It was a new smile. Wicked.
And also wicked hot.
Oh my.
Then he said quietly, “Just had my hand down your pants, honey, still gotta know, how real can you take it right now?”
“Real?”
“Real.”
I didn’t know the answer to that question.
But he told me I was safe in that bed and since Chace stopped giving mixed messages, I’d never felt unsafe around him.
So I invited, “Sock it to me.”
He kept smiling his wicked smile, but it was now tinged with amusement. He rolled partly into me so I had no choice but to go to my back. He was partly on top of me and he pulled one arm from around me to plant a forearm in the bed beside me.
Then he looked down at me, dipped his face back to close and he said gently, “Later, for you, I’m gonna take my time. I’m gonna do everything I can to give you everything you need to prepare to take me. What I couldn’t know is if you take care of you. If you don’t, like it just did, it could go fast for you so this wouldn’t give me time to prepare you. Now,” his lips tipped up, “you’re good. It’ll give me the time I need. Then it’ll be good again for you and also for me.”
Okay, maybe I wasn’t ready for that kind of real. I knew this because I felt my cheeks warm.
Still, I mumbled, “Oh. Okay.”
Chace chuckled so I knew he didn’t miss my blush. He bent and brushed his mouth against mine before he lifted away again and whispered, “We’ll work up to straight talk about sex.”
This seemed like a good idea.
“I’d appreciate that,” I whispered back.
Chace’s body shook a little with his amusement. I didn’t have the chance to feel much of it because he rolled over me then pulled me out of bed and onto my feet.
It was at this point I realized my jeans were undone and I was wearing nothing up top but my emerald green, satin, demi-cup bra with the little, tight diagonal pleats across the cups and tiny edge of dove gray lace.
Chace was bent to tag my shirt off the floor and my hands quickly went to my jeans.
He straightened, his eyes dropped to my torso and stayed there as his hand came out to offer me my shirt and I got the zip up.
“Take that, I’ll do this,” he ordered, his hand not holding my shirt coming out to curl into my waistband and he tugged me to him.
I bit my lip, took the shirt and started to pull it on.
It was over my head and Chace’s fingers had done up my button and were working my belt when he muttered, “When we work up to straight talk, I’ll tell you exactly how I feel about your bra.”
Oh my fraking Lord.
Well, one thing about that, it was good to know the bra was a worthwhile purchase.
I yanked my shirt down and avoided Chace’s eyes.
He finished with my belt but used a finger hooked in the buckle to tug me even closer and the intimacy of this sent my eyes skidding to him.
“I’ll amend my statement in a way since you’re safe with me anywhere but especially in my bed and also especially in this room,” he told me the instant he got my eyes.
“Uh… okay,” I whispered, happy to hear it, even if it was mostly a repeated statement though not getting why he said it.
Chace, who had demonstrated often he could read me, read me. I knew this when he kept talking.