Stupid head. I hated it. But it was right. “I thought it might be smarter if I just… you know, slept in my own bed. Like I always do. So it’s normal, right? No weirdness.”
His forehead wrinkled, and he looked unhappy for a moment before he wiped his features clean a second later. “Yeah, no, you’re totally right.”
I pasted a fake smile on my face. “Yeah. So nothing changes.” I could have sworn I heard him mumble something angrily that sounded an awful lot like and God forbid that happened, but I wasn’t sure, and I was too much of a coward to ask.
I headed for the door, trying to ignore the weight that was resting on my chest, as Chance spoke up. When I turned back, he was watching me, concern setting his handsome face in hard lines. “We’re okay, right?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know—” He waved his hand at the bed. “—after that. I just want to make sure that we’re okay.”
God, even when he was unknowingly killing me, he was still the sweetest guy I’d ever known. “We’re good.” I smiled, this time more genuine.
“Okay.” He exhaled heavily, like that was a relief for him to hear. “I’m glad… because I don’t want to lose you either.”
See what I mean!
“Not going to happen,” I assured him. “Now get some rest.”
“Good night, honey.”
“Good night, Chance.”
With that, I turned and exited his room, all the while wishing I could have stayed and slept in his arms.
Chapter 20
Chance
I SLOWED MY pace, my breathing having hardly changed at all. A look over my shoulder showed Melany trailing behind me, her face tomato red with a thick sheen of sweat dripping down her forehead.
It was so ridiculous I couldn’t help but laugh. I might have felt a little bad for her if she wasn’t the one who insisted on tagging along during my run.
“Pick up the pace, Fitzgerald!” I shouted over my shoulder. “We’ve only completed one mile. There’s still four more to go.”
Her upper body curled over, hands planted on her knees while she panted and gasped for air, her chest heaving like she’d just run twenty miles at a full sprint. “Oh God. Can’t… breathe…”
My eyes rolled skyward as I came to a full stop. “Seriously? We only went a mile, honey. And it took fifteen minutes. People walk miles faster than that.”
“Think… I’m… dying.”
The gravel on the path crunched beneath my shoes as I backtracked to Melany. “You’re aren’t dying. It’ll just take your body a little longer to get used to being more active.”
If her looks could kill, I’d have burst into flames right there on the spot. “I hate you right now. You said running was fun. This is not fun.”
I smirked and hooked my hands under her arms, lifting her up straight. Unable to help myself, I pulled her body flush against mine. My cock stirred beneath my shorts at the feel of her lush breasts pressed against my chest. It was a struggle not to touch her before, but now that I was intimately familiar with her body, feeling her skin in any way was quickly becoming an obsession. Since our first night together, things between us had shifted. That bullshit reasoning that she used me as practice was still between us. But you wouldn’t know by watching us that we were claiming to be “just friends.” We touched, we cuddled, we fucked whenever the mood struck—which seemed to be all the damn time. It was like we were together without actually being together.
It was maddening, but I had to be patient. In the meantime, I’d take my comfort with Melany in a physical form until I could have all of her.
“I never said it would be fun,” I told her, wrapping my arms around her waist and holding on tightly. “I said it was good for you. And anyway, weren’t you the one who asked if you could come with me?”
“A request I’ve come to regret,” she grumbled, resting her forehead on my collarbone as her heart rate began to slow, returning to a normal level. “I don’t think I’m cut out for cardio. Maybe I should try yoga or something because this sucks. I’d rather have my fingernails ripped out with a pair of pliers.”
“Wow,” I chuckled. “That wasn’t overdramatic at all.”
Melany’s head came up and her eyes met mine, a gorgeous smile spreading across her beautiful face. God, I loved when she looked at me like that, like I was the only man that existed in that very moment for her.
Thoughts of her writhing beneath me suddenly filled my head. I swear, I was like a horny teenage boy who’d just discovered the joys of whacking off when it came to Melany. I couldn’t get enough of her. “I know something that’ll get your pulse going that you’ll definitely enjoy,” I growled with a waggle of my eyebrows.
“Pervert,” she teased, smacking my chest and giggling. “Sex is the only thing you think about.”
“Not true.” Her eyebrows quirked up skeptically. “I also think about food.”
Her head fell back as laughter rang from deep within her chest, and I got an overwhelming surge of pride that I was the one to make her laugh like that. But before I could fully appreciate how good that made me feel, her laughter died, her smile fell, and Melany stared up at me with a look of complete earnestness.
“You’re a great guy, Chance. You know that, right?”
“Whoa,” I said in a joking tone. “Where’d that come from?”
She lowered her head, that nervous flush tingeing her cheeks pink. “I just… I wanted you to know that I think you’re great. You’ve done so much for me the past several weeks, and sometimes it feels like I don’t give you anything in return. I could never repay you—”
My arms contracted, pulling her so close not even air could get between us. “Hey now… what’s this all about? I never asked you to pay me back for anything. And you’re crazy if you think I don’t get anything out of this.” If she only knew how true that was. Just the pleasure of her company every day and getting the chance to wrap her in my arms at night was everything. “Being around you is all I need.”
The scowl she shot my way said she didn’t believe me. “But… you haven’t even gone on a date since I moved in, at least not that I know of. You can’t say I’m not cramping your style. I know that redhead at the bar gave you her number. Is having me around all the time the reason you didn’t call her?”
It was like someone had just stuck a pin in my happy little bubble. That contented ease I’d felt moments ago gave way to agitation. “Of course not,” I bit out. “Why would you even think that?”
“I just want you to be happy, that’s all.” Her face scrunched up like she’d just sucked on a lemon as she continued. “I want… I want you to know that I’m cool with you bringing other women around… if that’s what you want to do.”
That agitation grew more intense and the muscle in my jaw began to tic. “So, you’re telling me you’re cool with me dating other women and bringing them back to the apartment, even though you and I have been fucking for weeks.” My voice came out a lot harder than I intended, but dammit, she was pissing me off. “Am I hearing that right?”
“No! I mean yes! I mean…” She blew out a breath and gave her head a frustrated shake. “I’m screwing this all up,” she muttered.
“I’d say,” I grunted, dropping my arms and taking a step back to rake my hands through my hair. “Despite what you might think of me, I’m not some asshole who runs around nailing every piece of available ass in this goddamned city.”
“That’s not what I meant! I don’t think that of you!”
“Then maybe you should explain, because right now, you’re kind of making me sound like a man-whore.”
She closed the few feet between us and placed her hands on my chest, her eyes beseeching as she spoke. “You said it yourself. This… thing with us sleeping together doesn’t mean anything. We haven’t changed. We’re still friends. I wasn’t trying to insinuate that you should go around sleeping with random women, then come home and sleep with me. I was trying to say that
… well, I think you’re wonderful. You deserve to have someone special in your life, and I don’t want to be the one who’s holding you back from finding that person. What I was attempting to get at, and failing miserably, was that, if you want to end this… this arrangement between us to pursue another woman… well, I’d understand.” She sighed heavily and finished on a soft whisper. “I just wanted you to know I’d understand.”
My stomach dropped to my feet as fear squeezed my chest in a vise grip. “Do you want to end this?” My voice was raspy and broken, like I’d just swallowed gravel. “Is that what you’re trying to tell me? Is it because of Logan? Has something happened?” I was going to kill that son of a bitch.
“What? No. No, that’s not what I’m saying. And nothing’s happened with Logan.”
I reached up and wrapped my fingers around her wrists, holding her hands against my pounding chest so she couldn’t break our connection. “So you don’t want to end this?”
She was silent for several seconds, then, “N-no,” she whispered, almost hesitantly. “I don’t want to end it. I just had to make sure I wasn’t forcing you into a situation you didn’t want to be in.”
The relief I felt at her admission was staggering. I hadn’t even realized I wasn’t breathing until she answered and I was able to pull air into my lungs once again. “Nothing’s changed,” I stated decisively. “I’m perfectly fine with how things have been going. I didn’t call that redhead because I wasn’t interested.”
“But… if you did meet someone? Who you were interested in… you’d tell me, right?”
Not like that was ever going to happen, but I lied anyway. If it helped ease her fears, I’d have said anything. “I promise.” I took her cheeks in my hands and tipped her face to mine. “Now, let’s stop talking about this. There’s no point because there hasn’t been another woman to catch my eye. So can we move on?”
She nodded and gave me a weak smile. “Yeah, we can move on.”
“Good.” I wrapped my arm around her shoulders, yanking her into my side, and began leading us along the path in the direction of home. “Running’s obviously a bust, so why don’t we get you home and into a nice, hot shower?” I looked down at her and smiled lasciviously. “I’m even willing to help you wash your back.”
And just like that, the tension was broken and Melany gave me that carefree laugh. “How very chivalrous of you.”
“What can I say?” I winked. “I’m a great guy.”
THE WATER HAD gone cold a while ago, but I was so lost in Melany I couldn’t bring myself to care.
“Oh God, Chance. Harder.” Melany’s gasped words echoed off the tiled walls of the shower stall, making my balls tighten up. Needing to give her everything she wanted, I released my grip on her wrists and grabbed hold of her hips, pulling all the way out before thrusting back into her tight, wet pussy as hard as I could. “Yes!” she cried out, throwing her head back against my shoulder as her palms slapped at the wall.
Her moans and whimpers mingled with my grunts as I used my hold on her to yank her back on my dick with every forward glide. Her walls started clamping down on me, and when she looked back at me over her shoulder, her amber eyes glazed with pleasure as she bit down on her plump bottom lip, and I almost lost it.
Nothing on Earth felt better than being inside this woman. I didn’t think I’d ever get enough of her. I’d probably still crave her from my deathbed.
“Get there, baby,” I panted as I fucked her hard and fast. “I can feel you squeezing me. Need you to get there.”
“I’m close. So close.” God, she was, it was such a sweet torture. Wanting to ensure she got off before me, I slid one hand around and down between her thighs where we were connected. My fingers hit her clit and began rubbing tight little circles. That was all it took. I felt her entire body lock up from the inside out, and a moment later, she shouted her release.
And I was right behind her. “That’s it, baby. That’s it! Fuck. Fuck. Fuck! Fuck, yes!” I dropped my forehead on her shoulder and buried myself deep as I came so hard my knees almost buckled. It was bliss. Being with Melany was pure, unadulterated bliss.
I knew right then, without a doubt in my mind, that I was in love with Melany Fitzgerald. And I’d be damned if I was going to lose her.
Chapter 21
Melany
I WAS SUCH an idiot. And there was no one to blame but myself.
Why the hell had I brought up the subject of Chance with other women? It was so stupid! But I’d somehow managed to twist myself up into knots at the thought that I was cramping Chance’s single, bachelor style that I opened my mouth and the words just spewed out without my permission.
We managed to get over that particular hurdle, and had bone-meltingly good sex shortly thereafter, but two days had passed and I was still obsessing over the thought of him one day meeting a woman who caught his attention. I wasn’t sure I’d be able to handle it if that ever happened.
Again, all my fault. Because I’d agreed to this ludicrous arrangement in the first place.
My heels tapped on the pavement as I climbed the front steps of Constance’s front stoop. I knocked, and when she opened the door, her eyes went wide. “What’s going on? Why are you here in the middle of the day on a Tuesday?”
“I left work early,” I answered, as I barged my way inside, too wrapped up in my own head to pay attention to the chaos Landon and Patrick were already causing. “Told them I wasn’t feeling well.”
She closed the door behind me and guided me toward the kitchen. “Are you sick?”
“No. But I’m losing my mind.”
She looked at me with understanding before asking, “Is this tequila trouble or wine trouble?”
I let out a humorless laugh. “I wouldn’t suppose you know how to make a cosmo?”
Her expression morphed to sympathetic as she answered, “Not unless you want me to call up our flamboyant little friend and ask him for the recipe.”
“God, no,” I groaned. “If Tomas got wind of any of this, I’d never hear the end of it.”
Connie rested her hand on the kitchen island as I sat on one of the barstools across from her. “Got wind of what, exactly?”
I bit my lip and started fidgeting in my seat, unable to meet her gaze as I announced, “I’ve been sleeping with Chance.”
She did an impeccable impression of Edvard Munch’s Scream—minus the hands on her cheeks—before sputtering, “You… I… what… when… how did I not know this? When did this happen? And don’t you dare leave out any details!”
I slapped my hands over my face as I mumbled, “It’s been going on for about three weeks.”
“WHAT?”
I waved my hands in front of me and hissed, “Shh. The boys!”
“Are busy destroying the last few nice things I own, so they aren’t paying a bit of attention. Start talking.”
And that was just what I did. I told her everything—how we’d agreed it wouldn’t make things weird; how, despite my best intentions, sleeping with Chance only made me fall harder. I told her how he’d promised to tell me as soon as he met someone he liked. Once I finished, every conceivable emotion had spun across her features like that big wheel on The Price Is Right, finally coming to a stop on disbelief.
When her silence finally became too much for me to bear, I snapped, demanding loudly, “Will you say something already?”
“You know I love you, right?”
Uh-oh. That wasn’t a good start.
“Uh… yes.”
“Good, keep that in mind when I ask my next question.”
“Okaaaaay.”
Constance took in a deep breath, then yelled, “What in the ever-loving HELL were you thinking? Have you lost your mind? What made you think that you, of all people, could have sex without getting your heart involved?”
Yep, I was right. Not good. “I wasn’t thinking!” I defended. “For the first time in my life, I did something I wanted without considering the consequences
. He makes me feel good. No, he makes me feel amazing, and I wanted more of that, more of him. And he actually wanted me, so I just went with it. And now I’m all tangled up. I’ve gotten myself into this mess, and I have no clue how to get out of it. He’s been great about this whole thing, but for him it’s just fun. Meanwhile, I’m over here falling in love with the guy and, eventually, he’s going to end it when he meets someone he likes, and I’ll be left with a broken heart and no one to blame but myself.”
By the time I finished ranting, tears were pricking the backs of my eyes.
“Oh my God,” Constance breathed. “You’re falling in love with him?”
I sniffled and got a hold of myself before answering. “Yes. But you can’t repeat that to anyone. Swear, Connie.”
“Oh, honey.” Those two words dripped with concern and sympathy, and hearing that in my best friend’s voice was almost enough to make those suppressed tears well back up, but I was determined to push them down.
“Promise, Con.”
“I promise,” she reassured on a whisper. “But you need to talk to him, sweetie. Tell him the truth. He might feel the same way you do.”
“He doesn’t,” I insisted.
“But he might.”
“He doesn’t,” I snapped. “So telling him the truth wouldn’t do me any good.”
Her expression hardened with determination. “You can’t know that. If you—”
“I’m not telling him,” I broke in. “That’s not going to happen, so just let it go. I just needed to vent, get it all off my chest, you know? I’ll be fine.” I inhaled deeply and repeated in a softer voice, “I’ll be fine.” But I wasn’t sure who I was trying to convince, Constance or myself.
“I think you’re making a mistake,” she said quietly. “But I won’t push you. Just know, I’m here for you to vent to any time you need me.”
I reached across the countertop and gave her hand a squeeze. “Thanks, babe. I love you.”
Chance Encounters Page 16
