Playing Chase (Against The Wall) (9 page)

My mouth doesn’t move at first. I try speaking but like always, I’m tongue
-tied when it comes to Tiffany.

Instead of saying anything, I scoop up the bags and carry them into her house.

“What are you doing here?” she asks. “I told you I don’t want to get you sick.”

The kitchen is visible from her front door so I pass her by to set all the stuff down. She follows me. “Hello. Are you going to say anything?”

“I got a flu shot. I’m not going to get sick.”

“That’s what I thought,” she says, rolling her eyes. “But here I am.”

“It’s normal. My first five or six years or so of teaching, I always got sick at about this time every year. It takes your body a long time to get used to being around all of the constant germs.”

She helps me unpack the items smiling up at me when I glance her way. “I can’t believe you did this.”

“I was worried about you.” I try to avoid making eye contact, because once I do, I know I’m going to want to take her into my arms and hold her, touch my palm to her forehead and check for a fever, brush away the fine strands of hair caressing her cheeks. “Want some soup?”

A soft chuckle escapes from her
, which starts her on a coughing streak. “My mom brought me some earlier. Maybe later. I’m good for now.”

“Okay. How about some medicine?” I ask holding up a bottle of cough syrup.

She swipes it from my hand. “Perfect. My mom doesn’t believe in real meds. She thinks giving me tea and honey is going to cure me. My grandma sent her over with some Mexican herbs that are supposed to kill the germs and make me sweat out the illness. But I don’t want to feel like I’m on fire right now, so some good old tried and true Robitussin is just what I need.”

She moves throughout the kitchen opening the package, gathering a tablespoon, and filling it with the syrup before sucking it down. “That should do the trick.” She places her hand on my forearm. “Thank you.”

The feel of her soft, warm hand on my arm does something crazy to me. It’s like I’m back in junior high and I’m thrilled that a girl just brushed against me. Her hand is gone before I can make any more out of it, and I miss her touch already.

“I’ll get out of your hair. I just wanted to come by and see for myself that you’re okay.” I hold the flowers out to her. “These are for you…obviously.” I’m a stuttering fool. “The kids
thought it would be nice. They all wish you a speedy recovery.” I’m such a fucking wimp. Using our students as a cover.

She pulls the flowers up to her nose, closes her eyes and inhales the sweet scent. There is a subtle lift in the corners of her mouth before her eyes flutter open. “This means so much to me.”

Before she can say anything else, I start shuffling out of the kitchen and making my way to her front door.

“Don’t go, Chase.”

The sound of her voice and her quiet plea stop me dead in my tracks.

“Stay and keep me company. Watch a movie with me. I couldn’t sleep another wink if I tried.” She gestures to her sofa and it’s only then that I notice her TV is on. “I’m watching Ace Ventura Pet Detective.”

“One of the best movies of all time. I think all my friends spoke with their ass cheeks at one time or another.”

We both laugh at my joke. “Besides Liar Liar, I think this is one of my favorite Jim Carrey movies.”

“Mine too.” And I’m not feeding her a line of bullshit. I seriously love both these movies. First, our sandwiches and now Ace Ventura, I wonder what’s next.

Two Jim Carrey movies later
, and I’m still sitting on Tiffany’s sofa. She’s on one side leaned into the armrest while I’m on the other. If she had any other place to sit, I wouldn’t even be this close, but this is it. I tried sitting on the floor, but she pitched a fit, so here I am.

“You’re a freak.” Watching her toss DVDs from her collection into a pile has me questioning her sanity. “I can’t believe you have all of his movies. And you have a horror collection as well. I’m so used to Shelly and Melissa and season after season of Grey’s Anatomy.
Don’t get me started on their rather large collection of Channing Tatum and Bradley Cooper flicks. If a movie has a hot guy in it, they buy it.”

Tiffany wags her brows at me. “Not a bad system. I have those collections too. But those ones are in my bedroom.”

“Excuse me?” I almost choke on my water.

“Yup, just me, my big bed, and Adrian Grenier.”

“Who the hell is that?” Sounds like some stuffy French guy.

She looks at me like I’ve just become a frickin
’ unicorn. “You are a guy right? I thought it was part of the bro code to watch Entourage.”

Now that she mentions it, it kind of is. “I watch the show, but I don’t keep track of their real names.”

“He’s Vince.” She rolls her eyes dramatically. “Duh… .”

“That guy? That’s who you’d want in your bed every night?”

She laughs. “Well, when you put it that way, no. But he’s some nice man candy to feast on every once and awhile. I love that wild hair.”

I run my hands through my own. “I have wild hair.” This time I’m the one wagging my
brows.

The grin that spreads across her mouth is delicious. “I know.”

Damn, I could do so much with that mouth. But I can’t. Or won’t. Or shouldn’t. Whatever.

“I should really go. You need to rest.” I know I should’ve left a long time ago, but I’m enjoying her company. I thought it would be near impossible to be alone with her this long and keep my hands to myself, but I’ve realized that I just really like being around her. Talking to her, seeing her smile, listening to her laugh. That’s going to have to be good enough.

“Just one more.” In her hands is one of the best comedies of all time.

“Who can say no to Lloyd?” The fact that she wants to watch Dumb and Dumber only makes me want her more.

The opening credits roll as she plops herself on the sofa, pulling a blanket over her legs and a throw pillow into her lap. I glance over at her and my heart melts as she watches the screen with a gigantic smile on her beautiful face. She’s adorable, and I wish she were mine.

My eyes blink open several times before I realize where I am, and that there is a warm body snuggled on top of me. At some point during the night, I must have scooted down on the couch until I was lying down. And Tiffany…she’s lying across my body with her head on my chest and her hand curled into mine. I should probably move, but I would rather savor the moment. The chances of this happening again are slim to none, and I’d really like to pretend like this could be a regular occurrence for us.

I close my eyes and just feel. Feel what it’s like to hold someone who I care
so much about. It’s been so long since I’ve felt this way about anyone. I’ve tried hard not to feel at all when it comes to Tiffany, but she keeps breaking down the barriers I’ve put up. It’s like she just climbs over those walls and sets up shop right here in my heart, right where her hand rests.

I squeeze her hand, holding her tighter against me. One hand on hers and the other running trails up and down her back. Her body twitches underneath me before she awakes suddenly. Tiffany lifts her head and gazes up at me. Her eyes are glazed over, her cheeks are flushed and she runs her tongue over her full lips.

I groan inside wishing I could follow that path.

With her eyes still locked to mine, Tiffany breaks free of my hand and slides her own up my chest, along my neck and cups my face in her palm. I trace the length of her arm with my fingertips, all the while just falling deeper and deeper into her trance.

Tiffany’s gaze falls to my lips and then she pulls herself up so that her face is closer to mine. “Meet me halfway.”

I hesitate
. My thoughts duking it out in my mind.

“Don’t make me beg, Chase
,” she whispers.

And that’s when it happens. Within seconds, my hands are cupped around her nape, tilting her head back so that her lips line up with mine. “Just one little taste, Tiffany.”

She gives me a slight nod, never taking her eyes off mine.

My lips press softly against hers. And it’s even better than I thought it would be. Instantly, I’m aroused, my pants growing tighter with every nip at her lips with my teeth, with every peck of my kiss.

She opens for me, allowing me to taste her. Our tongues intertwine, sliding past one another. She gives and I take. I give and she takes. My tongue slides along the curve of her lips, sucking on them, biting them, and sucking some more. I brush my lips along her chin and down her neck, gently dragging my teeth against her skin along the way.

Tiffany’s pulse beats rapidly against her neck and against my mouth. She pants and moans, her hands wrapped up in my thick hair as she pulls me closer to her. I take back her mouth, crushing my lips to hers. I run my tongue along the seam of her lips and she welcomes me in again. This time, I deepen the kiss
, plunging my tongue in and tasting every bit of her mouth, committing the sweetness of her breath, the warmth of her mouth, the glide of her tongue to memory, so that I can have her with me forever.

Because this…it can’t happen again.

Pulling the short straw sucks. Although in this case, I can handle the torture of having to deal with Chase Marino
, because I have so much fun talking shit to his dumb ass. On second thought, it’s kind of getting old, but hey…it keeps us busy.

“Hey dipshit,” I call out to him when I enter his empty classroom. “I just came by to give you some good news.”

He mutters something under his breath that I can’t quite make out. The fool is sitting at his desk eating a chocolate pudding cup of all things. It’s kind of hard to take him seriously and be mean to him, when he’s eating like a little kid. I kind of feel like a big bad bully and I should not feel bad when dealing with Chase. He’s done enough evil in his lifetime to have to take crap from girls around the world for the rest of his pathetic life.

“What do you want, Melissa?” he asks, with a loud exasperated sigh.

I’m the one who should be exasperated. I’m the one who gets to see the emails from the public sex-chick and the cat lady.

I plop myself in a student desk in front of him, tired
, and needing to take a load off. “Can you believe your dates are still trying to contact you? I had to block their asses. Those women were a little psycho, don’t you think?”

His eyes roll back with a shake of his head. “This coming from the woman who set up a fake online dating profile for me and pretends to be me
, while talking to said psychotic women? Yeah. That makes sense.”

He has a point. “Look, I just came to tell you that we’re putting your dating extravaganza on hold until after Summer’s wedding. We have too much going on right now to deal with your
Internet groupies.”

“Oh, I guess I should be thankful.” He’s even more irritable than usual.

Before I can say anything else, Tiffany comes in with a stack of papers piled high in her arms. “Done. I think I got a contact high from all the fumes in the copy room.” She stops in her tracks when she catches my gaze. “Oh, hi, Melissa. I didn’t see you.”

“Hey. I know exactly what you mean. I think some of my students volunteer to make copies for me for that exact reason. That office needs a fan and some open windows.”

She nods with a smile.

Chase is quiet, his gaze darting back and forth between Tiff and
me. Then, it’s like something flashes in his head and he rushes over to his student teacher. “Here, let me have those.” He takes the heavy stack from her hands and gives her a weak smile before turning away from her with a frown. Something is troubling him. I can see it in his eyes. He looks like someone just stole his pudding cup. He looks like a broken-hearted man.

When his back is turned, Tiffany closes her eyes and releases a long sigh. She’s just as troubled as he is.

What the hell is going on here?

“Tiffany, we’re done for the day. You can go home. I’ll see you on Monday.” Chase looks away from her quickly, not even waiting for a response.

“Aren’t you going to the dance?” I turn to Tiffany to ask. “It’s tomorrow night.”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. That’s for teachers who are assigned to chaperon, right? I’m not a teacher and I wasn’t assigned.”

I glance at Chase who is back to eating that damn pudding. Is it bottomless or what? “Chase is assigned. And he’s your master teacher. You’re supposed to do everything he does.”

“Oh,” is all she says. She looks at Chase waiting for him to chime in, but he doesn’t. “Mr. Marino, do I need to be there?” He tenses at her words. Something is definitely up and if I had to guess, I bet it was Chase’s dick.

“Sure. It’s in the cafeteria. Be here at six. But if you already have plans, don’t worry about it. It’s not mandatory.” It’s like he’s dying to look at her, yet will do anything to avert her stare.

She opens her mouth to say something, but closes it. Another long sigh escapes her and her eyes start to tear up. Shit. Chase doesn’t look any better. His lips are pulled into a straight line and he refuses to look at her.