Page 9 of Sugarplum

“It didn’t go with the dress,” she murmured.

“How fortunate for me, then,” he mumbled huskily as he lowered his mouth to her breasts.

Julie arched her neck. “Chace, Chace!”

He made a non-committal noise in the back of his throat as a response.

“Chace, you need to stop for a second, I need to tell you something.”

Chace froze, and he gazed up at her, his expression unreadable. “Now?”

“Yes,” Julie responded, apologetically.

Chace’s jaw tightened as he tried to get himself under control. He released a deep breath before he pulled back and looked at her. “What’s wrong?”

“Chace, I know that I said I want to be with you, but it isn’t as simple as that.”

Chace’s eyebrow shot up. “It isn’t?”

Julie bit her bottom lip. “I don’t know, but it doesn’t seem like it is.”

Chace gave her a soft smile. “Julie, I know that you’re scared, and I know that we’ve hurt each other before, but that doesn’t mean that we’ll hurt each other again. Just because we want to try again doesn’t mean we’ll mess up. We know what to avoid this time around.”

“Do you think we do? I mean wanting to be together because we love each other isn’t enough. We need more than that. We need to be able to trust each other. Do you think we can do that?”

Chace took her hand in his, and placed a soft kiss on her palm. “I want to do that, and as long as we both stay, and we’re both willing to try, then there’s no reason we can’t make each other happy. I won’t make the same mistakes, Julie.”

He let his finger rest under her chin, and he pulled it up, so he was looking directly into her eyes. “Julie, I know that I’m not always the best person when it comes to sharing. I know that I have a hard time opening up to people, even if it’s somebody that I love, and I know that it’s not just about the fact that I can’t open up easily, but it’s also about the fact that I shut down and detach. I can’t imagine how hard it must’ve been for you, not being able to reach me. Not being able to talk to me about the things that were bothering you. I wasn’t there for you, and for that, I am sorry.”

Her bottom lip trembled as she gave him a watery smile. “Chace, it’s okay. All I’ve ever wanted for you is for you to be happy. To be with someone you can love and trust completely, and I had hoped to be that person.”

Chace touched her bottom lip. “Don’t wish for that.”

Julie stared at him in confusion.

“You already are that person, Jules,” he clarified.

“Chace Mathews, do you want to try again with me?” Julie asked, hope lacing her tone.

“Julie Evans, I thought you’d never ask.” He grinned as he pressed his lips to hers for a sweet kiss. The kiss turned heated once more as their hands began moving with a fevered urgency. His hands immediately moved to her breasts to tweak her nipples, and her hands immediately moved to the buttons of his trousers. She began to fumble with the buttons, and she growled in frustration when she couldn’t do it.

She temporarily abandoned her mission, and instead moved her hands to his back. Her hands snaked under his shirt, and she began to lightly graze her fingers over his bare skin, causing ripples of pleasure to shoot up and down his back. She lightly traced the muscles on his back until she moved to his shoulders. She began massaging them until she felt him tremble beneath her touch.

His hands moved to her legs, and he began rubbing his hands up and down her thighs causing shivers of pleasure to ricochet throughout her body. She murmured in pleasure as her hands dug into his back causing him to emit a soft hiss of pleasure. He pressed himself to her, so that there was not an inch of space between them, and their bodies heaved in exertion. She wrapped her legs around his waist and squeezed. When they began grinding against each other, their breathing became louder until finally, they had to wrench their lips away just to be able to breathe.

“I think we’d better take this somewhere a bit more private, unless you want to have an audience,” he mumbled into her shoulder.

Dazed, Julie looked up over his shoulder, and she suddenly remembered that they were still at the wedding. The noises from the dance floor reached her ears, and she suddenly began to laugh. “I completely forgot where we were.”

Chace leaned back and placed a quick kiss on her forehead before he did up the buttons on his shirt. He stood up and held out his hand to Julie who fixed the straps on her dress before she also stood up.

She slipped her hand into his, and she smiled at the sight of their hands, intertwined once more.

“I’m going to go tell Melissa that I’m leaving. I’ll meet you out front in 5.”

Chace nodded, and they both released hands as they made their way back into the wedding. Julie made her way in and out of the throngs of people, looking for Melissa or Ned. She caught sight of Ned’s towering frame, standing off to the side, bobbing his head along to the music.

She cut through the mass of people and made a beeline for Ned who looked startled when she called his name.

---