Page 16 of Hard To Love

I guess that made sense, but I didn’t remember meeting his brother though. I found myself wondering if he had the same genetic makeup?

“So…” Chase said, breaking through my thoughts. “Question number two. What do you do for a living?”

“I’m currently in real estate, but my original plan was to be a social worker.”

He snapped his head towards mine in surprise. “Why the switch?”

Of course, he would pick up on the second part. “Seeing that my answer is a little complex, I’ll grant you a bonus answer to the second part of that question.” My fingers nervously tucked a strand of hair behind my ears, as my tongue darted out to lick my suddenly dry lips.

He smirked. “I appreciate you being so accommodating!” He really was a smart-ass, I thought to myself.

My shaky hands ran down the length of my dress, as my brain pondered how I could explain the crazy switch without giving too much of my heart away. There were so many different ways I could answer that question. It’d been years since I’d had to explain myself. My past would never be an easy topic for me and the last thing I wanted to do was put a damper on the evening.

“Going into social work required a master’s degree and, seeing that I didn’t have the money to continue on with my education, I decided to switch majors. I wasn’t sure what I would do in business, but I figured I could get a decent job after four years of college. Fortunately, I met my friend Jack, during our junior year, and he practically begged me to come to New York, promising me I could find a job in his father’s real estate firm. I figured if I couldn’t pursue my dream of counseling kids that I could at least help them in another way.”

He was checking his mirrors when I noticed the grin on his face. “Well, I guess that about sums it up.” He regarded me with mocking amusement. “Wait, say what again?” He asked, now looking bewildered.

I sighed, hoping he wouldn’t question this next part. “To me, a home is a place where people feel safe and secure. Where you live says a lot about who you are. It also allows you to develop and grow as a person. Helping people find that special place allows me to connect those two worlds. I know that this may sound a little corny, but I need my choice of work to mean something, to be fulfilling. I can’t just show up for forty hours a week and collect a paycheck.”

I hoped that my answer would be enough to hold him off from digging any further. My past was something I couldn’t change and no matter how bad I wished I could, it shaped me into the person I was today. But that didn’t mean I was ready to talk about it either.

He reached for my hand and smiled. “See, I knew there was more to you than just a pretty face.” My chest drew out a collective sigh of relief. The sincerity in his voice caused my heart to flutter and I was thankful that my answer had satisfied him.

“Now that I’ve told you more than you probably cared to hear, what do you like to do for fun besides play taxi driver to women who come into your club?”

He was just about to speak when the sound of his cell phone ringing through the BMW’s Bluetooth interrupted us. When I looked in the direction of the phone, I saw Megan’s name come up in the caller ID display. Aside from feeling awkward, I sensed a little jealousy mounting inside me.

He pushed the button to answer her call, “Hey, Megan.”

“Chase, where are you? I went to go look for you and someone mentioned that you left the club.”

I could hear a bit of panic and disappointment in the tone of her voice and I recognized it from earlier. She was the ‘employee’ who barged into his office.

Chase squinted his eyes and scratched his head as he hastily asked her, “Did you need something?” If he was implying urgency in his tone, she didn’t pick up on it.

There were a few seconds of silence before she spoke. “No, I don’t need anything,” she said with plenty of emphasis on the anything. “But I did want to talk to you about…”

At that instant Chase cut in with a rapid reminder, “Ah Megan, you’re on my speaker phone.”

“Oh, so you aren’t alone? I gotcha.” You could hear the displeasure in her voice when she replied. “I understand. Can you please call me when we can talk privately? I really need to speak with you.”

He let out a nervous laugh. “Sure, I’ll give you a call when I get home.”

I turned my head away from him, trying to ignore the mounting jealousy and reminded myself that I had no right to feel that way. There was something about their relationship that had me feeling a little off my game. I couldn’t help but fixate on what could be so ‘personal’ about the pending conversation that it had to be private.

Chase let out a little sigh as he hung up the phone, then threw me a polite smile. “Sorry about that interruption. Where were we? Oh, that’s right, we were starting to talk about my favorite subject. Me!”

The corner of his mouth inched up right before he threw me that damn powerful smile that had my heart skipping over its beats. Butterflies started to stir in my stomach and whatever tension I was feeling slowly drained from my body. It was being filled up with that electric buzz that could be felt from my head down to my toes.

“Hmmmm. Let’s see. I believe you wanted to know what I do for fun.” He pursed his beautiful lips and playfully drummed his fingers along the top of the steering wheel.

” Seeing that I was a jock in school…” He paused with a smirk. “You’re looking at the captain of the football team and the short stop for the baseball team, which makes me a major Bulldog!”

Looking at his perfect body, it wasn’t difficult to imagine that he was an outstanding athlete. No doubt this stud had left a trail of broken hearts in his wake. “Anyways…” he continued. “Anything sports-related is my idea of a good time. Well, not everything.”

He winked.Ass.

“You left out that you are the king of modesty,” I said sarcastically. “It must have been very difficult to fit that inflated head inside your football helmet.”

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