Chapter Sixteen
Erica
After that first kiss with Chase in the tree house, it felt like everything in life started to fall into place, like it always should have been. The only thing that kept me up at night was that every time I saw Chase, or we went on a date, I never told Alexa or Lilly. I had no idea what Chase and I were really doing and as much as I loved dating him, I really wanted to know how much of a future he saw, because when I looked at him, I saw forever.
It had been weeks of us meeting after work and either going to get dinner, to the movies, or a few times where we went to the tree house and just talked all night. There was even a night when we did a whole puzzle, not really talking but just basking in the presence of each other.
Tonight, though, was the first night we were going to be going to Chase’s place. To say I was a nervous wreck would be an understatement. I had talked myself out of the whole situation at least half a dozen times today, but once the clock struck five and Chase texted me, I knew there was no going back.
He wanted to order pizza and watch some Christmas movies. It was the only night we could hang out since Alexa and Lilly wanted to spend more time together this weekend. They wanted girl talk and we were going to finalize a few of the essentials for Alexa’s wedding. Even though Alexa had only been engaged to Max for a few months, the wedding was coming in fast. She wasn’t all about her own happiness, though. Nope, she was in both mine and Lilly’s business about who we were seeing and poking into our dating lives. She knew, as much as I did, that Lilly had something for Greg, but I could tell by the way she looked at me when she thought I couldn’t see, that she couldn’t pinpoint where my heart lay. I showed no interest in the dating scene and I was grateful she didn’t pry more.
I texted Chase that I would meet him at his place if he texted me the address. I wanted an escape just in case. I had never been over to a guy’s place before and wasn’t sure how protocol worked with that, so all possible measures were being taken tonight.
“You won’t need your car.”
I jumped as Chase’s voice came from behind me when I reached the lobby.
“I won’t?” I cocked my head to the side.
“Nope. I’ll drive.” The smirk on his face spoke a thousand words, words I wanted to hear him say aloud.
“That’s silly. Why would you drive me when you would then have to drive me here later to pick up my car and then drive back home?”
Chase took a step closer to me and leaned down to where the receptionist couldn’t hear us as she was packing up.
“Your car will be safe here and I don’t plan on driving you home.” And there it was, just what I had been asking for, but the way Chase said it, wasn’t just a promise to my heart. He turned around and walked to the front doors where I now saw his truck waiting for us outside along the curb. I scurried after him, wanting him to make promise on what his words actually meant.
Our first kiss had been magical and breathtaking. Just thinking about being intimate with Chase was enough to send my whole body into a hive breakout, so I tried to think about things that didn’t turn me on. Like watermelon. Cucumbers, no, not cucumbers.
Shit.
This wasn’t working. I stared at his ass as he swung the door open and waited for me to exit the building with him. Just like every time Chase drove, he opened the door for me and picked me up to put me in the truck and buckled me in. I was more than capable of doing it myself, but the way Chase wanted to take care of me had me throwing all my feminist ideas out the window. Sometimes I could let him take care of me. I liked it.
Actually, I more than liked it. I loved it, just about as much as I loved him.
“Where do you live?” I asked aimlessly as we drove out of town.
“I live in Little Five Points.”
“That’s close to where I am!” I turned in my seat to face him.
“There is a set of apartments there that I’ve lived in for a few years. I just love the town and the atmosphere.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you lived so close to me?” I was bouncing in my seat, my words coming out as partial screams from too much excitement. Chase lived maybe five minutes from me and I hadn’t known it this whole time.
“It never came up.” He shrugged and laughed off my question, but I wasn’t letting him go that easily. I offered up a little more about myself, hoping the exchange would urge him to tell me why he kept it a secret.
“I own my house.”
He jerked his head to me then back to the road.
“I didn’t realize you owned the house. I figured you might rent it, but I didn’t think you owned it.” His tone sounded different, like he was upset that I owned a house by myself.
“Max bought my app for a good amount and I invested and saved wisely. I always wanted something permanent, so I lived at home for a while when I first started at The Ink Well, then bought myself a house. Which happens to be next door to my parents.”
I let that last part sink in a little and Chase finally spoke up, but his body was rigid as we exited the city, heading to the suburbs where we both lived.
“That’s definitely something to be proud of.”
