By Request Collection April-June 2016. Оливия Гейтс

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       16

      CHASE COULDN’T EVER RECALL feeling such a strong protective instinct toward anyone as he did now with Kate. He’d seen the stricken expression on her face when Tenley had told her she was fired. Knowing how much Kate had sacrificed for her sister, he could only imagine what she was going through.

      He took her back to Captain Larson’s housing unit and made her a strong cup of coffee in an effort to combat the residual effects of the sleeping pills. She sat curled up on the small sofa, her hands cupped around the mug as she told him stories of how she had raised Tenley after she was orphaned. Kate had been little more than a child herself at the time, barely the same age as Tenley was now. His heart ached for her. It had to have been difficult, no matter how perfect she tried to make it sound. Knowing Kate, she’d tried to provide Tenley with the perfect childhood that she herself had been denied, even at the cost of her own dreams.

      For the first time, Chase understood the enormity of what Kate had sacrificed for her sister, and also what she had just lost. He crouched in front of her and gently took the cup of coffee from her hands and set it down, curling his own hands around hers.

      “Listen, Kate,” he began, “I think if you give Tenley some time, she’ll come around. She loves you, and I know she doesn’t want to hurt you. But maybe some space between the two of you isn’t such a bad thing.”

      Kate smiled ruefully. “I guess I didn’t want to admit that she was all grown up. I wanted to hang on to her for as long as I could. But still, to fire me?”

      “Maybe she’ll reconsider.”

      To his surprise, Kate laughed. “That’s not possible. You see, I didn’t get paid for what I did. She never actually hired me. I just sort of assumed the role of personal assistant because we didn’t want to publicize the fact that she was being raised by a sibling, and not some court-appointed guardian, like the media believed. So technically, I never actually worked for her.”

      Chase frowned. “You did all that for her without getting paid? How do you get by? Pay your bills?”

      “I have a small trust fund that I use for expenses.” She shrugged. “But I do a little web-design work on the side that provides me with pin money.”

      “You’re a web designer?” He couldn’t keep the astonishment out of his voice.

      “Well, I wanted to be a web designer,” she clarified. “I attended three years of night school to become a webmaster, but dropped out when Tenley was nine years old, because it was clear even then that she had talent. But I did design her website, and a few others, too. They’ve even won awards. I was hoping I’d be a lot closer to starting my own business by now, but Tenley’s career has kept me too busy for much else.”

      “I’m impressed.” He was. And happy to know that she had something she could focus on besides Tenley. “Maybe this is your chance to get your web-design business up and running.”

      She made a face. “I don’t know. Maybe.”

      Chase looked down at their linked hands and gathered his courage. He’d never felt so uncertain, even when he’d been on a dangerous mission with no idea if it would end well, or badly.

      “Here’s the thing,” he finally said. “I have to be here for another six months, but I want us to stay in touch. More than stay in touch, actually.” He looked up at her. “I want you to wait for me, Kate.”

      Her lips parted on a soft “oh” of surprise. “Wait for you? As in wait for you? What are you saying?”

      He gave a self-conscious laugh and peered up at her. “You really don’t know? I’m saying that I want an exclusive relationship. We can video-chat with each other whenever I’m on a base. And when I get back, I’ll return to Fort Bragg. That’s about ten hours from Nashville, but we could make it work.”

      Kate stared at him in bemusement, until finally she pulled her hands away and stood up. “This is all moving too fast,” she murmured.

      Chase dipped his head to look into her eyes. “We can go as slow as you want, darlin’. I just need to know if you’ll wait for me.”

      He’d surprised her. He could see it in her eyes. “You hardly know me,” she said softly.

      Chase struggled to keep his voice low and patient. “Then let’s take the next six months and get to know each other the old-fashioned way. We’ll talk and send letters, and when I get back, we’ll go away somewhere, just the two of us. Did I tell you that I have a little place on the beach in Beaufort?”

      Kate smiled. “Chase, you make it all sound so lovely, but I can’t make any decisions right now. I’ve just lost the only job I’ve ever had—”

      “Which is a good thing,” Chase enthused. “You can do web design anywhere. Come to North Carolina. You’ll love it, I promise.”

      He understood that her life had just been turned upside down, but there was no way he was going to let her run away to lick her wounds. He wanted to give her something to hope for, to look forward to. He wanted to give her a new start, with him at her side.

      “What if you change your mind?” she asked, searching his eyes. “Six months is a long time. What if I come down to North Carolina and you realize you made a mistake? What if you no longer find me attractive?”

      Chase laughed softly and cupped her face in his hands. “That is not going to happen. Don’t you get it? I’m crazy about you.” He lowered his head and covered her mouth in a slow, sweet kiss designed to show her just what she meant to him. When he finally pulled away, he was gratified to see her eyes had gone hazy with pleasure. “Have I convinced you yet?”

      She leaned into him with a soft sigh, her hands curling around his shoulders. “Not quite. I may need a little more persuasion.”

      “With pleasure,” he rumbled softly, taking her fully into his arms. “If it’s okay with you, I’m going to spend the next few hours persuading you.”

      He heard her breath catch, and his own quickened at the sensual promise in her eyes. “Then I won’t tell you how gullible I am, or that I have no willpower to resist you,” she said breathlessly.

      Chase chuckled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”

      CHASE PICKED HER UP the following morning before dawn, having secured a seat for her on a flight to Kuwait. From there, she would fly to Atlanta, and make her way home to Nashville. He had walked her back to her housing unit before dawn, but she hadn’t gone to bed, too consumed with thoughts of Chase to sleep. For the first time that she could recall, she was filled with a sense of hope and excitement.

      She СКАЧАТЬ