Chase lowers his forehead to mine, breathing hard. His eyes are dark emerald ink, so intent I can actually feel them sliding over me, like water across my skin.
“Gemma,” he breathes again, and there’s desperation in his tone. Longing. And a question I thought he already had the answer to.
“Chase.” I brush my lips against his. “Yes. God, yes.”
We lose ourselves in the expanse of his bed, the world falling away until all I can see, feel, hear, smell, taste, touch is him.Chase. On my tongue, in my hands. His lips at my ear, whispering things I never thought I needed to hear until it was him, saying them. And when he finally slides inside me, his eyes locked on mine, I feel him everywhere, in every particle of my being, like an electric current moving through my body, affecting me down to an atomic level. We connect, and there are no flashing lights or explosions of color behind my eyelids. It’s not a fireworks display, or a moving of mountains, or any of the other ridiculous things COSMO promised.
It’sbetter.
“Look at me,” he demands, his voice rougher than broken glass. “Lookat me, Gemma. Do you see it?”
Our eyes hold and when I look, really look, I see it.
I seehim.
Right there, on the surface of his irises, offering me the world, if I only want to reach out and take it.
I seeus.
An eternity of possibility, swimming in his eyes.
“I see it Chase.” He shifts and I gasp at the sensation. “I see us.”
I’ve barely gotten the words out when his lips are back on mine, even fiercer than before, matching the pace of his body as he lays claim to my soul. He moves in me, his pace unrelenting, uncompromising, and my chest clenches, tight with pressure and pleasure, as though he’s wrapped his hands around my heart and squeezed, until all the fissures and cracks made from years of insecurity and abandonment are sealed together.
There, in his arms, for the first time in my life… I’m whole. And when I shatter to pieces, rocked by an orgasm so intense it takes my breath away, it’s with a full heart inside my chest — one filled with hope and bottomless possibility — and it’s a million times better than anything I’ve ever felt in the past.
Because it’smore.
Because itmatters.
Because it’s Chase.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Rebel
The sudden light of Chase’s phone screen beneath the black duvet makes me squint.
“Damn. It’s almost five.” He whispers the words against my neck, the hand not holding his phone tightening around me. Pressing a kiss to my nape, his voice drops lower. “I have to go, soon.”
I turn in his arms, so we’re face to face. “I’m sorry, there’s no leaving permitted. You have to stay right here for the next several weeks until we either die of dehydration or get tired of one another.”
He chuckles, leaning in to bump his nose against mine. “Then I’d better stock up on water bottles, ‘cause I don’t see that second thing happening anytime soon.” A slow, satisfied grin spreads across his lips.
“Good,” I whisper, leaning in to press a soft kiss to his mouth.
“Believe me, sunshine, if I didn’t have to move, I wouldn’t.” He sighs. “But I’ve got the gala tonight. I can’t miss it.”
“Damn. I forgot,” I mutter, snuggling closer. “How bad would it be if you blew it off?”
“How bad would it be if the new CEO didn’t show up to the ceremony announcing his tenure as CEO?” Chase’s voice is playful. “Probably pretty bad.”
I sigh. “Figured you’d say that.”
He stares into my eyes for a long moment, his expression conflicted.
“What is it?” I ask.