Chapter 5
The multitude of candles I’d lit earlier are still flickering in the ensuite bathroom, bathing the bedroom in warm light. As Chase closes the bedroom door behind him, nerves tighten in my stomach.
“So, um,” I start, kneading my hands, “I haven’t actually done this in a while.”
He drops his jacket on my armchair then turns to face me, his gaze flicking to the way I’ve gripped the lapels of my robe closed near my throat.
Straightening, Chase clears his throat. “Katie, if you’re uncomfortable, we don’t have to do this. I didn’t come here thinking… I mean, I hoped… Wait. I don’t mean that I came here hoping you’d have sex with me because of the cupcake.” He shoves a hand through his hair and restarts. “I like you, okay? And I’m not here just to sleep with you, but I mean, if you want, then of course I’m down to do it. But—hold on. What I’m saying is, we don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
His nervous babbling actually calms me down enough that I can realize that yes, I do want to do this with him. And I want to do it right now.
“Look, you’re beautiful, and smart, and successful, and I know you’re totally out of my league—you have been since high school, honestly—but I think maybe there’s something between us, so we can take it slow and I can take you out on a date before we?—”
He stops talking when I untie the sash of my robe and let it fall to my feet. The silk puddles on the floor, and I stand before him, utterly naked.
Chase stares, opening his mouth and clamping it shut a few times in quick succession. Then he moves .
The space between us disappears, and I’m suddenly wrapped up in his arms. He lifts me up so I have no choice but to curl my legs around his hips, then walks us over to my big king bed. Placing me down on the blankets, Chase covers my body with his and drops kisses on my lips, my cheeks, my neck.
“Take your clothes off,” I tell him.
“I will.”
“Right now.”
I reach for his tee but I only manage to gather a few handfuls of fabric to reveal the bottom half of his abs before he takes my wrists and pins them above my ears. “So demanding.”
I arch into him, my knees pinned wide by the bulk of his body. “I know I am. Now take off your clothes.”
He lets go of my wrists, stands up beside the bed, rips off his tee, and tosses it across the room. His eyes are so dark, they make a shiver of excitement course through my veins. Then he yanks me by the ankles so my lower body is hanging off the bed, and he kneels.
“Oh,” I gasp as he hooks my legs over his shoulders. “I see. Is this one of the vile things you imagined doing to me?”
“This isn’t even scratching the surface, beautiful.” Then his lips are on me, and I forget what I meant to answer. He eats me out like a starved man, using hands and tongue and lips to make me gasp his name in desperation.
He hums. “Like it when you say my name like that,” he tells me between ravishments.
“Like what?” My voice is breathless, almost wheezy, and Chase slides a finger inside me while doing something crazy with his tongue. “Chase,” I pant.
“Just like that,” he says, chuckling, and then gets back to work.
I think it’s the noises he makes that actually make me crest. With one hand wrapped around my thigh, spreading me wide, and his other hand busy between my legs, Chase makes the most delicious, erotic, unbelievably hot noises I’ve ever heard from a man. It sounds like he can’t get enough of the taste of me. It sounds like he’s been desperate to eat me out for years.
And when my back arches and I come with a cry, he keeps devouring me until I shove his head away.
Vision slightly hazy, I see him stand and lick his lips.
“You taste like heaven,” he tells me.
I huff a laugh, unable to make words. All I can do is stare while he unfastens his jeans and pushes them down to the floor. He kicks off his shoes, socks, and pants, then stands before me with a hand wrapped around his big cock. And I do mean big. Almost…scarily big.
“You look so good lying back like that,” he tells me, fist pumping up and down his shaft. “Hair mussed, skin flushed.”
I’ve never felt this comfortable with a man—especially not the first time being intimate together. But there’s something about him that eases all the tension in me while simultaneously cranking it tighter. I just had the best orgasm I’ve had in years, and all I want is more.
I spread my arms. “Come here.”
I half-expect him to tease me for being demanding, but Chase just crawls onto the bed beside me. His hand coasts up my stomach to my breasts. I curl into his side and explore him with my touch too. His skin is warm, golden-brown, and stretched over hard muscles. He smells delicious.
When my fingers slide down to loosely circle his throbbing cock, Chase covers my hand with his own.
“Katie,” he says quietly.
“Hmm?”
“I don’t want this to be a one-time thing.”
Surprised, I blink up to meet his gaze. “Okay?”
“I want to take you out to dinner and the movies. I want to make you pancakes for breakfast. I want to get to know you. The real you.”
Heart thumping, I wet my lips. “Are you asking me to be your girlfriend?”
“That’s exactly what I’m asking.”
“And you’re doing it while my hand is wrapped around your cock?”
A grin splits his face. He squeezes my hand, which squeezes his cock. “It appears so. Yep.”
“I see.”
“If you say no, I’ll eat you out until you change your mind.”
“Oh, well, absolutely not then. Get to work, tough guy.”
Chase laughs, then grabs me and hauls me onto his chest. My legs fall down on either side of his body, and I feel the press of his erection exactly where I want it. Feeling it pressed against my folds like this makes desire wind through my core—but it also makes me a tiny bit nervous. I’ve never been with anyone this big before.
His hands coast over my back and down to my ass. He strokes my thighs and squeezes gently, his gaze soft. “We could be good together, Katie.”
“Yeah,” I agree. The way his hands feel on my thighs is scrambling my brain. Combined with the feel of his cock against my core, I don’t think I could come up with an argument against dating this man if my life depended on it.
He remembered my birthday. He went out of his way to make me feel special. He said he wants to get to know the real me.
I let a grin curl my lips, and begin to slowly roll my hips to get some relief. “Where are you going to take me for our first date?”
“That depends,” he says, hands squeezing my thighs a little bit harder. The muscles in his neck grow stark as I roll my hips once more. My slickness is covering his shaft, and the pressure of him against my bud is making it hard to think.
“On what?” I answer, slightly breathless. I sit up so I can prop my hands against his chest to grind myself into him a little bit harder.
“On—” He cuts himself off with a grunt. His hands move to my hips, and he guides my movements to be a bit faster. A bit harder. “It depends on when I get to take you out,” he finally manages to say.
“What do you mean?” My fingernails bite into his shoulder as I roll my hips, riding him, desire making my movements jerky.
“Well, if it’s tomo—” A groan, and his head falls back. “That feels so good, baby. Grind yourself against me and think how good it’ll feel when my cock is inside.”
“So good,” I repeat between panted breaths.
His hands grip my hips with bruising strength, and he helps me grind myself against him until we’re both nearly blind with lust. “What were you going to say?” I ask, shifting to long, slow strokes so I can catch my breath. “If it’s tomorrow?”
“What?”
“Our first date.” I roll my hips again.
“You’re going to kill me.”
I laugh, but it’s mostly a sharp exhale of breath. “I want all the information before I make an important decision.”
Chase's eyes are dark as his gaze slices to mine. His hands tighten on my hips, and then one of them slides up to cup my breast. He pinches my nipple to make me gasp then says, “If it’s tomorrow morning, I’ll take you out for breakfast at the Four Cups Café.”
I smile at the thought. I love that place. “And if it’s not tomorrow morning?”
Another pinch of my nipple, and Chase rolls his hips under me, putting wonderful, delicious pressure on my clit to remind me that he’s just as much in control of this situation as I am. “Tacos for dinner. Or I’ll cook for you.”
My movements stop. “You can cook?” I yelp when I’m flipped onto my back, Chase nestled between my spread legs.
He gives me a dangerous grin. “I can cook,” he confirms, sliding a hand down between my legs.
The moan that escapes me when he thrusts two fingers inside me is almost embarrassingly loud.
“You’re so wet for me,” he says. “So wet and needy for my cock, and pretending you’re not.”
My cheeks are hot, and I know I must be blushing. “Chase…”
“There it is,” he says, shifting so he’s kneeling between my legs, positioning himself at my entrance. “Say my name like that again, and you’ll get every inch of me.”
My pulse thunders. My breaths saw in and out of my lungs, almost painful in their intensity. My gaze drops down to the cock he’s holding in his fist. It’s enormous, and I want it. I lick my lips. “Please, Chase.”
He exhales—and notches his cock inside me. He’s so big he stretches me, making soothing noises as he drapes his body over mine. His hands frame my face as he drops kisses on my lips, my cheeks, my eyelids.
“Oh, oh,” I pant. The feeling is intense. “You’re so big.”
“You’re taking me so well,” he croons, and rolls his hips a little bit more.
I gasp, trembling. He kisses me some more, whispering soft encouragement, pausing as he waits me for me to adjust.
“Okay,” I tell him, and he gives me a little bit more. “Is that it?”
A grunt, followed by a soft chuckle that vibrates from his chest to mine. “Not yet. Relax, baby. You’re so fucking tight.”
I try. I really do. But it’s not until Chase props himself up on an elbow and strokes my body with a warm palm that I feel my body soften for him.
“You’ll take it all, Katie,” he assures me in a deep voice. “You’ll feel me so deep inside you, every inch of me stretching you wide.”
When he strokes his hand over my breast and teases my nipple again, I hook my arms around his neck and start to roll my hips to meet him. And then it gets easier, and it starts to feel incredible. I let out another whimper, and my movements start to turn frantic. There’s an orgasm shimmering in the distance, and suddenly I’m desperate for release.
“That’s it,” Chase urges, rolling his hips a bit harder. “Feel how good it is when we’re together.”
“So good,” I pant, arching.
Then Chase clamps a hand on my hip and thrusts so hard I see stars. I scratch my fingernails down his back and moan his name, mindless, in ecstasy.
“You feel so good, baby,” he says between harsh breaths. “Never felt anything better. God—I’m never letting you go.”
“No,” I agree. Pressure builds in the pit of my stomach. “Oh!”
“You and me, beautiful,” he vows, and then we descend into wildness. I meet him thrust for thrust, body growing taut beneath his. I cling to him in the violence of our union, chanting his name, hurtling toward oblivion.
When I climax, I lose the ability to see, and speak, and hear. I come so hard my whole body clenches, and I know in the depth of my soul that Chase is right. There’s something special between us.
Chase swears. “I can feel you squeezing me,” he says in a voice full of wonder. “Oh, that—feels—so—good.”
He punctuates every word with a thrust, and pleasure spears me once more. I moan in disappointment when he pulls out of me, leaving me utterly bereft. But then Chase's hand is wrapped around his shaft and he’s spilling on my stomach with a groan, marking me as his.
We stay like that for a long moment, panting. Chase gulps down a few deep breaths, then blinks as if he’s coming back to himself. He stares at my naked, defiled body and lets out another long sigh.
“This was definitely on the list of vile acts I dreamed about for years,” he informs me.
I would smack him, but I’m giggling too hard. He flashes me a grin then climbs off the bed and ducks into the bathroom. A moment later he comes back, and I haul myself up to a sitting position, intending to take my turn in the bathroom to clean myself off.
Chase has other ideas. I squeal as he picks me up, carrying me to the attached bathroom, letting my feet fall down to the tiled floor. He grabs a tissue and wipes the mess off my stomach, then picks me up once more. He steps into the bath and lowers us both down in a display of strength I wasn’t expecting but I’m certainly not complaining about.
The water is a bit cooler than I like, so I nudge the hot water tap with my foot. Chase squirts some bubble bath under the stream to refresh the bubbles, and then I lean back against his chest and let my lips curl into a smile.
We stay like that for a long while, warming the water when it needs it while we share the glass of wine I’d poured earlier. There’s something so comforting about leaning against a man’s broad chest, especially when he wraps his arms around me and kisses my temple.
“Were you serious about the girlfriend thing?” I ask.
“Yes.”
“Oh,” I answer, then add, “why?”
His hand, which had been stroking the softness of my lower belly, pauses. “What do you mean, why?”
“I mean, how can you be so sure you want to date me?”
“Katie, in case you missed what I was telling you earlier, I had a massive crush on you in high school. I’ve been wanting to date you for most of my life.”
This is so shocking to me that I turn around to look at his face. “ What? ”
“Oh come on,” he says with a laugh. “The hot, nerdy girl with the perfect grades? The one who’s lived her life on her terms, no matter what? How could I not be attracted to you?”
“I take offense to the nerdy comment.”
“Plus,” Chase continues, ignoring me, “I only have to buy you a birthday present once every four years.” He laughs when I slosh water at his face, then pins my arms against my chest and hugs me close. I let out a shuddering breath, a little bit scared to believe that this man could appear in my life and knock me off my feet without warning. Is it too good to be true?
Then he’s kissing my shoulder and letting one hand slide down my stomach to stroke between my legs. I turn my head so we can kiss each other, spreading my knees a little bit wider to give him better access.
He gives me a third orgasm just like that. It’s not as violent as the last two, but it fills me with a buzzing sort of warmth that makes me melt against his chest, completely content. As we lie there, in the light of flickering candles, I decide that I’m sick of being afraid. Chase is the only person who remembered me on my birthday. He took the chance to come here with a birthday cupcake for me. He told me exactly how he feels. What kind of coward would I be to turn my back on that?
The decision settles into my bones, and I’m going all in.
“A first date at the Four Cups Café sounds pretty good to me,” I say casually, letting my toes poke out above the water. I wiggle them slightly. “That is, if you wanted to sleep over tonight?”
Chase lets out a sigh, like I’ve just said something that filled him with relief. “I’d love that,” he admits.
Smiling, I pull the plug on the bath. We rinse the bubble bath suds off in the shower, dry ourselves, and then head downstairs to finally have a taste of birthday cake. It’s a deliciously moist vanilla cake with sweet and tart raspberry frosting, made by the talented baker that partly owns the Four Cups Café, and it’s perfect.
We don’t get much sleep that night, but I’m not complaining. And the next day, when we make it to Four Cups in the early afternoon, I’ve got a big, goofy grin on my face that seems like it doesn’t want to stay hidden, even when I run into my mom and sister, who finally wish me a belated happy birthday.
I like to think I’m gracious when I thank them for their wishes. And when I tell my sister I don’t have any space in my budget to contribute to her wedding beyond a gift, she pinches her lips but doesn’t protest. I think it might be because Chase is looming beside me, doing his best to radiate protective intimidation.
Smiling like a loon, I thread my fingers through Chase’s and head for one of the empty tables. We eat, laugh, talk, and then we head home and pick up right where we left off.
Best. Birthday. Ever.
A year later, on February 28 th , Chase wakes me up with a kiss and presents me with a cupcake speared with a single candle. Beside the plate is a hot coffee, made exactly how I like it.
He grins at the blubbery, emotional look on my face. “Make a wish, beautiful.”
Eyes sparkling, I make the same wish I made last year, and blow out the candle.
While we eat cake in bed for breakfast, Chase nudges me with a shoulder and asks, “What did you wish for last year?”
I swallow my bite and lick a bit of frosting off the edge of my half of the cupcake. Then I glance at him and say, “I opened the door and saw you standing there with a cupcake, and I wished that the same thing would happen on my next birthday. You, making me feel special, remembering me. It seemed like an impossible dream.”
His eyes soften, and he presses a kiss to my temple. “I’ll never forget,” he promises, and I believe him.
By the end of the day, Chase has made me feel like a queen, and I amend my thought from last year. This birthday is the best ever. Or at least, it’s the best one on record, until I discover what my next one has in store.
I can’t wait to find out, because I know Chase will be there next to me.
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