Chapter Ten

Polly felt herself slipping from sleep into consciousness, surrounded by warmth and a very faint light from the window nearby.

Her eyes snapped open in shock a moment later when she realized why she was so warm.

Her legs were firmly entwined with Chase's, her head pillowed on his chest and his arms firmly wrapped around her, both of them tucked squarely under a soft flannel quilt.

Memories of her midnight dash from upstairs into the bed of, let's face it, a virtual stranger after all these years, flooded back, instantly flushing Polly's cheeks red.

She squeezed her eyes shut again, hoping the whole thing was a dream.

A dream filled with coyotes, but still…

"Good morning."

Chase's chest beneath Polly's ear rumbled with his words, and her eyes snapped open again, her entire body stiffening at his words. "Sleep well?" he asked, his voice gravelly and sexy with sleep.

"You're…you're awake?" Polly asked dumbly. He'd just spoken – of course he was awake, numbskull…

"Have been for a while," Chase replied, not moving. "I didn't want to disturb you though. After you threw yourself at me last night, and all the activity, I figured you were worn out. I do that to women."

Polly's head popped up, her eyes meeting his in a haze of panic and confusion.

Oh god.

They hadn't…

Hadn't…

Had they?

"You know…" Chase said, his eyes twinkling. "The running down the stairs, accosting me in bed, making me walk around in the middle of the night to patrol for phantom coyotes on the back porch? That kind of activity."

Polly's eyes narrowed at his teasing. "That's. Not. Funny."

"It's a little funny," Chase countered with a grin. "Did you sleep?"

Polly sighed and shifted slightly, though Chase's arms remained locked squarely in place around her. "I did. Eventually. Your snoring didn’t help."

"I don't snore."

"How do you know?"

"Intuition."

"Hrmph."

"Well, you're a cover hog," Chase shot back with a wry smile.

"I am not!"

"You are too! I had to huddle for warmth," Chase said by way of explanation for their present position. “After you viciously stole the quilt, I had no choice."

Too tired to keep her head elevated, Polly plonked it back on his chest, causing him to expel a gust of air. “Uh-huh."

 "I see no marauding coyotes got in overnight," Chase observed lazily, his hands lightly caressing her back through her tee shirt.

"Just so you know, I'm not a wuss," Polly said after a moment's contemplation, her voice muffled by the shirt covering his chest.

"I never said you were," Chase said amiably.

"I mean, I'm not. I'm not a wuss about everything. Just a few things. Some things." Polly sighed. "Okay, a great many things."

"Oh?"

"I have a fear of coyotes. I have a fear of heights. I have a fear of being rendered blind. I have a healthy respect for fire. I have a fear of my cabin being broken into by wild animals and my face being eaten off while I sleep."

"Those are valid fears," Chase said, his voice even but teasing.

"I am not, however, a wuss about attorneys who try and verbally abuse me in court because I eat attorneys for breakfast on a good day, not to mention a bad one. I have no fear of the fast lane on the 405. I have no fear of trans fats – I'm sure they're bad and everything, but I haven't seen hide or hair of them and I'm tired of hearing about them, and I certainly don't fear them. I’m a wuss about some things, but I kick ass otherwise. So shuddup." 

Polly snapped her mouth shut when she realized she was rambling out of embarrassment.

"Well, okay," Chase said pleasantly.

"This is embarrassing."

"Oh?"

"Stop being so noble!" Polly said, lifting her head again and swatting at his shoulder as she wriggled a hand free from his embrace. 

"This isn't noble. This is pleasant. I like waking up in the woods to the sounds of nature with a woman on top of me," Chase countered.

"I'm not on top of you!" Polly shot back hotly.

Chase cocked an eyebrow at her, but said nothing.

Polly struggled to disentangle herself from his embrace and the quilt that was wrapped around both of them. Sitting up, she glared at him.

"Are you always this friendly in the morning?" Chase asked, stretching languidly.

"Yes," Polly shot back, trying not to smile at his teasing grin. "And I wasn't on top of you. If I was on top of you, you'd know it."

"Oh?"

"First, the breath would probably be crushed out of your body like a deflating balloon. Second, you'd be screaming my name over and over."

Chase's eyes widened at her comment, and he struggled to right himself from the quilts. "What?!"

Polly smiled sweetly, glad she had finally gotten a rise out of him as payback for teasing her. "I figured that would get you out of bed. C'mon…you're in charge of searching the perimeter."

Chase scratched his head as he watched Polly crawl out of bed, tugging at her tee shirt and pajama pants before heading out of the bedroom Moments later he heard the sweet sound of a coffee can being opened and water being poured into the coffee maker. "The perimeter?"

"You have to secure the cabin. I'm serious," she shouted from the kitchen, as though she could somehow see the dazed look on his face at her galloping paranoia. "I want you to make sure there aren't any…you know…"

"Critters?"

"Yes."

"I have to take Jack out anyway…" Chase said with a yawn, looking under the bed for his jeans and flannel shirt. "Should I take a weapon?"

Polly merely glared over her shoulder as the coffeemaker began to churn out a pot full of caffeine and clarity.

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