Just One Week (Just One Song) by Stacey Lynn Page B

eyes.
    “What the hell?” I screech and am instantly awake. My eyes are wide and my hair is soaking wet as Chase climbs over the walls of the hot tub and sits next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me close. “What time is it anyway?”
    He smirks and hands me a champagne glass full of orange juice. It’s crazy how well he knows me sometimes. Has he always paid this close attention to me and I’ve never noticed?
    “It’s just after five thirty.”
    “This is too damn early to be up,” I mutter, not pissed off in the least to be up so early. I take a sip of my orange juice and smile when the faint hint of bubbling champagne hits my tongue. Damn, he knows me so well.
    “Shut up and watch the sunrise.” His laughter once again vibrates against me and sends shocks of pleasure to my core.
    I turn my eyes away from him and out toward the mountain range view from our deck just as the first tinge of pink appears. I’m rendered speechless for possibly the first time in my life. It’s absolutely incredible watching the sunrise, and neither Chase nor I say a word as the sky turns a variety of pinks and purples to oranges and reds lighting up the entire sky as it rises over the mountains and then bursting light on the groves and hill below.
    And just as I think I haven’t seen anything more beautiful in my entire life, one hot air balloon darts above the highest mountain, followed by another, and another. Before I can count them all, the entire morning sky is peppered with hundreds – if not thousands – of hot air balloons across the entire skyline. They are all designed completely different and pop out like bright shining stars in front of the rainbow of colors from the sky behind them.
    We say nothing except a few whispers of appreciation at the sight in front of us, but there’s something else I feel over the warmth of the water and the quickly rising sun that isn’t something I have felt much of in my life.
    Contentment. And it’s all because of Chase. Not because he trapped me on a plane and brought me to one of the most romantic places I’ve ever seen. It’s simply because I’m here, wrapped in his arms, and he did all of this for me.
    “Let’s get out of here. I’ve got something else planned for the morning,” Chase says to me, so silently it’s as if he’s afraid to break the magnificence of the moment between us and the sky.
    I allow him to take my hand, pulling me out of the hot tub and wrapping me in a large, thick and soft towel that feels so good it might just cost more than what I make in a week.
    He ushers me into the shower where we quickly drop our towels and I let him pull me into the warm spray, and I show him everything I wish I could tell him with my hands and my mouth instead of the words I’ve never spoken in my life and never thought I would feel.
    Thirty minutes later, after having the last few minutes alone in the shower to clean up and shave, I’m just putting the finishing touches of my make-up on when he comes back into the bathroom and leans against the doorway.
    He’s wearing my favorite pair of faded jeans that have a few holes in them. They look soft and comfortable, like he lounges in them when he’s hanging out at home. A light cream, almost white, Henley shirt covers his chest perfectly, covering every inch of his tattoos but shows every rise and dip of the muscles on his chest and biceps. The neckline has a few buttons and the top two are done. He looks delicious. Truly. I don’t bother hiding my admiration for his body when he catches me staring.
    He stands in the doorway of the bathroom watching me, but I catch his appreciative glance of my body and my outfit. His eyes are hidden under a worn baseball cap. The front of the bill is frayed and the cream color matches his shirt. The word COCKS is boldly spelled across the front in crimson letters. I can’t see his eyes but the way his head dips and he licks his lips as he scans my body tells me he