The fight was all Chase. Grady crumpled to the ground, hands up to protect his face.
Lights came on, and men’s voices called out. Peter and Tony sprinted their direction.
“Stay down,” Chase commanded Grady. “Unless you want what you deserve for daring to hurt Lizzy.”
Grady curled into a ball and moaned pitifully.
Peter and Tony reached them. They ripped Grady to his feet and yanked him away from Chase.
Chase straightened and looked her direction. “Lizzy.”
Her name was a lyrical whisper on the wind.
“Chase,” she breathed out.
Then he moved. He strode her direction as if he were the commander of the entire world. Lizzy loved his confidence, his kindness, his appeal, all that Chase was and represented to her.
She loved him.
All the pain of him shutting himself away from her this past week disappeared as he reached her, his blue eyes full of her. “Are you all right?” he asked, framing her face gently with his hands.
“Yes,” she managed.
She waited for him to chastise her, to ask how she could be so stupid as to go outside the room, or demand to know what the heck she’d been thinking. It was what her dad and previous boyfriends would have done.
“Thank all the angels above that you’re safe,” he said, studying her as if she were a gift from above and not a too-impetuous and too-chatty woman.
This was Chase. He treated her like an adult and made her feel as if she were the only person that mattered in his world.
“Thank you for rescuing me.”
Lizzy arched up onto tiptoes and kissed him. She clung to his muscular arms, and she was swept away in the beautiful crescendo of this kiss. He’d rescued her. She loved him. Their kiss sealed them together.
Nothing else mattered.
Chapter
Fifteen
Lizzy slept fitfully that night.She had hoped Chase would hold her close and kiss her over and over again, but their reconnection kiss had been interrupted by the police. The Austrian police, FBI, and Sutton Smith’s people determined Grady had worked alone and Darren had a rock-solid alibi in Kansas. That was a relief.
After dealing with the police and answering numerous questions, Chase had made sure she was comfortable, then lay down on the couch in their suite.
There was so much she wanted to say to him, so many lost kisses to make up for. In the morning, she would be brave and beg him to love her like she did him. He was the right man for her. She was certain he could explain better why he’d closed off this past week to keep her safe.
Soft voices woke her sometime later. Dawn’s early light was just slipping over the peaceful lake outside.
Lizzy slid quietly off the bed and crept to the door. It was ajar just enough that she could put her ear to it and listen.
“I’m grateful everything turned out.” A male voice, not Chase’s.
“Me too,” Chase said. “All that matters is Lizzy is safe.”
“Ah, you love her,” a female voice said.
Lizzy startled, and her heart raced. Chase loved her? Was it Brandon and Madelyne out there?
“Ah, Madelyne.” Chase sounded overwhelmed. Why didn’t he proclaim his love? He didn’t love her?
