Just Let Me Love You (Judge Me Not #3)(51)

Pushing me farther down onto him, I am filled with his length, and together, under a canopy of changing leaves, we find ecstasy as one.

Afterward, spent and a little sweaty, I place my moist forehead on his shoulder. “Oh, my God,” I breathe out. “I don’t think I can even speak.”

And then, true to my statement, I fall silent.

Chase leans down and kisses my cheek. “Was it that good for you, baby?” he asks, half-teasing, half-serious.

I am fully serious when I breathlessly reply, “Hell, yeah. And when, tell me, is it ever not fantastic?”

Chase chuckles, his chest, still bare, rumbling beneath me.

We both grow quiet until Chase says softly, “It’s the end of September, Kay.”

His words are not just words, they are filled with meaning.

I lean back and look at him squarely. “Yes, I know.”

He presses his lips together, and I know he’s about to say something serious.

“What?” I inquire. “What’s up?”

In the softest, sweetest tone, one that just about melts my heart, he tells me, “I just hope we make a baby soon. I love you so much, Kay, and I can’t think of anything else lately.”

“I want that, too,” I tell him, my soul as bared as his.

“It can happen now, right?” he asks, like he’s making sure.

“Well, I never got a new Depo shot, so there’s a high chance of conceiving from here on out.” Smiling and touching his jaw, I add, “Especially with all the sex we’ve been having lately.”

Chase shifts beneath me. He’s still inside me, never having completely gone soft.

He hardens more fully, and quirking a brow, I say, “Again?”

“Fuck,” Chase laughs. “Do you even need to ask?”

He moves and I breathlessly murmur, “Guess not.”



The next weekend, it’s time to finally get around to the double-date with Missy and Nick. Chase is a little reluctant at first, but I talk him into it.

“It’s not going to feel weird?” he asks, a reference to my dating history with Nick and his sexual history with Missy.

I am truly past all of that stuff, though, and I tell Chase as much.

He replies, “Okay, let’s do it, then. Give them a call.”

I do exactly that, and on Saturday night Chase, Nick, Missy, and I find ourselves all watching a movie at the newly renovated theater in town. It’s a comedy, a good one, and we all laugh and have a great time. Afterward, we decide to head down the street for a late-night bite at the diner.

“To where it all began,” Missy teases, nudging me with her shoulder as we walk.

“And what a great beginning,” Chase chimes in when he overhears Missy’s comment.

I smile at him as we continue on our way.

A beat passes, and, out of the blue, Nick asks Chase, “So, how’s work going at the church?”

“It’s good,” Chase replies quietly.

“You must have most everything up to speed, by now, I’m guessing,” Nick adds.

“Pretty much,” Chase replies.

It’s true: work has slowed down quite a bit for Chase at Holy Trinity. He’s fixed most everything that needed fixing, and there’s only been minor maintenance stuff to keep up with lately.

“You ever think of starting something on your own?” Nick inquires.

Chase shrugs and says, “I’ve thought about it, sure.”

“So, what’s stopping you?” Nick wants to know. “You can pretty much do anything. I’d bet you’d have so many jobs you wouldn’t not what to do.”

“Thanks, man,” Chase says, laughing. “I don’t know, though. I could handle the workload, but I just don’t know all that much about the business side of things, you know?”

“A partner might be able to handle that sort of stuff,” Nick suggests, his voice implying that this is more than just small talk.

Slowing to a stop outside the diner entrance, Chase turns to Nick. Missy smiles over at her boyfriend and nods.

“Ask him,” she prompts as she and I stand by our men.

“Okay, what’s going on?” I chime in.

Nick is a good guy, and I get the sense he wants to help Chase in some way. If he has a business proposal, I know it’ll be something worthwhile.

Turns out, Nick does indeed have a proposal.

“If you were interested in starting your own contracting company,” he begins, speaking mostly to Chase, but including me and Missy in the conversation, as well, “I’d certainly be willing to invest.”

“Oh,” Chase replies contemplatively. I can tell he’s interested. “How would something like that work?”

“You’d have all the control,” Nick assures him. “It’d be your company, really. Like a sole proprietorship. I’d just come in as an investor. We could work out whatever terms feel right to both of us.”

Standing outside, under the glow from a nearby streetlight, Chase turns to me. “What do you think, babe?”

I can see in Chase’s blues that he wants to do this. It is a good opportunity, no doubt, as Nick knows business from his years of running the pizza shop. This could be Chase’s chance to create a future for us…and for our future children.