Read Online Cut to the Chase by Elle Keating - Free Book Online Page A

his phone from his pocket, careful not to brush by his cock. The slightest touch would awaken it and no doubt activate the launch sequence. After she gave him her digits, he called her phone so she would have his.
    “Well, I’ll leave you to your work. Good night, Mia.” Henry came trotting up to him, wagging vigorously. “Good night to you too, boy.” Paul gave Henry a pat on the head and then left Mia’s home, a home he had not swept thoroughly. That thought left him unsettled. But what disturbed him more, what left him confused and wondering what the hell was wrong with him, was his unrelenting need to keep Mia safe.

Chapter Twelve
    E rin couldn’t imagine Heaven offering her anything better than this. She and Chase had spent over forty-eight hours in bed, leaving only to eat and shower. She nestled into him, wondering when the other shoe was going to drop. And it was most definitely going to fall; it always did.
    “Tell me what you’re thinking?” Chase asked from behind. He had been spooning her since their latest round of lovemaking.
    “How did you know that I…that I was…”
    “Your body went from relaxed to rigid in less than a second. What’s on your mind, love?” he asked.
    Erin loved how he could make her melt with just a single word. Who was she fooling? She loved everything about him, every side of him. He could be demanding and confident one moment and sweet and loving the next. And he was hers…despite everything. He still wanted her in his bed, in his life, even after learning her secrets.
    “I’m scared for us,” she said. She wasn’t going to lie. He was learning to read her well.
    He gathered her snugly into his arms. “I won’t let him hurt you again, never again. This will all be over soon.”
    Erin had avoided asking the question that seemed to hover like some ominous cloud when she, Paul and Chase were together in the same room. It was time to dig her head out of the sand and just ask. “After Mia identifies the attacker, well, what then? Will we go to the police?”
    Chase rolled her onto her back and she stared up at him…which was a mistake. With his mussed hair and sleepy, sexy blue eyes, Chase had the ability to distract her, even at a time like this. But she fought through her hormones and asked, “What’s next?”
    He brushed a golden lock of hair away from her face and then caressed her cheek with his fingers. “There will be no police. There’s too much at stake. Paul, Andrew and I have decided to handle this in our own way.”
    “How, Chase? I would rather leave, hide away forever, than you three risk your freedom, your lives, trying to protect me.”
    His fingers stopped stroking her face. “I know you would. You were going to leave me that night if I hadn’t come, weren’t you?”
    Erin nodded and looked away. “I wouldn’t survive it…if anything happened to you. I thought if I left, well, he would come looking for me, leaving you here, safe in New York City. But I was foolish for thinking it could be that easy. You’re already enmeshed in his plan. And I have no doubt that he’ll follow through with his threat.” She couldn’t hold back the tears any longer. “Look what happened to Gabrielle,” she whispered. “Maybe it was suicide, but what if it wasn’t? What if he had gotten to her?”
    “You need to trust me, trust that I will take care of you, Erin.”
    Erin thought about her life without Chase in it. How empty it would be. “It’s not a matter of trust. It’s a matter of keeping you safe and ensuring that you are not implicated if the bastard suddenly disappears or turns up dead.” Erin wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him close. “Promise me that you won’t put yourself in danger or do anything that would risk your freedom.”
    “You amaze me, Erin. At any time you could have asked me to take care of this situation, to put an end to it all. Instead, your concern is focused on my well-being and involvement. You are truly