Page 24 of Hard To Love

Chapter Seven

The morning cameway too early and I woke up feeling like I had been run over by a truck and someone had stuffed my mouth with a bag of cotton balls. Groaning, I opened my eyes, and felt a sharp pain in my head as the sunlight streamed through the windows. Just as I started to think about my next move, I heard a throat clearing.

“There is a glass of orange juice, and some aspirin on the bedside table.”

My eyelids lifted painfully slow as I looked at Chase sitting in a chair, looking freshly showered, and drinking a cup of coffee. He was wearing a pair of designer jeans and a plain black t-shirt, while reading on his tablet.

I popped the aspirin in my mouth and chased them down with a huge gulp of orange juice. My hand flew to my forehead as my body hit the back of the bed.

I winced when I felt the bed dip next to me. “How do you feel?”

I kept my eyelids firmly shut, not just to block out the light, but also as a pathetic attempt to hide my embarrassment. My brain was starting to piece together the details in my head.

“Exactly how you think, like crap. Hell, I think I felt better when I had the flu last year.”

He laughed, pulling my hands away from my eyes. “I think you’ll feel better once you get hydrated and get a little food in your stomach.”

“I don’t know about that; my stomach is feeling pretty sour right now.”

“Well that’s too bad.” He slowly pulled me up. “Because I’m taking you to breakfast and I know just the place. It has the best frittatas in all of Manhattan.”

Just as I was about to protest, my traitorous stomach decided to growl. I peeked up with a shy smile. “Looks like you win.” Then something triggered in the back of my head. Bits and pieces were slowly starting to come together.Holy shit.

“I cannot believe that I came on to you like that,” I said as my face turned crimson red in embarrassment.

“You were quite entertaining,” he said, with a small laugh.

I looked over his shoulder, searching for a place to hide. “I swear, I’m not normally like that.”

The last thing I wanted was him to think that was normal for me. Nothing could be further from the truth.

He brushed his hand across my cheek, trying to calm my nerves and restore my confidence. “Sweetheart, look at me. You were so damnedcute last night, especially when you practically told me where I could go! Seriously, it took every ounce of self-control I had to keep my hands off of you. This may sound creepy, but I watched you sleep for a good part of the night. You had me so worked up, that all I could think of was all I could have done to that sexy little body of yours.”He paused. “But, I didn’t want to take you like that.”

I knew I should have been relieved, but a part of me was disappointed. The thought of him ‘taking me’ like that sent a tingling feeling straight down below my belly and I suddenly had an ache in between my legs.

Either he wasn’t the no-strings-attached man I thought he was, or he really did care about how the evening ended for both of us. It was clear by his confidence and the way that he carried himself that he was a man with plenty of ‘experience’ and I was sure he’d had his way with many women before me. I tried to let that thought quickly pass and push down my growing jealousy when I imagined how big of a number that might be.

I started to ponder the thought that maybe there was more going on here than just a casual hook up and I questioned whether I was reading too much into this. I was completely enamored with him and we had only begun to scratch the surface.

“Emily, I already told you that you’re different than what I’m used to. Don’t ask me to explain because I really can’t. Clearly, I could have fucked you last night, very well in fact, but it just didn’t feel right. You deserve to be treated better than that.”

My heart started to flutter as I tried to hold back my smile.

Sensing his discomfort with the discussion and trying to mask my emotions at the same time, I reached up to stroke his arm. “Thank you for being respectful and not taking advantage of the situation.” I was a little conflicted because for as much as I meant those words and wanted his respect, the thought of his hands and lips all over my body sent my heart racing.

His body seemed to relax, when he reached out and placed his hand in mine. “Okay, enough of this reminiscing. Are you ready for breakfast? You’re going to love this place.”

Well, I guess it was safe to say I was going to breakfast, and it appeared we were also done talking about last night.

I was just about ready to escape from underneath the sheets when the panic set in, as I looked down at what I was wearing. I started to run my hand through my hair in an attempt to comb the kinks out with my fingers.

“Stop.” He said, “You look beautiful.” He stood, reaching for my hand. “As much as I enjoy seeing you wearing nothing but my shirt, I think we should stop by your place so you can change into your own clothes.”

He pulled me off the bed and into his arms giving me a soft kiss on the mouth. Before I could re-open my eyes, he reached over and smacked my behind and pushed me towards the bathroom. “Hurry up and get ready woman. All that sex I didn’t have last night has me feeling starved and deprived!”

I giggled at his playfulness. The awkwardness from last night had started to wear off, and I was trying to ignore the feeling of how much I enjoyed his hands on my ass.

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