Page 18 of Hard To Love

Chapter Five

Cassie walkedover and placed a freshly poured glass of wine in front of me. “Any word?” She asked, sliding into the seat across from me. We were at a popular bar on the Upper East Side called Coleman’s. Unlike the neon filled, bass-pounding scene at the dance club last night, this place was more cozy and inviting.

I debated on giving her an answer filled with bullshit. But what was the point? She would only call me out on it later. “Nope,” I replied, taking a sip of the crisp white wine. My disappointment started to grow every time I glanced down at my screen. “I’m starting to wonder if I’m being stood up.”

Chase had called me last night after dropping me off. After spending over an hour talking on the phone, I went to bed with a smile on my face and woke up excited to see him again tonight. We had made plans to meet after Jonathan’s showing. I had texted him earlier letting him know where we would be, and was disappointed that I still hadn’t gotten a reply back from him.

She folded her arms across her chest and glared at me. “After all that heavy pursuing.” She shook her head back and forth. “There’s no way.”

I brought my glass to my lips, wishing I could feel as confident as she did. “I guess we’ll see, won’t we?” I said, glancing at my phone one last time before placing it on the table face down in front of me.

About thirty minutes later, I was convinced that he was officially a no show. Jonathan, his partner Stephan, Jack, Cassie, and Liam were standing around laughing while they played a game of darts as I continued to stand vigil over my cell phone. There was a decent-sized crowd in the bar, watching the New York Yankees playing the Boston Red Sox. A mass of cheers sprung from the room when one of their beloved Yankees hit a double and brought in the go-ahead run. In spite of the excitement, my body slumped forward in my seat and I stared blankly across the room to where my friends had gathered.

Just as I started on my fourth drink, I saw Chase walking through the door looking so damn hot! I felt my ovaries start to heat up at the sight of him. He scanned the room, clearly looking for someone. Once his eyes found mine, my nerves started to rattle against my bones.

His long muscular legs stepped quickly across the bar and I could feel my pulse quicken as he approached the table. “Sorry I’m late. My dinner engagement went longer than expected.” He leaned in over my shoulder to whisper in my ear letting his hot breath graze the sensitive skin on my cheek.“You manage to get more beautiful every time I see you.”

My stomach did a flip and my nerves began to flutter when he pulled me in close, wrapping his arm around my waist. I felt his hand glide across the new, silk, emerald green summer dress that Cassie had encouraged me to wear, reminding me that it matched the color of my eyes. Even though the dress was a little clingy, it was also flattering to my curves. Between the heat of his gaze and the touch of his hands, I felt a hotblush work its way across my cheeks.

Once everyone had returned to the table, the expressions on their faces were an even mix of caution and humor. Cassie was the first one to greet him.

“Hi, Chase. It’s nice to see you again. Thanks for giving Emily a ride home last night so I could stay and fuck your friend.” She gave me a knowing wink as a huge grin spread across her face.

I turned to Liam who threw his head down with a soft chuckle while sliding his arm around her shoulder, pulling her close to him. Chase turned to me with his eyebrows raised and I shrugged my shoulders while fighting back the urge to laugh.

Even though he was in a committed relationship, I saw Jonathan’s eyes eagerly appreciating the sexy, attractive man standing by my side. Chase had either not noticed or had chosen to ignore this attention. I politely introduced the two men and saw Jonathan blush when Chase complimented him on his sales at the art show.

Chase immediately reached out and gave an exuberant first bump to Liam. “Good to see you, bro.”

Within seconds, Liam’s lips turned into a knowing smile. “Same here. Although I’m a little surprised to see you out two nights in a row.”

The two men exchanged a look that had me silently wondering what Liam meant by his comment.

Jack picked up his drink and brought it to his mouth. “I’m a little surprised to see that you actually showed up.” He glanced at his watch. “Seeing how late it is, I would have thought that you would have been otherwise engaged.”

I was going to kill him. Even though his concern was coming from the right place, he had no right to make things awkward.

I shot my friend a warning glance, asChase stared my way with his blue eyes reassuring me. “Unfortunately, my business dinner went longer than expected. Standing Emily up was never an option. I told her I would be here and I’m a man of my word.”

His eyes burned into mine with a silent understanding that seeing me tonight was important to him. No more words needed to be spoken.

Cassie grabbed Jack’s elbow. “How about we go get another round of drinks for the table, Jack?” She announced rapidly extracting him from his seat. Looking over her shoulder, she shot me a wink as they walked towards the bar.

Chase took in a deep breath, annoyance was written all over his face. “Protective, much?”

The last thing I needed was for these two men to not like each other. Jack was normally an easygoing guy, but when it came to the people he cared about, he could beveryprotective. Normally I would appreciate his concern, but after his little snipe, I was pissed at him for making this situation uncomfortable.

“Jack’s a good friend and he knew I was disappointed when I thought you weren’t going to show.”

I didn’t want to defend Jack’s behavior, but it was important to me that he knew how much it meant to me that he actually did show.

“Look at me.” His strong hand lifted my chin to meet his eyes. “There was no way I wasn’t showing up here tonight.” He continued to hold my gaze as he pushed a piece of hair off my face. “I wanted to see you. If I could have been here sooner, I would have been. I’m not a man who wastes his time, and says things he doesn’t mean.”

The air around us blurred, and the only sound I could hear was the rapid beating of my heart. The words he just spoke impacted me more than they should have. He grabbed my face with both hands as his eyes traveled down to my mouth. “You really look beautiful tonight.”

I pulled on the lapels of his navy jacket for balance noticing that the suit did nothing to hide his broad shoulders. This man was so dangerously hot that my fingers tingled from the contact. “You’re not so bad yourself,” I said, wanting to run my fingers underneath his crisp white dress shirt. My fingers were itching to touch his skin and feel every muscle, dip and valley across his sculpted body.

His strong arms wrapped around me, pulling me into him. He brought his mouth to my ear. “If you keep looking at me like that, we’re going to have a problem.”

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