28. Selena
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Selena
The songs wound down, and Chase never let go, one hand low on my back, the other still wrapped around mine. The string lights blurred to gold overhead. My mother had drifted off to find her captive audience, and the farther she got, the more I could breathe.
“You okay?”
He didn’t make it a thing. He simply adjusted his hand on my back, the warm pressure steadying.
I nodded.
“She’s vicious, I’ll give her that. Goes for the soft parts every time.”
“That obvious?”
“I’m a predator too, Torres. I recognize an attack when I see one.” He turned us slowly. “For what it’s worth, she’s wrong.”
“About which part?”
“All of it.” He gazed down at me. “Sometimes, people with exceptional talent forget all the work it took to get there, how hard they worked to get there. And they never see it in others. But what you’ve built here, Selena?
It’s amazing. You’ve built a community, something that gives more than it takes. Don’t forget that.”
I didn’t have anything to say to that, so I rested my forehead against his collarbone and let him move us. For a few bars, I just let myself be held, not managing anyone else’s emotions, not bracing for anything.
Safe.
It was such a foreign feeling I almost didn’t recognize it.
When the song ended, I didn’t step back.
“Come back to my place,” I murmured into his shirt.
He went still.
“Your place?”
“That’s what I said.”
He drew back enough to look at me, and there was a careful look on his face, like he thought he might’ve misheard.
“Don’t make it weird.”
“I’m not making it weird.” But he was searching my face, and the usual easy grin wasn’t there. “I just want to make sure you really want to let me in.”
The honest answer was right there, next to the golden magic that filled me whenever he was near, waiting for me to see this had always been more than sex magic.
The night was warm, and he’d stood between me and my mother without ever once blinking, even though she’d offered him waves and a comeback and social media likes.
All the barriers I’d put up—he’s a tourist, he’s a corporate-sponsored ass, he’s an obnoxious, self-centered frat boy…
he’s going to leave—they all came crashing down as his hand rested against my lower back and his heart beat against mine.
“I want—” I made myself hold his gaze. “I want tonight to be just you and me. No transactions, no magic—”
“No turtles?” he asked, that grin coming back.
“Pendejo, I’m trying to be real with you.” I scowled.
He laughed and brought my knuckles to his mouth for a gentle kiss.
“Okay,” he breathed.
Not a single joke in it.
“Okay?”
“Okay.”
And because he couldn’t help himself, the corner of his mouth curled up.
“I’ll know all your secrets by the end of this.”
“You’ll know three of them. Maybe.”
“I’ll get the rest.” Then, softer, just for me, none of the performance left in it: “I’ve got time.”
He took my hand and let me lead him out of the lights into the dark, starry night.
I fumbled with my keys at the door, missing the lock an embarrassing number of times.
Chase wrapped his arms around me from behind, his nose nuzzling into my hair.
“Nervous, Torres?”
I finally got the stupid key into the stupid lock.
“No. It’s not like we haven’t done this before.”
“Then why are you shaking?”
His teeth skimmed beneath my ear.
“I’m not.”
I was. Fuck, last time he had been half shark, and I’d been less nervous than I was now. Because that had been about him, and this was about me. About me claiming what I wanted, which meant admitting not only that I wanted him but also that I wanted him to stay.
“Chase…” What the hell was I supposed to say? I like you? Please choose me over your amazing life?
No, because there was a far more terrifying option. Take me with you.
“You wore that dress tonight so I could stare at this, huh?” He ran the callus on his thumb over the faint bruise on my neck. He was doing it again; he was giving me an out.
“Maybe.”
“I liked it.” He kissed along the tender skin. “Part of me wishes it hadn’t healed so fast. I like the idea of leaving my mark on you.”
“So that when your circus leaves town I’ll remember you?” It was easier, this way. Just get it out now, so there were no hurt feelings, even though my heart knew it was far too late for that.
He spun me around so my back hit the metal screen door. “I’m getting really tired of you trying to run away from me, Selena.” He was so close, and his eyes were black all the way to the edge.
“I thought it was all about the chase, Chase.” My heart was pounding, but I wasn’t afraid of him. I was afraid of how badly this was going to hurt.
“Not with you, not anymore.” He brushed my hair back and leaned in, kissing the bruises again.
“I…I can’t breathe when you aren’t around, Selena.
Everything else—this competition, my sponsor, hell, even the surfing—it’s suffocating.
But you, you’re like crystal-clear tropical waters.
When I’m with you, I can just be Chase, and I would hope that you could just be Selena. Just you and me.”
I searched for the bite, for the joke, but no, he had his walls completely down. I saw the man who had defended my cousin, who had challenged me at every turn like no one else had ever dared, and who had lit me up from the inside out, my magic knowing what my heart was still catching up to.
“Chase, in a few days you’ll leave…”
“Says who? Sure, I have a few competitions lined up, but I told you, I have time, Selena. For you, I have all the time in the world.”
“You’ll stay?” My fingers tightened on his biceps.
He grinned. “I’ll stay as long as you’ll have me, baby.”
I grabbed his hair and kissed him. I kissed him because I never wanted to let go. He leaned his weight against me and gripped me under my thighs, lifting me up so my legs wrapped around his waist.
He fumbled with the door but got it open and carried me up the stairs, our lips never parting, until he tried to take us into Lupe’s room, and I giggled, pointing him to the other.
He kicked the door open and dumped onto the bed, but instead of following me down, he stood and looked around the room.
“Just checking to see if you have any of my posters up yet,” he said, smirking down at me.
“Don’t need that when I have the real thing,” I shot back, yanking his shorts down. His eyes went feral, but I wasn’t sure if it was because of what I said or how I swirled my tongue around the head of his cock.
Before I could go further, he put his hand on my shoulder and pushed me onto my back, his weight over me as he settled between my thighs and kissed me again, his tongue rolling against mine slowly.
“Careful with your lip, Chase.”
“Nah, don’t care.” His hands traced from my thighs up, dragging my dress with them and over my head.
Then he wandered back down, memorizing every curve, like he was seeing me for the first time. “You are so fucking beautiful.”
I clawed under the hem of his shirt, tugging it off and letting my fingertips trail over the hexagon pattern under his jaw and down over his chest. We were both completely exposed.
He rolled his hips, sliding the length of his cock through my pussy, but never pressing in. He nipped at my neck, a deep ache flaring when he hit a bruise. I moaned softly as I moved with him.
“Chase, I need you.”
“You mean it, baby?”
I bit my lip but nodded. “I need you.” I grazed his cheek with my nails and looked deep into his eyes. “I need all of you, Chase Perez.”
He smiled, that real smile I loved, and then kissed me again as he stretched me open with a long, slow thrust.
I ran my tongue over his piercing as I moaned, and he held me close.
I didn’t rush him. I didn’t want to. I wanted to be as close to him as two people could get for as long as possible.
He shifted my legs around his waist and pushed deeper, and when he glided over the perfect spot inside me, my skin glowed, pulsing with his rhythm.
My magic didn’t spark. It didn’t lash out or arc. It just moved with him, building slowly to something I knew had the potential to destroy me, but I welcomed it because, for the first time in a long time, I knew I would look up, and he would be there looking back at me.
“Chase, I…”
“I know, baby.” He kissed me again, cutting me off. “Now let go for me. I’ve got you. I’ve always got you.”
And I did. My back arched so he dragged against me over and over, and I let myself make every sound I wanted. I clung to him without shame and trusted that he would get me exactly where I needed to go.
“That’s my girl. Come for me,” he murmured in my ear, his breathing heavy as I felt him tremble beneath my fingers.
I shattered, gripping him tight with my legs and pussy, and he bit down in the same spot again. I swore I heard him mutter, “Mine,” as his hips pulsed erratically.
The minutes stretched on as we lay there, panting, neither of us willing to let go. He gently kissed my bruised neck, and then down my chest and across my stomach until he laid his cheek against it. I threaded my fingers through his hair, stroking absently until he let out a satisfied sigh.
“I guess the ocean still knows what it’s talking about,” he mumbled against my skin.
“What do you mean?”
“This place is special.”
A bitter laugh escaped me before I could stop it. “Crescent Cove? Special?”
He popped his head up, and ran his thumb over my cheek, then my lower lip. “It made you, didn’t it?”
I inhaled softly, and he planted a gentle kiss on my lips before rolling onto his back, hands behind his head.
“Well, surf season isn’t year-round. I’ll be here in the off-season, and maybe I can tempt you out to me.
I know I’m not quite as delicious as Lupe’s mole, but I bet I could get you out of here at least a few times a year.
Hell, maybe we could get you into some open tournaments.
The AVP and WSL share a lot of facilities—we could shack up during the season. ” He was grinning again.