“Got a minute?”

Actually, at my calculations I had twelve but that didn’t mean I was fired up to have my boyfriend’s seriously hot guy best friend in my house for a surprise visit.

“Sure,” I told him and stepped back.

He moved in, all of him, all his height, his muscled bulk and his mess of seriously longish, thick, dark hair. He didn’t need a haircut two weeks ago. He needed it two months ago. It curled and flipped around his ears and down to the collar of his jeans shirt, a heavy hank of it resting on his forehead falling past his eye.

I’d had the not frequent, but also not rare, always happy occasion to reach out and tug at Chace’s curls and those occasions had included when he was in his truck beside me, on the couch beside me and in bed beside me. When I gave into this whim, it bought me one of three responses. Chace’s lips would tip up but he’d otherwise ignore it (driving). He’d turn to me and smile (on the couch). Or he’d turn into me and kiss me hard (bed).

Deck’s hair made your fingers itch not only to tug at those curls and flips but also to run through it.

Repeatedly.

And take your time.

I licked my lips as he closed the door and I moved toward the kitchen asking, “Would you like a beer?”

“No, my boy’s gonna be here in a few so not gonna take that time, Faye.”

I stopped and looked at him, confused, uncertain and a little worried.

“Okay,” I whispered and saw his eyes travel over me again, something that was beginning to freak me out.

When they hit my face he said quietly, “Couldn’t’ve picked better for him.”

“What?”

He held my gaze and he answered straight out. “You’re perfect for him. Every inch. Sweet and class. Pleased as f**k for him, he found you.”

I wasn’t freaked out anymore. Or I was, just in a nice way.

“Thank you,” I said quietly, liking it a whole lot it seemed I had Chace’s best friend’s approval.

“Tonight, babe, it’s not gonna go good.”

I blinked.

Then I asked, “Pardon?”

“Chace told me you were goin’ to Aspen. So I know about tonight. What you need to know is, his Mom’s a mess. Whatever Chace told you, it’s worse. She’s a good woman but she’s not a well one.”

I didn’t know what to do with this. Not the knowledge, which I’d already figured out. The fact that it seemed he’d come there to impart it.

“I, um… from what Chace has told me, I’ve already figured that out,” I informed him.

“Do not let whatever happens there freak you so you take off.”

Oh my God! What the frak?

“Um…”

“They know what it is. It’s not hereditary. Chace is solid. His Dad’s a total dick but, mentally, the man is solid. He’s f**ked in the head but only ‘cause he’s an ass**le. It’s just her. It doesn’t run in her family. Some chemical imbalance. But it’s only her.”

“Oh, uh, okay,” I whispered.

He took a step toward me. “Whatever you hear, whatever you see, whatever he says, do not let it freak you. Tonight or any night.”

He was beginning to freak me and not the little bit of freak I was feeling, a whole lot of it.

“Deck,” I said softly.

“He needs you,” he said softly back.

Oh God.

“The dark?” I whispered.

“What?” he asked.

“The dark,” I said louder. “He says that there’s –” I stopped abruptly and took him in at the same time it hit me all that was happening and the fact that it wasn’t right even if it was Deck. So I squared my shoulders and went on, “You know, I… it’s very cool that you’re here, taking his back. I’m guessing from why you’re here, what you know, what Chace has said, he’s tight with you. But I don’t know you and even if I did, I wouldn’t be comfortable talking about Chace behind his back. So, although your intentions are admirable, I’d like to request that this conversation stops here.”

He held my eyes and this lasted what seemed like years.

Then he whispered, “Perfect.”

I bit my lip.

“You gonna tell him I was here?” he asked.

I let my lip go and answered softly, “Yes.”

“Perfect,” he replied then he moved to the door but stopped at it and turned to me. “Know this, babe, something goes to shit and it ends between you two, you’ll never find a better man. Not ever. You may think you will, he may convince you that you will, but you will not.” He paused then finished softly, “Ever.”

With that parting shot, he jerked his chin up at me, opened the door and disappeared.

I realized I was holding my breath.

Then I realized I had yet another reason to be in a dither.

“Fraking great,” I muttered.

* * * * *

“You okay?” I asked softly into the cab.

We’d hit the Aspen city limits ten minutes ago and were winding our way up a mountain road filled with seriously exclusive properties.

My dithers had not totally died except one.

Chace fraking loved my hair and he loved, loved, loved my dress and shoes. He made this perfectly clear using his mouth but not to form words. He also used his fingers and I’d had a very quick, very hard orgasm while pressed into the wall beside my front door caused by Chace’s hand down my panties coupled with Chace’s tongue in my mouth.

So that was one down.

I hadn’t shared about Deck because Chace seemed tense and I didn’t want to make him more tense and pissed or worried so I decided to tell him about Deck later.

So I was focused on one dither and that was Chace being tense about dinner.

“I’ll be happy when this shit is over,” he answered.

I would too, for him.

“She’s gonna have the spread, honey, someone cookin’ for her, someone servin’ us. She’ll go all out,” he warned me.

I’d never been served in a home before by anyone other than the owner of the home. It would be weird but not torture.

So I replied quietly, “All right, Chace. That actually sounds kind of cool.”

He turned into a handsome, curving drive that was lit on both sides with those lights that rose out of the turf. “Food’ll be rich, complicated and there’ll be a lot of it. You don’t like somethin’, don’t be polite and eat it. Just eat what you like.”