Chapter 32
“That wasn’t so bad, was it?” Closing Bree’s backdoor and locking it behind me, I turn to her as she gives me a look.
“Don’t gloat.”
“I’m not gloating. I had fun with your friends.” Lunch was great. The family unit they’ve created was relaxed and fun.
“They’re also your teammates so you can’t be that surprised.”
“I’m not, but from the sound of our conversation this morning, you were.” As I expected, there was no awkwardness with me there. In fact, I fit perfectly into the inner circle. I was hoping once Bree saw that, she wouldn’t be so apprehensive about our relationship.
“I wasn’t afraid they wouldn’t like you. Clearly, they love you because they hang out with you on the road and added you to the group chat.”
“What was it then? Did you think about what I said?” I cage her into the corner of the kitchen by the stove. She loops her arms around my neck, bringing us closer together. A good sign of where she’s at mentally.
“I did. I think I was just scared about inviting more attention to whatever this is.”
We’ll get back to the “whatever this is” comment in a minute. For now, I wait for her to gather her thoughts, knowing we need to have this conversation before the next one.
“It’s one thing for them to know something is going on between us, and it’s another for us to act on it in a public setting. Does that make sense?”
“It does. What comes up?” I rub soothing circles along her back with one hand as she plays with the hair at the nape of my neck.
She swallows thickly like the words are hard to get out. “Uncertainty. Rejection. Beyond the work complications, you’re a lot younger than I am, and I don’t know, I just worry about judgments.”
“Have they judged you before?” This group doesn’t seem like the type to judge their friends, but I don’t know them as well as she does.
“Them? No, but other people close to me have.”
Ah, that’s what this is about.
“Who?” I ask, gently.
Staring ahead without seeing, she speaks in a monotone voice.
“My parents. Their friends. Classmates. I was different than they were. Focused, determined to leave the town I grew up in and pursue my dreams. Once I got a scholarship to NYU, I left home and did everything myself, but any time we talked, they tried to tear me down. They didn’t support me.
You start to second guess everything when the people who are supposed to be your greatest champions are the weapons aimed to destroy you.
Eventually, I cut them out entirely. Meeting Ivory and Taylor freshman year helped, but those scars run deep, and sometimes they’re hard to shake.
I hate that my immediate reaction when something is going right is to doubt myself, but it’s a trauma response. ”
“And this morning was a trigger?” I ask, putting the pieces together.
“The idea of inviting criticism into whatever this is … it spooked me.”
“There you go again saying ‘whatever this is.’ Are you worried that I don’t want to be in this relationship?”
She avoids eye contact when she softly answers, “I don’t know, are we in a relationship?”
Gripping her chin, I bring her eyes back to mine.
“Yes, this is a relationship. I told you before that you were mine. Nothing you just told me changes that. Your hesitation this morning doesn’t bother me.
Fuck what people think. Maybe I need to prove to you that I’m not going anywhere.
I thought I did that already, but it seems you need a reminder of how good we are together. ”
“How are you going to do that?” Her chest rises in anticipation.
What she needs right now is a distraction from the rampant thoughts in her head.
I debate tying her up again, but I want her hands free to roam and touch.
To feel all the things she does to me. The way my body reacts to her touch.
The only time she’s truly in this with me is when we’re physical and her brain shuts down.
“First, you’re going to go upstairs and change into one of those sexy-as-fuck lingerie sets I know you bought to surprise me with. Then you’re going to crawl on the bed and wait for me.”
“How do you want me?” She bites her lip as she teasingly drags a finger down my chest.
Always so willing to please in this department. My cock twitches in my pants in anticipation. “On your knees on the bed. Go. Tell me when you’re ready.” I motion to the stairs with my head, releasing her from the corner.
Wrapping my hand around her ponytail, I bring her back to me. “You’re mine, Gabrielle. I’ll show you.” I’ll prove to her over and over again if I have to.
She runs up the stairs then. I smile when I hear drawers open and shut as she bangs around her bedroom.
“Ready,” she shouts from upstairs a few minutes later.
“I can’t wait to see what you picked out for me.”
When I reach the doorway to her bedroom, I stop to take her in.
She’s on her knees in the middle of the bed in a bright pink lingerie set with a tiny lace bra covering her full tits and a small triangle scrap of lace covering her pussy.
Another garter belt is around her waist and connected to thigh-high stockings.
“Do you like it?”
“Fuck, yeah. I like it. You look like all my fantasies come to life.” Setting water on the dresser, I stare at her across the room. She tries to close her legs and sit back on her calves, but I stop her. “Don’t move. Stay just like that.”
Taking out my phone, I snap a picture of her.
“Chase, what are you doing?”
“Saving this memory for later. I’ll need it when I’m on the road.”
“What if someone sees it?”
“It’s safe with me.” Walking to the edge of the bed, I reach for her ponytail, wrapping it around my wrist and tugging so she’s looking up at me. “No one gets to see you like this. Only me.”
“Only you,” she pants. I slam my mouth down onto hers, taking what I want from her mouth. She moans into me and pushes up taller to get closer.
“Turn around.” She spins on the bed and looks back at me over her shoulder. Her perfect ass is on full display in the thong she chose.
“Look at you.” I lean down and bite her cheek. She squirms begging for more. Not yet. I have things to show her first.
“Come here.” Holding my hand out, I help her off the bed and guide her to the full-length standing mirror she has propped up in the corner.
“What are we doing?”
“You don’t seem convinced we belong together.”
“That’s not—” I place a finger over her mouth, shutting her up.
“I’m going to show you just how much we do so you never doubt it again. Look at us.” She stares back at me in the reflection of the mirror. “What do you see?”
“You, standing behind me.”
“What else do you see?”
“Me almost naked and you still fully clothed.”
Chuckling, I remove my shirt and shorts, leaving my briefs in place. “Better?”
“Yes, I like seeing you.” Her eyes rove over my chest and shoulders.
“What do you see?”
“Your muscles and your tattoos. I like those.”
I wrap my arms around her waist. “They look good wrapped around you. How do they feel?”
She rubs my forearm, pulling it closer. “Good. Strong. Steady.”
“That’s right. What else?”
“I feel safe in your arms. Cared for. Desired.”
“Do you feel my desire for you right now?” I thrust my hips against her ass.
“Yes.”
“Do you want to know what I see when I look at us?” She nods.
“I don’t see our age difference, not our power dynamics, nothing outside of you and me.
I see you, Bree. The woman I met in a bar on a random night in November.
I see you in the blue dress with your lips wrapped around a straw, dancing to the beat of the music. ”
“I still see you too. The white T-shirt in the corner. The only man I’ve ever had a one-night stand with. The only one who’s ever made me let go and take what I want.” She stares into my eyes as she affirms what I knew.
“I see your heart. A woman who cares so deeply for her friends. I see someone who gave me a second chance when I didn’t deserve it.” My hand touches over her heart. Her silky-smooth skin a contrast to my callused hands from baseball.
“That’s not true.” She laces her fingers through mine and brings my hand up to kiss it.
“It is. I was an ass and made things harder on you. Angry Gabrielle is hot as fuck, so it’s hard to be sorry about that part.”
Her shoulders shake against my chest as she laughs. “You’re hot all the time,” she says, a cute little smirk appearing on her face.
“Glad you think so.”
She clings to me when she says, “It’s not just the tats, ripped muscles, and stupidly hot smirk.
It’s the way you made me feel, even then.
I think it’s why I was so mad after the showdown in the conference room.
I didn’t want to feel anything for you, and then you went out that night and I couldn’t help thinking you went out to get laid. ”
“Did that upset you? The thought of me with someone else?” Now we’re getting somewhere.
“Yes, and it was stupid because I had just told you we couldn’t be together. There are all these reasons this can’t work.”
“You know what else I see? A woman who cares too much what other people think.” She drops her chin and breaks eye contact.
“Look at me.” I raise her chin with a hand until she looks back at me.
“Their opinions don’t matter. Neither one of us has great experience in relationships, but I want you.
I want to keep trying because when I look at us together, we fit. ”
“Do we?”
“Hell yes, we do. Do I need to show you how well we fit together?” I’d planned to all along by bringing her in front of the mirror, but it doesn’t hurt she’s asking for it.
“I’m a visual learner.” Her lips twitch as she teases me.
“Sounds like you just want to watch me.” A surge of adrenaline hits my blood at the idea of her watching me claim her.
“Maybe.”