Page 53 of Chasin’s Surrender

I loved his answer. I loved it so much I fell for him a little more. Which was to say I was no longer half in love with him, I was more like two-thirds of the way back to where I was before our misunderstanding.

He got it.

He saw the difference.

Most people would find it strange that I was two completely different people, but not him.

He saw me.

But now that he’d put the brakes on, I wasn’t sure what to do.

“What’s on your mind?” Chasin’s voice came from behind me.

I felt heat hit my back as he stepped closer. My body locked, my heart hammered, and I braced my hands on the countertop in front of me. But he didn’t touch me.

It was now or never.

You got one life, baby, just one.

I plucked up all the bravery I could find and went for it.

“Us,” I admitted.

“Us?”

“Yep. I was thinking about the last few days and was trying to figure out what had changed and why.”

There, I said it. And it wasn’t that hard. But I was also facing the coffee pot and not looking at him, so there was that. Not so brave after all, because if I was looking into his hazel eyes and saw his handsome face, I probably would’ve chickened out.

One of his hands went to my hip. The other brushed my hair off my shoulder and I felt the cool air of the room hit my fevered neck.

Oh, boy.

One touch, a barely-there skim of his fingers, and my body heated. His face lowered and his lips got close to my ear. Feather-light, his words washed over me. “Turn around, Genevieve.”

“No.”

Chasin’s hand on my hip tightened and I remembered what that grip felt like against my naked skin.

The full-body shiver that accompanied the memory was involuntary, but that didn’t mean Chasin didn’t feel it. He did and I knew it when he fitted his big frame to my back, bringing us closer together.

“Turn around.” His gentle tone was deceiving. He wasn’t asking, he was commanding.

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Because if I turn around I’m afraid I’ll lose my nerve,” I admitted.

So much for being brave. I couldn’t even look at him.

“How ‘bout this? You tell me what you think has changed, but when I tell you what hasn’t, you turn around so I can look at you.”

Now I was confused and afraid because I wasn’t sure what he was trying to say.

“What do you mean what hasn’t changed?”

“You gotta look at me if you want the answer to that.”