"Oh my God. You made me die."
The RIP message popped up on my screen.
I scowled at him, or tried to, not that it really worked. He nuzzled my neck. I turned to face him, straddling him. He cupped the back of my head, pulling me in for a kiss. I felt it all the way to my toes.
“Morning beautiful,” he said softly.
I rolled my eyes, setting the tablet on the table. “I’m a mess.”
A spark of amusement danced in his eyes. “I love you. That means you can walk around naked or wearing my tee, or those bunny slippers you like to wear, but you’ll still be beautiful to me.”
I probably stopped breathing, because I did not just hear him say that. He said it like it was nothing, like he’d told me that about a million times.
“Y-you do?” I stammered, stunned by the admission.
“Mmm.” He nipped at my lip.
Wait a minute…
“You never asked me what I felt about you.”
“That’s because you already told me.”
“What? When?” I demanded. He couldn’t have gotten it from me without me ever knowing. That was crazy.
A corner of his lip tugged up. He raked a gaze over my body. “Several times.”
He shifted us until I pushed closer against him. “The first time? When I fucked you against the wall that first night from dinner.”
Suddenly, my clothes felt too tight and sensitive on my skin. “I don’t remember that.”
“I’d be offended by that if you hadn’t said it over and over again.”
My eyes slid down to his lips as he said it slowly, as if he was tasting the words. Crap.
Focus. I needed to focus.
“When– when did I say them?”
“The second time was when you fell asleep after.”
He put a hand over my waist. His lips touched my eyelids, my nose, my lips. I gasped against his mouth as his tongue swept in. He pulled back just a little, his lips still on mine.
“That doesn’t count,” I said against his lips.
He chuckled, then he moved back. He took my hands and led me to his room. He shut the door, placing both his hands on them, caging me in.
“The third time was the second night I stayed with you. You mumbled it. The fourth was the next day, and the next, and a couple more when you were at the hospital. Still don’t count?”
It stunned me into silence. I opened my mouth to say something, and he cocked a brow up, daring me to deny how I felt.
He took my silence as my acquiescence.
“I guess I forgot to say, you don’t just snore, you also talk when you sleep.”
I glared at him, but he only proceeded to nuzzle my throat. “If you don’t like it, then–”
His teeth grazed the shell of my ear, and he whispered, “Baby, who said I didn’t like it?”
Well, when he put it like that–
“Chase–”
“I like every damn part of this body.”
He rolled my nipple. Then bent his head down and sucked deep.
Oh God. "Chase."
Then his other hand gave the same attention to my other breast, and I was wet by the time he was done. I ground against his thigh, pressed in between mine.
I heard the sound of a zipper open. Then finally he pulled my summer dress up, sliding inside me.
“Oh.”
His voice turned deeper, gruff. "Sherr. That's it, baby."
I let out a whimper against his throat. He slid out, then slammed back in. Despite the rough way he thrusted inside me, I could feel that he made an effort to be gentle with the way he held me.
He looked at me the way he did, his intense gaze focused on me, and I knew, I knew he didn’t just say the words because I wanted to hear them. I felt it with every touch, with every time his lips collided with mine, and with every look he gave me. The way he himself got when he was with me made me clench against him, and I came hard.
Sliding a hand down to my back, he asked, to my surprise, “Want to go for a drive after?”
I glanced out at the blinds, the sun spilling over the small folds. It was warm today, the perfect weather to go out. I could spend a free day somewhere out. Why not?
* * *
Windows rolled all the way down, the wind blowing away my hair. I leaned out the window a little bit, soaking in the warmth of the sun and the crisp wind.
In the background, the radio played softly.
He stopped over by a familiar crossroads sign that led away from Fortuity. It was a little weathered, but it stood strong.
“Oh my God.”
He didn’t say anything.
“I remember this place!” I said excitedly. This was where we shared our first kiss. Back when it felt like it was us against the world, and when I first realized I was starting to fall for him.
Still, he didn’t say a word. His lack of response was starting to bother me.
Then a horrible thought occurred to me. I turned to face him and impassioned, bluntly stated, “If you’re here to break up with me, I won’t let you.”
It seemed to pull him out of whatever he was thinking. “What?” His brows furrowed, and he shook his head at my words. “You have no idea,” he murmured quietly.
Pain twisted in my chest. It felt like he’d grabbed my heart and pulled it right out. After making me fall for him, he was done with me.
“I can’t believe this,” I managed to say, but he looked perplexed. I pulled the handle and slammed the door shut. Then I got the hell away, lengthening my stride to compensate for his height. Anywhere to get away from him.
“Sherr!” I heard him call my name behind me.
I ignored him and went further. He caught up to me in no time, a hand on my elbow.
“You– you asshole!” I snarled, poking at his chest. “You bring me to where we had our first kiss, and then you’re breaking up with me?”
“Sherr– Calm down. I’m not breaking up with you. Jesus. How the hell did you come to that conclusion?”
I froze, realizing he’d followed me all the way here even though he was breaking up with me. Then his words registered somehow through the fog of hurt and confusion.
“You’re not?” I frowned. “But–”
“Shhh.” He put a finger over my lips and let out a deep breath. “I want to get this right.”
It effectively silenced me, and I looked back at him, puzzled.
“I spent a long time trying to remove you from my life. Now you’re here.”
Him too? My eyes widened, and my heart pounded loudly in my chest.
“Two months ago,” he went on, “I bumped into you again after you left for years, not expecting this. Not expecting you.”
“I was determined to keep things as they were until you left again. But there you were at Gem’s service, unable to talk to anyone, looking like you wanted to shoulder the world.”
I couldn’t imagine now how I was back then. I felt so alone.
His voice was warm and rich as he continued, “I decided with the truce that I wanted to get to know you, and find out what you were so scared of.”
My jaw dropped open. What?
“It wasn’t to keep things peaceful while I was here?”
“I didn’t want to go over past anymore. The day I stood on Haley’s porch, I decided I wanted you back, the past be damned. You just didn't know it yet."
I blinked once. Twice. I couldn't have heard that right.
"You–what?" I whispered, the reality of what he said was overwhelmingly huge.
"I decided I wanted you back."
"You just–you decided, just like that?"
"Damn straight."
Then he slipped a hand in the pocket of his jacket, and he pulled a small box out. I recognized it, because it was the same one he held in his hands years ago.
Oh. My. God.
I think I stopped breathing, because everything felt like it hinged on this one moment.
“Never stopped thinking
about you,” he went on, his eyes focused on me. His eyes were piercing, and right now, he saw right through me. His hand went up, cupping my jaw. My eyes fluttered closed, as I took it all in.
Then he carefully brushed away a stray tear with a thumb, one I didn’t realize had fallen.
Then when my eyes opened again, he lifted the lid open slowly. The diamond ring glittered under the sunlight, one large stone cut perfectly, sitting on a delicate gold band.
“This was what you wanted to show me,” I whispered.
Then louder, I said, “You knew this a month ago. That… That guy delayed my proposal?” Suddenly, I found myself enraged at him for a completely different reason.
A grin tugged at his lips. “I knew it for a lot longer than a month, baby.”
Oh. That meant… That meant he was certain even earlier on that he wanted me. Wow.
“Tell me… What do you think this means?”
It’s our ring. It’s the ring you proposed to me with, the future you promised me we’d have, and the future I was too scared to accept. But I didn’t say that.
“Baby,” he urged, pulling my gaze away from the ring and back to his eyes. “It’s a promise. No matter what happens, I’ll take care of you.”
I felt a tears sting my eyes.
"What I'm saying is," he continued carefully, as if ensuring it would sink in, “You tell me no, it’s fine. It makes you happy, we stay as we are, we do what we do. I’m gonna wait. No matter how long it takes.”
Then he knelt down, and it was a wonder I still stood there steady as he said the words. My heart felt like it would leap out of my chest.
“Marry me?”
I knew that as he gave me this, he put himself in a position where he would be willing to give me everything, but content for things to remain unchanged if I wasn’t ready.
I held that power in my hands, and he gave it to me. There was something selfless about that, and as he said those two words, I found that I wanted to be selfless too.
There was no uncertainty. There were definitely nerves, but it wasn’t enough to deter me. What I felt for him trumped any fear, and I found a freedom in not holding back.
“Yes.”
Surprise hit him and the next thing I knew, his lips crushed against mine.
“Say it again.”
“I already said y–”
Then he lowered his head and kissed me, and I kissed him back, and then I wasn’t able to talk anymore. Not for a while.
Epilogue
One year later
Chase
I wasn’t supposed to know.
I didn’t even mean to know, but two weeks ago when I called my mom, she let it slip that my wife was pregnant.
I didn’t want to mess it up yet, but something told me that saying that I was looking forward to it was the wrong move when I had her on the counter, her legs wrapped around me.
Fuck.
She now stood at the kitchen, wearing my tee, both hands planted on her hips, her cheeks tinged a slight shade of red. She was stunning even pissed off, and what made it even sweeter was that she wasn’t even aware of it.
“Chase!” she cried out, visibly upset. “You’re not listening.”
My eyes were drawn to her lips, still swollen from our kiss.
“I’m listening,” I murmured.
“You weren’t supposed to know yet. Now it’s not a surprise anymore.”
Her shoulders were slumped, her head down. I took her hands, and she closed hers against mine. I pulled her in between my arms. She looked up at me hesitantly.
“It’s still a surprise,” I tried to say.
She let out an outraged gasp. “No, it’s not! You didn’t even say anything, or…” she bit her lip. “You knew all this time.”
“I was waiting for you to tell me.”
“You should’ve told me,” she mumbled against my chest.
“I’m sorry,” I told her, my hand drifting up and down her back soothingly. She melted in my arms, right where I wanted her. I pressed my lips against her hair, needing that contact. Needing her. I heard a sigh escape her lips, and it filled me with satisfaction. And it did it again, that fast, steady lurching in my chest, the one she’d had in her hands when she’d met me again a little over a year ago, and hasn’t let go since.
“I want a girl,” she suddenly said.
She couldn’t possibly control that, but then she gave me a look, daring me to argue. I stifled the urge to laugh at the display of her fiery temper. Rather than make me fight back, it only made me want to taste her again.
I did a half-shrug, because I’d meant it when I told her everything I had was hers, but what I hadn’t said was that I wanted to give her the world.
I pulled her even closer and whispered back, “Whatever you want, baby.”
Acknowledgments
Thank you Chris and B. When things were hard, you guys helped me pick myself right back up.
And to G– you’ll probably never read this, but this was because of you, this tiny shadow of an idea that snowballed into something else.
And of course, thank you reader, for picking this book up.
If you’ve enjoyed reading Sherry and Chase’s story, please consider leaving a review. As a debut author, your feedback is greatly appreciated.
Sierra and Luke are next, I hope I get to share it with you all soon. :-) Subscribe to my mailing list at www.ricagrayson.com/newsletter to receive updates and for info about new releases.
About the Author
Rica Grayson is an avid reader, dreamer, and hopeless romantic.
She loves a good HEA, sassy heroines, and a hero who loves the heroine more than anything.
When she isn’t buried in writing and plotting relationships, she’s reading Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Romance or Contemporary romance books, watching TV, or gaming.
Website and contact:
www.ricagrayson.com
[email protected]
Truce or Dare (Sweet Fortuity Book 1) Page 20