by Jessica Gray
She took a deep breath and closed her eyes. “Afterwards, there were days when I wished he would have.” She took a moment and went on. “On pure willpower, I managed to get up and steady myself on my good leg against the wall, ignoring the screaming pain in my knee while the two of them argued. I believe the second guy was trying to convince him to leave me alone and to just get out of there. But the guy with the knife didn’t listen.”
Chase saw a multitude of emotions wash through her eyes, none of them pleasant. “Pearl. Take a break.”
But she didn’t even notice his words. She looked right through him into some distant point in her past, her voice shallow as she continued to recount her nightmare. “He yelled some orders at me and when I didn’t move, he waved the knife in my face and then slowly moved it down my body until he hooked the tip into the buckle of my jeans. I was frozen in place, not only because of my trashed knee.”
Chase wanted her to stop. He’d heard enough. She didn’t have to suffer any longer. But when he tried to take her into his arms, she pushed him away and continued. Her sobs and tears made the rest of the story difficult. “He sliced the knife all the way down my leg. Cutting through my jeans, and the flesh underneath. The pain was excruciating. I wasn’t sure if he was going to kill me or rape me. Or both.”
She stopped walking, her energy gone as she finished revealing the secret she’d been bearing on her own for so many months.
When she didn’t continue talking, he turned and took her hands in his own. They were cold as ice and he spent a few minutes rubbing some warmth back into them. He searched her eyes and locked with them. He could see pain and fear in her eyes. But also relief.
Love spread throughout his body and he pressed her against his chest. But when he searched her lips, she turned her head away. Confused he asked, “Is there more?”
Pearl shrugged. “No. Some people came down the alleyway, and the two guys took off. They called an ambulance and I was taken to a clinic.”
“Did you report to the police?” he asked.
“The doctor did. I had to give my report to them the next day, but the policeman who took my statement wasn’t very interested in doing so. I know the language barrier was part of the problem.” Her voice took on a matter-of-fact tone.
“When he was finished typing my statement on his old manual typewriter, I spotted only three lines on the paper. And when I was wheeled out of the police station, I saw out of the corner of my eyes how he crumpled up my report and tossed it into the trash can.”
Chase used his finger to try and turn her back to face him, but she resisted and he let her have her way. “I’m sorry.”
Before his words had floated away, she shoved against his chest and glared at him, leaving an utterly confused Chase. What in the hell is wrong now? Who can understand this woman, because I sure as hell can’t?
“See what I get for telling you the truth?” she spat through angry, clenched teeth. “Now you think I’m a loser. A victim to be pitied.”
He shook his head, his confusion evident in his voice. “Sugar, I don’t pity you. On the contrary, I admire you for your strength. You are one of the strongest women on the planet. And one of the most courageous.”
The whole time he spoke to her, she was adamantly shaking her head, and he knew she hadn’t heard a word he said. He wasn’t surprised when she yanked her hands from his and backed away from him.
“Pearl?”
She turned around and stomped off. Again.
Chapter 22
“Pearl!”
She heard him call her name a second time and paused. Fresh tears welled in her eyes but she wouldn’t let him see them. She didn’t want him to see her weak and vulnerable. Not him and not anyone else in the world. Damn shit. To hell with her pride.
Trembling she took a deep breath. No, she didn’t dare to turn around and face him. Show him her true self, the girl who wanted to throw herself into his arms and ask him to make the world go away. He’d stop loving her if he knew how vulnerable she was in reality.
The nagging feeling that she would never see him again if she left now made her stand still. She wasn’t sure if she was more afraid of being trapped, or being vulnerable. Or losing Chase.
She perked up her ears, but the only sounds she could hear were the waves and the wind. No footsteps. No breathing. No words.
Why is it so damn hard to show weakness? Why is it harder to be weak than it is to be strong?
It took all of her strength and courage to turn around and face him. He was still standing where he’d last been, but his face was dark from sorrow and anger. She searched his eyes, feeling her heart shatter into pieces at the knowledge that she had hurt him yet again.
“Pearl, I don’t pity you. I love you, and I care for you. That includes worry when you’re in pain.”
She swallowed back the lump in her throat. “All my life I have tried to be strong. Self-sufficient. To prove to the world that I don’t need anyone to help me, and then you come along and want to share my burden. It’s not easy.”
“No, it’s not, sugar. Trusting another person with your fears and your perceived failures takes a toll. It’s hard for me too. I’ve never before in my life cared for anyone as much as I do for you. But you have to allow me to take care of you, to pamper you and to shower you with my love. To be there for you when you need to talk, or a shoulder to cry on.”
He took a step closer, then stopped, running a hand through his hair. “And your tears don’t make you weak,” he went on. “Not in my eyes. You complete me in a way I didn’t know I needed completing. I want to grow old with you, share the good and the bad times with you.”
Pearl hadn’t expected this romantic side of him and couldn’t contain the smile breaking across her face. Maybe being in a serious relationship wouldn’t be so bad after all. And maybe trusting him didn’t mean she couldn’t still be strong and independent.
Chase closed the distance between them. He lifted a hand to brush a fingertip across her smiling lips. “I like that smile of yours so much more.”
He dipped his head and replaced his fingers with his lips. His kiss was simple and tender, and her mind went blissfully blank. The sound of the wind and waves mixed with the sound of her blood rushing through her ears. And the shivers of cold mixed with the delightful quivers he caused when his tongue and lips took possession of her mouth, touching every nerve and sending jolts of pleasure racing through her body.
Her knees became weak, and before she processed what was happening, he had scooped her up into his arms and was carrying her back towards the shed where he kept his equipment.
He leaned her against the wall and disappeared inside the shed, coming out a few moments later holding up a set of house keys. “I think we could both use something hot to drink. Let’s go.”
Without giving her a warning, he scooped her back up into his arms and carried her across the beach towards the houses standing on tall stilts. She simply leaned against his shoulder and enjoyed the ride.
Rather than feeling weak, she felt cherished.
Chapter 23
Chase was scared. Now that he’d confessed his love for her, there was no way to take the words back. They would stand between them forever, uniting them or tearing them apart.
A few minutes later, they reached his place and he set her down on the porch while he opened the door. “Can you walk?”
Pearl nodded and preceded him into the house. She was shivering and her lips remained blue. While he filled the teapot, his eyes swept over her once again. “Sugar, you’re shivering. Let me go run a hot bath for you.”
He didn’t wait for her to agree before he took off down the hall and started the water running. Back in the living room, he finished preparing the tea and handed her a cup. “Here take this. The tub should be full in a minute and you can soak after drinking your tea.”
“Thanks.” She took the offered cup into her small icy hands and sent him a glance of sincere gratefulness. Aft
er drinking her tea, she got up and walked with scuffling feet and sagged shoulders down the hallway, disappearing into the bathroom.
The door shut and Chase was left alone, unsure of what to do next. He wanted to give her some privacy, but on the other hand, he longed to be with her. His hunger for her consumed him until he couldn’t hold back any longer.
Like a panther on the prowl, he strolled back down the hallway, tapping on the bathroom door. “Pearl, you okay in there?”
“Why don’t you come in and find out?” came the teasing voice he’d come to love.
He opened the door and the sight in front of him crumbled his last remains of control to dust. Sitting in the middle of the tub, with a cocky grin on her face, and exuding self-confidence was the woman who rocked his world.
“Want to wash my back?” she asked, a come hither look upon her face.
“Someone got warm in a hurry.”
“Not warm. Hot.”
Chase stepped towards her, unzipping his wet suit and peeling it from his body, noting the rising hunger in her eyes. A hunger for him that matched his own hunger for her.
He stepped into the tub, sliding down into the water behind her and wrapped his arms around her chest.
She leaned back against him, heat flooding through him. His hands took off to explore her body. He nuzzled her cheek, nibbling along her ear as she tipped her head to the side. He felt her pulse racing.
His hands dipped beneath the water, his fingertips delving between her thighs as she arched against him. Her pulse ratcheted up another notch. “You are hot,” he groaned.
Pearl moaned and turned her head, kissing him with all the pent up desire she had bottled up. Hunger rampaged through his body. His finger slid deeper, while he kissed her like a starving man. Her back molded against his chest and she was a whimpering, squirming bundle of nerves in his hands.
He broke their kiss and slid his tongue down her neck. He nibbled her soft skin and she arched harder against his chest. She was sitting on his lap, his hard shaft pulsing beneath the glorious pressure of her body.
One hand spread her thighs wider and first one finger, and then two slid into her hot and wet folds, while his thumb brushed back and forth. Back and forth. The other hand searched for her beaded nipple and rolled it between his fingers. Pearl sucked in a breath.
His lips on her neck felt her racing pulse and the building arousal in her body. And then Pearl began to unravel in his arms. Little screams filled the room as her muscles spasmed around his fingers and shudders ran up and down her beautiful body. He prolonged her orgasm until she gasped for air. “Chase.”
His own throbbing hunger forgotten, he blew air over her taut nipples and rubbed his thumb harder against her love spot until shocked cries of pleasure left her mouth and the stunning force of an even stronger climax than the one before rippled through her.
She was a complete mass of relaxed muscles as she came down from her orgasm and he had to help her out of the tub. Reverently, he stood before her and admired her beautiful body. Using a soft towel to dry her off, he kneeled down to pay special attention to her injured leg with his hands and his lips.
His need for her was stronger than ever before and he carried her to his bed. He slipped her beneath the covers and then joined her, pulling her against his chest and rubbing a hand up and down her back.
When her hands began to wander, finding him hard and ready, she pressed her hips into him as if saying she was ready to go again. She slipped a leg over his hips, straddling him before pushing her hands against his chest and rising up to a sitting position.
He used his hands to guide her hips forward, rubbing against her, his thick head poised at her hot and slick entrance. He reached over to grab a condom, and she took it out of his hand and ripped it open with her teeth.
Instead of sliding the protection over his length, she put it aside and started to go down on him. A deep groan left his lung as her mouth closed around the head of his shaft. Her tongue and lips around him reduced his world to nothing more than sensations and an overwhelming craving for her.
“Sugar.” The word came out as a growl. He withdrew his shaft from her luscious mouth and pulled over the unwrapped condom. He tried to hold onto his control just long enough to be inside her.
Without giving her a warning, he flipped her on her back, and buried himself with one long, powerful stroke deep inside her slick depths. Ravaging her mouth with a hunger that surprised him, he slammed into her time after time, desperately craving his own release.
She responded to his need with the same desperation and when her body tightened around him moments later, both of them came hard and fast. He sank down over her, trying not to crush her with his weight.
She opened her eyes with a content and sated looking smile. “I love you, Chase. More than you can imagine.”
Warmth rushed from his heart and into every last corner of his body as he looked down into her ocean-like eyes. She was his. “I love you too, Pearl. I will love you forever. Every day a little bit more.”
He rolled to his side and they lay silent, their arms wrapped around one another.
After several minutes of contemplation, she said, “I met with my coach yesterday.”
“And?”
“I have two weeks to get it together or he won’t nominate me and I miss the season.”
“Sugar, whatever I can do to help, I’ll do. Just tell me what you need.”
“I wish you could keep working with me, but there isn’t an indoor swimming pool here where I can practice.”
“Why don’t I come with you, then?” He placed a soft little kiss on her nose.
“You would do that?” she asked, pushing away to look into his eyes.
Chase let his hands wander up and down her back. “Sure. I’d do almost anything for you, sugar. But be warned, you’ll curse me soon enough, when I make you work out harder than you imagine possible.”
She had to giggle. “Will you be worse than in Sandy Beach?”
He slapped her ass. “Probably not, because if I exhaust you too much, I might not get to enjoy our bed-time workout.”
She scrunched her face. “You’re a lust-driven sex-maniac.”
“Hmm.” He made a satisfied face. “What’s wrong with that?”
A tear slipped down her cheek and he wiped it away with his thumb. “Sugar? Are you okay?”
“Yes. I just didn’t expect you to neglect your own training to help me with mine.”
“I won’t be neglecting anything. Including you.” He kissed her nose and pressed her against his chest. “I’ll still have to drive back here every other day or so to get some water practice in, but everything else I can do together with you.”
Pearl still looked troubled. A few minutes later she asked him, “Chase, won’t you feel like I’m fleecing you?”
“Fleecing me?” Chase laughed at her and shook his head. “Sugar, you could never fleece me. I wouldn’t let you. But for any relationship to work, you have to make compromises.”
She looked at him in awe. Tara had used that same word. Compromise. But unlike Tara and her husband, Chase seemed to be willing to put her needs before his. She made a silent promise to do the same for him. Equality. Fairness. That was what would make a good relationship a great one.
Chapter 24
Pearl and Chase worked out a schedule that allowed them both adequate time to train, although Chase did most of the commuting back and forth between the two towns.
A few days after they started their joint training venture, Pearl felt confident she could make it. There was just one thing that held her back.
Her scar.
Every time she switched into her bathing suit it was there, exposed. Whereas she’d slowly come to peace with it, and the memories of the attack rarely haunted her anymore, she still couldn’t fathom exposing it to thousands of spectators.
Chase picked up on her anxiety. One evening, while they snuggled on the couch after a hard day of pract
ice, her back against his chest, he pressed her tightly against him and said, “Don’t get angry with me, sugar.”
Surprised, she turned to look at him. “Why would I?”
“Promise,” he insisted.
“Promise.” She leaned back into him, curious as to what he had in store for her.
Chase searched for the right words. “Sugar. I’ve seen you cringe every time someone at the pool looks at your scar.”
She held her breath. She’d tried her best to hide her reaction, but apparently Chase had x-ray vision where she was concerned. He stroked her hair and she let out the breath in a sigh.
“It’s just. I don’t want their pity.”
“Pearl, nobody pities you. Not the onlookers at the pool and definitely not your fans at the competition. When you stand up on that platform, proud and in control, they won’t have a choice but to admire you.”
“You sure?” her voice was nothing more than a scared whisper.
“I am. You can’t let that scar define who you are. Show the world you’re stronger than what happened. That you’re in control of your fate and whatever it throws at you, you throw right back.”
She sighed once again. “Thank you. Thank you for giving me strength and confidence whenever I need it. I love you.”
Chase sneaked his hands under her shirt and filled his hands with her breast. “Why don’t we discuss this topic in your bedroom, sugar?”
Her breasts responded to his touch, swelling and her nipples ached to become the center of his attention. “Chase, you’re incorrigible.”
He chuckled and scooped her up in his arms to carry her over to her bedroom while he said, “It’s not my fault that you’re irresistibly sexy.”
***
Some days later, the two-week ultimatum Coach Dawson had given her was up. She met with him at the pool for her evaluation. Her heart beating up in her throat, she was even more nervous now than she’d been at the World Championship. Today, her future would be decided on and it lay in her hand. Hop or Top.