I stare at him. For some reason I thought he’d just whisk me back to Chase’s house. But he’s not, he’s giving me a choice. Suddenly I want to be alone, at home. I want to finish my work. Although being with Chase will be comforting, he’ll ask me about my day, and I don’t want to talk about it right now. And we’re never truly alone, with Macy and Grant. It’s been an overwhelming few days, and I want to sit in my comfortable and familiar chair and just be me. Right now I want some solitude.
“Can you take me home to my place?” I say quietly and he nods and sets off.
I send Chase a text to explain, and of course I receive one straight back to check I’m alright. I put his mind at ease and he appears to accept it as Grant drives silently across town to my flat.
I get to work immediately, first making sure I have everything set up for Darren so he can have what he needs straight away, and then I continue my list. I finally stop when my head hits the keyboard. Then I crawl into bed and into an exhausted sleep.
“Hey,sweetheart. How are you feeling today?” Chase says as he walks into my office and comes round my desk. I stand and step into his open arms. I lean into the hug he gives me and burrow my nose into his neck. I know that going home to mine was the right decision last night, but I still missed him.
“I’m good. Much better, thank you,” I say when he releases his grip just a little. I don’t tell him I’ve been up since five and in the office since six. “I can’t wait to hear how much progress you made on your book. I’m going to start putting the premise together so I can go to all the publishers who contacted you next week and see if we can get them to bid for it.”
“Sounds good, and I’ll tell you. But first. . .” I don’t know if he was going to say anything else, as his lips meet mine and I melt into the perfect kiss.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Chase
The insistent buzzingof Noah’s phone on his desk has him pulling back, and I bite back a groan.
I missed him last night, which I think would sound petulant if I said it out loud, so I’m not.
I snap to attention when Noah hurries to pick up once he’s seen the caller.
“Hey, Mum,” he says in that sweet, soft accent that drives me to insanity whenever he talks.
I listen to his side of the conversation, a lot of humming and short yes or no answers, but then she must say something interesting because he snaps his head up and stares at me with wide eyes.
“Uh, yes. Let me just make sure that would be a good time for it, okay? I’ll send you a message to confirm. Yes. Good. Thanks, Mum, have a nice day too.”
“What’s up?” I ask as soon as he sets the phone down.
“My parents... they, uh. They’ve invited us to dinner this weekend.”
My brain stutters to a halt, but then I remember I’m fifty-three fucking years old, and though nerves are fine, fear and apprehension are not.
“That’s great.” I hurry the words out and paste on a smile—one that’s almost fully genuine.
“It is?” he asks, with a healthy dose of skepticism.
“I think so,” I tell him simply.
“All right. If you like the idea then I’ll text her right now.”
“Perfect.” I lean in for one more kiss, then pull back with just a little resentment for the timing of the call. “I’ll head up to get to work, but will you come home with me tonight? I want to hear every detail of your day.”
“All right,” he murmurs, but his soft smile looks beyond pleased.
“What took you so long?”I hiss, this time almost proudly sounding petulant.
“It’s six in the fucking morning, Chase. Get off my back,” Gab grumbles.
“Yeah, well, it’s two in the afternoon here, and I thought you woke up earlier.”
“Nope. I’ve changed things up in the last year and now it’s only at six. So, what’s so important that it has you blowing up my phone in the middle of the night?”
“It’s not the middle of the night,” I grumble.
“Whatever, just tell me what’s wrong so I can fix it for you and then go drown in coffee.”