He threw the ice to the floor, the crash of it hitting the tile echoing against the walls, as he plunged into me once again. His tempo increased as he pounded into me. His hands gripped my hips, his fingers digging into the bones as he held on. My clit begged for more, as my hand went between us, rubbing and pulling, bringing me closer to my climax.
Chase liked that.
“Fuck!” he moaned. “I’m gonna come, Mare!”
The release hit hard and our bodies surrendered.
Chase stilled over me, his chin close to his chest in exhaustion. As he lifted his head, there was an inferno in his eyes and a sultry smile across his lips.
“You are fucking amazing, you know that?” His hands rubbed along my legs and stomach as he gently pulled himself from me. “Stay put.”
He pushed me further back onto the island so I wouldn’t fall off. I heard a drawer open and then the water running at the sink. Suddenly, a warm towel was wiping me clean.
Looking at him as he tended to me, my heart swelled. There was love in every tender touch as he took care of me. There never should have been a question in my mind about him, or us.
“Chase,” I said, as he finished cleaning me and himself. “I love you. So much.”
Turning to me, he pulled me to sitting and hugged me to him.
“Good,” he said. “Because I love you, too.”
He lowered me to the floor on shaky feet and guided me to the stairs. We made our way up to his bedroom and climbed under the covers of his bed.
He held me as we lay in each other’s arms. My fingers went to his tattoo, outlining the musical notes with my nail.
“That’s the first chord of a song called ‘Susanna.’ It’s not by anyone truly famous, but my mom loved that there was a song for her by someone. She used to play it all the time.”
My heart broke for him. Knowing he had so much love for someone who walked out on him.
Like I had just done.
I whispered my apology again.
“I never wanted to make you feel abandoned, Chase. I’m sorry if I did.”
“It’s OK, Mare. I knew you needed time to think. I’m asking a lot of you.”
It was time for us to talk.
I explained why I left, and ultimately why I came back.
How I almost reached out to Evie but realized he and I needed to make this decision.
He stroked my cheek, wiping the last remnants of tears away.
“Look at us, being in a relationship, doing real relationship stuff,” he said, then laughed.
He was right. Even though it was still scary and hard.
“But, Mare. You shouldn’t feel like you can’t talk to the people in your life, other than me, about this. I think you should. Get their perspective. Maybe they’ll think of something neither of us have.” He reached over to the nightstand and grabbedmy phone. “Call Evie. Talk to her. Maybe she’ll be the one who convinces you to go with me, ya never know.”
His wicked smile made me laugh. And he wasn’t wrong. She probably would try to do exactly that.
I took my phone from him and pulled up her number.
“I’m gonna go in the studio and practice. Give you some privacy. Come get me when you’re done, OK?”
He kissed me gently on the lips and walked out of the room, leaving me alone to decide our future.
