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Eyeing the running shoes in her suitcase, she disregarded them for the massive bathtub She needed chocolate, too, but she’d have to wait for later for that co off her clothes, she store to slas that would hear her were the damn woodchucks outside?

And as she so ticked off? Nothing had changed between them Sure, they had shared two s were the way they’d always been Chase just didn’t want her--not badly enough and not enough to get over whatever reasons he had for not being with her

Part of her knew it had so to do with his parents’ relationship and not really her at all All the Gaed Chad was too carefree, not taking a daht stands, and Chase…Chase was the playboy He liked relationships, but he just never allowed them to last beyond his self-imposed three-month marker Short and sweet, he liked to joke

Groaning, she ducked her head under the frothy bubbles overflowing the tub and stayed there until her lungs burned Bubbles lapped at the edge of the garden tub as she resurfaced, pushing long strands of hair out of her face

"Maddie, are you in there?" Chase’s deep voice booh the closed bathrooaze darted around the bathroom Had she locked the door? And why in the hell did she leave the towel all the way over there, folded neatly on the shelf above the toilet? She gripped the edge of the tub, wondering if she should pretend to be asleep

Like that was a stellar plan

And like all stellar plans, it backfired in her face

The bathrooap Her mother would’ve called those shoulders door busters and daht

Madison squeaked and frantically startedthe bubbles up over her chest Seconds later she realized how stupid that was, considering he’d seen her goodies only a few hours ago, but hell, she wasn’t holding peep shows

"Why did you bust in here?" she de to sound calm and unaffected by the fact he was near and she was naked

Chase folded his arms "I called for you, but you didn’t answer"

"So the next logical step was to bust into the bathrooed "I orried you were hurt"

"In the bathroo is possible" He stared at her, not even atteuys would But Chase wasn’t aze narrowed "Gee Thanks"

Chase said nothing as he stalked into the bathrooainst the his-and-hers sink

Madison’s heart rate skyrocketed into uncharted territories "U?"

His lashes lowered, and she knehere his gaze went--to the rapidly thinning bubbles--and heat zinged through her veins "I’m not sure," he said finally Then his eyes settled back on her face "We need to talk"

"Right at this very ht now?"

Was he daft? "I’m in the bathtub, Chase, in case you haven’t noticed"

"Oh, I’ve noticed" His voice dropped low, husky, and sexy as hell

And her body went right into take-me-now land God, there needed to be an anti-sex pill or so for when she was around hihed "Can it wait until I’m done?" They had a few hours left before dinner, so ti in the bathtub was, however

"I’ve seen you naked before, Maddie"

Her mouth dropped open "You have not seen me colittered "Actually, once before I have, when you were like five You ran through the house buck-ass naked when you had chicken pox"

"Oh, dear God, why do you reht here in the tub

A half s"

"Yeah, well, this is trau, she scooped more bubbles over her breasts "Okay What do we need to talk about?"

"You Me What’s been going on between us" He said it so ht she’d misheard him at first

But she hadn’t

She sunk her hands under the water as she stared at hione "There’s so on between us?"

Chase’s expression was unreadable as he nodded "First off, I didn’tThat ca way"

Unwanted hope sparked in her chest

"Pretending nothing happened between us within the last twenty-four hours is as stupid as pretending nothing happened three years ago We can’t keep pretending"

Madison’s head bobbed