Chapter Ten
The insistent ring of the phone pulled Mia from a deep sleep. Slapping her hand on the bedside table, she finally found her cell and fumbled it to her ear. Pressing the answer button, she mumbled, “’Lo?”
“Where are you?” Jessie’s voice was too damn cheerful for this early.
“In bed,” she muttered. “It’s the middle of the night. Go away.”
“It’s ten-thirty in the morning,” Jessie countered. “And your kids are standing outside the auditorium wondering when you’re going to show up.”
Oh, shit. Mia cracked one eye open and looked at the window. Bright sunlight glowed at the edges of her curtains. “Ten-thirty?” she croaked.
And then she almost fell off the bed when the lump next to her suddenly rolled over and wrapped an arm around her waist.
Her naked waist.
Oh, hey. That’s why she was so tired.
“What’s going on?” Chase’s voice was a low rumble. She waved a hand at him to shush, but it was too late.
“Wait, is that a male voice I hear in the background?” Jessie said gleefully. “Would that be…Chase Hamilton?”
“No comment,” Mia said, shushing Chase again, who was starting to laugh.
“Right on. Sorry I disturbed you.”
“We’re just…working on the show,” Mia stammered, but her best friend wasn’t an idiot.
“Nope, you already told me you were in bed. Nice try. I’ll expect details later. But you’d better get down to the school soon.” With a laugh, Jessie hung up, leaving Mia holding a dead phone.
She smacked Chase on the hip. “Up and at ’em, cowboy. We’ve got a full cast sitting outside the auditorium wondering where we are.”
Fifteen minutes later, they were out the door, taking Chase’s car as a concession to Mia’s still aching ankle. They pulled into the parking lot behind the school to find a crowd of students standing by the door. Emme had her arms crossed.
“You’re late,” she said as soon as they got out of the car.
Mia nodded, rushing to unlock the door. “Sorry. Forgot to set my alarm.”
Most of the kids started filing into the theater, but Emme stayed behind, eyeing the two of the suspiciously. “And that impacts Mr. Hamilton how?”
Too late, Mia realized they hadn’t come up with a good cover story. Or, really, any cover story at all.
She glanced at Chase. He looked at her. “Uh…”
Emme threw her hands up in disgust. “And people say you’re good actors. You can’t even improvise!”
Chase laughed and rubbed the back of his neck. “Would you believe I fell asleep on Ms. G’s couch after taking her home last night?”
“No.” The teen shook her head. “But whatever. You’re adults. Even though your ship name is stupid.”
“I …” Mia frowned. “Ship name? What’s a ship name?”
“Seriously?”
Chase sighed. “A ship name is when you mash two character’s names together to make a combination. Or, in our case, our real names.” He turned to Emme. “What’s wrong with our ship name?”
She rolled her eyes. “Which do you prefer? Mase? Or Chia?”
“I see your point.”
Mia planted her hands on her hips. “Enough. This conversation is over. Whatever I do in my private life is just that—private. So drop it, Emme.”
The teen looked momentarily chastened. “Sorry, Ms. G.” Then she brightened. “But hey, does this mean Mr. Hamilton will be hanging around Sapphire Falls longer? Because I have some questions about getting an agent…”
Mia shooed her inside, tossing Chase an apologetic look. He just shrugged and followed the two of them into the theater.
Inside, it was organized chaos in the way only final dress rehearsal could be. Mia ordered kids from one place to another, falling into the rhythm of performance perfected by years of practice.
Normally, they’d hold their final rehearsal the evening before opening night, but since they only had one performance scheduled—and all the kids wanted to spend as much time at the festival as possible—she’d agreed to hold dress rehearsal in the morning instead.
And then promptly forgotten to show up.
In her defense, she hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. She could feel a blush heating her cheeks as she remembered just what exactly she’d been doing instead of sleeping.
A glance to the side showed her just who she’d been doing, as well.
Chase was busy wrangling the backstage crew, directing them with an ease that would have been surprising if she didn’t know him so well. He was quietly competent, taking on any task at a moment’s notice and never worrying about getting credit for it.
Some might have expected him to have an ego the size of Manhattan, thinking he’d come back to Sapphire Falls throwing his movie-star weight around. Instead, he was still the type to pitch in and help, to do what needed to be done with a minimum of fuss and zero arrogance.
He fit here. In Sapphire Falls. In her life. But he’d be leaving soon. And this time, her heart might not recover from the blow.
Shaking off her melancholy, she got back to work. No matter what the future held, she was here now, and so was he. And they had a show to put on.
*
Mia hung up the last costume on the rack backstage. Chase watched her from on stage, lounging on the couch that dominated the space. “You should make the kids do that. We always had to in high school.”
“I’m a pushover,” she agreed cheerfully. “On the other hand, they’re all gone.”
“Why, yes, they are,” he said, rising from the couch and stalking toward her. “How fortuitous.”
“Fortuitous, hmm?” She tied the ribbons of a bonnet around the hanger for the matching dress. “In what way?”
“Well,” he drawled, coming up behind her and slipping his arms around her waist. He rested his chin on her shoulder. “It seems as if we’re the only two left in the theater.”
“That’s true.” Her hands covered his, their fingers tangling.
He kissed the side of her neck. “And there’s approximately zero chance anyone will disturb us here.”
“Someone could walk in,” she murmured.
“Not with the door locked.”
She turned in his arms, one eyebrow raised. “Very resourceful of you, Mr. Hamilton.”
“I want you all to myself.” Which was hard to come by in Sapphire Falls. Everyone wanted some of Mia—her students, her coworkers, family and friends, even random people in town. She was so intertwined with Sapphire Falls, it was hard to imagine her anywhere else.
Not that he hadn’t tried. But the what-ifs and the maybes and the how-can-we-make-it-works all boiled down to one thing—their time was limited.
Again.
She kept turning, palms flat on his chest, and then started to slide down his body until her knees hit the stage floor.
“Uh, what are you doing, Mia?”
“You locked the door, right?” She looked up at him, eyes shining.
He swallowed. “Yeah.”
“Well, I thought I’d take advantage of the situation and make one of my fantasies come true.” Her fingers made fast work of his belt.
“You, uh, fantasize about going down on someone onstage?”
“Backstage,” she corrected him, unbuttoning and unzipping his shorts. “And not someone, Chase. You.”
And with that bombshell, she tugged his shorts off, wrapped her hand around the base of his cock, and swallowed him down.
He staggered slightly, shorts around his ankles, his world rocked. She’d wanted to—with him? Since when?
Chase grabbed on to the costume rack, thankful the wheels were locked. He needed something to ground him, keep him upright, while Mia did something with her tongue that was likely illegal in seventeen states.
She twisted her hand, mouth bobbing up and down to meet her movements, then pulled off with an audible pop. “Okay?”
“More than.” He stroked his free hand through her hair, tugging lightly, and bit his lip when she groaned.
He could work with that.
She moved forward, tonguing the vein on the side of his cock, then slid her mouth over him again. Her hand and mouth sped up, building the rhythm until all he could do was hold on and let go.
He felt his orgasm approaching and tugged at her hair in warning, but she just smiled around him and kept going. He came with a shout, wave after wave pulsing into her mouth.
When he was finished, she slowly drew away, licking at the drop of come at the corner of her mouth. She smiled contentedly. “Even better than the fantasy.”
“Mmm-hmm.” He raised her to her feet, wrapping his arms around her and kissing her fiercely.