He drops my hand. “Are we doing all of this?”
“Hey, this was your idea. You said you wanted to start over.”
He stares at me.
I rest my chin in my hand again and stare back at him.
“You know this isn’t necessary, right?” I ask. “We can leave things as they are. As they were. I’m leaving town tomorrow, and you’ll never have to see me again.”
He starts to speak but stops.
Something in the way he watches me—a heated promise, maybe—has me holding my breath.Why are you here, Chase?
“I acted a little out of pocket today,” he says carefully.
My brows shoot to the ceiling.That’s not what I expected.
“I was surprised to see you, and I didn’t handle myself very well.” He slides his hands down his legs again. “I think we both got fiery and should’ve approached the situation more calmly.”
Okay… “Well, you make me fiery when you accuse me of being a bad person.”
“I didn’t do that.”
“Youdid.”
He sits back in his chair. The legs squeak with the movement.
I study him, picking up on his frustration, which seems higher than mine. His right leg bounces to a beat I can’t hear. He folds his hands on his lap, his thumbs flicking each other back and forth.
There’s a slight,so freaking slight, softness about Chase that I feel the fight dissipating from my body.
“Let’s not argue,” I say, sitting back too. “You’re right. You didn’t handle yourself very well. And, honestly, in retrospect, I didn’t handle myself the best either.”
He stills, and the corners of his lips turn slightly to the ceiling. “Was that an apology?”
“Was yours?”
He shrugs.
I shrug too.
Then, at the same time, we both chuckle.
The relief I feel from this small, simple action is massive. My shoulders relax, and the muscle across the back of my neck eases. The heaviness of a few minutes ago lifts—even if only a bit.
Chase bends forward. His body angles toward mine, giving me an unobstructed view of his face. I wonder if it’s intentional—if he wants to permit me to see him openly.
To see the clarity. The caution. The …hope?
“If I made you feel any way, I didn’t mean to,” he says.
I lift a brow and smirk.
The dimple in his chin deepens as he fights a smile.
“Well, if I made you feel any sort of way …I meant to,” I say, grinning.
The air between us shifts. It almost feels natural.
