“Chase!”
Chase shrugged. “I may have provided him a quick demonstration of what it’s like to be struggling in the hands of someone bigger and more powerful who can do whatever the hell he wants to him.” Just for a second, that cool, grim, lethal look showed under his easy charm.
All the hairs on Vi’s nape rose in response to that look. Then Chase winked at her, the look entirely disappearing.
“Did you hurt him?” It wasn’t her fault that a greedy I hope so clenched in her at the question.
“Well…hurt.” Chase shrugged and spread his hands. “People have such a wide range of pain tolerance. I didn’t cut his balls off, at least. Not this time.”
Vi was probably supposed to be relieved about that.
“I wanted him to have something to look forward to,” Chase explained. “In case he ever thought about trying to mess with you again.”
“Chase! Damn it. Starred chefs move in a small world, you know. I have a reputation.”
“For being someone a man shouldn’t mess with unless he wants his ass kicked?”
“For kicking those asses myself! For not needing some man to handle my problems for me!”
Chase considered that. “That’s a really good point, honey. To explain my own point, I thought you did handle that problem yourself. I hadn’t even met you when you gave him a concussion and fired him. I just wanted to reinforce your point. We don’t know who else he might have assaulted in his life. He probably didn’t start out with the entitlement to take on someone like you. Probably went smaller and more vulnerable until he built up his sense of impunity.” He frowned as he thought about it. “Actually…maybe I should go ahead and cut his balls off.” He half-turned back toward the stairs.
Vi had never really thought about possible previous attacks in Quentin’s past either, and now that she did…it was an ugly, ugly thought. Vi had been a pretty, female, teenage apprentice in a kitchen full of men on power trips herself. That was when she’d taken to making sure she had a knife on her.
She caught Chase’s sleeve. “Maiming a civilian sounds like a career ending move to me. At least it would be one in our military, I’m pretty sure.”
He hesitated. Frowned. Subsided. Then remembered: “Not that I have to worry about that any more now that I’m a civilian.”
Vi fought the urge to wrap two hands around his throat and just strangle him. “Look, other than driving me crazy, was there something you wanted? If you say sex, I’m going to shove you down the stairs.”
He smiled. “Honey, if you want to say no to sex to me, no shoving is necessary. I’d be sad, and my heart would be broken, and my life would be ruined, but still…you’d be okay.”
Damn it, how did he manage to be so funny and so annoying and so damn solid and reassuring all at once? “Chase. Why are you here?”
“I told you.” He held up his backpack. “I brought something.”
“I don’t care.”
“Also some food.” He held up take-out that clearly smelled of the Chinese restaurant down the street. “In case you haven’t eaten again today.”
“It’s one in the morning.” So the night was still young.
“Yeah, but this is the first time your light has been on when I’ve swung by. And certain people are far too fussy about crossing ethical lines when asked to ping the location of your phone.” He scowled.
“My phone is in the river. What people?”
Chase coughed. “Oh, you know…hacker buddies.” He changed the subject quickly. “Honey, also, please don’t take this the wrong way, but if you don’t want to let a man into your apartment, you shouldn’t open the door at all. I could break that chain with one shove.”
“But then I’d knife you.” Vi smiled sweetly.
Chase rested his head against the jamb and smiled a little. “I’m so crazy about you.”
“Yeah, well, I know this is going to be a hard one for you to absorb, but just because you want me doesn’t mean I have to give you what you want. That’s because I’m not a thing.”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “I’m really sorry about the jacket. I shouldn’t have done it. I was a stupid, arrogant ass.”
Okay, well, they agreed on that. She gazed at him a long moment and sighed. “Fine, you can come in.” But only because she still had absolute faith in her ability to handle him. Also because that big, hot body, those blue eyes, and the way he looked at her, like she was his personal gift from heaven, just got down into her middle and heated her all up from the inside out. “But don’t touch anything.”
“I’ll try not to sneeze, too,” he said solemnly.
“What?”
“You already forgot?” He clutched his heart. “Our first meeting?”
“When you broke into my restaurant, planted salmonella or something, and ruined my career?”
He ignored that. “It was so romantic. ‘Don’t touch anything! Don’t breathe on anything! If you sneeze, I’m killing you.’”
“I had good instincts when I first met you. The sad thing is how fast you turned me into an idiot.”