I squeezed his wrists. “Go, so you can get back. I’m hungry so I have to cook.” I rolled up on my toes and concluded, “I’ll leave the champagne for tomorrow.”
It was then his hands at my neck gave me a rough jerk toward him but he didn’t kiss me. His hands left my neck so his arms could close around me tight.
And he hugged me.
I closed my eyes, wrapped my arms around him and pressed my cheek to his chest because it felt good.
It also felt bad and this was because I knew he was feeling something ugly and I couldn’t protect him from it. The only thing I could do was sleep in his bed as he asked. And that meant so much to him; he man communicated it with a hug.
And really, if you communicated that way, who needed words?
That said it all.
I hugged him just as tight or as close as I could get seeing as he was stronger than me.
This lasted not long enough for me before I felt his lips at the top of my hair and he said, “Dresser, middle right are my tees. Tag one when you go to sleep, yeah?”
I nodded though I didn’t know about that. I’d brought a sexy nightie. I now had a conundrum. The sexy nightie (for Chace) or his tee (for me).
I didn’t choose before he kissed the top of my hair, gave me a squeeze and let me go.
But I felt the tips of his middle three fingers light under my chin and I again did as he silently commanded and gave him my face.
“This probably won’t go quick but I’ll get home soon’s I can.”
I nodded.
His fingers slid like a whisper over my jaw making the skin of my neck and cheek tingle in a good way as he whispered, “Thank you, baby.”
“You’re welcome, honey.”
He grinned, a small grin that didn’t reach his eyes. Then he bent his head and touched his mouth to mine.
I got another mouth touch after he went to his bedroom, I went to the kitchen and started rooting through for dinner fixin’s and he came back wearing his sweater, jacket and boots.
He left.
I made tacos. I ate tacos.
I put the leftovers in one of those reusable but disposable tubs that Chace, upon inspection, seemed to have a lot of.
I watched his big flat screen TV.
When the clock was about to strike midnight, I took off my makeup, moisturized, brushed my teeth, put on my sexy nightie and slid into Chace’s bed.
I thought I’d never get to sleep, what with where my body was resting. A place it had never rested in twenty-nine years, not only it being Chace’s bed, but any man’s.
But his mattress was the fraking bomb. It felt like a firm cloud.
So, seconds after my head hit one of his pillows, I was out like a light.
Chapter Nine
Worth the Wait
I swam up from sleep, feeling warm, delicious, my eyes fluttering open and closed as I felt weird sensations at my back and waist.
My eyes kept fluttering as a warm body fitted itself to the curve of mine, a strong arm circled my belly and pulled gently back so my warm body fit snugger into the one behind me.