wanted to do was lean down and press her swollen lips against Chase’s. The air between them was dense and hot and hypercharged, like it had been every day since this horrendous virus had brought them back together—had given them a second chance. It took every bit of willpower Norah had learned in the military not to move a single centimeter. Once she did, she was headed on a one-way trajectory directly to Chase. And that couldn’t happen.
Chase was equally still. But she was, like always, the first to break, moving her hands devastatingly slowly up to Norah’s sides, where she took her time traveling down the curves of Norah’s hips and waist before finally settling on the outside of her thighs. Norah inched closer, until she could feel the heat coming off Chase’s shorts. Every single muscle below her bellybutton tensed and twitched, and she stilled herself once again to keep from straddling Chase right then and there. The want was agonizing. She wasn’t used to losing control like this. No. She hadn’t lost control yet. She was still okay.
But she didn’t break away from Chase’s gentle hold either. She brought one hand to the back of Chase’s head and ran her fingers through the thick, short hair, pulling Chase against her.
“I think we’re breaking our own rules,” Chase said lightly, making no effort to move.
“They’re harder rules to keep than I thought…”
Chase moaned in agreement, and they stayed just like that for what felt like forever. Norah wanted more. She wanted so much more. But rules were rules. And there were a million and one reasons she should let go.
“Chase? Can I come in?” Jamie’s timid voice hailed from outside the tent, sending Norah several steps back from the dangerous line she’d been so close to crossing.
“Uh, just a second. I’m…” Chase looked at Norah, who raised her brow expectantly, and Chase shrugged. “What?” she mouthed silently.
Norah sent her a first-class eye roll and strolled confidently to the door, quickly brushing her palms down her sides where Chase’s hands had been just a second earlier. Her eyes closed involuntarily, she indulged in the heat that still prickled against the skin of her bare legs. When she opened them again, her feet seemed to have landed back on the ground, and the world was once again spinning on its usual axis.
“Come in.”
Jamie’s always expressive face did little to hide the surprise she was obviously feeling at finding Norah there so late at night.
“Captain. I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you were—”
“Not at all, Private. Chase.” Norah cleared her throat. “Dr. Durgin and I were just catching up on a few last-minute details before the briefing tomorrow.” She offered Jamie a cordial smile, more than a little pleased with herself for what seemed to be a very believable white lie. Norah did hate to lie. But what could she say? “Not at all, Private. I was just about to straddle Dr. Durgin right here in her tent, breaking all my own rules, both personal and professional.”
She’d take the white lie.
“Of course.” Jamie nodded politely, but the flush of her bronzed cheek bones reminded Norah just how easily she’d spied Chase’s silhouette slinking around in the shadows of the lantern. If Jamie had seen Norah perched between Chase’s legs, ready to pounce like some kind of unhinged, hormonal teenager, any and all credibility she had was gone.Fuck.
“Anyway, I’m off to bed. I recommend both of you do the same. Preferably, separately?” Norah waited until she’d scurried out into the night to silently kick herself for what was a clear demonstration of jealousy she hadn’t even known she’d beenharboring. Chase was going to have a goddamn field day with that one.
The last words Norah had said lingered like the smell of rain after a summer storm, and Chase was too enthralled by Norah’s subtle jealousy to even acknowledge Jamie standing in front of her for several more seconds.
“I’m sorry to bother you. I didn’t know you had company.” Jamie wasn’t stupid, and her almost imperceptible grin said she knew the only “last-minute details” Chase and Norah were trying to tie up involved a little less talking, and even less clothing.
“No problem. You okay?” As much as Chase wanted to protect her professionalism, and more importantly, Norah’s, it excited her to think someone might know what was going on between them. It excited her, because it meant it was really happening.
“I’m fine. Much better, actually. I was just coming by to thank you again for your pep talk earlier. I don’t have a lot of friends, and really the guys here are all kind of jerks to me.”
