He didn’t answer her as he picked up a gadget and pressed a button. A garage door rolled up on a building that looked like an office space, and he drove in. Chase pressed another button, and the lights came on.
They got out, and Bliss took a quick look around. She saw his Ducati and a black Kawasaki on one side of the room, as well as an old-style muscle-car Charger—not the new, revamped version. It was sleek and black and dangerous looking, and Bliss didn’t like it at all. She touched it with her finger and found it to be as cold as it looked. She wrinkled her nose. “What’s up with this car, Chase?”
He looked at her, but he didn’t smile. “You don’t like my Charger?”
“Not really.”
He laughed. “Well, I only use it to run errands and once in a while, to do an occasional job for Cyrus. You really don’t have to worry about riding in it.”
She stared at him, and he stared back; a small smile played at the corners of his mouth. “What—” she started, but he interrupted her.
“Ask whatever you want, but let’s do it upstairs okay?” He didn’t wait for an answer. He rang for the elevator, and it popped open. They stepped inside and rode up in silence.
The door opened back up at the level of his living space. Once again, Bliss was impressed with him. The space was huge, with blond hardwood floors. There was an invitingly plush black sectional, with a huge TV hanging on the wall. The kitchen was to the left; it featured black granite counters and upscale appliances. The dining area was directly ahead, with upholstered chairs and a marble table. Past that was the only wall in the loft, and Bliss was sure it housed the bedroom. There was a full-sized pool table on the other side of the loft, past the living room, along with another sectional.
Bliss smiled. “Wow, Chase. This is nice.”
He was watching her with his suit jacket open and his hands in his pants pockets.
She wanted to walk over to him and start pulling his clothes off, but there were a few things her logical mind told her they needed to get out of the way first—like finishing the conversation they’d started in the garage.
“Thanks,” he said after an awkward delay. Chase walked over to her, never taking his eyes off hers or his hands out of his pockets.
Bliss put the little purse she was carrying on the arm of the sectional, then put her arms around his waist and looked up at him. “You don’t really feel like talking, do you? I know we should, but I don’t want to. Do you?”
That hint of a smile reappeared. “No, no, I really don’t—not right now. But we will…later. I promise.”
Bliss nodded. She had absolutely no desire to talk to Chase about anything at that moment. She didn’t want to hear anything she didn’t want to know about until after he’d made love to her, because then it would be too late to go back. Then, she’d be in it for the long run. She knew something wasn’t right, but she didn’t care. She wanted him.
Bliss stood on her toes and held her face up, pulling him down by his tie and unknotting it. She kissed him slow and deep. Chase shrugged out of his jacket as Bliss pulled his tie off his neck. Her hands flew to the buttons on his shirt and started to undo them. Chase unzipped her dress and pulled it forward as she pushed his shirt off his shoulders. Bliss slipped out of her dress, letting it fall to the floor. She kicked the dress away and stepped back from him because she wanted him to see what he was getting ready to get into.
Chase looked her over and licked his lips. He smiled at her with a lewd little glint in his eye. “Come here, Bliss.”
She smiled back and patted her thighs. “No…you come here.”
Chase raised an eyebrow but held his smile. “Have it your way.” He shocked her when he picked her up like she didn’t weigh a thing and carried her into his bedroom. He dropped her in the middle of the bed and put one knee on either side of her body and one hand on either side of her face. Chase lowered his head and kissed her above each breast. Bliss reached down and unsnapped the closure on the front of her bra. Chase thrilled her with a barrage of strategically placed kisses and tweaking, but his real interests lay elsewhere, and he wasn’t shy about it. He backed up until he was off the bed, pulling Bliss with him.
When her butt hit the edge of the bed, she rose up on her elbows and moved to kick off her high heels.
Chase put his hands on her ankles to stop her. “Don’t, baby. Leave ‘em on.” In an instant, Chase was on his knees in front of her. His hands slid up her legs, and Bliss trembled. He moved into position between her thighs, and Bliss had to fight the urge to just throw her legs open like a harlot and beg him to take her. Her need for him was like a low, dull ache. He kissed his way up her thighs, and Bliss couldn’t help it: She raised her hips, and Chase took the hint and slid her panties off. Bliss watched him looking at her and felt her arousal swelling her up, making her twitch. He put his mouth on her, and she thought she’d died and gone to Heaven. His mouth was carnally hot as he twirled his tongue over her in small circles. In answer to his moans, she offered sweet little squeals of pleasure. Chase wasn’t all over the place; he knew exactly what he was doing. He worked on her very precisely, in one spot, spreading her apart with his thumbs.
Bliss felt warm all over, and her legs started to quiver. She ran her hands over her breasts and screamed helplessly as her body began to throb. Chase was on top of his game. His tongue was unrelenting as Bliss’s hips came off the bed. He put his hands under her ass and licked her until she was whimpering softly. He stood up suddenly, and Bliss looked up at him in dismay. She wanted him so bad that she was almost panting. “Chase, don’t just leave me like this. What are you doing?”
He laughed and removed the rest of his clothes. Bliss watched him, transfixed. No, Chase wasn’t just really cute. He was fine as hell, standing there in all his naked glory, and he had the goods too. Bliss tried not to stare, biting her lip in anticipation.
Chase smiled at her and put one knee back on the bed, and Bliss couldn’t stop herself from wrapping her hand around him. She slid her hand back and forth slowly until his breath grew ragged.
Chase closed his eyes for a moment, then put his hand over hers to stop its rhythm. He opened his eyes and looked at her hard. “Move back,” he lovingly instructed.
Bliss pushed herself back with her heels, and Chase followed her, forcing her back to the middle of the bed. He was laughing. “You know what, Bliss? It seems like we can never get to where we should be without getting stuff out of the way first.”
Bliss giggled because he was right. “I agree.”
He laughed again, but it was a shaky laugh. “If I don’t get in right now, I think I’m gonna pass out. Let me in, Bliss.”
Bliss parted her thighs for him with a smile. “Come on, baby. Stay as long as you like.”
Chase took her up on the invitation. He slid into her, looking into her eyes. They both cried out at the slickly thrilling sensation of their bodies joining. Bliss’s legs went instinctively around his hips. Chase put his weight on one arm and his hand under her thigh and pulled her closer. He rode her slow, sliding into her long and deep.
Chase put his face close to hers and whispered in her ear. Bliss felt her entire body blush. He wasn’t talking dirty to her. Instead, he was telling her how good she felt to him. It was shocking and exhilarating because no one had ever done that before. He was breaking her down slowly and steadily with that long, sure stroke, letting her feel all of him, making her take all of him…and he was taking his time about it.
Bliss ran her hands over his body and let them come to rest firmly on his ass. She pulled him in as far as he could go with every thrust, her hips rising to meet his. She turned her head, and Chase began kissing her and picking up his pace. Bliss could feel it coming like an express train. It was bearing down on her, and she felt like she couldn’t get enough air in her lungs. Her hips lunged off the bed and ground against his mercilessly. She was vaguely aware that she’d called his name and that she was whimpering like she was hurt, but she couldn’t st
op grinding her hips into his.
She felt like she was caught in that strong climax and couldn’t get out. That was fine with her because she didn’t want to leave. Instead, she pulled Chase into it with her like it was the last thing he was expecting.
He plunged into her with his weight still balanced on one arm. His fingers gripped her thigh, and he tried to go easy on her, not to slam into her, but it was useless. Chase pounded into her, and she loved it, crying out and rising to meet him. He put his hands on her hips and pushed her back down on the bed as the pounding waned into a grind. Bliss could feel him filling her up, and she loved that too. She rocked with him until he was done. They lay there for a moment, spent, happy, and breathless.
Chase got up and took her shoes off. He unsnapped her stockings and peeled them off. He gave her a hand getting up and took off her garter belt and her bra. He looked down at her; Bliss was trying not to straight-up ogle him, and he noticed. He laughed softly and looked her over, not quite ogling her. “I know exactly how you feel, and you can get it anytime you want it, Bliss. Ain’t this great?”
Bliss got to her knees and ran her hands over his chest. She kissed the scar on his jaw suggestively.
Chase’s eyebrow went up. “You want it right now?”
She laughed. “We just finished, silly.”
He moved against her, knowing he could be ready again in ten seconds. “So?”
“You’re crazy, Chase.”
He laughed. “I’ve heard that before.” He let his hands skim up her sides until his thumbs were stroking the sides of her breasts. “I’m supposed to be in bed holding you now, I guess, but can we wait a minute on the afterglow?”
Bliss laughed. “Why? Are you hungry too?”
He laughed. “Yeah. I’m starvin’.”
They split a pair of black pajamas and went into the kitchen. Chase opened the refrigerator door with Bliss standing just in front of him.
She was surprised the fridge was so well stocked. She took a cake box off the second shelf. “What’s in here?”
He frowned thoughtfully. “Red velvet, I think. It’s Corey’s. Let’s eat it.”
Bliss laughed. “That’s cold, Chase.”
“He shouldn’t have left it here if he didn’t want me eatin’ it. I ain’t worried about Corey raisin’ up on me over some cake.”
Bliss noticed the way Chase talked about Corey with great affection and about Cyrus with a distaste of equal proportions, but she let it go for a moment. She cut the cake, and they sat down at the breakfast bar to eat it.
Bliss nonchalantly looked across the room and caught a glimpse of her little purse lying on the sectional. Her mouth dropped open: She hadn’t even thought about the condoms, but she could sure hear Tasha’s voice in her head: “Common sense goes out the window…Never trust a man when it comes to your contraception…You better not bring my friend back all knocked up…”
Chase looked over his shoulder to see what she was looking at. He looked back at her questioningly. “What’s wrong?”
She didn’t feel like saying it out loud, so she got up and retrieved her purse. She opened it and put the condoms between them.
Chase almost choked on his cake, but not from surprise. Rather, it was because he was laughing. He managed to swallow his food, then he pointed at the condoms, still laughing. “Where’d you get those?”
Bliss frowned, wondering what the hell was so funny. “From Tasha.”
He seemed even more tickled. “Damn! She only gave you three?”
“What’s so funny, Chase? I’m not laughing.”
He chilled his laughter a little, but it was still there. “Come on, Bliss! Why are you all frowned up? It is funny to me. It’s funny because you don’t get it.”
She frowned deeper. “Get what?”
“Stop frownin’ at me.”
Bliss stood up. Real anger was creeping in around the edges. What the hell am I supposed to get? She took a step away from him and folded her arms across her chest. “No. Not until you explain yourself—and you need to do it right now, Chase. I’m serious.”
He looked at her like he didn’t believe she was. Then he looked a little harder and realized his mistake. “Bliss…are you really mad at me?” He asked the question like he couldn’t believe he what he was saying.
Bliss looked at her watch. “I wonder if the #1 train is running at this time of night,” she said and turned on her heel. She walked over to her dress and picked it up off the floor.
Chase touched her arm, and she jumped. She hadn’t even heard him get up. “Wait a minute, Bliss. I’m sorry. I apologize if you took what I said the wrong way. I know you can’t read my mind. All I meant by saying you don’t get it is that those condoms really don’t matter to me one way or the other—not with you.”
Bliss looked at him like he was crazy. “What the hell does that mean?”
He smiled and shrugged. “Well, you already think I’m crazy, but I’m not—at least not about this. I can only tell you—or try to, anyway—how I feel about you. They don’t mean anything to me because even if you had some terrible disease, I’d rather get it and die than be without you. If you get pregnant, I’ll hold you down, Bliss. No, wait…I’ll do more than that. I’ll marry you and see how many more we can have! If I thought you’d do it, I’d put you in my car right now and drive to the nearest JP or preacher or anybody who could marry us in the middle of the night. That’s why I laughed…and that’s why those condoms don’t matter.”
They stared at each other silently. He’d taken her breath away and left her speechless, and she felt like an ass. She was sorry, and she knew the best way to tell him, because they were on the same wavelength after all. Bliss reached out and touched his face. “I love you, Chase.”
He smiled at her and tilted his head. “You sure? ‘Cause you were really ready to roll outta here and maybe come back with some of your girls to beat my ass, right?”
“You’re wrong about one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“You are crazy.”
He kept smiling. “I must be, ‘cause you keep tellin’ me I am. How crazy can I really be, though, Bliss? You just told me you love me, and you’ve only known me for ten days. I knew the first time I kissed you that I’d just stopped lookin’. I need to tell you that I wasn’t lookin’ at the time, but still…there you were. It was as inevitable as rockslides, earthquakes, tsunamis—”
Bliss made a face. “But those are all disasters, Chase.”
He shook his head. “No, baby. Those are forces of nature. I know it seems like this is going really fast—and yeah, maybe it is—but don’t tell me you’ve never heard of people gettin’ married a month after meeting each other and staying married for fifty years. I know you have.”
“Yeah, but…” She trailed off, because he was right. Stuff like that does happen.
“But what?”
She shook her head. “But nothing. What you’re saying is true, but—”
“But what, Bliss? You’re basing what’s destined to go on between you and me on what other people think. Like I asked you before, who makes the rules to this shit? I said I don’t, but you know what? I was wrong. I make the rules to this, and so do you. Fuck what everybody says and what they think, Bliss.”
She watched his face. Chase was dead serious. Yes, he had an odd way of looking at things, but she couldn’t say he was wrong, because he wasn’t. “You’re right, Chase. I guess I just have to get used to your maverick way of thinking.” She paused. “You really would marry me, wouldn’t you?”
He laughed. “Would? I’m gonna marry you, Bliss. I know you don’t think I’m serious, but I am. Just let me know when you’re ready.”
“Is that supposed to be a proposal?”
Chase shrugged and smiled. “I’m not a real traditional guy, Bliss, so that’s more than a proposal. It’s a promise.”
His phone rang, and Bliss wondered who it could be at one in the morning.
Cha
se looked at his watch, then at the caller ID, and then he frowned. “I think I should take this,” he said, more to himself than to Bliss. Chase picked the phone up, and his entire demeanor changed.
Bliss tried to pretend she wasn’t listening. She picked up their plates and took them to the sink, then tuned in to one side of Chase’s conversation.
“What are you callin’ me for, Khalid? I don’t give a shit. You got somethin’ you think I should know, you tell Cyrus, and he’ll let me know. What? Like I said, I don’t give a shit. That’s your problem. It is what it is, man. Y’all shoulda thought about that.” There was a long pause.
Bliss looked at Chase, and he glanced at her and tucked his lips in.
He turned his head and closed his eyes. Then he exploded. “Fuck! Fuck, Khalid! Where the fuck is he? Where’s Corey? You guys are fuck-ups! No, never mind that! I’ll do it my-damn-self. I’ll be there as soon as I can.” He hung up and speed-dialed someone. “Corey? Are you okay? You sure? All right, Just stay where you are. I’m on my way. Do me a favor and call J.T. Tell him I might need him. Bye.” He put the phone back on the base and looked at Bliss. “I’m sorry, baby. Cyrus made a damn mess, and I gotta clean it up.. I need a shower. You comin’?” He didn’t wait for an answer but just turned and walked to the bathroom and turned on the shower. Chase’s shower was so big it had a seat in it. They took off their pajamas and got in.
“Chase, what’s wrong?”
“Cyrus got shot.”
“What? Oh my God! Is he okay?”
“He’s alive. That’s all I know.”
“What about Corey? Was he with him?”
“Corey’s okay. I don’t know the details, but I’ll get ‘em in a minute.”
They didn’t speak again until they were out of the shower. Bliss understood that every family has their crises, and they usually find out about it from one of those dreaded middle-of-the-night calls like the one Chase had just received. Of course the timing was really bad, but that wasn’t what was eating at her. Usually, those midnight phone calls are because someone has a heart attack or gets in a car accident, but this was different. Cyrus had been shot. From the little she’d gleaned about him and what she’d seen herself, Cyrus Brown left her with some truly uneasy feelings. She’d put off asking before, but now she felt she had to. She had to know exactly what was going on with Chase and his two handsome brothers.
Chasing Bliss Page 11