Chapter Twenty-Seven #2
"I worked my ass off and earned every penny I have. I won't apologize for that."
"You shouldn't. You shouldn't apologize for it. I'm just—"
I knew what I wanted to say, and I didn't know how to say it without sounding bitter and angry. I wasn't either one. Not really, but I was scared. Wanting to be brave didn't erase my fear. Chase watched my thoughts play out across my face and knew exactly what was going through my head.
"You're afraid that I'll want you to quit your job and stay home. That because I make more money, I won't think what you do is important."
"I love what I do. I love my place. I do well now, but I'm never going to make enough to live like this."
I looked around the beautiful great room and stunning kitchen. The nest egg I'd saved for a new house wouldn't buy a tenth of this one. I'd been hoping for a modest condo not too far away. This was an entirely different universe.
Chase shrugged a shoulder. "It's not about how much the café makes, Annabelle.
The value is in how much you love it. The value is in your hard work and your customers.
What you bring to the community. You're not the only one who loves that place.
I'm there almost every day and I can see it.
I would never ask you to walk away from that. "
"Are you sure? Because—"
He stopped me with a soft kiss to my lips before he pulled back and said, "I'm not Tommy, Annabelle. Anyway, don't you read the news? Do you know how often tech billionaires go broke? Are you going to kick me to the curb if one day we wake up and I'm not rich?"
"Of course not. That's ridiculous."
"Well, then, there you go."
His simple summation of a problem that wasn't a problem left me dumbfounded.
No, he wasn't Tommy. He was nothing like Tommy.
He was Chase, and he was amazing.
"You haven't had dinner yet," I said, needing to do something for him. Needing to show him how much he meant to me. "Let me unpack everything.” A sudden realization struck. "Do you have plates? I didn't bring plates."
"I do," he said, dropping his arms to cross the kitchen to open a cabinet, showing me shelves of bowls, plates and glasses.
In explanation, he said, "Vivi didn't have classes today, so she helped me unpack the kitchen stuff. It's not great, to be honest. Most of it needs to be replaced, but I haven't gotten around to it. It's good enough for now."
He eyed the sealed containers on the counter and said, "What did you make?"
"Dinner is a Gascon-style beef stew in a chocolate and wine sauce with a loaf of crusty bread I baked this morning. I, um, couldn't decide on dessert, so I made three."
"Three desserts?"
"Three desserts," I confirmed, still feeling a little foolish at my excess.
I peeled the lids off the sealed storage containers to show him the contents, explaining as I went. "A flourless chocolate soufflé with a cinnamon-dusted crust. Then a chocolate ganache tart with sea salt and espresso beans. And this is a heaven and hell cake."
Chase's eyes went comically wide at the sight of the shiny chocolate frosting on the last dessert. Almost whispering, he asked, "What's a heaven and hell cake?"
"I don't make them very often. It's really three desserts in one. Layers of angel food cake and devil's food cake with peanut butter mousse in the middle and chocolate ganache on top."
The heaven and hell cake needed to be refrigerated or the peanut butter mousse would get too soft and the layers would sag.
I was sliding it into the pristinely empty refrigerator when Chase said under his breath, "You did this for me.
You made everything with chocolate, for me.
This was a lot of work. And I know you're busy all day… "
His voice faded, and at the befuddled expression in his eyes, I realized that Chase had no idea how I really felt about him. I'd done such a good job of holding him off, of protecting myself, that I'd never taken the one step he needed. That I needed.
I'd never taken the biggest risk. I was done being a coward, done running from my own heart.
I left the other two desserts where they were on the counter and crossed the room back to Chase. I waited until his eyes left the desserts and met mine.
"I love you. I'm in love with you. I love everything about you, especially your weakness for chocolate. And if it makes you happy, I want to give it to you. Every day. All the time."
"Because you love me," he finished for me, his voice dazed, eyes wandering from me to the feast laid out on the island counter.
"Because I love you. I'm sorry I—"
Chase stopped me with a kiss, pressing his lips to mine before he whispered, "No apologies. We got here how we got here."
"Okay," I mumbled. Sliding my hands under his T-shirt, I pulled him closer and kissed him back, my heart set free now that I'd spoken the words aloud.
I loved him.
I don't know when it started, but it had grown every day until I knew he belonged to me. Chase lifted me, setting me on the counter. I wrapped my legs around his waist, pushing up his T-shirt, ready to strip it off right there.
"Can dinner wait?" he asked, his lips moving against my neck, sending shivers through every inch of me.
My brain flitted to the stew warming in the oven. "It can wait all night."
"Good." Chase lifted me again, and I tightened my legs around his hips, giving a squeal of surprise as he carried me out of the kitchen to the wide staircase.
The second floor passed in a blur, but I noticed the bed. King-sized with crisp white sheets and a navy comforter. I bounced when he tossed me on the bed.
Before I stopped moving he had my jeans and panties down my legs and over my feet. I stripped off my shirt and bra, eating up every inch of his skin with my eyes as he peeled off his own shirt and shucked off his jeans.
His long body pressed me into the mattress, falling between my open legs, his mouth moving against my neck as he whispered into my skin.
Words of love and lust, nonsensical and thick with emotion. Heavy with desire. He hadn't said those three words back. Not before and not when I'd said them only minutes ago.
I didn't need them. Not from Chase. He wasn't telling with words, he was showing me.
He lavished his love on me with his hands and his lips, dropping kisses across my shoulders, stroking my legs, worshiping me until I was dizzy from his touch, begging by the time he pushed inside, filling me with himself.
I held on, my forehead pressed to his neck, his breath hot and ragged, his voice no more than a low hum in my ears. This was all I needed. Chase's arms around me. Chase inside me. Just Chase. Always.
We didn't eat dinner until close to midnight. Actually, we had the stew for breakfast. Dinner was heaven and hell cake with a dessert of chocolate soufflé. We ate side by side, leaning over the kitchen island, stabbing at the sweets with our forks, feeding each other between kisses.
After, hopped up on sugar and chocolate, we tumbled back into bed and had each other all over again.
I woke in the dark, my internal alarm switching on my brain at four o'clock exactly. I blinked into the dim room, lit only by a streetlight beyond the trees, and sat up, my thoughts tumbling slowly.
I was in Chase's bed.
I had to get up.
Had to get to the café.
Chase groaned beside me and hooked an arm around my waist, pulling me back down. Nuzzling his face into the side of my neck, his voice heavy with sleep, he said, "Five more minutes and we'll get up. Promise."
Most mornings I never hit snooze. I couldn't. If I did, I'd do it again, and again, until I ended up serving packaged cookies and grocery store danishes to my customers. That would not go over well.
But for Chase, just this once, I could do five more minutes.
Five minutes turned into fifteen when he pulled me beneath him and kissed me, little feathery kisses across my chin, my ear, down the side of my neck until I was squirming with ticklish lust.
I hooked my feet around his thighs, pulling him to me, urging him inside. It was slow, easy, the orgasm building so gradually, when it hit it took me by surprise, crashing into my brain like a shot of espresso, waking me up and leaving every nerve tingling.
Chase rolled to his back, taking me with him. His lips brushed my ear.
"I love you, Annabelle. I feel like I've loved you forever."
I propped myself up on my elbows, my palms splayed across his chest, and looked down into his eyes, barely able to see his face in the darkness.
I didn't need to see him to feel the truth in his heart.
"I won't give up on you again," I promised. "I love you too much to do without you now. You're worth the risk. You always were. It just took me a while to figure it out."
Chase proved he meant what he said by rolling out of bed, taking me with him, and leading me to the shower. I didn't have time to appreciate the bathroom, but I caught sight of a claw-footed tub in front of a window and knew I'd be back for that later.
Clean and wearing my clothes from the day before, I prepared to head out. Chase grabbed the pot of stew from the refrigerator and we brought it with us to the café. I started to prep for baking and he heated the meal.
Chocolate and red wine beef stew wasn't the average breakfast, but it was delicious, especially partnered with a slice of chocolate ganache torte juiced with espresso beans.
After breakfast, Chase passed out on the couch in the café, rousing only when the first customers clattered through the door. He left me with a kiss on the cheek and was there at seven fifty-eight on the dot, ready to help me close.
I was going to hire one more person, I resolved. In a few weeks, once Bruce and Marie were solid. Then Chase could work on his project instead of doing dishes and we could start our nights a little earlier.
For the first time in years, I wanted more time.
Time for a life. A life I could spend with Chase.
When I was done with the café, switching off the lights over the counter, he held out a hand.
"Come home with me?"
I slid my fingers into his. "Always."