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Our eyes stayed locked as Samantha finished talking to the waiter, and then she looked between us. “So, what’s new with the two of you?”
Making my decision, I extended my hand across the table to her. “Not much, other than Chase and I are a couple.”
***
Sam took our news better than I had expected, and once dinner finished, Chase and I decided to stay at my place that night. When we arrived, I was surprised to find the new alarm system had been installed. Apparently, while I was busy being a vindictive bitch and stewing in my office half the day, Chase had been at my apartment having an added measure of security installed because he wanted to do something to quell my fears. My apology earlier in the day hadn’t been enough to make it up to him.
I went into the bathroom to wash up and came out to find Chase sitting in my bed with his back against the headboard. Pulling a knee up, I crawled to him, planting a kiss on his lips. When I moved to pull back, he stopped me by taking my face between his hands.
Looking directly into my eyes, he said, “Thank you.”
I knew what he meant, but pretended I didn’t. “I haven’t even given you anything to be thankful for. Yet.”
He smiled but continued with a serious tone. “It means a lot to me that you decided to tell Sam tonight.”
“You know. I realized tonight that it wasn’t Sam I was afraid to tell, really.”
“No?”
I shook my head. “After the dumb mistakes I’ve made in the past, of course the thought of a relationship with someone at work scares me. But I think what I’ve really been afraid of was feeling strongly enough about someone to be willing to purposely take a risk.” I grinned. “I tend to be risk averse, in case you hadn’t noticed.”
He attempted to conceal his smile. “I hadn’t noticed.”
“Thank you again for having the alarm installed. It was really sweet of you.” I kissed him again. Leaning my forehead against his, I whispered, “We’re really doing this, huh? Going to be a couple out in the open with my long-lost, middle school, second-cousin boyfriend who is also the bossman?”
He pushed a lock of hair behind my ear. “That’s a mouthful. How about if we just call you my woman?”
“Your woman, huh?”
His gaze roamed over my face. “It’s the truth. We’ve both been fighting it for different reasons. But you’ve been mine since I saw you in that dark restaurant hallway.”
“You mean when you called me a bitch? I don’t think that’s quite how you won me over. It was a little after that, I’d say.”
“Maybe for you. But you were under my skin from the first minute I laid eyes on you. I wanted to know what made you tick.”
I cocked my head. “And have you figured that out? What makes me tick?”
He flipped me on my back and braced himself over me. One hand trailed down my side, causing my skin to prickle.
“I’m still learning. Maybe we should play that little game you had me play once before.”
“What game?”
“Be watched masturbating or watch someone masturbating?”
“Ah…we’re playing Would You Rather?”
Chase answered by rubbing his nose along my neck.
“Are we talking about you I’m watching, or someone else?”
He stiffened and pulled back to look at me.
“Kidding. I was kidding.” I pecked his lips. “Watch you. I think I’d actually enjoy that.”
His face relaxed somewhat. So I continued the game with a real question. Lightly scratching my nails down his back, I said, “Office memo or PDA?”
His response was quick. “PDA.”
“What kind?”
He brushed his lips sweetly against mine. “Like this.”
“Mmm…show me again.”
“This is fast becoming my favorite game.”
“Mine too.”
I could spend all day doing this, but there were more pressing would you rather questions to attend to.
When our kiss broke, I asked, “Give or receive first?”
He grinned, but I didn’t give him a chance to respond. Instead, I lowered my head down his body.
Receive.
Chapter 28
Reese
Chase wasn’t exactly good at following the script.
The next day we traveled to the office together early, as had become our habit lately. Only this time, after picking up our coffee, we rode the elevator together up to Parker Industries. I was acutely aware of his hand on my back as we exited. Even though it felt comfortable and natural to have him touching me, doing it in the office felt strange. And it wasn’t a monumental gesture, by any means. In fact, this morning we’d discussed that we were going to avoid any public displays of affection until after I spoke to Josh. So I was pretty sure Chase wasn’t doing it intentionally.
I owed my boss a certain amount of respect and wanted to let him know what was going on before Chase and I completely came out of the closet, so to speak. The plan was that I would talk to Josh this morning, and then Chase and I would go out to lunch together alone. We could be touchy-friendly, in a way more than a typical boss-employee relationship, but there would be no statement PDA. Or so I thought.
