“First up,” he began, his tone deadly serious because he was deadly f**king serious, “I’m not lyin’ or handin’ you a line. I’ll say it one more time. You’re the best I ever had. I don’t know why and I don’t care why. It’s just true and I figure it’s because it’s you. Second, and a lot more f**kin’ important, you don’t bury shit like this, concerns you have, fears that run deep and not talk to me about ‘em. You don’t go about life with me like all is good and you’re settlin’ in and harbor shit deep that eats at you. You lay it on me so I can help you let it go.”
“Do I get to return that favor?” she asked instantly.
“What?” Chace asked back.
“You’re harboring stuff deep that eats at you. Do I get you laying it on me so I can help you let it go?”
Fuck, how did she maneuver this?
Fuck, he’d walked right into it.
“Faye –” he started and she yanked her head back, pushing up.
“I get it. The answer to that is no,” she muttered but he rolled with her so he was again on top and when he had her contained, he saw it was Faye now who was angry but he also saw she was hurt.
Fuck.
“Give me time,” he whispered.
“I am,” she whispered back.
“It’ll all be yours, Faye, I promise when the time is right, when I can face it, when we’re strong and you can face it, I’ll give it to you.”
Her head gave a slight jerk and she was still whispering when she asked tentatively, “You’re not testing me?”
He blinked then asked back, “What?”
“You, it’s… whatever it is, is uh, deep and if you don’t, um… intend for there to be a, um… future for us then you wouldn’t want to –”
Christ, he was a f**king idiot.
He dipped his head, touched his mouth to hers and stopped her talking.
Then he lifted his head so he was a breath away and he shared softly, “Faye, I’m fallin’ for you.”
Her hands were at the sides of his ribs and he felt her fingers dig in as her eyes got big. “What?”
“You heard me.”
“Chace –”
“Straight up, this is the man in your bed. I want in there, Faye, and when I get in there, I’m gonna dig in deep so when I share my shit that’s so dark you’ll be blinded by it and you’ll wanna run to the light, you can’t because I’m so deep, you can’t let go.”
She was breathing heavier as she stared at him before she said quietly, “Nothing about you can be that dark, Chace.”
“It can ‘cause it is.”
She shook her head. “I don’t believe that.”
“Good, keep not believin’ it so I can dig in there and when I give it to you, you can’t let go.”
“It’s not that dark,” she pushed quietly.
“This is the only warning you get, Faye, ‘cause you don’t kick my ass out right now and you sleep beside me tonight, tomorrow I just keep digging deeper but it’s no lie. It is. It’s as dark as it can get. Dark and ugly.”
“That isn’t true.”
“It is.”