Just One Week (Just One Song) (10 page)

A lump instantly appears in my throat and I turn my head away from him. Love? A strange nervousness fills me and I feel the sudden urge to escape. To run from this man who is so desperate for me, I can see it in his eyes and in the firm feel of his hands against me, as if he knows those words would scare the hell out of me and he’s pinning me in place. Keeping me from running.

“Look at me,” he whispers into my ear, but I shake my head, refusing to look at him. His hands leave my thighs and his body presses against me. He feels perfect and I let out a whimper because he feels so good against me. His hands cup the back of my neck, his elbows next to my shoulders, and he turns my head so I have no other choice but to face him.

“Let me make love to you.” He repeats the words and I close my eyes. I shudder when I feel his tongue dart out and lick my lips softly. My hips involuntarily move against his and I moan again.

“Chase.” My voice sounds so shaky that I don’t know whether I’m arguing with him or agreeing.

He says nothing, but he sits back up on his knees and pulls me toward him. We’re sitting on the bed and I’m still wearing my dress and heels. He’s still wearing his jeans, but I feel completely exposed to him. My vulnerability is written all over my face and I know he sees it when his thumb softly brushes against my cheek.

Without a word, he scoots back and begins removing my heels.

“I thought you wanted those on.”

He pierces me with a look and I close my mouth. “Heels are for fucking. That’s not what we’re doing tonight.”

I swallow. I can’t argue with him, even though I want to. I still want to push him away, but I promised him I’d be all in for this week and I want to give this to him, even though I don’t know why. I nod silently and watch as he unbuckles the straps that are wrapped around my ankles. These are my favorite shoes. They have thin straps that crisscross over the top of the foot and wrap around my ankle, almost up to the bottom of my calf. His large fingers unstrap them and my entire body shivers as he pulls them off, massaging the soles of my feet as he removes them. When he’s done, he finally finds the zipper, unzips my dress, and pulls it over my head.

“God you’re beautiful,” he whispers, and I fight the urge to cover myself. This is so different than how we’ve always been. It’s terrifying. He looks at me like he can see directly into my soul.

I swallow again and look away. One arm wraps around my waist and he slowly lowers me to the bed. Once he has me situated where he wants me, I hear his zipper go down and he kicks his jeans off.

My entire body starts trembling and I can’t pull my eyes to meet his. I don’t know why this is so scary to me, but I’m terrified. I’m terrified that Chase is going to be able to see all the dark hidden fears within me. He’s going to see my scars that I keep buried and bottled up and he’s going to try to discover all of them.

“Mia?” His voice is quiet and husky. I fight against my fear and turn to him only to see him frowning. I shake my head, unable to form the words to tell him how scary this is for me. He covers me with his warm body and I shiver. He leans forward, pressing himself against me, and brings his lips to my ear, kissing my jaw lightly once. “What are you so afraid of?”

I turn to face him. My pulse is pounding in my ears and I can feel every single place on my body where he is connected to me, pressing in to me, and searching me. How is he doing this?

“You.”

It’s the most honest with him I’ve ever been. His face falls to my shoulder and I feel him nod against it. Like he finally understands what I’ve been keeping from him, and I’m shocked because it’s the first time I’ve admitted it to myself and out loud. Chase scares the hell out of me.

We lay like that for a while, our naked bodies pressed against each other, in complete silence. And then he starts moving. His hand slides down my sides, lightly brushing my exposed breasts and sending shockwaves through me. He continues further down until his hand rest at the apex of my thighs. My legs spread apart, silently giving him permission.

“Let me take care of you,” he whispers again into my ear. It should sound safer than his earlier declaration, but it’s not. My stomach tightens for a fraction and his hand on me stops moving, waiting for my permission.

I nod. It happens before I have time to think about it, but I don’t want to tell him no either. For Chase, the simple nod is enough because his hand begins moving against me, pressing into my opening with his fingers, spreading my wetness around as he begins kissing my ear. My body ignites as he murmurs sexy words into my ear about how wet I am, how much he wants me, and I lay there, shivering beneath him while my body becomes sweaty and hot and needing more of him.

I gasp as he presses another finger into me, turning it slowly as he kisses his way to my breasts. He licks one of my nipples before sucking it lightly, playfully, into his mouth and my hands fly to his head, holding him there.

My hips press against him, needing him and I moan as he continues to lick and suck on my nipples, fondling my breasts while continuing to speak to me, his hot breath against my skin making me erupt.

“Chase,” I moan. I’m almost there, my orgasm is building inside of me and I know he can feel it too.

He stops his ministrations on my body and looks at me, his eyes piercing me with such emotion I have to fight the urge to clench my eyes shut. I nod, though, giving him approval and silently tell him what I want.

His fingers leave me and I feel empty, but his eyes don’t leave mine as he tears open a condom packet and rolls it on. He settles himself and cups my neck with his hands again. His fingers lace together behind my head so I can’t move my head away from him and I know he’s doing this on purpose. He wants my eyes on him. He wants me to see everything.

Slowly, he begins to enter me, sliding in a small amount, allowing my body time to get used to him, and then pulling back out. My hands go to his backside, cupping him, trying to force him into me but he’s stronger than me and I can’t move him more than he wants to be moved.

His eyes stay on mine the entire time, speaking an emotion more powerful than any words can say. I want to close my eyes so I can ignore it, but I can’t. I can only stare into his dark gray eyes, watch his eyebrows furrow in concentration, and a small frown line appear between his eyes. His jaw tightens once he is complete inside of me and then he stops and continues watching me.

His thumbs move along my jaw, caressing me tenderly before he finally begins to move. He moves in and out, slowly, setting every nerve ending in my body on fire. He kisses my jaw, my neck, and my collarbone, keeping our entire bodies pressed together and I can’t do anything except hold on to him, move with him, and fight back the tears that suddenly want to fall.

I swallow harshly as he kisses my throat. “Let me love you, Mia.”

He murmurs it so softly against my skin; a sob breaks through my throat and a tear escapes before I can fight it back. Why is this so terrifying to me?

It’s the only thought I have as Chase continues to move against me, the fire inside my body ready to explode and his movements become slightly shorter and harsher. I gasp and moan and move my hands to his hair, my legs instinctively wrap around him, holding him to me. The entire time he’s whispering against my skin.

I yell out his name as I finally come, exploding while my tears run shamelessly down my face. Chase follows me quickly after, his muscular frame shaking against me. He quickly rolls off me, pulling me against him, our bodies still connected.

“Don’t cry babe, I’m so sorry,” he says quietly and kisses away every tear on my cheek. My mouth tastes full of salt and I finally close my eyes, trying to stop the tears.

His hand brushes my hair away from my face and I turn into my pillow hiding myself from him. “Did I hurt you?”

I exhale loudly, finally starting to find my breath again, and shake my head.

“Talk to me.”

I take another deep breath and open my eyes. He’s inches from me and he’s waiting patiently for me to explain. Except I can’t because I have no idea what just happened.

“I’m scared.” I’m scared of so many things, but my feelings for Chase are definitely at the top of the list.

He kisses my lips softly and holds me tighter.

And just as I’m drifting off to sleep, the darkness pressing down on me, I swear I hear him mutter the three words that should send me running back to New York as fast I can in the light of day.

I wake up to feeling the bed shifting as Chase places his weight on it, just inches from my slightly exposed and naked hip. His warm, large hand rests gently on my lower back before it slowly begins moving in circles up and down the skin on my back. I suck my lips in between my teeth and bite down painfully to suppress the urge to moan, or shift beneath him.

It feels so good.

“Wake up and come with me.” His breath sends shivers straight to my toes.

“I already did that once or twice.”

He smacks my ass playfully. “Not what I meant, but I can make it happen later.”

Rolling over, I look out the window and then moan, squinting one eye open at Chase. He still has that sleepy look in his eyes that tells me he just woke up. Why does he look so happy?

“What time is it? The sun’s not up yet.”

“No, but it’s going to be. Come watch the sunrise with me.”

He’s got to be kidding me. I groan again and roll over, burying my head into the pillow that feels like heaven. I’ve never seen a sunrise in my life unless the sun is coming up before I’ve gone to bed at night, and that was in college. He’s insane if he thinks I’m getting out bed for this.

Before I can get too comfortable again, Chase’s strong hands are on my waist, lifting me up and into his arms. He’s cradling me with one arm around my back and another under my knees. My head buries into his naked chest and my eyes close again.

“Not awake yet,” I mumble, brushing my lips against his skin as I speak. Feeling his warmth and slowly inhaling his sleepy, sexy scent makes me want to lick his skin. So I do. This could possibly be the best wake-up call of my entire life.

Chase tenses for a second as my tongue slowly darts in and out of my mouth, briefly licking the area around his nipple and I smile against him as it hardens.

“Keep it up, Mia. I dare you.” His voice rumbles with need and lust. I love that I’m the one that can make this strong man sound so desperate for me.

“You should know by now that Nic is the only one stupid enough to take on a dare.” I hear his laughter close to my ear and feel it rumble against my cheek.

God he’s so sexy. It makes me wish I could be the woman he needs forever because it’s going to kill me to let him go.

Suddenly, I’m plopped down into a pool of steaming water and my eyes fly open as bubbly water splashes all over my face and in my eyes.

“What the hell?” I screech and am instantly awake. My eyes are wide and my hair is soaking wet as Chase climbs over the walls of the hot tub and sits next to me, wrapping an arm around my shoulder and pulling me close. “What time is it anyway?”

He smirks and hands me a champagne glass full of orange juice. It’s crazy how well he knows me sometimes. Has he always paid this close attention to me and I’ve never noticed?

“It’s just after five thirty.”

“This is too damn early to be up,” I mutter, not pissed off in the least to be up so early. I take a sip of my orange juice and smile when the faint hint of bubbling champagne hits my tongue. Damn, he knows me so well.

“Shut up and watch the sunrise.” His laughter once again vibrates against me and sends shocks of pleasure to my core.

I turn my eyes away from him and out toward the mountain range view from our deck just as the first tinge of pink appears. I’m rendered speechless for possibly the first time in my life. It’s absolutely incredible watching the sunrise, and neither Chase nor I say a word as the sky turns a variety of pinks and purples to oranges and reds lighting up the entire sky as it rises over the mountains and then bursting light on the groves and hill below.

And just as I think I haven’t seen anything more beautiful in my entire life, one hot air balloon darts above the highest mountain, followed by another, and another. Before I can count them all, the entire morning sky is peppered with hundreds – if not thousands – of hot air balloons across the entire skyline. They are all designed completely different and pop out like bright shining stars in front of the rainbow of colors from the sky behind them.

We say nothing except a few whispers of appreciation at the sight in front of us, but there’s something else I feel over the warmth of the water and the quickly rising sun that isn’t something I have felt much of in my life.

Contentment. And it’s all because of Chase. Not because he trapped me on a plane and brought me to one of the most romantic places I’ve ever seen. It’s simply because I’m here, wrapped in his arms, and he did all of this for me.

“Let’s get out of here. I’ve got something else planned for the morning,” Chase says to me, so silently it’s as if he’s afraid to break the magnificence of the moment between us and the sky.