Page 79 of Worth the Chase

“Our place or your place?” he asked as soon as we were both buckled in.

We rarely spent any time in my apartment, but I thought I’d change things up.

“The apartment,” I said, and he shot me a look as if he could read my mind.

“All right. Your place it is.”

He put the truck in drive and took off. We got there in what felt like record time. Once we were inside, I wondered why on earth I’d told him to bring us here in the first place. It was nowhere near as nice as his house was, and the privacy wasdefinitely lacking with all the shared walls. We could currently hear the television from next door blaring on one side and the sound of a blender roaring on the other.

“Regretting your choice?” he teased as he took a step toward me.

I threw my purse on the counter and immediately kicked off my shoes as my hair fell in front of my face. Reaching for it, I twirled it into a knot behind my head, knowing it most likely wouldn’t hold.

“A little,” I admitted, but he only laughed.

“Doesn’t matter where we are, babe, as long as we’re together,” he said, and even though I wanted to tell him that was cheesy, a part of me knew he meant it.

Matthew had been working a lot at the resort. There were nights that he was at work later than I was, which was definitely a change for us. I was used to being the one who came home after dark, not him.

“I do kind of miss you hanging out at the bar.” I grinned, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth.

“I knew you would.”

So cocky.

“You being there grew on me, I guess. Now, it’s just weird when I don’t see you at all.” All my words were coming out like complaints, but I didn’t mean them to. “But I’m proud of you.”

“How proud?” He took another step.

I had no idea how to answer that question because what the heck was the grading scale on proudness?

“Um…” I stumbled as he reached for my body and pulled me close.

“I love you, Bells. I’m so in love with you.”

“Oh,” I stuttered, my heart feeling like it was going to pound straight out of my chest at any second and run for its life. “The wedding made you mushy.”

His cocky grinned dimmed for only a second before returning. “You don’t love me?”

“Of course I do.” I swatted his chest.

“Then, say it,” he pushed, his blue eyes boring into mine with what looked like desperation of sorts.

“I love you, Matthew. I always have.”

He released a breath. Maybe from relief.

“Never leave me.”

It was a simple request that sounded more like a plea than anything else. My man was scarred. That happened when you lost your mother. It changed things deep inside of you. Made tomorrow feel less certain. That kind of loss reminded you that your loved ones could be taken away from you in a split second without your say or approval.

“I won’t,” I promised as I cupped his scruffy cheek with my palm and ran my other hand through his brown hair. “You neither.”

“Never.”

He leaned down and took my mouth with his, his tongue snaking its way inside, and my body melted into his hands. He cupped my ass, encouraging me to jump, and I did, wrapping my legs around his middle as he walked us toward my bedroom, our mouths fused together the entire time.

When his legs hit the side of my bed, he dropped me on top of it as carefully as he could, but my body still bounced.

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