He set the bottle of wine he was holding down on the kitchen counter and took Kitty from my arms.
“I’ll be back.”
Watching him go through my routine was comical. He must have thought holding the kitty was part of it. I didn’t bother to tell him because…well, because oddly, I really liked watching the oversized man walk around and check my closets for prospective intruders while holding a hairless cat. It certainly wasn’t a sight you see every day.
Finishing, he bent down, let Tallulah go, and walked into the kitchen where he began to open my drawers, looking for something. Finding a bottle opener, he spoke as he unscrewed the cork. “How’d I do?”
“Perfect. You’re hired. You can come sweep my apartment for criminals every night, if you like.”
He pulled the cork from the bottle with a loud pop. “Be careful. I might take you up on that.”
Since my refrigerator was even emptier than I’d thought, we ordered in Chinese food. I got the kung pao chicken, and Chase chose shrimp lo mein. We sat on the floor in the living room, eating out of containers with chopsticks and swapping meals from time to time.
“Do you think Sam knows?” I asked.
“About us?”
“Yes.”
“No. She’s not subtle. If she knew, she’d say it.”
“How do you think she would feel if she did know? Considering I’m an employee and all.”
“Doesn’t matter. She doesn’t like it, I’ll make her change the policy.”
“From prohibited relationships to screwing in the office strongly encouraged?”
He grinned. “Absolutely.”
I’d been thinking about the things I overhead in the bathroom all afternoon. While the conversation was obviously not meant for my ears, I couldn’t unhear it. Part of my hesitancy with jumping into this relationship full force with Chase—even aside from him being my boss—was wondering where his relationship with Peyton had left him. Whether he could truly move on. What shrine had Sam been referring to? I’d been in his house, and nothing had struck me as unusual.
I looked into Chase’s eyes when I spoke. “I overheard some of your conversation with Sam today from the bathroom.”
He swallowed his mouthful of food. “Okay.”
“Can I ask you something that’s probably none of my business?”
He set down his carton on the coffee table. “What’s on your mind?”
“Are you…able to move on?”
He’d told me he wanted to try. But trying and actually putting the past behind you were two very different things. I should know.
“To be honest, the last seven years, I had no idea I wasn’t moving on. Thought what I was doing was moving on.”
“You mean sleeping with women?”
He shook his head. “Yeah. I was standing in place a long time. Not letting go.”
“But you think you’re ready to move on now?”
“I think it took me this long to realize what moving on meant. It doesn’t mean forgetting what you’ve left behind. It means making her a memory and deciding to have a future without her in it.”
“Wow. That’s sad and beautiful at the same time.”
He took my hand. “This feels right. So, to answer your question…am I able to move on now? It feels like I already have.”
Chase was sitting on the floor with his back against the couch. Setting my container down on the table next to his, I climbed over him, straddling his hips, and gently kissed his lips.#p#分页标题#e#
“That was a really good answer,” I whispered.
“Oh yeah? Do I get a prize for the right answer?” Chase’s thumb brushed gently along my jaw.
“You do. You get your pick of rewards. Tell me how you’d like to receive yours, and your wish is my command.”
I felt his cock harden beneath me. “Any way I want?”
I nuzzled into him. “Any way you want.”
He grabbed a fistful of my hair and pulled hard, gaining access to my neck. Leaning in, his tongue licked its way from the top of my throat down to my collarbone. Reaching the soft spot between my neck and shoulder, his teeth sunk in, not breaking the skin but strong enough that I suspected I’d have a mark tomorrow.
I moaned, and Chase ground up, pushing his erection into me with a groan.
“Does any way I want include tying you to the bed for days?”
Just as he pulled me down to him again, sealing his mouth over mine, his cell phone began to ring.
“That’s you,” I mumbled into our joined mouths.
“Ignore it.”
His hand slipped under my blouse and found my pert nipples, which made ignoring the ringing cell easy. But then thirty seconds after it stopped, it started again. Someone really wanted to reach Chase.