The Promise (19 page)

“Okay,” he whispers groggily,
bending his neck slightly down so he can kiss me. “Good morning, Baby,” he says as he kisses me again, this time lingering as he releases a deep hum into my mouth.

His hands move lower to
the hem of his t-shirt that I’d thrown on after our bath last night. His right hand moves underneath and he slides it up the side of my stomach, resting briefly there before sliding back down to stroke my hip, finally stopping on my bare ass.

I feel
as Chase slowly runs his tongue along the dip in my collarbone. His warm breath continues up my neck until he reaches my mouth and bites down hungrily onto my lower lip. “You taste amazing,” he says huskily as he meets my gaze. His tongue entangles with mine and I close my eyes.

Oh my God!

Deepening the kiss, he rolls over onto his back, pulling me on top of him. My hands stay planted on his chest as he brings his left hand up to my other ass cheek. After a gently squeeze, his big hands slowly slide down to my knees, pulling them apart until I’m straddling his glorious naked body.

H
e moves us and gently slides inside me, leaving me feeling impaled by his impressive size. I let out a loud whimper of pleasurable pain, dropping my head to his chest as before. Within seconds, he gently tugs on the back of my hair to raise my eyes to meet with his as he lets out his own grumbling sounds of appreciation. 

“Let me watch you Sophie,” he ground
s out as he looks over our bodies, taking in our connection as he increases his pace with a low groan.

I whimper
at his reaction, biting down on my lip as he lets out another deep growl from his chest while raising his gaze to meet with mine once more.

“Oh my God, Baby,” Chase hisse
s. “If you keep doing that you’ll be the end of me,” he manages to speak, dipping his head back down to kiss me again.

I move
with him, never breaking our kiss as he skillfully rocks me back and forth against his swollen cock. He begins swiveling his hips slightly, causing him to grind into me in the most delicious way, rubbing me in all the right places. I release a groan into his mouth as he increases his pace, biting down onto my lip. “Do you like that, Baby?”

“Yes!” I answer hoarsely
, lowering my forehead back onto his chest weakly. He quickly tugs on my hair again, only slightly rougher this time.

“No, Baby. I want to see you,” he ground
s out again, twisting his hips beneath me harder and filling me further.

Keeping his eyes locked on mine
, he releases my braid, only to grip the hair at the nape of my neck as he thrusts his tongue into my mouth, kissing me with an almost urgency and knocking down the last walls of my sanity.

W
ithin minutes, I’m falling apart around him as he empties himself inside me. Upon breaking our kiss, our breaths are broken and ragged. I stay where I am for a moment as we search for our breath and before rising to excuse myself to the bathroom.

As
I walk back into my bedroom, I see that his eyes are fixed on the ceiling above the bed and he appears to be lost in his thoughts.

“Are you okay?” I ask.

He moves his eyes down to meet with mine and just looks at me for a moment before finally answering me with a simple, “Yeah.”

H
e rises from the bed and kisses my forehead before slipping on his boxer briefs. “Come on. Let’s go get some coffee.”

We make our way
into the kitchen, hand in hand. I’m immediately grateful to have a coffee pot with a timer. We make ourselves coffee and walk out to the balcony in silence.

“What are you
thinking about?” I finally ask, sitting down beside him in what has become our usual seat.

“You,” he says
, looking directly at me as he answers.

“What about me?” I ask
nervously as he chuckles.

“Don’t look so terrified,
Baby. It’s nothing bad,” he answers, pulling my legs across his lap and rubbing my thighs gently, if not almost possessively. “I just want to talk to you about something.”

“Okay.”

He
loses himself in thought for a moment before continuing, “I just think we should talk about this.” He makes a motion with the hand that isn’t holding mine that indicates he means he wants to talk about us and so I nod. “Sophie,” he starts. “I know that you’re still working through some stuff and I understand all of that. I’ll continue to be as patient as I can with you but if we’re going to continue to move forward with this I think we need to be clear about what we want from each other.”

I nod in agreement
but I’m starting to feel even more nervous inside than I was before. As though he can sense this, he smiles over at me again. He releases my hand, sets my coffee down on the table in front of us and then pulls me up into his lap until I’m straddling him again.

Touching
my face, he meets my eyes as he rests his large hands on my upper thighs, affectionately stroking my skin with his thumbs, “I feel like everything that happened between us both last night and this morning has changed things. The feelings I have for you…” he pauses as if trying to find words and shakes his head in what appears to be frustration when they don’t come to him. “I don’t want to play around anymore, Sophie. I want a serious relationship with you.”

“How serious?” I ask.

“I’m not going to see anyone else and I don’t want you to either,” he answers without the slightest hint of hesitation.

“Chase, are you asking me to be
your girlfriend?” I tease, making him laugh before he pinches my side playfully.

“Well hopefully not in the seventh grade way
that you’re making it sound like, but yeah, I guess I am,” he smiles briefly before becoming serious again. “I want my feelings and intentions to be clear. I want you, Sophie,” he whispers those last four words, stealing my breath with the intensity of his gaze. “I know you need to take some things slow and that’s okay but I need to know that you want the same things as I do.”

“I want you, too,” I admit quietly. “I just need a l
ittle more time and then everything will make sense for both of us.”

“I know,
Baby,” he says studying my face. “I’m trying to be patient, Sophie. I hope that you can see that.”

“
I know and I do,” I whisper. “Thank you,” I tell him as I begin to run my fingers through his hair. “If you can be patient for just a little while longer,” I slowly find his gaze. “I’ll go to the dance with you,” I smile teasingly as I throw him a wink.

“Good,” he chuckle
s before smacking my ass playfully. “Now, let’s go get dressed so I can take my smartass girlfriend to breakfast.”

***

The rest of the weekend went really well between us.

Monday morning
has come far too quickly and I’m surprised to find that I’m feeling a little sad.

Chase follow
s me to work to have breakfast before leaving for work. I won’t see him until that evening at the bar and I know it’s silly to feel like this because it’s not a long time, but we’ve spent almost every second together since Friday afternoon. Not seeing him all day will be a little weird.

As
he rises from his booth so he can head to work, I’m waiting on a couple of tables so we can’t say a proper goodbye. Instead, he squeezes my waist gives me a quick, inconspicuous kiss on the side of my head.

“Have a goo
d day, Baby,” he whispers.

“You
too. Be safe,” I say back. He shoots me a wink before walking out to his truck. He’s still in the parking lot as I hear my phone, alerting me of a text message.

I miss you already, Babe *CHASE*

I glance up to see him in the driver’s seat of his truck and watching for my reaction. I smile a little and quickly type back my reply. Once I hit send, I look up and see him look down to his phone before a smile crosses over his lips.

I miss you, too xo ~Soph

After a giving each other a small wave, he pulls away as he leaves to meet Drake at the site.

Ana had calle
d me yesterday to tell me she’d decided to stay another night at Drake’s place in Corpus and would be driving back this morning before she had to get ready for her shift at the bar this afternoon.

We’d talked sporadi
cally over the weekend but this weekend is the longest we’ve been apart in over a year so I’m looking forward to seeing her at the bar. We have so much to talk about and I know that she’ll be just as happy to see me as I am to see her again.

As
I leave work, I check my phone to find it full of both missed calls and text messages.

The first text i
s from Chase.

Can’t wait to see you Baby *CHASE*

The next text is from Matt, Jack’s best friend.

I’ll be in Rockport Tuesday. Call me. M@TT

I know that we’d already planned on seeing each other next Wednesday while I’m in Camden but I guess he’s managed to get some extra time off. This is definitely a good thing, but I’ll have to talk to Chase tonight for sure.

The last two a
re from Ana.

So excited to see you at 3:00!
~ANA~

Just found Chase’s underwear on our balcony, Soph. REALLY?! Come to bar IMMEDIATELY after your shift!
~ANA~

I feel the heat rise into my cheeks but I can’t tell if she’s happy for me or upset. I decide to call her so I can try and feel her out. If she is mad, I know I’ll probably chicken out from going to the bar and head straight home, delaying the inevitable. I know it’s a loser move, but ‘Angry Ana’ scares the hell out of me.

I dial
her number and on the fourth ring, she answers.

“Are you bitching out on our meeting because you think I’m mad at you?”

I let out a nervous laugh. “I was thinking about it.
Are
you mad at me?”

“No, don’t be stupid. I’m happy you finally got some action, Soph. Now stop being a pussy and come
over and have a beer with me… Shit! Lila’s coming, I gotta go,” she whispers before hanging up on me, making me laugh.

She’
s ridiculous. One minute she’s calling me a pussy and the next, she’s hiding from her boss because she’s on her phone. I imagine her huddled behind the bar while she’s on the phone with me which only makes me laugh harder.

I stop by
the apartment to change and as I’m about to head over to the bar, I remember that I still need to call Matt back.

I have
n’t seen him in a few months, not since he drove up from Austin for my birthday, but we’ve always been pretty close friends, keeping in touch by phone and email regularly. Losing Jack had been really hard on him as well so we’d gotten even closer after his death. He’s become like a brother to me.

He was
always an insatiable flirt, the goofiest person I’ve ever met and I trust him more than almost anyone else I know. I know that he’ll always be a big part of my life.

I’d told him briefly that I’d started seeing Chase and although we hadn’t disc
ussed him much, I know them meeting one day is inevitable.

Ana and Matt a
re really the closest thing that I have to family, besides my Aunt Debbie, so I really want them to get along with Chase. I can’t explain it, and I know it’s weird, but something about getting Matt and Ana’s approval feels like it will be coming from Jack.

I dial
his number using my hands free setting in the truck and on the second ring, he answers.

“Hey
, Beautiful! How are you?” hearing his voice brings an automatic smile to my face.

“Hey
, Matty,” I answer. “I’m good! How are you doing?”

“Always better when I hear that voice
of yours,” he starts. “What are you wearing?”

I laugh
at his shamelessness. “You’re ridiculous, you know that?” his laughter is his only response. “So you’re coming up early?”

“Yeah, I’ll be ther
e next Tuesday at the latest,” he answers.

“You might
come earlier than that?” I ask excitedly.

“Yeah but I have to see what’s going on out here. I took the week off to come out but I might have to
work some on Monday,” he explains.

When Matt got
out of the Army last year, he started up a small company that has really started to take off which means he’s always working.

Although he’s
admitted he’d considered re-enlisting, Jack’s death changed his mind and I was happy that he’d decided to come home. I still don’t get to see him as much as I’d like to, but knowing that he’s safe is enough for me.