by Dakota Rebel
I needed to talk about the future with him, what our plans were. Here and there, he’d thrown out words like “future” and “kids” and “forever” but I wasn’t sure what it all meant. We lived a country apart from each other, and I wasn’t really experienced enough to know if it was just sex talk because Chase was my only “experience”. If he really wanted us to be together, we needed to discuss the logistics.
“It’s going to be a gorgeous day,” Chase observed, looking out at the shoreline as the ship grew close for docking.
“It is. We should go to the beach.”
His gaze jerked toward me. “What?”
“You haven’t been able to swim or go in the water the whole cruise. It’s our last day. We should go to the beach.”
“I don’t care about that. I just want to be with you—for you to be happy.”
“I’ll be happy getting some sun on the sand. Soaking up some rays before going back to gloomy Chicago.”
He frowned. “It’s quite sunny in Vegas.”
“Lucky you. So we’re going to the beach, then?”
“You sure you don’t want to go into town. You haven’t done shopping for souvenirs the whole trip.”
“I don’t need anything beyond the pictures I have with you. There’s no one to take little gifts back to. Or anything. It’s the memories that are important, not stuff.” I sipped my coffee. “I just want to spend the day relaxing in our bathing suits and watching the waves. I think the ocean is pretty even if I don’t want to be in it.”
“Okay. If you’re sure…?”
“I’m sure. It’s selfish of me to make you do all non-water activities. Obviously, you like the water if you booked a cruise.”
“I do, but it was more about getting you alone where you wouldn’t run off on me.”
I snorted. “I wouldn’t have run off. I’d been thinking of you every day since those few minutes we had at that club. I can’t even tell you how often I regretted that I had to rush off with my friends, how many times I wondered if I should have just ditched them and stayed with you a bit longer.” I shrugged. “I wondered what might have happened.”
His hand caressed my forearm before he squeezed my fingers and leaned in to kiss me. “This,” he said. “Only a lot sooner.”
* * * *
The waves really were pretty, and the sound was almost soothing as I closed my eyes and leaned back against the lounger. Chase, along with a group of other people from the ship, was monkeying around on a boogie board.
I tried not to be tense as I watched him play in the gorgeous aquamarine water as it lapped up on the sandy shore. Nothing would happen. The water was practically clear, and the waves weren’t too rough. A gentle breeze blew around us, and if not for my fears, it would be paradise.
Of course, Chase being Chase kept his attention on me, making eye-contact every few minutes. I’d smile and wave, lifting my drink or my book and silently assuring him I was fine. I hadn’t turned a single page in the novel. It was a romance, and a good one too, but at the moment, it just couldn’t hold my attention.
Maybe, I should just go walk along the water’s edge. I wasn’t hot, but it would give me something else to do and take me closer to Chase. It wasn’t as if I couldn’t swim—not that I’d go deep enough to need to. My aunt had assured I’d taken swim lessons for years. I think she’d hoped if I swam well, my aversion to water would go away. Nope.
Having made my decision, I headed for the foam-edged, ebbing water. I was halfway there when the screaming and yelling started. I froze, pure terror filling me. I couldn’t breathe, even though my chest rose and fell in panic. No.
My gaze frantically searched the water, looking back and forth for Chase. Where was he? Where the hell was he?
No. Don’t do this.
I couldn’t find him. I stumbled forward, still searching as yells about someone getting hurt, knocked out, reached me. The undertow was pulling the unconscious body out to sea.
No. The ocean couldn’t have Chase. I started forward again, my feet running before I even realized I was moving. The water wasn’t taking one more person I loved. Hadn’t I lost enough? Chase would not be taken from me this way.
I was chest deep when I saw him. I lunged toward him as he towed in the man who’d been injured. I hadn’t seen him because he’d been swimming into the deeper water. He’d gone after our fellow passenger to keep him from drowning. Before I reached Chase, another pair of swimmers relieved him, taking the man. Chase’s gaze immediately went to where I’d been sitting. I saw worry dawn across his features when he didn’t see me, and he started moving toward shore, unknowingly coming right at me.
I didn’t slow down, swimming hard for him. I slammed into Chase’s body, wrapping my arms and legs around him while I sobbed.
“Em,” he gasped, his arms closing around me. “Hey, hey,” he soothed, rubbing my back. “It’s okay. What are you doing out here?”
“I thought it was you. They started yelling and I couldn’t see you and I thought you were drowning and I was going to save you and I love you.”
He pulled back enough to see my face as he blinked, taking in my hysterical babbling. He cupped my face. “Baby, I love you, too. And I’m fine. You shouldn’t be out here. It’s not safe for you.”
“I can swim,” I muttered into his neck, refusing to un-barnacle myself from him. I realized we weren’t bobbing in the waves, so he had to be touching bottom. There wasn’t much danger of me hampering his movement. Then I felt him walking, probably toward shore. “I needed to save you,” I repeated. “I love you. I can’t let anything happen to you—nothing can happen to you.”
I knew I was jabbering, words just bubbling from me in my panic, but I didn’t care.
Chase carried me out of the water and back to our chairs. Grabbing a towel, he wrapped it around me then sank into one of the loungers with me on his lap. I leaned my head on his chest, still clinging to him.
We sat in silence for a long while, each of us calming. Our breaths synced, and the steady thump-thump of his heart beneath my ear lulled me.
“Did you mean it?” he asked.
I nodded, not looking up at him.
“Em?”
I tilted back my head and met his gaze. “I love you.”
He cupped the back of my neck and leaned forward, meeting my lips. “Christ, I love you so much. You have no idea…” He trailed off, kissing me hard. We got lost in each other, tangled in the moment. It happened all the time with us, the two us forgetting everything but the way we physically connected.
“I’ll always do my best to stay safe for you,” he promised. “But I couldn’t let—”
“Of course, you couldn’t,” I interrupted. “You couldn’t let a man drown if you could save him. I would have done the same thing. I was just scared when I couldn’t see you. And I’m really proud of you. You’re a hero.”
“I want to always be your hero.”
I hugged him tight. I wanted that, too. But the reality was, he’d have a really hard time doing that when we were a country apart.
“Are you ready to go back?” I asked him. “I could really use some one-on-one hero time.”
“Babe, you might not know it, but you’re my kryptonite. Anything you want, I’m weak to do anything but.”
I shifted, feeling him hard beneath me. It didn’t matter the situation; he always seemed to have that reaction to me. “Hmm…I don’t think you’re weak at all. But by all means, let’s go back to the cabin and test out your theory.”
Chapter Fourteen
~ Chase ~
She loved me. Thank God!
As we’d waited for transportation back to the ship, I’d contacted Marco to have him prepare the cabin for us. I wanted everything ready and for no one to disturb us tonight. We were supposed to go to the special Christmas Eve party the crew was throwing, but I had a feeling Emerson wouldn’t mind skipping that—not once she saw what was in store for us.
I held her hand, carr
ying our things as we headed back to our suite. Looking at us, you wouldn’t guess she’d been propositioning me and I wanted to jump her.
I did, but nerves roiled in my gut. What if she said no to us? What if she hated the surprises I had in store for her?
My concern notched up as I ushered her through the door ahead of me. As if I hadn’t worried enough, Emerson eyed the gifts under the tree warily before turning a glare to me. Hell, she was pissed.
“What is all this?” she demanded.
“It’s Christmas.” I shrugged.
“It’s Christmas Eve,” she huffed as she took in the room.
I led her farther inside. “My love, I intend to spoil you rotten. This is just the beginning.”
“I don’t need anything,” she insisted. “I…have you. Don’t I?”
Her anger disappeared in an instant, her gaze now full of an apprehension that nearly broke my heart. It was almost enough to make me fall to my knee and propose that instant, but I held myself in check. The moment would come soon enough.
“Of course, you do,” I whispered before brushing a kiss across her lips.
“It’s not fair. I haven’t gotten you anything,” she said, glancing back at the pile of wrapped presents. Knowing her background now, I wondered how long it had been since she’d been spoiled with gifts or if she ever had been. She would be from now on.
“You’re all I require,” I said. I took her hand and led her to the tree. “Open them.”
“It’s not Christmas,” she argued again, though she allowed me to sit and pull her to the floor with me.
“Tomorrow will be busy,” I reminded her.
“Yes,” she agreed, frowning. “I still have to pack. What time are we leaving?”
The sadness in her tone confused me. I knew she wasn’t completely happy on the ship, and I thought she’d be relieved to be disembarking.
“The ship docks at eleven.”
“I’ve gotten so used to the warmth out here,” she said, toying with a ribbon on the box closest to her. I hated the hollowness of her tone. “I’m not looking forward to returning to the bitter cold of Chicago in December.”
Anger burned through me as she talked of returning to that place. She belonged with me in Nevada. I almost said something then remembered we hadn’t discussed the future yet. Again, the urge to slide the ring on her finger, to prove once and for all that she would never leave my side again, grasped my heart.
“Open your gifts,” I said, some of my agitation coming through in my tone.
“Chase, are you all right?”
“I’m fine,” I assured her. “I’m just excited to see your face as you see what I’ve chosen for you. I hope I’ve done all right. When I selected things, I didn’t know you as I know you now.”
“I’m sure you did fine,” she said. “It’s already too much.”
I grabbed a package and dropped it in her lap, eager to move along. She was probably right. I’d gone a little overboard. But I wanted to ensure her Christmas was special. At first, because I wasn’t sure I could convince her to marry me. But now, I wanted her to always look back at the first Christmas with me as nothing more than a drop in the bucket of excess I was prepared to shower on her.
She glared at me again, but she still chuckled as she turned back to the present and tore the paper off the laptop I’d gotten her.
“You’re insane,” she said, running a hand over the box. “What is this? I’ve never heard of this model.”
“It’s a prototype,” I answered dismissively. “They promised if there were any bugs, they’d replace it once it’s fully released to the public. I wanted to be sure you had what you’d need for your coding. But honestly, you’re a million times smarter than I am, so I have no idea what that would entail. If it’s not right, we can send it back and get you something more properly suited.”
I took the box from her and set it aside then grabbed the next package off the pile. She shook her head but ripped it open.
We repeated the process for twenty minutes. She opened jewelry, electronics, shoes—thankfully in the right the size—and argued with me about the necessity of all of it. I ignored her protests and insisted she continue.
She never got in the spirit as I’d hoped, but she seemed pleased overall by the gesture. When everything under the tree had been opened, she sat back and looked around with clear amazement.
“Is that it?” she teased.
I glanced around, making a show of inspecting the tree.
“Are you too tired to continue?” I asked.
“Continue? I was joking.” Her gaze darkened, and the look she gave me made my cock instantly hard. “Do you mean I have another gift to unwrap?”
She gave me a naughty grin as her gaze slid over me. My body instantly reacted. Then she crawled over to me and kissed me, her tongue running over my lower lip and her hands on my shoulders, pushing firmly to lay me out on the floor underneath her.
“Em,” I said, pulling away from her mouth. “You’re kind of stealing my thunder here.”
“Why?” She nuzzled my neck before nipping at my ear. “You’re my last present, aren’t you?”
“I am,” I assured her, gently pushing her up. “But there’s one that…um, comes before me.”
I stood and went to the tree, holding her gaze as I reached into the branches and withdrew the ring box that had been there since I’d first entered the room almost a week ago. I walked back to her then dropped to one knee and opened the box.
Emerson’s mouth fell open, and she lifted her hand, not quite covering her shocked expression. But she didn’t look upset, so I forged on, more anxious than ever.
“Emerson Blake,” I said, staring into her suddenly misty eyes. “Will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
“Are you serious?” she whispered.
“Do I look like I’m joking?” I pulled the ring from the box, snagged her trembling hand and slid the solitaire onto her dainty finger. “Please, say you’ll be mine.”
“I love you!” She threw herself into my arms, and I held her as she cried, smoothing her hair and kissing her cheek.
“Is that a yes?” I asked softly.
“Yes! Oh my God, Chase, yes!”
She pulled back so I could kiss her properly, and I happily obliged. Holding her beautiful face in my hands, I claimed her mouth. Our bodies pressed together, and I felt her heart thumping against my chest, her tears running over my thumbs.
“No more talk of cold Chicago winters,” I growled, leaning back to look at her. “You’re coming home with me.”
She nodded, wiping the wetness from her face and choking on a laugh.
I stood, pulling her to her feet before sweeping her into my arms and carrying her to bed.
“I love you, Emerson,” I told her, laying her on the mattress before climbing over her body. “I’ve loved you since the moment I first saw you. I knew you were meant for me. I don’t know what I did to deserve you, but I promise you, I will do everything in my power to keep you as happy as you’ve just made me.”
“Chase,” she said, raising a hand to cup my cheek in her palm. “Shut up and kiss me.”
Of course, I did. I would never deny this woman anything, and I certainly wouldn’t do it now.
Chapter Fifteen
~ Emerson ~
“This is amazing,” I said from the plush seat beside Chase. After disembarking from the ship a couple hours ago, he’d brought me straight to the airport and his private plane that awaited the trip to his home. We’d have to go to Chicago eventually, but as they were having a storm that had closed O’Hare and diverted all air traffic, it wouldn’t be soon. I was doubly glad we weren’t headed that way.
“But we should have flown commercial,” I added. My fingers flexed on the leather upholstery, enjoying it even as I admonished him. Sure, it was hypocritical, but I’d never been in the seat of so much luxury. I wasn’t quite sure how to take it. “Private planes are expensive, and I’ve heard
they’re terrible for the environment.”
Leaning over, he nuzzled his nose into my neck. “But if we flew commercial, we wouldn’t be as comfortable, even in first class. We’d still be spending Christmas at the airport where they might lose our luggage, including all the gifts I just gave you. And we certainly wouldn’t be able to join the mile-high club.”
I squirmed, suddenly going all tingly. I squeezed my thighs together. “Mile-high club?” I echoed.
He flicked a switch on the table to the other side of his seat then reached over and unfastened my seatbelt. “Yes, and we don’t even have to try to squeeze into a teeny tiny bathroom in secret.” In a flash, he had me straddling him. “We can have fun right here, and no one will come bother us. Or if you want, we can go back to the bedroom.”
“Um…” I bit my lip, totally turned on at the thought of having him out in the open like this. “Here is good. You’re sure no one will…um…”
“I’m sure. They’d rather not get fired for interrupting.”
“So they’ll know what we’re doing?”
He lifted a shoulder. “I could be on a confidential call.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “On Christmas Day?”
“Okay, they’ll probably know what we’re doing, but they won’t care—especially since I’m giving them all a pretty hefty bonus for being onboard today.”
“You are? I think I like you even more now,” I said. I punctuated it with a little rock of my hips.
“You do? I’ll keep that in mind for future reference.” He laughed. “For the record, I’m not so oblivious or self-centered that I don’t realize I’m asking the crew to work on Christmas. We make sure they’re well compensated. My family… We may have money, but our parents were jerks about not letting us be rich kids—and I mean that in the most loving way.”
“Didn’t just buy you things, huh?” I asked. I liked his parents already. They’d raised an amazing man—and not because he liked to be extravagant with me. Over the entire past week, I’d never seen him be unkind or impatient with any of the staff or workers we’d encountered on or off the ship—the male masseuse aside, but I guess that was because he didn’t want any guy touching me. Yes, Chase liked nice things, but he never acted entitled or better than other people.
