30. Bridget
30
brIDGET
T he incessant beep of my alarm woke me. Luna eyed me from her spot at the foot of the bed, clearly annoyed that I hadn’t stopped the beep, beep, beep. She huffed, as if to get her point across.
“Sorry, Lu,” I mumbled, and blindly smacked my phone.
I needed to get moving. The girls would be here soon for our trip to Target. Chase would have to get up soon, too. He was off work today, but the guys were getting together to work out.
At least, that’s what they always told us ladies they were doing. We knew it was bullshit, and there was no exercise happening. But we let them have their fun. It was more amusing letting them think they were getting away with something.
I rolled over and reached for Chase. I wanted snuggles before I had to get up.
But his side of the bed was empty. The sheets were cool. I sat up and tapped my phone. No new messages.
“Chase?” I called out as I sat up and rubbed my eyes. My heart was thundering as heat and nerves flashed across the back of my neck.
Where was he?
“Chase, honey?”
The front door opened and closed, and I heard Chase’s heavy steps coming up the stairs. His six-foot-two frame filled the doorway. He was shirtless, sweaty, and filthy.
“Morning, beautiful.” His wide smile did nothing to counter the lust in his eyes as he looked me up and down.
I tugged the sheet a little higher, covering my breasts. “Morning.” I yawned and laid back down. “Where’d you go?”
“I was working in the yard. Figured I’d get a little landscaping done before I meet up with the guys.” He jerked his thumb toward the bathroom. “I’m gonna rinse off real quick. Wanna join me?”
That man was insatiable. I, for one, wasn’t arguing because he had a damn near magical cock.
“The girls will be here soon. Maddie and HJ are riding with me. Kristin’s driving Will’s truck. Erica and Mel are riding with her.”
He slumped, pouting on his way to the shower.
Reluctantly, I admitted, “I’m still a little sore from last night.”
Chase smirked and looked at me with a gaze so intense I thought he was two seconds away from devouring me. “Damn right you are. Tight little pussy like yours… Good luck walking around Target. The girls are gonna know you got fucked last night.”
Laughing, I hopped out of bed and grabbed a black and white striped t-shirt dress from the pile of mostly clean clothes on my side of the bed. I tugged on a pair of socks, tied my Keds, threw my hair into a braid, and I was ready to go.
This whole no-makeup thing was a real timesaver.
Chase padded down the stairs, fresh from the shower, wearing nothing but a pair of mesh gym shorts. Luna thundered down after him when she heard the metallic clink of me pouring her kibble into her dish. I washed the dog food dust from my hands and fixed myself a cup of coffee.
Chase grinned at me as he sauntered in. “I’ll never get tired of seeing this.”
“Seeing what?” I asked before taking a sip.
“You in my kitchen in the morning.” He pressed his hips into mine, pinning me against the counter. “You look real nice.”
“Thanks.” I leaned forward and dotted the center of his chest with a kiss.
He smelled so good. The clean musk of his soap made me want to tell the girls to leave me behind so I could have my way with him.
“You don’t look so bad yourself. I like this whole sexy, shirtless man telling me I look pretty in the morning schtick.”
He stole my mug and took a sip. “Be safe today, okay?”
I knew what he was getting at. Steve had called late last night with bad news. They found the phone Kyle had been texting me from, but no Kyle.
I tried to push it out of my mind as much as possible. He had stolen enough of my life as it was. I didn’t want to give him any more.
Still, I couldn’t ignore the way my intuition was pricking at the back of my neck.
I rested my palms against the swells of his pectorals. Damn, he was sexy. I wanted to trace each line and ridge of his abs with my tongue. The swooping V-cut lines that framed those abs made me weak in the knees. The smattering of dark hair across his chest and below his navel was so rugged. So masculine.
“Maybe I should just stay in,” I said. “You know, since we both have the day off. We could finally go on that first date we’ve never had.”
Chase laughed, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “I’ll take you on a date soon. I promise. But you should spend time with your girls. I get you more than they do now.”
That’s exactly what I loved about Chase. Friendships and responsibilities didn’t threaten him. Those things were a necessary part of life. I would’ve had to fight Kyle tooth-and-nail to go as far as New Bern without him.
“You need anything from Target?” I asked as I wrapped my arms around his neck.
“Nah, but if you wanted to pick up some stuff for the house, it’s cool with me.”
My brows furrowed. “What do you need?”
“I don’t need anything. But you live here now. The house is just as much yours as it is mine. If you wanna change it up and redecorate, it’s fine by me.”
“I like your house just the way it is.”
“ Our house, darlin’.” He pecked my lips. “You and me—we’re a team.”
My heart soared as we lingered by the coffee maker, stealing kisses between sips from a shared mug. “The girls will be here soon,” I said as I grabbed my purse from the kitchen table and plucked the truck keys off the hook by the door.
When I stepped out onto the porch, my jaw dropped.
Fresh mulch lined the flower beds circling the house and the cottage. Tulips in brilliant pinks, oranges, reds, and yellows packed the beds to the brims. Vibrant blooms spilled over the edges. Rows and rows of sunset petals covered the yard. New groves filled the greenspace, creating little paths through the grass. It was unreal.
“There must be hundreds… Thousands… ” I whispered, touching my fingers to my lips. “Chase… ”
“Remember what I said about gardens?” he murmured as he came up behind me and slid his hands onto my hips, pulling my back against his chest. Chase pressed a kiss to the side of my neck. “Bouquets die. Gardens bring the promise of something better tomorrow. A bouquet was the best I could do in the hospital, but this…” He turned me around to face him, crooking a finger under my chin and lifting it to meet his gaze. “This is no longer a season of surviving. This is growing season.” He rested his chin on top of my head. “This is our home now. And we’re gonna work together to make every day better than the last.”
I surveyed the new landscaping in complete awe. “How early did you get up this morning?”
“Called it into the hardware store a few days ago. They had the flowers and mulch ready for me to pick up when they opened this morning.” He offered a sheepish grin. “I was just worried you were gonna catch me sneaking out.”
I sandwiched his cheeks between my palms. “You’re something else, Chase Brannan.”
A truck engine rumbled to a stop beside Chase’s unmarked car. His eyes lifted, and he gave Kristin a nod. I heard voices coming closer. Maddie and Hannah Jane must have been walking down from Hannah Jane and Isaac’s house.
“You’d better get going,” he murmured as he buried his nose into the crown of my head. “Or I’m gonna embarrass you and kiss you hard enough that it’s all they’re gonna talk about the whole drive.”
“Then let’s give ’em something to talk about.”
A low chuckle escaped as he pulled my body flush with his and captured my lips in a raunchy kiss. Chase skated his hands down my back and grabbed both of my ass cheeks. I squealed as he slid his tongue into my mouth, caressing mine with wanton strokes. He pulled back on a smacking kiss and brushed his lips against the shell of my ear. “How’d I do?”
I blushed as I peeked over my shoulder and found all the girls staring. Giggling, I whispered, “You’re trouble, mister.”
Chase cupped my jaw and kissed me again, softer this time. “I love you, darlin’. Don’t ever doubt it.”
“I love you too.”
“Come on,” he said, taking my hand. “I’ll walk you to the truck.”
I tiptoed through the yard, careful to avoid stray clumps of soil from Chase’s gardening adventures. I hit the keyfob so Maddie and Hannah Jane could climb in. Kristin was idling with the windows down. Erica and Mel rubbernecked to get a look at Chase and me.
“Mornin’, ladies,” Chase said in a jovial greeting, tipping an imaginary hat. He opened the driver’s side door for me, supporting my elbow as I climbed.
Maddie was in the passenger’s seat, fastening her seatbelt. Hannah Jane had climbed in the back. Her version of day-off attire was a flowy cheetah print skirt that hit mid-calf, a Def Leppard t-shirt knotted in the front, and her casual Louboutins.
“Morning, you two,” Maddie said with a laugh.
Chase made sure my seatbelt was securely fastened before stepping up onto the running board. “Drive safe, alright?”
“I will.”
“Give me a kiss, pretty girl.”
Maddie and Hannah Jane shrieked as they watched my cheeks turn cherry red.
Chase was grinning from ear-to-ear. “I told you I was gonna embarrass you.”
“Asshole,” I murmured as I braced one hand on the steering wheel and leaned in to kiss him .
It wasn’t nearly as showy as our kiss on the porch, but I loved it just as much. I loved that I could kiss my man in front of my friends and have them cheer me on.
The moment I pulled onto the road, following Kristin to New Bern, Hannah Jane and Maddie exploded.
“Tell us everything!” Maddie shouted.
“The sex! I wanna know about the sex!” Hannah Jane chimed in. “Y’all are having sex, right? Is he good? He seems like he’d know what he’s doing.”
“Oh, he knows what he’s doing.” I grinned as we crested the bridge toward Morehead City.
Maddie and Hannah Jane went bananas. I couldn’t make out what either of them were saying. They talked over one another, oblivious to the fact that I couldn’t understand either of them.
Hannah Jane won when we had to stop at a gas station so that Maddie could pee. Apparently, an unborn baby wreaked more havoc on a bladder than I realized. Bless her heart.
“So, how is it going with him?” she asked, craning through the gap in the front seats.
I replied to a text from my brother and stuffed my phone back into the cup holder. “It’s good.” I couldn’t fight the smile on my face, so I didn’t even try. “Really good.”
“Okay, but I need details!”
“Isn’t that kind of weird? It’s not like you and Isaac. None of us knew him before y’all got together. You’ve known Chase as long as anyone.”
“Oh, please,” she said, dismissing me with a wave of her hand. “Erica talks about Steve all the time, and Isaac talks about Luca and Will.”
Maddie skipped out of the gas station with a plastic bag packed full of convenience store snacks. I loved that she was a fancy pants pastry chef and still gorged herself on Little Debbie cakes.
She was using her teeth to tear open the plastic wrapper of a Cosmic Brownie as she opened the door. “Y’all, I’ve been craving these for days, and they had them right by the register.” She nearly inhaled the whole thing, then closed her eyes and moaned. “So good. What are we talking about?”
I backed out of the parking space and eased the truck onto the road.
“Bee was about to tell us all the dirty details of her and Chase.” Hannah Jane said.
“Hate to break it to you, babe, but I’m not kissing and telling.”
Maddie reached into the bag and pulled out a styrofoam cup of boiled peanuts. “You will tell us everything,” she said in a soothing monotone.
I laughed. “Are you trying to hypnotize me?”
“Is it working?”
I eyed the peanuts. “Only if you give me one.”
Maddie happily obliged. “I was prepared to give you all of them.” She shoved the styrofoam container into the cup holder so we could share. “Okay. First question. Are you officially living together?”
I blushed as I plucked a peanut out. “Yes.”
Hannah Jane let out a screech that I feared would shatter the windows. “Like…”
“Like, he’s going to start renting out the cottage again, his-and-her sides of the closet, and standing in line at the DMV to change the address on my license.”
Maddie threw her hands in the air and did a little happy dance right there in the front seat. “And how’s the sex?”
“The sex is… It’s good.” I smiled. “He’s so sweet and gentle.”
They both went quiet like they could read my mind. “Okay,” Maddie said as she licked chocolate icing off of her fingers. “If he’s not handing out multiple Os and bending you into a pretzel, there’s a problem.”
“Oh, there are multiple O’s, alright,” I said. “He’s very generous.”
“Then why aren’t you bragging about him ripping your clothes off and acting like a wild animal when he has you alone?” Hannah Jane asked. “I mean damn—that kiss y’all had on the porch nearly got me pregnant. You can totally see how much he wants you. It’s all over his face.”
“I think we’re still finding our groove, you know? It hasn’t been that long.”
Maddie eyed me curiously. “You know, before…” her voice trailed off.
I swallowed. “You can say his name. I can handle it.”
She sighed. “Before you got with Kyle, you were always talking about how you liked it more… aggressive.”
I stared at the painted lines flying by. “And your point?”
“Does Chase know that’s what you like?” she asked gently.
I shrugged.
Hannah Jane reached between the seats and put her hand on my shoulder. “Men aren’t mind readers. You have to tell them what feels good. You have to tell him what fulfills you.”
Sighing, I said, “I think he’s still afraid to touch me.” I pushed loose strands of hair away from my face. “I mean, kind of. Like, he doesn’t have a problem with being sweet. God, he’s so freaking gentle and sweet it could give me a cavity.”
“But?” Hannah Jane chirped.
“I don’t know… I guess I don’t blame him for being hesitant. It’s just a constant reminder that he’ll never smack my ass or throw me on a bed. I’ll never have my head knocked into a headboard on ac cident because he’s fucking me so hard.” I threw a sheepish smile their way. “Sorry. TMI?”
Maddie snorted and laid her hand over her belly. “Please. We don’t do TMI here. Y’all know exactly how this boy was conceived.”
The truck went silent. The road noise faded. I glanced at Maddie. “Did you just say, boy ?”
She bit her lip and grinned. “Yeah. We did one of those special ultrasound appointments where you can find out the gender early. I was too excited to wait another month.”
I stole a peek in the rearview mirror. Hannah Jane looked giddy.
“Isaac gets irritated when I don’t use his credit card.” She plucked a sleek, black Amex from her purse. “It’s a good thing we have two trucks between all of us because we’re about to buy out the entire baby section.”