“Make love to me like you did the first time,” she says. “It was too much for me then, but now…”
He understands. He moves to the center of the bed and holds her hand as she sits astride him. Unable to stop himself, he leans in and sucks on her nipple. Her head falls back, her hair grazing his arm that’s wrapped around her waist.
“C’mon,” he whispers against her skin. “I want to feel you.”
This time, Amber meets Chase’s gaze as she sinks down on him, until he bottoms out and her eyes flutter closed. They take their time, kissing each other slowly as they rock their hips together. They whisper loving words to each other as they move, trade sweet kisses, and get lost in the more heated ones. He sucks on her neck, she digs her nails into his back when the feeling gets to be too much. She’s so wet he barely has to move, but he rubs at her clit to help her along.
Her breathing picks up and her muscles start tensing. He knows she’s so close. She’s rocking her hips aimlessly, kicking up his pleasure with every ounce of hers. She nuzzles his neck, whispers, “Hold onto me.”
He does as she asks, clutching her to his body as the heat coils up tightly at the base of his spine. His hips buck up at a frantic pace, he wants to be as deep as he can inside her. He’s so close, so close.
“Oh god, Chase,” she says as she comes, her own orgasm kicking off his, setting off blinding, amazing heat coursing through every nerve ending in his body. He’s breathless from it, chases it as the feeling fades, letting her hold him as he comes down.
He collapses back onto the bed, unable to hold himself up any longer. Amber follows, her body heavy and boneless.
When he gains control of his limbs again, he traces a soothing circuit across Amber’s back as they both figure out how to breathe again.
“Wow,” she breathes, with a little laugh tacked onto the end. “Who knew it could be like that?”
Chase certainly didn’t. “Wow is right.”
Amber props herself up on her elbow where it rests on his chest, then plays with a lock of his hair. “Think we can do better?”
This woman is going to be the death of him, and he welcomes it with open arms. “We have a whole lifetime of practice in front of us.”
She kisses him tenderly and pulls back with a content smile. “Yeah. We do.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Amber and Chase are already such a big part of each others’ lives that becoming romantically involved is as easy as breathing. The only difference is that after spending their days together, they leave the office and spend their nights together, too. Now there’s kissing, and lots of sex.
They mainly stay at Chase’s place for a couple of reasons. At first, it’s because Sasha is still living in Amber’s apartment. The sex is still new and incredibly enthusiastic, and they figure going to a place where they don’t have to worry about noise is best for everyone involved. Another reason is because his apartment is much closer to the office. Leaving from Amber’s adds an additional 25 minutes to the commuting time. Chase doesn’t know how she’s managed that for so long.
Being closer to work means that they have a little more time to sleep in, even though when the alarm clock goes off in the morning they fool around instead of sleeping most of the time.
They’d given it a couple of weeks to settle in before they’d notified anyone in HR of their change in relationship status. They signed the appropriate releases, and their new normal began. So far, Chase has stuck by his no office sex promise. He figures it’s best to abstain anyway, just in case.
No one in the office seems to care that they’re together now. He thinks that most people always assumed that they were.
They went public on the red carpet at a charity gala last week. Amber was wearing a stunning blue dress that made it difficult for Chase to keep his eyes (and hands) off of her. They’d caused quite a flurry when the stepped onto the press line. One of the paparazzi shouted out asking who she was, and Chase yelled back, “The love of my life!”
He looked over at Amber, who had this dazed, love-struck look in her eyes as the flashes went wild. He purchased one of the pictures from the press site and uses it as the screensaver on his phone.
Amber teases him about it, but he doesn’t care.
He cleaned out some of his closet and half of his drawers so she could make herself at home in his apartment. His freezer is stocked with her emergency ice cream stash, her makeup brushes are gathered neatly in a glass jar at the vanity in his bathroom. Her hair products take up a shelf in the shower. They each have their own sides of the bed, her nightstand is stocked with her favorite lotion, and the books she’s currently reading are stacked on top.
His pillow smells like her.
The place feels more like a home now that she’s here.
Chase has always been the kind of guy who wakes up at the crack of dawn, but now, instead of starting his day as soon as his eyes open, he finds himself lingering. He lets himself relax and hold Amber in his arms as he wakes up.
It’s early morning now, and her warm body is cuddled against his chest. She lets out soft snores that make him smile. They’d been so exhausted after work last night that they came home and got right into bed, falling asleep as soon as their heads hit their pillows. She’s sleeping in one of his white dress shirts, her naked thigh slung across his hips. He can’t imagine that she’s more comfortable in that than a t-shirt, but she swears she is. He thinks she wears it because he mentioned liking the sight of her in his clothes one day.
He showed her just how much he liked it on his desk that evening, and a couple of times in the bedroom later on.
She says she likes being able to smell him when she wears them, so he always hands his shirt off to her at the end of the day so she can wear it once before he sends it to be dry-cleaned. It seems like she likes his shirts more than her own when she’s at home, and he doesn’t mind one bit.
The sun breaks across the horizon, and Chase can see the light starting to make its way through the cracks between the window and the shades. Reluctantly, he makes a move to get up and start the coffee.
“No,” Amber groans, pulling him back to her. “Don’t leave me, you’re warm.”
“I’m just getting up to get you some coffee.”
She’s quiet for a moment, and Chase knows that she’s debating whether the coffee or the cuddling is more important right now.
She snuggles her head into the crook of his neck and wraps her arms tightly around his chest. “Cuddle for two minutes, then coffee.”
He smiles into her hair, then kisses the top of her head. He wishes they could stay in bed like this all day, but there’s work to be done.
He rubs her back, making her purr like a kitten. He likes the way the soft hum makes his chest vibrate.
“It’s been two minutes,” he says five minutes later.
She makes a move to hold onto him again, but he’s more awake then she is and in full control of all of his extremities. They’ve been late to work thanks to early morning snuggling and sex, and they’ve both agreed it’s best if they don’t make that a habit. He had to convince her to ride into work with him instead of walking or taking the train, and he doesn’t want to do anything to mess up that fragile agreement.
Chase pads out to the kitchen and starts the coffee, then picks up the paper from its spot outside the front door. He flips through the Business section while the coffee brews, and once it’s ready, he makes it the way Amber likes. A little bit of cream, more sugar than a human should consume before 8 in the morning.
She pads up behind him as he gives her coffee a stir, and wraps her arms around his middle. He squeezes her hand as she leans against his back, leaving a kiss between his shoulder blades.
“I’m surprised you’re out here,” he says.
“You do so much work already, it only seems fair that I don’t make you make the trek to the bedroom. It’s too early to get your ten-thousand steps in.”
He laughs. She likes to tease him about how b
ig his apartment is. He loved it from the moment he saw it, and bought a place that was so much bigger than he needed so there would be room to grow.
He wants to do that growing with her.
He turns around and places her coffee cup on the counter, then grasps her waist and lifts her up to sit. On the mornings when she manages to get out of bed before he delivers her coffee, this is how they spend their time until they both need to get in the shower. He leans against the counter and reads the paper, she wakes up as she sips her coffee across from him.
“Hey,” she says, extending her leg in his direction. Her toes are about a foot away from actually making a connection.
“Hey yourself,” he replies. He puts the paper down because he can tell that she’s getting ready to ask him something that she’s hesitant about. “What’s up?”
He walks toward her, and stops to rest between her legs. “You look like you’re worried about something.” He drops a sweet kiss on her lips. “Let’s see if we can fix that.”
“Would it be okay with you if I invite Sasha over for movie night?”
The words tumble out of her mouth so quickly that it takes him a few seconds to piece them together and figure out what she said. He’s surprised she’s asking; he’d given her a key card to the front door, added her name to the access list, and given her a key. He thought he’d made it very clear that whatever belongs to him belongs to her, too.
“Of course you can,” he says, pushing her wild hair away from her face. “This is your home too.”
She gives him a sad smile before looking at her lap. “It’s not really. And I’m not asking for it to be!” she adds quickly. “I just like being here with you and thought that would be a nice way for us to be able to have our movie night. That way I’m right here, so I can be with you after.”
“I gave you that key because I want you here, and Sasha is always welcome. This apartment is yours to use as you please. If you want to watch a movie with your sister or your friends, use the theater. If you have a guest you want to spend the night, use the guest room. If you want to have people over for dinner, use the kitchen. Just make sure to let me know ahead of time so I can have the housekeeper come the next day.” He knocks her leg with his hip, teasing.
“I know I’m a domestic mess. You don’t have to say it,” she replies with a dramatic pout.
“But I like teasing you.” He leans in and gives her a kiss. “Have I not made you feel at home here?”
“Of course you have,” she says, resting her hand on his chest. “But I have my own place with my own things in it, where I feel like I should have people over if I want to see them. But you’re here. And so are the reclining seats and the surround sound.”
He laughs. “Why don’t we make this your place with your own things in it then.” He hadn’t thought about the offer before he made it, but he doesn’t want to take it back even a little bit. He wants her here with him all the time.
“What?”
“I’m asking you to move in here with me,” he says slowly.
“Yeah, I got that, but…Chase, we’ve been together for, like, a month.”
“A month during which you’ve spent almost every night here,” he argues. “If you want to keep your place so that you have somewhere to go when you want to be away from me, then keep your place. But live here with me.”
She wraps her leg around his waist. “I don’t want to be away from you.”
He rests his hands on either side of her and leans in close. “Then move in here,” he says, punctuating the offer with a soft kiss.
“You don’t think it’s too soon?”
“I think that I’m in love with you, and I’ve been in love with you for a long time. I’ve known you for even longer. I know every quirk you’ve got, and I know I want to spend the rest of my life with you. So…no, I don’t think it’s too soon. We’ve waited too long if you ask me.”
She bites her lip, and the silence stretches on a little too long for Chase’s liking. He starts second guessing himself, wondering if he’s freaked her out.
“Did I just mess things up?”
“No, not at all,” she says, resting her hands on top of his. “I don’t have any objections apart from the time thing, and if we’re okay with it then that would be someone else’s problem.”
He smiles. “We can turn one of the guest rooms into an office for you, if you’d like. You can change anything in here that you want.”
She looks around. “I like it here. It’s you.”
He kisses her soft lips. “I want it to be you, too.”
She sighs. “Maybe we could put up some more personal pictures or something.”
Chase picks up his phone from the counter, wraps her in his arms and takes a selfie. No better way to remember this step in their relationship.
He tilts the screen in her direction. “Let’s start with this one.”
Epilogue
It’s a late summer day at the Pearson Estate, and Amber watches from an upstairs window as a crew of men set up chairs in neat rows of five on opposite sides of the makeshift grassy aisle. A few others wrap beautiful gauzy fabric around the wood that makes the altar.
It overlooks the gorgeous lake.
The wedding planner directs the workers to rehang the gauze so that it’s draped just so, the way it looked in the sketches she and Chase had signed off on before he handed over a check with a few zeroes for her services.
Some of the bridal party are off playing golf, some are riding horses down by the stables. Sasha is out on a boat in the middle of the lake with her boyfriend, Paul. He’s leaning back on his arms getting some sun as she reads a book. Her leg is dangling over the side, her toes touching the water as she rests her head on his lap. Paul plays with her hair. Amber can’t see her face, but she knows her sister is ridiculously happy.
Kaia and Jason sit along the banks, enjoying a little picnic. She’s resting against his chest, tipping a crostini smeared with cheese into her mouth as Jason rubs her barely there baby bump.
The wedding will be small and intimate, just what Chase and Amber wanted. A handful of their friends are here to witness them committing to each other for the rest of their lives.
Amber’s standing in the same room she and Chase stayed in the first time they were here last summer, only everything is different now.
Jentech’s partnership with Pearson was a roaring success. Chase and Michael aren’t anywhere near what she would consider to be friends, but they do have a begrudging respect for each other to the point that Michael and Janice were happy to offer up their weekend home when Chase and Amber asked if they could be married here.
Some people might think it’s weird to get married in the place where they got such a rocky start, but it has a special place in Amber and Chase’s hearts. They thought committing to each other for the rest of their lives in the same place was romantic.
Chase walks up behind her, wrapping his arms around her waist and resting his chin on her shoulder.
“Things are looking good down there.”
“They are; it’s exactly like I wanted it to be.”
He kisses her neck. “That’s all I care about.”
“I feel like I should be outside getting some sun,” she says. It’s a lovely day outside, but she’s terrified of rogue tan lines.
“You’ll have plenty of time to get a tan on our honeymoon.”
“You’re still not gonna tell me where we’re going?”
He shakes his head, his whiskers scratching her skin. She loves that feeling. “Not a chance. All you need to know is that you’ll love it.”
She has no doubt about that. “Have we been there before?”
“No.”
She turns around in his arms. “Give me another clue.”
“There’s lots of water, and no one else around.”
“Just you and me?”
He pulls her as close as he can and kisses her. “We can make love all day under the sun with no one
else around for miles. I can’t think of a better way to spend two weeks with my wife.”
She lets out a happy sigh. “Mmmm,” she hums. “I like the sound of that.”
“Are you happy?”
“Unbelievably. You?”
He grins. “I’m with you.”
Amber wraps her arms around his chest and snuggles in. It wasn’t all that long ago that she couldn’t imagine taking this step. Now that she’s here, she can’t imagine not taking it. The thought that this isn’t going to last forever doesn’t even enter her mind. She just wants to be married to Chase. She wants to start a family, to buy a house out in the country like this one where their kids can run around and play and build new memories.
It’s happening. She couldn’t be more excited.
“There’s only one thing I’m unhappy about,” Chase says.
Amber peels herself away from his body and looks up into his eyes. “What’s that?”
He kisses her. “I don’t like that I have to spend the night away from you. Traditions are stupid.”
She laughs. “They are, but we’re not taking any chances here. It’s the last night you’re going to spend without me for a long, long time, Mister Jennings.”
“I’m looking forward to that future Mrs. Jennings.”
One night is all they have to wait. It’s fitting, given how all this started.
But that one night came with an ending. At the end of this one? There’s a whole new beginning.
A year ago, if someone had told me that I would be spending a Friday night in an airport trying to pick up a guy, I would’ve laughed in their face.
A year ago I was still with Ethan.
Back then I would’ve thought that I would be getting married this weekend, not traveling across the country to my best friend Gabby’s wedding. But Ethan had other plans, like fucking some random chick he met at happy hour on my 1,000 thread-count Egyptian cotton sheets. He thought I was working late. I came home early.
Surprise!
Ethan is the reason I don’t work late anymore. He’s also the reason I promised myself that I wouldn’t fall in love again. I’d be crazy to open myself up to that kind of heartbreak again, right?
One Night With The Billionaire Too Page 15