Chase Lovett Wants Me

by Helena Hunting

She pauses, head turning, chin tipping up. Gray eyes lift to meet mine. I feel her gaze like a shot of tequila to my soul. And other parts. “After you.” I motion her ahead of me. Her eyes flare. Her mouth opens and closes. Someone almost bumps into her from behind. Other bodies stream past us. She murmurs a barely audible thank you and scurries past me. I lose her in the crowd, disappointed because she has a face I want to keep looking at.

“Are you embarrassed?” I sigh. “No. Yes. No. You’re going to think I’m weird.” “You are weird. But I like your weird.”

He lies on his back and adjusts the pillow, then beckons me closer. “Bring that precious over here.” “You don’t have to keep calling it that.” “Yeah, I do. It’s part of the scene. Bring it hither.” “Please never say hither again.” “For the love of God, Cammie, put a desperate man out of his fucking misery, and sit on my face.”

😆 I love them so much

Didn’t you sleep in your room last night?” His jaw tics. “What’s this?” I poke his cheek. “What’s what?” “There’s a muscle jumping in your jaw.” His nostrils flare and he leans in closer, dropping his voice to a whisper and brushing his lips on the shell of my ear. “I like you. I missed you.” I feel him take a deep breath before continuing. “And the idea of someone else touching your precious when I want it to be mine makes me unhappy.”

“Is this to make up for the unchivalrous face fuck on the hotel bed?” His eyes flare. “Which I loved, by the way,” I tack on, in case he thinks otherwise. I’m pretty sure all my moaning and humming and generally pleased noises should have tipped him off to that fact already. “Yes. No. Yes. I loved that too, so fucking much. But we shouldn’t talk about it right now or I’ll need to use your backpack or maybe even your body as a shield because it’s making things happen in my pants.” Chase half-groans that statement as his eyes heat. I lick my lips and glance down at his crotch. “Don’t do that; he’ll know you’re looking and embarrass me,” he whispers.

I want more than someone to get off with. I want to watch movies and study and hang out with Cammie while she writes a new chapter as much as I want to feel her lips on mine. I want her to be my person, and I want to be hers.

“I don’t want to get hurt.” Essie’s smile turns empathetic. “Of course you don’t. No one does. But falling in love is part of life. And it’s amazing and scary and all the best things. Maybe Chase is it for you. Maybe you’ve found your one. But the only way to know for sure is to jump in with both feet.” “It’s kind of terrifying.” “Of course it is. But it can be so amazing, too. Sometimes we have to choose to live life scared, or we’re not really living it at all.”

It’s better to live life scared than not live it at all.

Tristan drops back in his chair with a heaping plate of food. “Look, Bea, they have cucumber salad.” He’s the only person who seems to call her this. Maybe it’s his little term of endearment. Rix props her chin on her fingers and smiles at him. “You’ll have to tell me if the dressing is as good as mine.” Essie’s fork clatters to her plate. Her eyes go wide and she slaps her chest. Her mouth opens and closes like a fish out of water. “Ess? Are you okay?” I push my chair back. She grabs at her throat. “Oh my God!” Rix shoves her chair back. “She’s choking!”

Hahahaha 🥒 IYKYK

Every time I feel my fears creep in, I just remember that loving someone well is a choice, and I’m his just like he’s mine.”