Page 57 of Chasin’s Surrender

“Somebody’s gonna treat you right. But it’s not me. Somebody’s gonna hold you tight. But it’s not me.”

“Okay. I get it.” She held up her hand to halt Chasin from repeating the rest of the song he remembered. “So, you know I wrote a song about how I was feeling. Are you mad?”

Was he mad?

Fuck, yeah, he was mad—at himself for being such a monumental prick.

“Babe, what I’m saying is, I knew about the song before I asked about your tattoo. And I remembered saying that to you. Not at first, but after I saw the tatt, then heard you singing. And the more I thought about that night and how fucking stupid I was, the more I put two and two together.”

“Then why’d you ask?”

“Because I want to know what the tatt means to you.”

The longer the silence stretched, the more the stiffness in Genevieve grew and the more worried Chasin became. He was figuring out how to word his next explanation in a way that wouldn’t piss her off, when she beat him to it.

Though Genevieve wasn’t worried about pissing him off, when she broke the silence, that was exactly what she did.

“What you meant to say was, you wanted to know if I’d open up and tell you.”

“I wanted to know what the tatt meant to you,” he repeated.

“Right. I don’t believe you. I think you were testing me.”

“Testing you?” Now Chasin was more than pissed, he was angry.

“Yep. Did I pass?”

Anger slid out and fury slipped in.

“Tell me, Genevieve, what was I testing you about exactly?”

“To see if I’d be honest,” she said without hesitation.

Chasin’s brows shot up before they bunched and he tried to control his temper.

“Wrong. Not even close. As a matter of fact, you’re so far off base it isn’t even funny. Whatever this new bullshit is, it’s total shit. Which makes me wonder if this is one of your creative ways to keep me from getting close. I’m a man, Evie, all man, not some pussy who doesn’t have the balls to straight out ask for the information he wants. I wanted something from you, I asked, you told me, and the only thing I felt was honor and relief. Honor that you’d trust me enough to be honest and tell me, and relieved I didn’t have to pry to get it.”

Chasin still hadn’t released her hair that was wound around his fingers, and she hadn’t moved her palm resting on his chest, the closeness meant they both felt the growing tension. As pissed as he was—and he was fucking furious—she was trying to come up with something new to shove between them, he couldn’t ignore her nearness or the building need.

Every day it’d been getting harder and harder to keep his distance. To let her settle in, and give her some space as long as she wasn’t pulling away.

“I’m not gonna let you do it,” he told her.

“Do what?” There was a bite to her tone that any other time, Chasin would’ve enjoyed working out the attitude in a wholly different way. One that would be far more satisfying than the use of words.

“I’m not gonna let you give me a piece of you only to have you take it back, twist it, and put up a new barrier. I appreciate your honesty. So I’m gonna return the favor, whether you’re ready to hear it or not; I see you, Evie, down to your soul, I see you. I see all of your insecurities. You’re shit scared and you’re runnin’. But you don’t fool me. You want me to break down your walls…no, you need me to break them down for you, because you’ve built them so high and so strong you can’t do it yourself. You’re testing me, and, honey, I’m all right with that. The way I treated you, I deserve it. But mark this, I will pass. But while you’re testing me, you won’t be giving me pieces of you only to take them back. Once you give them, they’re mine.”

Chasin hadn’t taken his eyes from hers, so he saw it—fear, uncertainty, doubt, hesitation, and finally recognition. She knew he was right, she was so used to hiding, he was going to have to pull her out from behind the fortress she’d constructed. He was also right that she wanted him to. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t have been staring off into space when he’d walked into the kitchen wondering what had changed.

“Where are you with Bobby?” he asked.

“Huh?”

“You two work out your shit?”

“Yeah.”

“That’s good.” Chasin nodded and went on. “Do you need to call your manager back?”