Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
ELENA
Oh my god, I can’t believe I just said that.
Was I really doing this? Having an affair? This hadn’t been part of the plan, but things were moving too slowly, and I needed out of that house. I needed a break in a place I felt safe and cared for. With a person who made me feel safe and cared for.
I didn’t know how it happened so quickly, but the first person I’d thought of was Chase. Yes, I could have gone to Tessa, but she had so much on her plate right now, “fake” husband and all. She also didn’t have what I needed.
But Chase did.
The man standing in front of me now was nothing like the fuckboy I’d met at the bar weeks ago. He was kind, and caring, and considerate. He was asking what I needed, like he existed only to fulfill my every desire.
What I craved most in this moment was safe, gentle affection. The physical intimacy of a lover.
Perhaps it was an odd reaction to enduring nearly a year of physical abuse at the hands of the person who was supposed to cherish me above all others.
But being touched is not the same as being cared for.
It’s a painful paradox, still longing for warmth and connection but safe touch feeling so foreign, dangerous, unattainable.
If the physical sensation I experienced from simply his hand in my hair was any indication, Chase was exactly what I needed.
And perhaps by choosing this, by making the conscious effort to take what I needed from the man in front of me, it would give me back some of the power Peter had slowly stripped me of.
My thoughts came to a stuttering halt when Chase pressed a soft kiss to my mouth. It was gentle, sweet. And nothing like what I needed.
I pulled back and glared up at him. “I told you to kiss me, Chase. You will not break me.”
The man growled at me before his mouth crashed against mine with bruising force, stealing my breath. The contrast between his last gentle kiss and this raw hunger made my head spin. My fingers curled into his shirt, pulling him closer as his tongue swept across my bottom lip.
Chase’s hands tangled in my hair, tugging just hard enough to make goosebumps break out across my skin. I gasped against his mouth, and he took full advantage, deepening the kiss until I was dizzy with need.
I should stop this before it goes further. But I won’t.
“More,” I breathed between kisses. “Please.”
He moaned, the sound vibrating through my chest where we were pressed together. His hands slid down my sides, and I groaned. He read it as pleasure, but it was surely pain. There’d be no hiding it if we continued in the direction we were headed.
He gripped my hips and pulled me flush against him. The hard length of him pressed against my stomach, and heat pooled low in my belly.
“Tell me what you need,” Chase murmured against my neck, his breath hot on my skin. His teeth grazed my pulse point, and my knees went weak.
“Touch me,” I whispered. “Make me forget everything but this.”
His hands slipped under my scrub top, calloused fingers tracing patterns on my bare skin. Each touch sent sparks of electricity through my body, awakening nerve endings I’d forgotten existed. When his thumb brushed the underside of my breast, I arched into him with a gasp.
“Like this?” he asked, his voice rough with desire as he palmed my breast through my bra. I reached down for the hem of my top to pull it over my head. He needed to see what he was working with, what spots to avoid.
He pulled back just enough to peruse my torso as I stood in only a black lace bra and scrub pants. When his eyes reached the left side of my ribs, he froze.
“What the fuck is that?” He stumbled back a step, his hands clenched at his sides. His gaze went from molten to murderous in an instant.
I squeezed my eyes shut. I didn’t want to have to explain it. I needed him to just know.
“Elena, look at me.”
The devastated expression on his handsome face told me he knew. He didn’t need me to explain; he just knew, and I was so goddamn grateful that this man saw me.
“You cannot go back there.” He stated it as if it was a simple fact, but it wasn’t.
“Not right now,” I said. “We can talk about it later, but not right now... right now, I just need you to make me feel.”
This man. He looked downright tortured, completely unsure of what the right choice was. So I gave him a moment to decide.
He didn’t take long. With a muttered, “Fuck it,” he surged forward and claimed my mouth once more.
It was decadent.
“Tell me if I hurt you.”
I hummed in response as his kisses trailed down my neck and his hands roamed my bare skin, careful to avoid my bruised ribs. Each touch sent tingles of electricity through my body, awakening parts of me I thought had died years ago.
I arched into him as his tongue traced my collarbone. “Chase...”
“What do you want, baby?” he breathed against my skin.
“Everything.” My hands slid under his shirt, desperate to feel his warm skin against mine. “More.”
He groaned, the sound vibrating through my chest where we were pressed together. His fingers traced the edge of my bra, and I shivered.
“You’re so goddamn beautiful.” He pulled back just enough to meet my gaze, his blue eyes dark with desire. “Let me worship you.”
I nodded, unable to form words as his mouth descended on my breast through the lace of my bra. My fingers tangled in his hair as pleasure coursed through me. His hands slid down to my hips, thumbs tracing circles on my hipbones. “Can I take these off?” He tugged at my scrub pants.
“Please.” The word came out breathy, desperate.
“Never thought I’d hear the day when you begged for me, Sweetness.”
He hooked his fingers in the waistband and slowly dragged them down my legs, pressing kisses to each new inch of exposed skin. When he reached my knees, he glanced up at me through his lashes.
“I’ve dreamed about this,” he murmured against my skin. “About tasting you.”
My whole body trembled with need.
Chase’s mouth blazed a path up my inner thigh, and my fingers curled into his hair. Each press of his lips sent sparks of electricity through my body.
“Fuck, Elena.” His hot breath fanned against my center through the thin lace of my panties. “You’re already so wet for me.”
I whimpered as his tongue traced the edge of the fabric. My hips bucked involuntarily, seeking more contact. He gripped my hips and pushed me backward until my back hit the wall. He followed on his knees.
“Please,” I breathed. “I need—”
“I know, Sweetness. You need more.” His fingers hooked into the sides of my underwear. “I’ve got you. Let me take care of you.”
Chase slowly dragged the lace down my legs, his eyes dark with hunger as he revealed more of me. Once they were off, he pressed open-mouthed kisses back up my thigh.
Chase shifted one of my legs so it was draped over his shoulder. And then, to my utter surprise and amazement, he lifted the other, bracing me against the wall and holding me up by his broad shoulders.
“So fucking perfect.” His tongue flicked out to taste me, and he moaned. “Tastes like honey, just like I imagined. I’m going to make you feel so good, Elena.”
His hands gripped my ass, holding me steady as he devoured me like a starving man. Each swipe of his tongue had me seeing stars.
“Chase...” My voice was barely more than a desperate whimper.
He hummed against me in response, the vibration sending shockwaves of pleasure through my core.
Chase’s talented tongue worked me closer to the edge with each deliberate stroke.
The position should have been precarious, balanced against the wall with my thighs draped over his shoulders, but he held me steady with an unwavering strength that made me feel weightless and safe.
“Let go for me, Sweetness,” he murmured against my center, the vibration of his voice making me shiver with pent up need. “I want to feel you come apart on my tongue.”
The raw hunger in his voice combined with another expert flick of his tongue had my back arching off the wall. My fingers tightened in his hair as pressure built low in my belly.
“Chase, I’m—” The words died in my throat as he sucked hard on my clit.
My thighs trembled around his head as the first tremors of my orgasm approached. The coil of tension wound tighter and tighter until I thought I might die from the intensity.
Medically speaking, I knew that was unlikely to happen. But the pleasure was indescribable.
Chase groaned against me, the sound primal and possessive. His hands gripped my ass harder, pulling me closer as if he couldn’t get enough. One of his fingers teased my entrance, and the slight penetration combined with his relentless tongue pushed me over the edge.
Stars exploded behind my eyelids as pleasure surged through every nerve ending. My body convulsed with the force of my release, but Chase held me steady, working me through the aftershocks with sensual licks and kisses.
When the tremors finally subsided, he lowered my legs back to the floor, keeping his hands on my hips until he was sure I was stable. His chin glistened with evidence of my pleasure, and his eyes blazed with untamed desire as he looked up at me from his knees.
But when he noticed the tears tracking down my face, his expression shifted. He looked almost pained, panicked. “Did I hurt you?”
“No.” I reached a hand out to stroke down the side of his face.
“It’s just…” I searched for the right words to convey everything that orgasm had meant to me.
It was so much more than a physical release; it was the start of my new chapter, of regaining bits of myself, piece by piece.
“It’s been a very long time since anyone thought of my pleasure. ”
His expression turned murderous again. “I will live on my knees for you, Elena. Take whatever you need from me.”