“What? Why?” I ask, turning on him.
He quickly walks up to me, grabs me by the face and plants a kiss on my lips. “Because you’re moving in with me. Do you got a problem with that?”
I blink at him as it sinks in and slowly shake my head. I don’t have a problem with it. All I feel is relief.
“Good,” he smirks and let’s go of my face only to give me a little slap on the butt. “Get to it. I’m ready to go home.”
As soon as I unlock the door to my apartment, Sebastian is there meowing. Chase feeds him as I gather up my things.
Thankfully I don’t own much. I have two bags of clothes and everything out of my bathroom. Even though he’s injured, Chase insists on taking one of my bags as we walk back to his car. I give him the lightest one, for the sake of his ego.
Chase is so quiet on the drive back to his place, so quiet I think he’s fallen asleep. Just as I’m pulling up to his garage, he suddenly reaches out and grabs my thigh. I nearly jump out of my skin and hit the gas a little too hard.
“Shit,” I squeal and he chuckles.
“Fuck, I missed you so much,” he growls and squeezes me.
I squirm and wish I could press my knees together. Just him touching my thigh is making me hot.
“Down, big boy,” I smirk at him and pull into his garage. “The doc ordered you to take it easy.”
“Okay,” he grins and his hand travels up my thigh as I park the car. “I’ll let you do all the work.”
Shaking my head at Chase, I tell him, “I can’t believe after everything that’s happened tonight, you’re even thinking about it.”
Chase grabs my hand before I can jump out of the car and brings it up to his lips. His lips brush softly across my knuckles and I shiver, all the little nerves in my hand going off like tiny little explosions.
The way he looks at me, the way he melts me with his eyes makes me nervous. He’s been hurt, he needs to rest. I shouldn’t encourage him, yet it’s been so long how can I resist him?
“I’m pretty sure even if I was dying I’d be thinking about you, Avery.”
I suck in a sharp breath and yank my hand back. Before he can do anything else, I push open my door and jump out of the car. If I don’t put some space between us, I’m totally going to hurt the guy by jumping his bones.
Chase chuckles as he follows a moment later with Sebastian in his arms. Grabbing up my bags, I let Chase lead, following him into his house. After walking over the threshold, I close the door to the garage behind me and drop my bags to the floor, just letting everything sink in.
“Home sweet home,” Chase says. Grunting in pain, he bends down and gently drops Sebastian to the floor then straightens.
Sebastian meows and immediately slinks his way into the kitchen.
Home, I think but still, even though I want this it feels so surreal. Am I dreaming? I give my arm a little pinch. No, this is real. This is really happening.
Chase must see the hesitation in my eyes. Before I can do or say something stupid, he reaches out and snatches up my hand. “I’ve made some changes.” He pulls on my hand, leading me to the living room. “Come, tell me what you think of them.”
“You bought a plant,” I say in confusion as I look around the living room and the only change I can see that he made is that there is now a potted green plant on his table.
“Yeah,” Chase grins. “Do you like it?”
“Sure,” I tell him, not entirely understanding what he’s getting at. “It’s great. Really spruces the place up a bit.”
“I thought you might like it,” Chase says, his voice dropping an entire octave as he pulls me closer. “I thought about you when I bought it. I couldn’t stop thinking about you. I thought about you the entire time you were gone.”
The closer Chase pulls me to him, the more I have to tip my head back to look up at him.
“I want to make the house more comfortable for you. But if you don’t like it, we can sell it.”
“Sell the plant?” I ask. Who would want to buy a used plant?
“No,” Chase smirks down at me. “Sell the house.”
“Oh,” I say softly as the gravity of what he is telling me sinks in.
He couldn’t stop thinking about me. He’s willing to sell his house for me. And what do I tell him? The first thing that pops out of my mouth is, “I didn’t think about you.”
Chase stiffens. Damnit, I didn’t mean for it to sound like that. I quickly rush to say, “I didn’t want to think about you. I tried really hard not to do it.”
And, I just dug myself deeper. Way to go, Ave.
“What I mean is,” I stammer and drop my eyes, feeling like a complete ass. “That every time I thought about you it hurt because I missed you. Because I needed you. And it hurt so bad I just couldn’t take it. So I tried really hard not to do it. But even after all the trying, I just couldn’t help it.”
I drop my voice to a whisper, feeling incredibly vulnerable as I say, “I think I love you, Chase.”
Chase is quiet so long I fear he’s angry at me. God, I hope I didn’t fuck this up already. We’ve only been in his house together for like two minutes.
Slowly, anxiously, I lift my eyes back up to look at him. His eyes are so intense, so dark, just meeting them is enough to steal my breath. I feel my lips parting in surprise then suddenly he’s groaning and kissing me.
“I’m sorry,” I apologize against his lips, against his kisses. “I’m so sorry I pushed you away. You didn’t deserve it. I don’t deserve you.”
“I love you,” he growls and sucks back on my bottom lip. “I fucking love you, Avery, and you’re never getting away from me again.”
“Keep me,” I tell him and kiss him back. Tentatively, I lift my hands to his arms and squeeze, still knowing better than to touch his chest. “I’m yours.” Deep inside me, I know, I feel like I’ve always been his. My body was made to be near him, made to touch his.
“Mine,” he demands and kisses me so hard, so fast, I can’t even answer him.
At some point while Chase is kissing me, I feel so overwhelmed, I guess I start crying.
“Don’t cry, baby,” Chase says tenderly, breaking the kiss and wiping the tears from my cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” I apologize and sniffle, feeling beyond silly. “I’m just so happy.”
I feel like today I’ve ridden a rollercoaster of emotions after weeks of trying to feel as little as possible.
Chase smiles and drags his thumb across my bottom lip. “Come on, it’s been a long day.”
And that’s an understatement. I’m crying and some of the red swollen parts on his face are beginning to shadow with bruises.
By the hand he leads me out of the living room and up the stairs.
“Are you in a lot of pain?” I ask as he takes the steps stiffly beside me.
I don’t know a heck of a lot about fighting, but I know from personal experience sometimes injuries don’t necessarily hurt as much at first as they should. Pain has a way of marinating, sometimes you don’t feel the full force of it until much, much later.
“Nothing a little love and tender care won’t fix,” Chase assures me as we walk into his bedroom.
Now I have the strongest urge to take care of him, to fix him. I can see that he hurts though he’s doing a good job of masking it. I watched every hit his body took, every kick and slam Ethan dealt out. All I want to do now is make him feel better. I want him to feel good. He deserves it after the night he’s had. He’s deserves it after all this crap I’ve put him through.
I yank back gently on his arm and step close. “Let me tend to you?” I ask quietly as he looks down at me.
He nods and I grab the bottom of his shirt. I tug up on it and raise myself up on my tiptoes as he bends down, pulling it over his head.
“What do you have in mind?” Chase asks, straightening with a grunt.
I toss the shirt away and it falls somewhere on the floor. Next, I begin to tug down his pants. “Do you want a shower?” I sink down to my knees until I’m eye level with his groin.
Chase nods and his voice sounds a bit hoarser. “A shower would be good.”
“Step out of your pants,” I have to tell him as I tug them down to the floor.
His cock springs free and even though he’s hurt, even though his ribs are fractured and he’s turning black and blue all over, he’s growing hard for me. It takes every ounce of self-control I have to keep myself from reaching out and taking him in my hand. This isn’t for me, though, I remind myself.
This isn’t about what I want. I’m doing this to make him feel good.
Taking a deep breath, I rise up until I’m standing tall then I grab my own shirt and pull it up and over my head.
“Avery,” Chase says hoarsely and reaches for me.
I shake my head and bat away his hands. “No, no touching. If you start grabbing on me now, we’ll never make it through the shower. And trust me,” I smirk at him. “You need it.”
Chase laughs, but his laugh cuts off suddenly as I reach behind myself, unsnap my bra and free my breasts.
“You’re so beautiful,” he chokes out, and I can’t help but warm and flush with heat beneath his admiration.