North of Normal

Chapter Twenty

This was going to be embarrassing.

Polly shifted slightly on the couch, her eyes on the dancing fire as she could hear Chase cleaning up the detritus from dinner behind her.

After the awkward yet sexy as hell ankle-kissing-moment, Chase had practically leapt to his feet, quickly cleaning up the first aid kit, hustling it upstairs, and then began a litany of conversation that didn't let up for hours, covering everything from peace in the Middle East to the Cowboys' chance at a Super Bowl in the next decade.

Clearly, the boy was mortified.

Polly, on the other hand, was turned on.

And that was embarrassing.

She didn't even know this guy anymore, not really, and he's being all concerned and helpful and lovely and...

Oh. My. God.

Maybe he was a foot fetishist!

That was the reason for the ankle kissing...

Polly squeezed her eyes shut, willing herself not to laugh out loud at the thought of Chase licking someone's stiletto heel.

"You okay?" Chase called from the kitchen, mercifully interrupting the movie playing in her head with inevitable abominable porno soundtrack...

"I'm fine..." Polly said hesitantly, returning to her original thought before being sidetracked by the Mental Image of the Shoe Licking.

This was going to be embarrassing.

There was no way Polly was going to be able to make it upstairs to go to bed. She'd managed to hobble to the bathroom and back, but sleeping arrangements were a different story.

Also, there was the issue of...

Well, pajamas.

She knew she wouldn't be able to get her jeans down over her wrapped ankle or to easily change clothes without his help.

Hence the issue.

She really liked Chase, but she wasn't necessarily ready to walk around commando or have him peel her clothes off like an invalid.

Mm... peeling clothes off....

Once again, Polly forced her eyes open and to stop the video playing her head. Obviously, a combination of a disintegrating marriage and the frustration at needing a really hot sex scene for her book (erotica or mystery: they both needed a hot sex scene) was taking its toll on her.

And yet, she couldn't get the image of her frolicking naked with the ex-SEAL out of her head until she heard Chase approach and slump down on the couch next to her.

"You okay?" He asked with a small smile.

"I'm going to start keeping track of how many times you ask me that," Polly said with a grin. "I think we're approaching the thousands at this point. Believe me, you'd know if I wasn't okay."

"How?" Chase asked conversationally.

"I'd be screaming," Polly shot back.

Chase raised an eyebrow and said nothing for a long moment. "You could scream for lots of reasons."

"Such as?"

Polly clapped her mouth shut the minute the words left her mouth. Uh-oh...

"You could be screaming at your laptop in frustration. You could be screaming at Jack for peeing on the floor. You could be screaming..."

Polly raised her own eyebrow, braced for it.

"In...orgasm..." Chase trailed off, a clever smirk on his face. "You know, as part of your... porn writing... research..."