by Emma Hart
I leaned back against the counter and looked down at the drill.
“Like, my sister said that when she had Jessie, she fell in love with Dan all over again when she saw him with her. She just found out she’s pregnant again, a total surprise, and she thinks she fell in love yet again when he handled it way better than she did.”
“She’s pregnant again?”
“Like I said, surprise.” Sophie smiled. “She just told us and only because Jessie blurted it out.” She snorted. “But, yes. I think you could fall in love with Chase all over again, mostly because I think that deep down, you never stopped loving him. You just let go of enough hatred to see that.”
I sighed and looked out of the window. Cars passed by as they drove up and down the street, and people snaked through the ones that were parked at the side of the road.
“Of course,” Soph continued. “He never stopped being in love with you, so maybe that’s just me projecting.”
I almost dropped the drill. “What? How do you know that?”
“You know that?”
I nodded. “He told me the other night. On the beach. He told me everything. When did he tell you?”
She shifted uncomfortably. “The day you broke your toe. That thing that he stopped Marnie saying? It was why he opened the store. She told me in the kitchen, and I asked him. He admitted he was still in love with you.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“It wasn’t my thing to tell you. It was his to say when he was ready. I’m sorry. I wanted to, but it didn’t feel right.”
I sighed. “It’s okay. Really. I wouldn’t have believed you anyway.”
“Exactly.” She laughed and stood up. “Are you going to drill that wall, or are you going to hug that drill and pretend you’re going to do something?”
“I’m trying to figure it out,” I said. “I’m not exactly your regular Miss Fix-It, am I now?”
“My cousin knows one of those.”
I frowned. “A what?”
“A Miss Fix-It. She lives in California and had her come to do a couple things around the house for her.” She shrugged and stood up. “If a woman can do it for a job, I think we can figure out a drill between the two of us.”
Sophie came and took the drill from me. She looked at it and shrugged once again as if to say, ‘How hard could it be?’
“How hard could it be?” She met my eyes. “Where do you want it?”
That felt a lot like “famous last words.”
“Um,” I said.
Sophie lifted the drill, picked one of the spots on the wall that I’d marked with a little pencil ‘x,’ and pressed the button to run the drill. With her tongue sticking out of her mouth and my heart somewhere beneath the outer crust of the Earth, she started to drill the hole.
She stepped back almost instantly. “Holy shit, the wall is hard!”
I snorted. “Of course the wall is hard! It’s fucking brick!”
“I know, but have you seen the power of this thing?” She waved the drill at me.
“Yes! So stop brandishing it as a weapon!” I took it from her. “It can’t be that hard. You’re just being a wimp.”
I stepped up to where she’d just been and put the drill in that spot, then turned it on.
Wow. The wall was hard.
I pushed, and the drill broke the surface of the wall.
Until I slipped.
I screamed as the drill jerked against the brick and my grip loosened. The heavy drill dropped out of my grip, and I let out another scream as I jumped back to stop it from falling on my toe.
Except the case for the drill was on the floor, and that was where my good foot had landed. The plastic case went flying across the floor, taking me with it, and it took everything I had to grab hold of the counter so I didn’t hit the floor and break my spine or something.
The door slammed open just as I stopped myself from hitting the tiles. Chase rushed in and stopped dead, his eyes instantly falling to me. I was gripping the counter for dear life and had my right leg outstretched to protect my toe.
“I heard a drill, then a bang, and a lot of screaming,” he said slowly. “But now, I realize I should have expected to come in here and see this.”
“Walls are hard,” I replied lamely, finally setting my foot down and standing up straight. “Um. Sophie couldn’t do it either.” I pointed at her.
Not that she could say anything. She was laughing so hard tears rolled down her cheeks.
“Did she almost fall over like you?” Chase’s eyes lit up. “Why are you incapable of doing any kind of handiwork?”
“Do I look like a builder?”
“No, you look like a walking liability.” He laughed and picked up the drill. He pressed the button a few times to confirm it was working, then picked up the case and put them both on the counter. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine. Just.” I smoothed out the skirt of the dress I’d put on this morning. “But I think I might need some help with the drill.”
He bent over on the counter and laughed.
“I need to go,” Sophie wheezed through giggles. “I have to get back to work.” She grabbed her purse and left, still laughing like hell.
Some best friend she was.
Although, if it were the other way around, I’d probably be peeing myself, too.
“Do you want me to help you?” Chase’s hand brushed across my back as he walked around me. “My store is dead. I’ve had one customer all morning because they’re at that stupid festival thing on the beach. I’ll close up and come to help you.”
I waved my hand. “No, it’s fine. Don’t close. I can call Grandpa.”
“He’s working on your tables today. What part of one customer didn’t you understand?” His eyes still shone, but now with laughter. “Seriously. Give me five minutes, and I’ll be right back, okay?”
Sighing, I nodded. “Okay. Thank you. I don’t want to think about what damage I could cause with that thing.”
He backed toward the door, grinning. “I’m a little more worried about what you can do to yourself with it, and I kinda like you just the way you are.”
I blushed as he left and turned to his store.
Damn it.
***
“Bailing you out is becoming a habit. One more time and I’m going to rent a suit of armor.” Chase blew in the hole he’d just drilled, and dust went flying.
“Why? Because you’re my knight in shining armor?” I snorted and put another grape in my mouth.
He turned, holding his arms out to the sides. “One of us is drilling your holes. The other is—what? What did I say?”
I bit the inside of my cheek. “Nothing. Carry on.”
He started to talk, then stopped. “It’s because I said ‘drilling your holes,’ isn’t it?”
“Little bit.”
“Are you an adult woman or a teenage boy?”
I thought about that for a second and then said, “An adult woman with an inner teenage boy.”
Chase stared at me for a second then burst out laughing. “That’s about the answer I expect. How about I rephrase and say, ‘I’m drilling holes for you?’”
“Better.” I nodded. “Thank you.”
“Although I’m totally down to drill your holes should the opportunity arise.”
I covered my face with my hands and bent forward. Oh my God. “I can’t believe you just said that.”
“Hey, you’re the one who turned an innocent comment sexual. You’re the one who has a dirty mind.”
“You realized what I was thinking. That gives you a dirty mind, too.”
“Correct.” He pointed the drill at me. “Mine is probably dirtier.”
“How do you figure that?”
“Are you thinking about me screwing you up against this wall right now?”
My cheeks flushed. “No.”
Chase held out his hands. “Dirtier. I’m definitely thinking about that.”
My lips pa
rted into an ‘o.’ “You can’t think that!”
“Why not?”
“Because!”
He waited for me to elaborate. I didn’t.
He set the drill on the counter and laughed. “Wow, now I get why. Your explanation was gold.”
I threw a grape at him, only for him to catch it and pop it into his mouth with a grin. “You know why. It’s weird.”
“I’m gonna humor you.” He rested against the counter and put one hand on his hip. “Why is it weird that I’m thinking about screwing you against a wall? It wouldn’t be the first time.”
I blushed from head to toe. I fucking swear. “Chase!” I threw another grape. “Stop it!”
“Why?” He laughed. “You don’t want to hear more about how I’d pick you up and—”
“La la la la!” I put my fingers in my ears and got up, walking away from him. “La la la la!”
“Rae!” His laughter made it through my attempts at blocking him out. “Rae!”
He caught me in the kitchen and pulled my fingers out of my ears. His laughter was deep and low and rich, and goosebumps immediately erupted all over my skin.
Our eyes met, and I pouted. “What?”
He paused, trying to control his laughter if the brightness of his eyes was anything to go by. “I’m messing with you, babe.”
“So you aren’t thinking that?”
“Oh no. I am. I’m definitely thinking about it.”
“Then how are you messing with me?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t have to tell you. I just…I forget sometimes. I forget this isn’t what it used to be.”
A lump formed in my throat. “It’s okay. You’re not pissing me off; you’re just embarrassing the heck out of me.”
He paused. “Rae, you once got your period in the middle of sex, and you’re embarrassed about this?”
Shit. I’d forgotten that. “Um. Well, now I’m embarrassed about the period thing.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you’re not.”
“You’re right. I’m not.” He grinned. “Listen—I’m not going to apologize for being stupidly attracted to you. It kinda comes with the territory of being crazy in love with you. But if that makes you uncomfortable, I’ll stop telling you it.”
“No. It doesn’t. I mean—you don’t have to.” I took a deep breath and let it go.
We were so close. I moved even closer as my heart picked up a little, and I tilted my head back to look into his eyes.
They were beautiful. Fucking unfairly so. They were so bright and perfect, the color of the eyes of princes in fairy tales.
You could drown in them.
I knew.
I’d done it a thousand and one times.
He watched me, questions in his eyes. Hesitance was the most prevalent emotion—and I swear, he was afraid of what I was going to say.
“I don’t hate you,” I said quickly but quietly. “I feel…something, Chase, but I don’t know what. I don’t know if it’s just because you’re here and there’s…this…and it’s safe and comfortable and familiar or because there are real emotions left inside me that I’m just acknowledging.”
He didn’t say anything.
“I want to figure it out. I want to know how I feel about you for real, but all the issues we’ve ever had have been because we didn’t talk. I don’t want…” I took a deep breath. “I don’t want that to happen again. Even if the way I feel right now is just because it’s you—”
“I know. I get it.” He brought his hands up to my face and cupped it. “I know, Rae. And I don’t want to pressure you into figuring anything out. I really don’t. Do I want you back? Yes. I’m not gonna lie to you, babe. I wish you could look me in the eye right now and tell me that you want to give us another try, but I’m not going to force you into any decisions right now.”
I nodded, swallowing hard.
“But I’m not gonna change how I am with you. This is the only way I know how to be with you. I’m not gonna stop messing with you. I’m gonna fuck with you until you have no choice but to kiss me to shut me up.” His lips twitched.
“You’re a giant pain in the ass, Chase Aarons.”
“I know. But so are you, and here I am.” He winked, brushing his thumbs over my cheeks. “But, in case you need any help to decide how you feel…”
I knew what he was going to do before his lips touched mine. I knew he was going to kiss me because that was the one thing he could do. It was the only tool he had at his disposal to change my mind, to influence how I felt, to help me clear up the mess of emotions that swirled inside me.
Kissing me was the only thing he could do, and I’d bet all my money that he did it because he wanted to.
He kissed me like he needed to. His fingers dove into my hair and his lips moved across mine with expert moves. Seconds passed as he just kissed me, and with every second that did I understood just how he felt about me a little more.
It was the same as before.
Two years, bad decisions, hatred, anger, arguments—and today, I understood something.
He’d taken everything, all the anger I’d directed his way, all the fights we’d had and the insults I’d hurled his way. Yet, through it all, Chase loved me the way people loved in movies.
Unabashedly, unashamedly, unconditionally.
And as he curled his fingers around the back of my neck, slowly pulling away just to keep the contact between our lips as long as possible, my heart skipped a beat, warmth spreading through my veins.
I wanted to pull him back. I wanted to curl my fingers into his t-shirt and pull him back into me, to kiss him deeper and harder and longer.
But I couldn’t. Because that was emotional thinking. That was my heart and my hormones leading the charge, and if I was going to do this—if I was going to be a freaking adult and do this properly, I was going to use my head.
I wasn’t going to rush into choices.
I was lucky. Chase understood where I was. He understood there was a lot of water under the bridge, and that I was willing to wade through that water to figure it out.
As long as we were honest with each other and talked, then maybe, just maybe, we could pick up where we left off.
I wanted to remember why I fell in love with him.
I wanted to get my store back to where it should be.
I wanted to get my family sorted out.
I wanted to be happy. If I was honest with myself, that was the one thing I’d never been since we broke up. And, hey, I took full responsibility for that. It was all me. It was wrong and stupid and immature, but somehow, I really felt like there was a second chance being handed to me.
To us.
And maybe, just maybe, we could make it work.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO – CHASE
“How many more holes?”
Rae sat at the bar counter, sipping on a tall glass of ice water. “How many little x’s are left?”
“Depends if you’re Snow White and dated a few dwarves.”
“I’m trying really hard to like you, Chase, but you’re making it difficult.”
I laughed and prodded her in the arm. “Who shut their store to help you redo yours? Even though you’ll be real competition with whatever fancy shit you’re concocting back there?”
She held up a finger. “Are we going there again? Really?”
“If I hadn’t opened there’d be nothing to close? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Whatever.” I placed the tip of the drill bit on one messy little ‘x’ and started it. It whirred to life and, with a little pressure, broke through the wall and made a perfectly round hole. A quick blow into it removed all the loose dust and sent it cascading across the counter.
“And there goes my water.” Rae got up and dumped the contents of her glass into the sink. “Thanks for that.”
I shrugged. “Can’t drill without dust, babe.”
“Can’t drill without dust, babe,” she parroted in a high-pitched voice. “Whatever. You can drill wi
thout contaminating my water.”
“Remember who’s doing who a favor here.”
She cocked one hip and put her hand on it. “The only reason you’re still here is because I bent over an hour ago and you saw my underwear.”
I couldn’t help the twitch of my lips. “That may be a contributing factor.”
“Oh, please. You keep staring at me just in case I flash you again.”
“Actually, I’m staring at you because you look hot as fuck in that dress.” I paused. “But I won’t deny that you flashing me would be a bonus.”
Rae rolled her eyes. “I don’t even know what to say to you. You’re ridiculous.”
“Ridiculously charming.”
“Ridiculously frustrating.”
“Charmingly frustrating.”
“You—” She stopped and pointed at me. “You are. You are. You!” she growled and stomped into the kitchen.
I choked back a laugh. “I am delightful, handsome, and phenomenal in bed!”
She came back within seconds. “If you’re trying to make me fall in love with you again, you’re failing dismally.”
“Technically, I’m not trying. I’m such a delight you’ll fall back in love with me anyway.”
“You’re a raging egomaniac.”
“And you are a beautiful ray of happiness.”
“And you—wait, what?” She frowned. “When did this get turned around on me? Stop complimenting me. You don’t compliment me when I insult you.”
I leaned against the wall, still holding onto the drill. “All right, you’re a miserable little shit. Is that better?”
Her lips twitched as she tried not to laugh. “No. You’re supposed to compliment me even when I tell you not to.”
“I’m not falling for your female psychobabble.” I pushed off the wall and looked for the next ‘x.’ “Compliment yourself. I have no problem doing it.”
“I compliment myself all the time. Have you seen my boobs?”
I shot her a side-eye. “Yes. I’m also fond of those.”
Rae folded her arms across her chest. It did nothing to further her cause of pretending to be annoyed. All it did was push her tits up.