Page 96 of Chasing Home
Johnny’s my lifeline in this mess, and I don’t think I could have done this—any of it—without him.
“Alright. You can go up,” the woman says.
I spin back around, focusing on masking the sheer disbelief I’m feeling. “Thank you.”
“Give your pup a belly rub from us,” Johnny says, guiding us past her desk to the elevator doors.
The guards keep their eyes on us as we pass them, but unlike every horror thought running through my head, they don’t yank us back and toss us on our asses in the rain.
Once we’ve stepped into the elevator and the doors close, Johnny presses the thirty-fifth floor and then moves right for me. He presses me against the mirrored wall and cups my cheeks in his strong hands, holding me. His eyes sear into mine, and a second later, I’m leaning up on my toes and kissing him. My eyes drift shut at the reassuring press of his lips. I let my worries go for this small moment, focusing only on him and me and the steady beat of my heart.
Reaching up, I run my fingers through his hair, completely unused to him not wearing his hat. The easy access is nice, but I’ve grown attached to the sight of it and his habit of flicking it up when he goes to kiss me. It’s a piece of him that I wish he hadn’t felt the need to forgo today.
“Never opt out of wearing your hat for me, Johnny,” I whisper into the kiss.
“This isn’t the place for it. You needed to be taken seriously.”
I pull back, our lips parting slowly. “And I wouldn’t have been if you wore your hat?”
“I doubt many ranchers own places in buildings like this.”
“Lee wears a cowboy hat, doesn’t he?”
He kisses my cheek before doing the same to the other. “I’m not like Lee, darlin’.”
I scoff. “That’s definitely not a bad thing.”
“No, it’s not. I’ll wear my hat for you next time, Rory.”
Dragging my fingers through his scalp one last time, I drop my hand. A giddy excitement blooms in my belly when I give his chest a shove.
“How else would I be able to place it on my head if you don’t bring it with you?”
I watch in real time as his pupils flare, brows lifting. “You do that in an elevator and I’m pulling the emergency stop button.”
“Mm, seems you missed a golden opportunity.”
His chest heaves. “Did you ask one of the girls about what it means to put my hat on your head, baby?”
“Maybe.” I shrug, keeping my lips flat and straight.
“Maybe,” he repeats, his voice growing all deep and growly. “It’s typically bad manners to meet your girlfriend’s father with a hard-on.”
Feeling the pulse between my legs, I can’t help myself from palming said hard-on, drawing a groan from him.
“It’s a good thing he’s only a father in blood, then, isn’t it?” I ask with a flutter of my lashes.
“You’re goddamn trouble, Rory,” he mutters before stealing another kiss and lingering afterward, as if he can’t get himself to pull away.
Not until the elevator dings and the doors begin to slide open. Keeping his eyes on me, he turns to stand at my side, the promise of what’s to come once we’re finished here hanging heavy between us.
Once a long hallway with swirled carpet and sconces along the walls appears in front of us, I realize the next few minutes aren’t going to be exactly what I expected. In every scenario I played out in my head, I thought the doors would open to the inside of a glamorous penthouse and I’d find Lee standing a few feet away.
But instead, we step out of the elevator and wander down the hallway in search of the door marked with 3503. The longer we walk, the more apparent it becomes that this apartment building doesn’t have only one penthouse but three. And Lee’s? It’s the very last one.
The four guards standing in front of the door with their thick arms crossed and eyes tracking our every step make the gold-plated numbers on the door meaningless.
“Aurora Bennett?” one of them asks. Or demands, more like.