Chapter 50 Chase #2
“So, Erin…” Brax says, eliminating the silence, his tone teasing. “Do you want to tell me why the station called and said Nancy Killian demanded you be arrested for assault?”
Beer sprays out of my mouth while the others, clearly already in the know, struggle to hide their grins.
“Why would someone want to arrest Erin for salt?” Roman asks innocently.
Erin’s cheeks flame, and she sinks into her seat, covering her face with her hands.
“Don’t arrest my friend, Daddy,” Roman says gruffly and then lobs the end of a garlic piece at Brax’s face.
The entire table cracks up with laughter.
Roman rushes to Erin’s side and hugs her, holding on as if his dad might actually arrest her. He makes Brax pinky promise he won’t before letting go.
After an hour of more playful chaos, everyone says their goodbyes and heads out the door.
Erin leans into me for a moment before heading upstairs. “I’m gonna take a bath,” she says and disappears.
I grin to myself, thinking about how a tense and awkward situation turned into laughter and how these moments are exactly what we need given everything that’s going on in the background.
I take a deep breath, dinner still lingering in the air, and start cleaning up the few stray dishes on the table.
When the kitchen is clean, I head upstairs to the bedroom. Dim lighting seeps from under the door and I step inside, stopping dead in my tracks when I find Erin sitting on the bed. Her bronzed legs are on display in front of her, and her frame is covered in just my jersey.
My eyes trail up her body as I shove my jacket to the floor and walk over to the bed. I press my knee into the mattress and tilt her chin up, kissing her hard. She places her dainty hand on my wrist, kissing me back with everything she has.
“You’re perfect,” I say, letting my eyes eat her up. Never have I ever let a girl wear my jersey in the bedroom. Just seeing her in it has me instantly hard.
“I wanna ask you something,” she says.
“Yeah?”
“Are you… are you soft?” she blurts out.
I choke on nothing but my own spit, stunned by the surprise of her words.
Fucking hell. I love this woman.
She might actually be the death of me.
I glance down at my raging hard-on trapped behind my jeans and look back up at her. “You’re not serious right now, are you?”
“That’s not… I just need to know if you’re holding back. Are you being gentle when you don’t want to? Or is it that you don’t want to be with me that way because you think I won’t be able to measure up or handle your desires?”
Hearing her jealousy makes me feral.
And that’s when I realize this isn’t about a website or Nancy.
This is about fear.
Fear she isn’t enough.
Fear that others have experienced a version of me she never has.
I cup her face, pull her in, and kiss her forehead once, my mouth lingering against it.
“Sweetheart,” I murmur. “You’re enough for every version of me.
You fulfill every one of my fantasies and desires.
You in this… I think there’s a reason why I’ve never let anyone wear my jersey,” I say, biting my lip as my hand trails up her thigh.
“It was always meant for you,” I rasp. “Fuck,” I hiss out, shaking my head.
“I can’t even think straight. The things I want to do to you, baby. ”
She rises onto her knees and plants her hands around the back of my neck as she gives me a serious expression. “Why won’t you?”
“I want everything to be at your pace. Ever since you told me about what you heard when you tried to pleasure yourself, I’ve only gone where I think you’re comfortable exploring. I want you to have control. It’s what you’ve needed, and I’ll always give you that.”
“Control in the bedroom is what you like, so when will you take what you need?”
“I’ll never take anything you don’t want me to have, baby. It’s as simple as that.”
“I want you to have everything, Eighty-Seven. I want to give you everything.”
No one has ever looked at me the way she’s looking at me now. The way she’s handing over her trust in me lights a fuse inside of me.
“Have your way with me,” she says then. “I don’t want to have control anymore.”
She looks at me with so much certainty, my brain stops.
“For so long, being in control meant doing whatever possible to make sure I’d never end up like her. That I never made my mother’s mistakes. But that isn’t the case anymore.”
I grab a fistful of my jersey and tug her into me. “Why don’t you need it anymore?” I ask as I stare into her eyes.
“I love you, Chase. And I want you to be the one to let go now. You made me realize I was safe to be able to do that with you, and now I want you to do the same with me. I’m yours and no one else’s. So take everything. You’re the only one I’ll ever trust to have me.”
The air between us crackles with everything she’s giving me in the moment, and I come undone at her words.
She’s under me in seconds.
Her breathing turns heavy, and her eyes stare back at me in wonder as I pin her hands above her head. Both of hers fit perfectly in one of mine.
“You have no idea all the things I’ve imagined doing to you. Don’t get me wrong, Bookworm, every time we’ve been together has been magical—pure bliss. You are heavenly. But seeing you in this… Fuck. It’s gonna be a long night, sweetheart. Are you sure you want this?”
“Yes,” she says, her eyes full of trust and desire. “Show me. Please, Eighty-Seven.”
“Safe word.”
“What?”
“You want me to show you? I’ll show you.
I’ll be a gentleman and give you what you’ve asked for.
I’ll never hurt you, but I won’t be gentle.
I’ve wanted to toss you around and dirty you up for quite some time now.
You have no idea what you’re giving me, Bookworm.
I’ll make it so good for you, baby, I promise.
But if you want it to stop, you’ll need a safe word, sweetheart. ”
I don’t know why she thinks I’m playing around, but I can tell she’s not taking me seriously when she tries to lift her head off the bed to kiss me.
I pull away and shake my head. “You know what I want, baby.”
She huffs when her head falls back and hits the pillow. “Fine,” she relents, biting her lip as her eyes move to the ceiling.
She smirks and then brings her eyes back to me. I lift my brow in question.
Mischief glimmers in her eyes when she says, “Chase is my safe word.”
I let out a snarl.
Fucking. Troublemaker.
She knows how much I like it when she moans my name. The audacity of this girl.
I love it.
I love her.
I use my free hand to gently apply pressure to the front of her neck. I feel her swallow, and fuck, does it turn me on. Her eyes roll to the back of her head as I lick the column of her throat. She lets out a mewl I’ve never heard before, causing me to twitch so hard it hurts to breathe.
“Don’t be difficult, Bookworm. If you are, I won’t give you what you want.
I’ll just keep teasing and edging you all night if you don’t behave, giving you everything and not enough all at the same time.
You’ll feel so out of control, you’ll be withering beneath me.
I doubt that’s the kind of control you want to experience. ”
“Chase,” she whines.
“I want to have my way with you, so much so that you won’t be able to stand, but we can’t use my name. So, let’s try this again. Give me your actual safe word. Right the fuck now,” I rasp.
“Bookmark,” she says hoarsely.
Of course she picks a bookish word.
I’m so damn obsessed with her.
I sear her with a kiss and move my hand away from her neck, hooking her legs around me so that I can lift her to me. Standing from the bed, I drop her to her feet and step away.
“Bathroom,” I say as I strip from my sweats. She pads away, and the running water sounds after a quick minute. Before I can move an inch, my jersey comes flying out of the bathroom and lands at my feet. I look up, but I don’t see her.
Her giggle echoes off the tiles, light and reckless, and every thought I have about taking it slow evaporates. She has no idea how much trouble she’s in for.