19. Chase
19
CHASE
“ Y ou.”
I leaned down, dropping a kiss onto her shoulder. “What do you need from me?”
There was a hitch in her voice. “I want you.”
“Then why do I feel like there’s a ‘but’ coming?”
Bridget sighed. “You’re afraid to touch me.” She paused. “And I’m kind of scared, too.”
“But you want to explore this. Us?”
She nodded.
Bridget couldn’t see it, but I smiled. “Remember when I told you that when you were ready to try something, we’d take it slow?”
That night had tested me in ways I wasn’t prepared for. Waking up and trying to pull Bridget out of a nightmare was something I’d been wholly unprepared for. Seeing the emotional torment etched across her face was more painful than her fist connecting with my cheek.
I hated not knowing how to make things better for her. I wanted to take the pain away, but I couldn’t .
“Yeah?”
“You wanna take it slow?”
She sighed, frustrated and dejected. “I’m scared.”
“Scared of what?”
“That I’ll freak out on you.” Bridget turned and rested her cheek on my chest, so I wrapped her in a bear hug. “I just… I can’t help it. It’s such a knee-jerk reaction.” She sniffed and wiped away a tear.
“You’re safe with me. And I promise you, whatever you want to do, we’ll take it slow.” I hooked my finger under her chin and tilted it up. Our lips brushed, breath mingling. Her eyes lowered as she focused on my mouth. “We’ll figure out what you like. What makes you feel good.”
She let out an involuntary whimper.
“Does that sound like something you want to try?”
Bridget nodded listlessly.
It took everything in me not to throw her over my shoulder and haul her back to my house.
Years of fantasies played out in my head like a movie. Fantasies of stripping her down and worshiping her body. Feeling every bit of her. Watching her in the throes of ecstasy. I wanted it all.
“Okay. I’m gonna take Luna out and get her settled for the night.” I closed the space between us and kissed her. “Grab your toothbrush and come over when you’re ready.”
I was scared shitless that Bridget wouldn’t show. That she’d lock me out of the cottage and hide.
I’d changed clothes and turned down the bed. Picked up the dirty clothes on my floor, threw them in the hamper, and doused the room in Febreze. I choked on a gulp of air freshener and threw open a window to get the cloud of linen going down was when she had the worst of the panic attacks.
I took note of the things that freaked her out. Specifically, anyone around her on a staircase. She would wait for me to go down first before she’d start.
It took longer than usual for her to walk up the stairs. Maybe she was coming to tell me that she was having second thoughts.
“Holy shit.”
Bridget stood in the doorway, a vision in a skimpy little negligée. The silky fabric breezed across the middle of her thighs. Black lace cups held up by thin straps framed her supple breasts. She had put on a little makeup, hiding the discoloration left by some of the deeper bruises. Her hair was curled in loose waves that cascaded across her shoulders.
This was definitely a night for candles.
I tossed my phone onto the nightstand and moved toward her.
Bridget looked up at me, nerves radiating off her skin. Her hands were clasped in front of her as she played with her fingers. “This is too much, isn’t it?” She cringed. “It’s too much. I’m gonna go change.” She turned to run out of the room, but I caught her hand.
“It’s not too much. You’re not too much.”
Fuck . I could barely talk. She had erased every cogent thought from my brain. One look at her and my brain turned to alphabet soup.
I exhaled and took both of her hands in mine. “You look…” I stared at her, wide-eyed. “Wow.” Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but smile. “You look like Christmas.”
Her eyebrows raised in amusement. “What?”
Shit. “I mean… You look like…” I blew out another breath. “Fuck, darlin’.” I shook my head and grinned. “I meant to say that looking at you makes me feel like a kid on Christmas morning.” I cleared my throat and regained half of my faculties. “Sorry. I swear I’m usually smoother than this. You’re just… Goddamn, you’re beautiful.”
Apparently, she found my senseless rambling endearing because her cheeks turned the cutest shade of pink. “Thanks.” Bridget bit her lip and peered at the bed out of the corner of her eye. “I don’t know how this is supposed to go.” Quickly, she added, “With you. I mean, I know how sex works.”
I couldn’t help but grin. We knew each other better than we knew ourselves, but we still had so much to learn.
For years, I had pined after Bridget McGrath. Now, she was mine .
Mine.
I leaned in and kissed her. “If you want me to stop, you tell me.” I tilted her chin up, forcing her to meet my eyes. “If you’re uncomfortable, you tell me to stop.” I kissed her again. I would never get bored kissing her. Every time felt like the first.
Part of me was glad that Bridget and I had never fooled around in our teens or young adult years. Sure, we had plenty of opportunities, but for this reason or that, we had friend-zoned each other. I would do anything to go back in time and erase the hell she had been forced to endure. Still, because of how long I had waited for her, I knew I would never take her for granted.
“I trust you,” she whispered.
“You sure you want to do this?”
Bridget paused for a moment, frozen under my gaze, then nodded.
“Then lay down on the bed.”
She moved on silent feet, tiptoeing onto the bed. I watched her get settled as I lit two of the candles, then turned out the lights.
The warm glow of flickering flames illuminated her porcelain skin. I sensed her watching my every movement as she backed herself into the pillows stacked against the headboard.
“You are so beautiful, Bridget,” I said as I eased onto the side of the bed, taking her hands in mine. “So beautiful. Everything about you.”
Her breasts rose and fell with deep breaths as I got closer and closer. I reached over and grabbed an ice cube out of the glass I had on the nightstand. Bridget gasped when a drop of frigid water splashed on her forehead.
“Wha—”
“I’m not going to touch you anywhere you don’t want me to.” I pressed my lips to the drop of water and kissed her forehead. “You get me? ”
Her eyes flickered open. “I think so.”
I moved the ice cube down and let a drop of water fall onto the inside of her elbow.
A coy smile flickered at the corner of her mouth. “Yes.”
So, I bent down and kissed it.
Testing her, I let a drop of water fall on her throat. The other night she had confessed that she didn’t want anything around her throat. But I needed her to trust me. I needed her to know that we were establishing hard limits.
Bridget clammed up, and I watched the droplet slide down the side of her neck. She closed her eyes. “No.”
“I respect that,” I said before moving on to dribble ice water across the flat of her chest, just below her collarbone.
Her chest rose on a heady breath. “Yes,” she rasped.
I leaned over and planted sloppy kisses across her warm skin. She smelled like summer. Like the gardenias that bloomed in downtown Beaufort mixed with honeysuckle and hyacinths. Bridget hummed in satisfaction, and I felt her body relax.
I touched the ice cube behind her ear. Bridget bit her lip, hiding a smile, so I nibbled at her earlobe. She let out a whimper that alarmed me. I relaxed when I saw her hips rocking back and forth in pleasure, not pain.
I traced her lips with the ice, cooling them before diving in and warming them up.
A drop of water fell onto the teeny strap holding up her lacy lingerie. She nodded.
I hooked my fingers around it and gently pulled it down her shoulder. She wiggled her arm out, and the lace fell away from her breast.
If I had died today, I would have die a happy man.
Instead of diving in headfirst, I flicked water into the valley of her breasts .
Instead of a simple ‘yes’ or a nod, she begged. “Please.”
I buried my head between her tits and inhaled, breathing her in. She let out a throaty moan that had my dick drilling its way out of my sweatpants. I could have spent the rest of the night smothered by her breasts, but I wanted more of her.
Bridget arched her back, offering a pebbled nipple. I still wanted her to say it. For her to beg me to touch her. I traced the melting ice cube around her rosy nipple, hardening it into a diamond-tipped point.
“Yes,” she gasped. “Please, Chase. Please.”
I didn’t need to be told twice. I cupped her breast and drew her nipple between my teeth. She thrashed in ecstasy as I laved her skin with long, hard pulls. I pushed the other strap down and worshiped her other breast.
“That feels amazing,” she gasped between heavy breaths.
The ice cube was nearly gone, so I slipped it into my mouth, letting it melt on my tongue. The moment it was gone, I cupped her breast with a firm squeeze and sucked her nipple into my mouth. She gasped at the sensation. Slowly, my tongue warmed as I tasted and teased her tits.
A lazy smile was plastered across her face. Making her feel good was a high like no other. I grabbed another ice cube out of the glass and moved back onto the bed, straddling her this time.
Her eyes opened. The seductive mossy green was dark with lust and arousal.
“Lift.”
She arched her back, allowing me to slide the silky black fabric down to her hips. Her ribs and stomach were still a mottled mixture of yellow and green.
No wonder she reacted the way she did when I pulled her on top of me back at the cottage.
We had spent every night together since the night of the storm, but she never changed clothes in front of me. She always slipped into the bathroom or went to the cottage.
I trailed the ice cube from the valley of her breasts, straight down to her navel.
Bridget shivered and shook her head. “No.”
I let a single drop of water splash on the left side of her ribs.
“No.”
I let another drop fall on the right side.
“No.”
I traced the ice around the center of her palm.
She smiled. “Yes.”
I kissed her hands, first the left, then the right.
I drew a line with the ice along her wrist.
Bridget swallowed. “No. Neither.”
I didn’t ask for an explanation, though given the way her wrist had been fractured when she was in the hospital, it wasn’t hard to guess. I flicked water on her upper arm.
Her mouth turned to a thin line. “No.”
I kissed her lips instead.
Bridget clenched her thighs together. The motion teased the crotch of my sweatpants, and I bit back a groan. The woman had me in a constant state of arousal, and it was really fucking inconvenient.
I wedged my knee between her thighs as I slid my tongue into her mouth. She let out a quiet moan, and I swallowed it down. I slipped my hand up the bottom of her negligée, but she was too distracted to notice.
The second that the ice touched the outside of her hot, little pussy, Bridget threw her head back and gasped.
Fuck me. She was bare down there.
My little minx came over without panties on.
I smirked, nibbling her ear. “You little devil. ”
“Please,” she begged. “I need you.”
I grazed her wet folds with my knuckles. “Need me to what?”
Bridget swallowed. “To make me feel good.”
I tossed the ice back into the glass. It hit the side with a clink. “How attached are you to this?” I asked, fingering the black fabric that pooled at her hips.
“Get rid of it.”
I grabbed the top and yanked. The fabric ripped in half with a satisfying pull. Bridget looked at me like I was Superman, and damn if I didn’t want to see that look on her face for the rest of time.
There she was. The girl of my dreams lying naked before me. Everything about her was perfect. Flawless.
Bridget wouldn’t say it about herself, but I would.
She was immaculate.
Soft curves and beautiful skin. Eyes green like the cordgrass that lined the coast. Hair that looked like threads of gold. Scars dotted her body. Some current and some from injuries past. A pang resounded in my heart as I took it all in.
Broken, but not defeated.
“I love you, darlin’.” Only four more words came to mind. “Don’t ever doubt it.”
Bridget reached for me, tugging on the waistband of my sweats. “I’m ready.”
I wanted nothing more than to sink my dick into her tight little pussy, but I invoked my self-control.
“Tonight is all about you, beautiful.” I caught her hand and turned it palm-up before kissing the center. Without argument, she lay back on the pillows.
With firm hands, I gripped her thighs and spread them. She let out an adorable whimper that had my dick aching. Her pussy lay before me, pink and pouty, begging to be touched .
The first swipe of my tongue along her slit had Bridget’s eyes rolling back in her head. I buried my face between her thighs, nipping and sucking at her clit as I savored the taste of her.
I feared that maybe this was all a dream, but if it was, what a fucking dream .
I lapped at her center, preening at the way she thrashed and pressed her pussy against my mouth. Her hands came down and tangled in my hair. The scrape of her nails against my scalp felt like heaven. Every tug of my hair as she grappled for more had sparks dancing across my skin.
“Chase—” she pleaded.
I would never get tired of hearing her say my name in that reverent way she did when I pleasured her.
“You taste so fuckin’ good, darlin’,” I growled. “Knew you would.” I nipped at her clit then blew a puff of air, drawing a near-feral sound from her mouth.
Her thighs tightened around my ears, turning her desperate whimpers into muffled whines. I parted her sex and slid two fingers inside, stretching and stroking her walls. Her back flew off the mattress as she cried out in absolute pleasure.
“T-tell me,” she whimpered.
“Tell you what?” I clipped. “How much I’ve fantasized about eating your pretty little pussy? How I’ve imagined stripping you down and laying you out on the bar at Jokers and fucking you until you beg me to let you finish?”
“Yes,” she gasped. “All of it.”
I grinned against her wet center and stroked her G-spot. “Darlin’, we don’t have the time.”
Bridget’s pussy clamped around my fingers as I teased her clit with puffs of air. She moaned as she writhed, desperate for a release. I could feel her inner muscles quaking, building her release. I nipped at her clit, then flicked the bud with my tongue in a steady rhythm.
“Chase!” she cried. “I—I’m?—”
I surged my fingers in and massaged her G-Spot. She shattered around me, body trembling, breath faltering, lips parted.
Angelic.
I slowed my ministrations, looking up to take stock of her state. I cupped her pussy with a gentle grip, easing the crash from her high. Sweet wetness slicked my fingers.
I waited until she peeled her eyes open to bring my fingers to my mouth and suck them clean.
“Am I dead?” she whispered.
Chuckling, I said, “Sorry to say you’re still stuck with me.”
Bridget stared wide-eyed at the ceiling. “That was… Holy shit.”
“Good?”
She raised an eyebrow and looked at me like I was an idiot. “I think you just sucked my soul out of my vagina.”
I laughed, loud and long. “You are something else.”
“Sorry, I know that’s not the sexiest thing to say after you gifted me an exorcism.”
“You mean an orgasm?”
“I said what I said.”
I lay down beside her and opened my arms so she could lay with me of her own free will. Bridget snuggled into me immediately.
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Darlin’, trust me,” I said as I pressed my lips to the top of her head. “That was just as good for me as it was for you.”
Bridget sniffed, and I caught the glimmer of a tear in the candlelight.
“Hey, hey,” I soothed, cupping her cheek and wiping the tear away. “What’s the matter? ”
She shook her head. “Those are happy tears.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.” She yawned, then cuddled closer. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For being patient with me. For dealing with all my crazy.” Bridget reached out and traced one of the feathers of my tattoo. “I know I haven’t made it easy on you.”
It was probably far too soon to make these sorts of admissions, but the moment felt right. “Bee, listen to me. You have never been, nor will you ever be too much. You’re not crazy. You’re healing. And I’m here for all of it for as long as you’ll have me.”
For forever.
“Chase. I just… I need to take things slow.”
“This isn’t casual for me.” I grazed the side of her nose with mine. “There’s a difference between slow and casual. We can go slow and still be serious. You get me?”
She relaxed. “I get you.”
“Good.” I kissed her, drinking in her every flavor. “I love you. Don’t ever doubt it.”