Chapter 25
One Month Later…
“How exactly did I let you talk me into this?” Chase asked when Sloane walked into the living room and handed him a Coke.
“Don’t pretend that you don’t love this house,” she said with a teasing smile.
It had taken most of the day, but they’d finally managed to get their bedrooms and bathrooms unpacked and had started unpacking the kitchen. It had been a long day and an even longer month. Between packing, paperwork, Chase’s physical therapy, volunteering, and moving, she was exhausted.
She was definitely sleeping in tomorrow, Sloane thought as she looked for somewhere to sit only to decide that it would probably be a good idea to unpack the living room tomorrow when she spotted all the boxes surrounding the couch.
“I didn’t say that,” Chase grudgingly admitted.
“This house is perfect,” Sloane said with a look that dared him to argue.
Chuckling, he took a sip of his Coke before he said, “Maybe.”
Sighing heavily, she shook her head and said, “You don’t deserve this house.”
“Would it make you feel better if I told you that I loved this house?” Chase asked as he placed his Coke on a box so that he could reach over and pull her down onto his lap.
“It probably wouldn’t hurt,” Sloane said, wrapping her arms around his shoulders as she settled on his lap like it was the most natural thing in the world to do and that was the problem.
Over the past two months, they’d become very close. He was one of her best friends and probably one of her favorite people on earth and
This was a very bad idea.
For seven years, she’d made sure that she didn’t cross any lines and now…
This was a definitely a bad idea, she reminded herself.
“I love the house,” Chase assured her as he wrapped his arms around her.
“I knew you would,” she said with a satisfied sigh that had his lips twitching as she settled more comfortably in his arms before she waved regally for him to bring her to her room.
“God, you’re spoiled,” he said, sighing heavily even as he released her so that he could roll them out of the room.
“You knew this,” Sloane pointed out, pulling her legs in closer as he navigated his way around the boxes blocking his path while she felt herself relax on his lap.
“True,” he murmured absently as she found herself thinking about that birthday kiss, something that she did probably more than she should.
Neither one of them had brought it up since it happened, but she couldn’t stop thinking about it, how much she liked being in his arms, and how good it felt when he moved his lips against hers only to remind herself that this couldn’t happen. Even knowing that didn’t stop her from wondering what would have happened if he hadn’t stopped kissing her. She wondered if she would have regretted it and that was the problem.
For the past seven years, her job had been her life. She hadn’t had time for anything more than a casual relationship and most of the time, she hadn’t even had time for that. She’d told herself that she would do this for ten years, save her money and get enough experience so that when the time came, she would finally be able to settle down at the program of her choice.
That meant making sacrifices, putting her life on hold and taking on jobs that she hated because they paid more, being an unwanted guest in someone else’s home, and taking the brunt of her patient’s anger so that when the time came, she would have choices and Chase…
Was a temptation.
He was also one of her best friends and she wasn’t sure that she wanted to risk losing him, but god, was she tempted to find out just how good it would feel to spend the night in his arms.
All too soon, they reached her bedroom door. With a sigh, Sloane kissed his cheek with a murmured, “Thanks for the ride,” climbed off his lap, and
“When are we going to stop playing this game, Sloane?” came the softly spoken words as she reached for the doorknob.
“I don’t know,” Sloane said as she glanced over her shoulder to find Chase watching her.
Nodding absently, he said, “Fair enough,” as he grabbed hold of his wheels and moved to push back only to ask, “Is it because I might never walk again?” as his jaw clenched, making her heart ache because she knew how much the question cost him.
“No, it’s because I don’t know if I can give you what you want,” Sloane said because she didn’t care if he could walk.
She wanted him, probably more than she’d ever wanted any other man, but she’d never been any good at this. She didn’t even know if she could handle something like this and she wasn’t sure that she was willing to risk what she had with him for something that might not last past the morning. She just wanted
“What if the only thing I want is what you can give me?”
Chapter 26
He should have kept his big fucking mouth shut, Chase told himself as he tossed his towel in the hamper and rolled into his room, wondering what had possessed him to push the issue.
Because he was a fucking idiot.
For the past two months, he’d been struggling to stop thinking about her, to stop wanting her, but with every passing day, he found himself wanting her more than he’d ever thought possible and now…
God, he’d fucked this up.
Why else would he risk pushing her away? Chase thought, sighing heavily as he rolled over to his bed and started the one-minute process of transitioning himself and
Found himself watching her through the patio doors that overlooked the pool and faced her bedroom and couldn’t help but notice just how fucking beautiful she was. As he watched her turn on the television and climb into bed, he thought about the first time that he saw Amy.
He’d just turned fourteen and had been taking a shortcut through his family’s old orange groves on Hillside when he spotted her sitting under an orange tree looking so damn sad that he’d found himself joining her, doing his best to make her smile. It had taken him over an hour to tease a smile out of her and when he did…
He knew that he was going to marry her one day.
There had never been any question in his mind that he loved her. It never even fazed him that she hadn’t felt the same because he knew that they would end up together. For two years, he’d worked his ass off showing her how much he cared about her, how good it could be between them until finally, he’d had her and once he did, he’d worked his ass off to keep her.
He’d made sure that she knew how much he cared about her, how much he loved her, was always there for her and made sure that she knew that she was worth the wait. He’d never rushed her for anything that she wasn’t ready to give him. He’d held her hand at sixteen, got his first kiss six months after that, and had patiently waited until she was ready for more. So, when she’d decided to wait until they were twenty-two before she let him touch her, he’d been fine with it. He’d also been fine with the fact that she wanted to wait to get married until after she’d graduated and started her career because he’d wanted her to be happy. He would have done anything for her, but she hadn’t felt the same way about him.