Page 88 of Hard To Love

Chapter Thirty-One

About an hour later, the front door to Cassie’s apartment swung open. “You,” Chase pointed his finger at me, “In the other room, now!”

“Well, that didn’t take long.” Cassie barked out.

Chase whipped his head to hers. His jaw was set and his eyes could probably shoot daggers if they wanted to. “Ahh, I see you knew about this before me.”

Shit. Every vein in his body looked ready to pop out. Reasoning with him was going to be more difficult than I had thought. “Chase,” I cut in, directing his attention to me. “I know you’re upset, but will you at least hear me out?”

He rubbed the back of his neck as he stepped closer to me. I backed up a bit. “I’m beyond upset. You sprung this on me at the last-minute Emily, what the hell?!”

Reaching for his hand, I pulled him into my old room and quietly shut the door. Nervousness started to pound through my veins as I dropped onto the queen-sized mattress.

“Listen to me. He’s leaving to go out of town. I feel like it’s now or never.” My body made room for him to slide in next to me as I leaned my back up against a few throw pillows for support.

He reached for my hand with a relatively calm voice. “Why did you wait so long to call me and tell me?”

I stared at our joined hands; the hurt in his voice hit me hard. It never dawned on me that that he would react this way. So vulnerable. It was a side to him that I wasn’t used to seeing. I hated the fact that I was the sole source of all his pain and misery right now.

“I’m sorry.” My breath caught with overwhelming guilt. “I knew you wouldn’t be happy about it. And to be honest, “I peeked up at him through my thick lashes. “I was scared of how you would react.”

His face softened and the anger filling his eyes slowly melted. “You don’t ever have to be scared of me, sweetheart.” He leaned in to kiss me. I could see his emotions were all over the place just like mine. “I would never hurt you.”

“I’m not worried that you’ll hurt me. I just don’t like to see you upset.” I searched his face for a safe place for my eyes to land because my nerves were rattling against my chest. Everything felt like it was coming unglued and I had no idea how to put the pieces back together.

Chase pulled me into his lap, so my legs could wrap around his back. He ran his hands up my arms then across my shoulders. His touch caused my pulse to kick up a notch. “I’m upset because, I love you so fucking much.” He whispered as his lips dragged across my neck. My head fell back as his mouth became more eager. “I hate the thought of you going on a date with him.”

My head snapped up, causing him to release his mouth from my neck. “Chase,” I placed both hands on either side of his beautiful face. “I’m doing this for us.”

He kissed my forehead, “I know,but I hate the thought of you with him.”

As I gazed into his love-filled eyes, an intense need to connect with him surged through me. The urge to reassure him that I was only his was growing stronger by the minute.

“I need you to make love to me.”

His hands stilled on the back of my neck. Then his eyes roamed over my face “Why?”

“Because I love you, and even if it’s just for a few minutes I want it to be just us.”

His eyebrow kicked up, “A few minutes huh?”

I smacked his chest playfully. “I meant that when I’m with you, I don’t think about anything or anyone else. And call me greedy, but I need you right now.”

His lips lifted into a cocky grin. “Well then by all means, go ahead and use me for my body. It’s all yours.”

I pushed him down onto the bed then climbed over the top of him. His hands ran along the middle of my back causing goose bumps to form in its wake. “And I’m all yours…”

I swore he made me eat my words when I teased him about only taking a few minutes, because it was almost forty minutes later and I still needed to start getting ready. He stood up to get dressed when I slowly walked over to him and wrapped my arms around him. There was nothing about this that was going to be easy. And I was a fool to think that being intimate with him would help calm my nerves. The only thing it did was make me want to melt into his arms and drift away to a place where it was just the two of us. My head rested against his chest, hoping that I could pause time, and enjoy just a few more minutes in his arms.

“I hate this. You don’t have to do this, you know?”

When I pulled away from him and looked up, I could see the frustration in his eyes. Tears started to blur my vision.

“I know how hard this is for you, but please don’t worry. I can do this. You can trust me. I’m doing this for us so we can start focusing on our future together.”

He let out a heavily defeated sigh. “You’d better go get ready for your date before I change my mind. I’m going to go pour myself a drink while you get ready. Oh… and Emily, you don’t need to shower. I want you to go to him smelling like me. I want you to be reminded about who you belong to. Can you do that for me?” He asked while his thumb grazed along my bottom lip. God, he was frustrating and so territorial but if this ridiculous request gave him peace of mind then I couldn’t deny him that.

I rested my hands on his shoulders. “I think I can manage that. Not that I need any reminding. Now go pour yourself a drink, so I can get ready.”

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