I set my Kindle down, trading it for my phone. I’m supposed to be at the Sunday family dinner in ten minutes and I’m half expecting it to be Mom, asking where I am. It’s Lisa instead.

Lisa: Are you bringing Chase to dinner tonight?

Me: No. He’s hanging out with his brother tonight.

Lisa: Good. We need to talk.

Me: Trouble with Rob again?

She doesn’t respond, so I take that as a yes. I read a few more pages before getting up out of the hammock and going inside, opening a can of cat food so Dolly and Tinkerbell come running. They like to sit on the screened-in porch with me, but I won’t leave them out there unattended. I might have a slight irrational fear of something tearing through the screen and getting them.

When I get to my parents’, I see Rob and Lisa sitting together on the back patio. His arm is around hers and they’re animatedly talking with Sam and her husband. No one looks stressed. Rob laughs and brings his head closer to Lisa as they talk. I’m not a body language expert, but those two do not look like lovers in a quarrel. And I know they didn’t just have a fight because when they do, they’re all over each other for a day or two after making up.

I catch Lisa’s eye and wave. She gives me a tight smile and whispers something to Rob. He jerks around, face flat before smiling like everything is normal. Lisa stands, shoulders tense, and starts to make her way inside.

“Sierra, dear,” Gran calls. “You look lovely. Did you get a bit of sun today?”

“Too much,” I tell her, crossing the solarium floor to give my grandmother a hug. “I was hiking and thought the sunlight wouldn’t get to me since I was in the woods.”

Gran smiles. “I’ve made that mistake a time or two. Not recently, mind you. Come, dear. Keep me company while I have my tea.”

I shoot Lisa an apologetic glance and follow Gran to the front porch. Storm clouds are rolling in, and the smell of rain on the horizon calms me.

“Have you thought about going back to school?” Gran asks, stirring sugar into her tea.

“Not really.” I look into my cup, watching tea leaves swirl around the bottom. Part of me wants to try to read them, but I know Gran would think I lost it for sure. “Getting into the same grad school twice is pretty unlikely. The program I was in is very selective.”

“But not impossible.”

“I know. Maybe I’ll go back and get a second degree in agriculture. Or business. The more I think about letting Sam run the farm, the more I feel we’re all doomed.”

Gran gives me a wry smile, gracefully bringing her tea to her lips. “You would bring a level head into the equation. Which we need. You would be an invaluable asset to the Belmont Industry.”

I almost choke. It’s the first time Gran has ever hinted that she wants me to come into the family business.

“I’m not really a business person,” I mumble.

Ignoring me, Gran goes on. “There is more to this than men in stuffy suits, my dear.”

“Yeah…I know.” I set my teacup down and look out at the gray clouds. The breeze picks up and a chill comes over me.

“So,” Gran says, changing the subject. “When am I going to meet this gentleman you’ve been seeing? Gloria Freemont tells me he’s quite the looker, even with those tattoos.” She shakes her head, clicking her tongue. “I don’t see the appeal in that.”

I laugh. “A lot of people find tattoos sexy, Gran.”

“You know what I found sexy about your grandfather?”

“Do I want to know?”

“The way he treated his inferiors. You’d never know they were inferiors. When I met him, the farm was struggling. There had been a drought followed by a year of nonstop rain. It nearly wiped out everything. And within the next two years, luck changed and he got the first partnership selling to a national distributor. He made his first million the next year. But he still worked the fields. Took extra shifts to give his employees days off. I’ll never meet another man like your grandfather,” she ends, voice dropping.

Gran married two more times after my grandpa died. She divorced her second husband after six years of marriage, saying she was bored with him. She married six months later to a telenovela star she met in Miami, shocking us all. He wasn’t a legal citizen, so the marriage isn’t technically recognized. He got into some trouble and got deported. She still keeps in contact with him, but I don’t think she ever fully committed to either of those men.

It was my fear after Jake died. I’d never find someone I loved as much. I’d forever think back to what I had, comparing anyone I had interest in to Jake. And they’d fail.

“Excuse me, ma’am,” Melinda, my parents’ housekeeper says as she steps onto the porch. “Dinner is ready.”

I help Gran to her feet and go inside, taking my usual spot at the dining room table next to Lisa. She’s quiet throughout the meal, averting her eyes whenever I look her way. As soon as we’re done, she grabs my wrist and pulls me into the living room, away from the rest of the family.

“We need to talk,” she blurts, looking nervous.

“Are you pregnant?” I whisper.

“What? God no.” She looks down at her stomach. “Do I look pregnant? It’s this fucking shirt, isn’t it?”

“No, you don’t. But if you just found out you wouldn’t look pregnant. That’s not the point. What the hell is going on?”

“Chase,” she says, and her voice cuts through the air like a sharp knife.

“What about Chase?”

“He came to the bank yesterday.”

“I know. He brought you the coffee and the muffin, right?”

“Yeah, but he stayed and had a meeting with Melissa to set up an account.”

I slowly shake my head. “I don’t see why that’s reason to sound the alarm. He’s living here, so it makes sense to have his bank account here.”

“It’s not just that though…and I don’t know all the details since Melissa handled it. He put a lot of money into his account. And I mean a lot. I saw the paperwork at the end of the day. He had cash, Si. Two hundred grand in cash.”

Yeah, that’s weird, but I don’t want to say it out loud. “Maybe he took all his money from his other bank?”

“You don’t have to literally take it out in cash like that. It’s just weird and gave me a bad feeling. So I…I got his info and asked Rob to run a background check on him.”

“Seriously?”

“Yes, and you should be glad I did.” Lisa’s eyes cloud over with guilt and worry. “He’s been arrested before. Many times. And the most recent was three months ago for breaking and entering.”

I don’t say anything. My heart is in my throat.

“That’s not all.” Lisa swallows hard before going on. “Rob said some of the charges were dropped but couldn’t figure out why. And the same judge wrote them off. He said it seemed suspicious as fuck, so he had his lieutenant look at it, and he thinks Chase might have ties to the mafia or something.”

“Chase is not in the mafia,” I say, trying to sound like I believe it. “That doesn’t even make sense.”

“Think about it, Sierra. He came to the bank with a duffle bag full of money. He’s been arrested a million times with the charges suddenly dropped, and you saw him fight those guys at the party! Plus, he has that suped up Mustang that had to cost at least fifty grand and he was wearing designer clothes.”

“Maybe he likes nice things. That doesn’t make him a mobster.”

“Sierra, use your head. Something is off about him and he could be dangerous!”

“Nothing is off about him,” I hiss, anger rising. “You don’t know him like I do. And are you forgetting you were the one who told me to go for him?”

“That was before I knew.”

“Maybe you should have run a background check on him first.” I let out a huff, shaking my head.

“Sierra, be logical.”

“Oh, I am logical. I’m not the one running unwarranted background checks and creeping on someone’s bank information. I like Chase. He makes me happy. Oh, right. You said it’s weird seeing us together.”

“What?”

I raise an eyebrow. “Right. Act like you don’t remember telling me it’s weird seeing me with someone other than Jake. You remember Chase fighting, but don’t remember what you said.”

“I said that? Fuck, I’m an asshole.”

“Yeah, you are.” I spin on my heel, giving Rob a look on my way out. I grab my shoes and head out, pissed because it feels like they betrayed me, going behind my back to get dirt on Chase.

And because I’m struggling to not believe it all to be true.

* * *

“You should really lock your doors.”

Chase’s voice comes from behind me, and I jump, heart going a million miles an hour. I’m upstairs in my reading room, lost in thought and grumbling at myself for thinking it would be a good idea to reorganize my bookshelves at nine at night. Or ever. Because I have a lot of books, and now I have a huge mess. But after dinner, I needed to stay busy. It was the only way to keep Lisa’s words out of my head. She’s called me twice and texted a few times to say she was sorry for saying it was weird to see me with anyone other than Jake. I believe her, and know she does feel bad. Lisa’s always been one to spout off when she’s drunk. It’s not the first time, and it won’t be the last time.

“Chase,” I say, voice all breathy. “I didn’t hear you come in.”

“Exactly. Anyone could have walked in. And up the stairs.”

I grip my copy of Harry Potter and stand, eyeballing Chase. He’s wearing jeans and a white T-shirt, looking sexy as hell. His wavy brown hair is a tad messy, adding to his sex appeal, and the stubble on his face accentuates his good looks.

“I texted you,” he goes on, stepping over a pile of books.

“Oh, I heard my phone but thought it was Lisa. She’s been texting me all night.”

“Dakota wanted me to read her a bedtime story, that’s what took so long.”

He comes closer and my heart skips a beat. “That’s sweet of you to do.”

He gives me his trademark shrug. “She’s a cute kid. Actually makes me a bit sad I didn’t get to know her sooner.”

The knot in my chest loosens and Chase takes me in his arms, greeting me like usual. I let the book drop and hold him tight. We kiss and in that moment, one thing becomes abundantly clear to me: I don’t care if Chase is dangerous. Who he is…what we have…I don’t want to change a thing.

“What are you doing?” Chase asks, looking at the books on the floor.

“Rearranging my bookshelves. I was thinking about doing it by color.”

His eyebrows go up. “You’re going to split apart your series?”

I laugh at the horror in his voice. “No. I had a plan for that. The bottom shelf will be for series. Most of my books are standalones. I think. Shit. I really don’t know and now I have a huge mess.”

“I would think working in a bookstore would make you want to organize them by author name.”

“That’s too logical. And I do that all day at the store. Arranging by color is prettier. Have you seen pictures of rainbow bookshelves? The aesthetic is amazing.”

“I haven’t but I’ll take your word for it. And there is something pleasing about seeing colors gradually change into each other. Though I’m personally a minimalist and prefer whites and grays.”

“I noticed. I like color.”

Chase smiles. “You do? I had no idea.” He pokes me in the ribs, making me laugh. And now that he knows I’m ticklish, he doesn’t stop until we’re both on the floor. Chase is over top of me, and I drag my hands down his back and grip his waist, moving him between my legs. We haven’t had sex since Friday after the party, and it feels like it’s been so fucking long.

Chase must be thinking the same thing, and we kiss and rip off each other’s clothing in a matter of seconds. We’re both lying naked on the floor, surrounded by books. Chase kisses his way down my body, not stopping until his head is between my legs. I gasp, reaching down and taking a tangle of his hair as his tongue slowly rolls over my clit. He licks and sucks, then slips a finger inside me, pressing on my inner walls until I come. Wiping his mouth, he looks up with a devilish glint in his eye.

He stands up, helps me to my feet, and guides me over to the yoga ball. With his hands on my waist, he sits, legs spread and feet planted on the ground. Facing him, I carefully move on top and guide his cock inside. He starts out slow, making sure I’m okay and that we can keep our balance. The ball is up against the wall, sandwiched between that and Chase’s legs. I wrap my arms around Chase and arch my back. The movement causes us to bounce on the ball, and I feel every inch of him inside me.

“Fuck,” I moan and rock my hips. Chase buries his head in my breasts, as his hands run up and down my back. He takes one of my breasts in his mouth, teeth gently nipping my flesh.

I lean forward, throwing a hand out to catch the wall and keep from tumbling off, and thrust hard against Chase. We bounce on the ball, driving his cock deeper into me. I moan and Chase bucks his hips, then starts fucking me hard and fast. My breasts bounce in his face and his fingers dig into my waist.

“You are so fucking hot,” he groans and my muscles tighten. The orgasm starts from deep within, exploding within me and making my toes curl and ears ring. Chase presses me against him, breathing hard as he comes, and feeling his cock pulsing inside me is so hot I almost come again. Panting, Chase lowers us to the floor.

“Fuck,” he mumbles. “I meant to pull out.”

“I didn’t think about it either,” I confess. Pulling out has been our method of birth control the last week or so. “I like feeling you come. Is that weird?”

“Fuck no. That’s hot.” Chase brushes my hair out of my eyes and kisses me.

“I have a doctor’s appointment next week to get back on the pill. I tried to get her to just phone in the script but I’m due for my annual so I have to go in.”

“Sounds fun.”

“Loads.” Thunder echoes outside and rain falls down hard against the roof. “Oh, shit,” I say and sit up. “I opened the bedroom windows to let in the breeze and never closed them.”

Chase gets to his feet and grabs his boxers. “I’ll close them.”

“Thanks.”

He steps into his boxers and rushes downstairs. I take my time getting up and moving downstairs, going straight to the bathroom to clean myself up.

“Want to take a shower with me?” I ask Chase. “Before the storm hits.”

“You can’t shower in a storm?” he asks, raising an eyebrow.

“You could get electrocuted that way if the lightning hit.”

“That sounds like an old wives’ tale.”

“I’m pretty sure it’s true,” I say and turn on the water. “So we have to hurry.”

“You’re lucky I already fucked you.” He comes into the bathroom and runs his eyes up and down my body. “You are beautiful, Sierra.”

We get in the shower and wash quickly. Since Chase had planned on staying the night with me, he brought clothes. We change into PJs and go into the kitchen.

“I have homemade cheesecake from my parents,” I start and open the fridge. “Do you want any?”

“Yeah, sounds good.”

I pull the dish from the fridge not a moment too soon. Thunder booms and the power goes out.

“Hang on,” I say and feel my way to the kitchen sink, dropping down and opening the cabinet beneath it. I turn on a flashlight and use it to locate my candles.

“Those lanterns come in handy,” Chase says after we stick candles in them throughout the house.

“I know, right? I’ve been told I have too many as decorations, but look at this. So practical. The cats won’t get into the flames this way.”

The wind is blowing against the back of the house, so we take our cheesecake and a blanket to the front porch. We sit close together on the bench, eating in silence as we watch the storm rage on around us.

I look at Chase as lightning flashes, illuminating his handsome face. Lisa is wrong. There is nothing off about him. At all. And if there were…I don’t think I’d care.