If anything, the attraction feels stronger now. We totally just had a moment, or even two. It felt good opening up to someone. The only other person I’ve talked to about any of this stuff was Ethan, and it just wasn’t the same. When I talked to Chase, I felt like he really understood.
The drive to Chase’s house is dark and quiet. I hold his hand the entire time and resist the urge to reach over and squeeze his thick thigh. I’m trying hard to be a good girl. I want to see his place before I start ripping his clothes off.
He’s just so different, he’s not at all like I expected. I have to admit I’m totally guilty of judging a book by its cover. He’s the type of guy I would go out of my way to avoid. Too hot, too intimidating, too full of himself. Everything about him just oozes masculinity, sexuality, and screams alpha male. Maybe it’s because he’s so not my type that it’s driving me up a wall. I’m not used to all the sweetness mixed with testosterone.
And Chase is sweet. He may look like the kind of guy who would be rough with a girl and demand control, but he’s nice and considerate. All he has done for me is protect me and try to make me feel safe and comfortable.
Falling for Chase isn’t safe, though, I have to remind myself, but already I feel like I can’t help myself. It’s already starting. Out of the blue, just like that.
He’s like a sucker punch to the heart.
Chase pulls off the main strip, onto a windy back road. Where does he live, I wonder as the road curves around an enormous lake. Is he loaded? Does he still live with his dad? Surely only rich people can afford to live in an area as nice as this.
The area feels remote yet planned. As if every tree, every rock, and every plant was meticulously planted in a specific spot to create a specific look in order to create a specific feel. It’s so different from where I live, I’m used to dirty concrete and graffiti covered buildings. Not clean air, ornate fences, and marked walking trails.
My nerves get to me the deeper and deeper we drive. Maybe this was a mistake. My hand holding Chase’s starts to feel clammy. I pull it from his grip and wipe it against my jeans.
“You live back here?” I ask. “Or are you driving me to a remote cabin where no one will hear me scream?”
“You’ve got me.” Chase grins at me, his white teeth flashing in the dim light. “I hide all my bodies back here.”
He reaches for my hand again and I let him have it. He squeezes me and lifts my hand to his lips, kissing it. He doesn’t know it but it makes me feel a little better, a little less nervous. That is until we pull up to his house.
Tucked back into the trees, just off the lake, is a two story white washed house. I lean towards my window, squinting as the beam of the headlights passes over the front to get a better look. It’s hard to see in the dark but I can make out two stone pillars flanking the front door and his lawn is obviously well taken care of. There’s a bird bath and several small gardens.
“This is your place?” I ask in disbelief.
“Yep,” Chase answers proudly then releases my hand so he can reach up and click a button attached to his visor.
We pull up to his garages. He has not one but two garages in the back of the house. The white garage door rolls up into the ceiling, leaving an opening wide enough to fit two cars. Chase pulls into the garage and shuts the car off.
Maybe it’s the buzz wearing off or the sudden bright light but I start to feel an ache forming behind my eyes. Chase jumps out of the car and comes around, opening my door for me. I feel a little blindsided by all of this and a little embarrassed.
He must have thought my place was a real shithole.
“Are you okay?” Chase asks as I climb out of the car and look around the garage.
“Are those yours too?” I ask, pointing to the Jeep and then to the parked motorcycle.
Chase grins and puffs out his chest proudly, “Yep.”
“Wow.”
Chase grabs me by the hand and tugs me along. “Come on. I’ll give you that drink and a tour.”
The first room Chase leads me to is his kitchen, it’s just off the small hallway connected to the garage.
“This is the kitchen,” he grins and flips on the light.
It’s pretty impressive. For one, I think the kitchen is almost as big as my entire apartment. All the appliances are new, stainless steel and probably top of the line. The cabinets are dark wood and gleam as if they’ve been recently waxed. It smells nice in here too, like oranges.
Chase walks up to his behemoth of a refrigerator and pulls open the double stainless steel doors. “What do you want to drink?”
“Water,” I almost croak.
I feel so out of place here. I don’t know why, but Chase having money and apparently lots of money, is one more thing that goes to the list of things that intimidate me about him.
“You sure?” he asks. “I keep sodas and booze for my guests.”
I nod. “Yeah, I’m sure.” As he pulls two bottles of water from the fridge I spin slowly in a circle to look around.
“Do you like to cook?” I ask. I notice at least one food processor, a set of knives, and quite a few pans hanging from the ceiling. “Or is this all for show?”
“I like to cook,” Chase says as he saunters up to me. He seems so much more relaxed now that we’re in his house. He hands me a bottle of water and grins. “I’ll cook you breakfast in the morning.”
I squeeze my water bottle a little too hard, caught off guard. The bottle crinkles loudly and my cheeks flush with heat. I’m staying? He’s already planned it? And he’s even going to cook me breakfast in the morning?
I almost want to ask him: Aren’t you getting a little ahead of yourself, buddy? But who am I fooling? The moment I agreed to come back to his place I knew I was agreeing to spend at least an hour or two in his bed. It’s too late to back out now.
Chase chuckles and jerks his head towards a doorway to the left. “Come on, I’ll show you the rest of the place.”
He walks out of the kitchen and what do my eyes do? They drop and check out his ass. God, I’m such a hussy. Once his ass walks out of sight, I look around the kitchen and can’t stop myself from wondering how many women he’s cooked breakfast for. As hot as he is? Probably dozens…hundreds…
“Are you coming?” Chase asks from the other room. I shake my head and rush to catch up with him.
“This is the living room,” he says and walks right out of the room. Okay… I look around, again I’m impressed. He has a nice big leather couch, a giant TV, and a rug on the floor. On the walls are some nice paintings, but I don’t get a chance to look too closely at them. He seems to be in a rush to get somewhere, probably his bedroom, so I walk-run to catch up with him.
“That’s the guest bath,” he says pointing to a closed door as I catch up to him and follow him down another hallway.
The next door he pulls open, flips on the light but doesn’t step inside. “This is the gym. I rarely use it.”
Peeking inside the room I can see it’s just full of exercising equipment.
He flips the light off, shuts the door and leads me further down the hall.
“This is the game room. Do you like to game?” He pulls open the door and steps back so I can get a look. Inside this room is another gigantic TV, an entire wall of what I think are gaming systems, display cases of games, movies, and computers. Movie posters cover the walls. It’s geek paradise.
“I do like to game.” I smile at him as I step back and he shuts the door. “It’s been a while though, like a couple of years.” Before grandma passed.
“Oh, yeah?” he asks with interest. “Maybe tomorrow we can play the new Rabid Zombie Hunters?”
“After you cook me breakfast?” I ask teasingly. There’s just something about a guy asking me to play video games with him that lightens me up.
Chase’s eyes glint wickedly, and he drags them slowly down my body while he murmurs, “Mmmhmm.”
Though my heart flutters with excitement by the way he looks at me somehow I manage to stretch my lips into a smirk and tell him, “We’ll see.”
Chase’s brows both lift as if asking me if that’s a challenge. I get the feeling he’s the kind of guy who likes a challenge.
“Come on,” he says and grabs my hand. “Let me show you the rest of the place.” Suddenly, I’m just as eager to get to his bedroom.
Chase leads me up a staircase. The staircase is made of a cheery wood with a red runner down the middle, muffling our footsteps.
“This is a guest bedroom,” he points his water bottle at the first door at the top of the landing. “That’s the guest bathroom.” His bottle moves to point at the next door.
I struggle to keep up with him. His stride is so damn long, for his every step I have to take two.
At the end of the landing, he drops my hand to pull open the door. “And this is my bedroom.”
Chapter Thirteen
Chase
Her hand feels right in mine. I'm not sure what it is that makes it feel so right, it just does. It's just like how our bodies seem to mesh so well in bed. I haven't felt this way with someone before. It's fucking killing me.
Pulling her into my bedroom, I switch the lights on and smile as she looks around. I push her towards the bed and a mischievous smile plays across her face before she pulls away. She walks over to the bed, playfully wiggling her hips then sits down on the edge of my king-sized mattress. Rolling on to her side, she stretches out her long legs like she’s a sexy pinup. My dick twitches in my jeans seeing her on my bed like that. She's so fucking hot.