The Choice (17 page)

“Oh my God, I think I’m gonna throw up,” I whisper to Chase as I focus on the seat in front of me.

Squeezing my thigh affectionately, he leans over and kisses me on the side of the head.

“It’s going to be okay, Baby,” he whispers. I’m trying desperately to steady my breathing, resembling someone in a Lamaze class. “I would never put you on a plane if I didn’t think you’d be safe. You know that, don’t you?”

“Yeah,” I say nodding quickly, still focusing on my breaths.

“Hey,” he whispers, turning my head to face him. “What exactly are you scared of?”

“I’m scared that we’re about to go up into the air forty thousand feet,” I manage and he nods. “And that the plane is going to just fall from the sky,” I exhale another breath, ignoring the smirk her tries to hide. “And that we’re going to crash into the Gulf of Mexico and drown,” I continue, still breathing awkwardly. “And that they’ll never find our bodies.”

Pulling my head to his chest, I can feel his smile as he presses his lips to my hair.

“All valid concerns, Baby,” he says softly. “But do you know how unlikely that is?”

“Yeah,” I say. “But it’s not impossible. Airplanes crash, Chase, they just fall out of the sky. One second, your life is great, you’re looking at clouds and then the next second, you’re plummeting to the Earth and you can’t stop it.”

Grabbing my head between his hands, he holds my gaze and shakes his head.

“
Shh,” he whispers softly. “Keep your eyes on mine, Baby. You need to breathe, okay?”

Nodding slowly, I hold his gaze and feel my breathing beginning to steady. He holds me there for a long moment, helping me focus and breathing with me. Once he sees me starting to calm down, he gives me a little smile and continues to hold my gaze as we taxi the runway. When I feel the speed beneath us, my eyes instinctively shut tight and I feel as he shakes his head slightly.

“Breathe, Soph
ie,” he says softly. “Eyes right here, Baby.”

“Okay,” I say weakly, my vision blurry with tears. Still soothing me as the plane begins to lift from the runway,
he hears the whimper of panic leave my lips.

“
Shh, you’re okay. I’ve got you, Sophie,” he whispers, his eyes never straying as he presses his lips to mine.  My stomach is a mess of nerves, but the lightheadedness is all Chase. His tongue slowly dips into my mouth, massaging and tasting mine as the rest of the world falls away. Humming into my mouth as I begin to relax again his muscular frame, he holds the kiss until we feel the plane straighten out. Still in a daze as I pull away from him, he chuckles lightly as he sees the dreamy look on my face, completely contrasting from the one of pure panic it held only minutes before.

“Flying is fun,” I sigh
and he laughs harder, giving me a chaste kiss on the mouth.

“I agree,” he smiles as he leans back against
the seat, resting his hand high on my thigh.

Half an hour later, I’m not feeling nervous at all. I’m not sure if it’s Chase or the alcohol, but I think it’s a combination of the two.

“I’ve never flown in first class before,” I say as I lean my head on his shoulder and
clasp my hand in his. “I’m feelin’ pretty fancy.”

“Oh, yeah?” he chuckles.

“Yeah,” I say looking up at him. “I just hope it doesn’t change me as a person, you know?”

“You’re crazy,” he says as he lets out a proper belly laugh, kissing me on the top of my head.

“It’s a good thing you happen to love my crazy,” I whisper his words as I press my lips to his arm and gently bite him there. Singing a few lines from ‘Crazy for You’ by Adele, I feel his body relax further into the seat beside me as his breathing hitches. 

“Hmm,” he hums against my head when I finish. “I’m crazy for you too, Baby.”

“Thanks for making me feel better,” I whisper as my eyes begin to feel heavy.

“You’re welcome, Gorgeous
,” he says kissing my hair as I press my lips to the arm I’m leaning against. “I love you.”

“I love you, too, Honey Badger
,” I yawn as he chuckles beneath me and I fall into a dreamless sleep.

I can’t help but chuckle at Sophie’s reaction when we arrive at the car rental place. We’re both so used to pickup trucks and sitting near each other, the bucket seats in the Jeep we pick up causes her to scowl.

“What’s wrong
, Baby?” I ask her when I see her face scrunch up from the passenger seat. “You don’t like the Jeep?”

“I hate it,”
she says, causing me to chuckle. “I feel like you’re a million miles away from me.”

“I know, Sweetheart
,” I say as I push the hair away from her face, secretly loving that she feels the same way as I do. Turning her head to the side, she presses her lips to my wrist before pulling my hand into her lap. Squeezing her hand, I smile over at her before leaning across the seat to kiss her. “We can cuddle tonight when we go to sleep, though. I’m pretty stoked about that.”

“We’re sleeping in the same room?”
she asks surprised, her facial expression causing me to hover in front of her with a smirk.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t we be?”

“Because we’ll be at your mom’s house,” she says against my lips.

“So?”

“So, we’re not married.”

“
Well, no but we live together, Sophie,” I laugh, kissing her chastely on the lips before pulling out of the rental parking lot. “Even if you hadn’t outed us at the hospital, she probably assumes that we’re sleeping together, Baby.”

“Oh my God!” she yells across the dark cab of the truck, clamping her
free hand over her mouth. “I completely forgot about that, Chase! Oh how awkward is this going to be?”

“I thought it was hilarious,” I laugh as she reaches over, twisting my nipple as her cheeks blaze. “
Ow!” I laugh, rubbing over the nipple she assaulted.

“This is serious!”

“No, it’s not! I’m sure nobody even remembers it.”

Shooting me a look of disbelief, she shakes her head.

“I need so much booze,” she says dramatically, resting against the seat.

Gripping her
upper thigh, I smile as I squeeze her there and feel her start to relax.

“My family loves you, Sophie. You’re stressing out over nothing, Baby.”

“You think so?” she asks, turning to face me and biting down on her lip nervously.

“Yep, I know so,” I say low, focusing on her gorgeous face. “Don’t bite your lip when I’m driving, Baby.”

“Sorry,” she smiles.

“Everything’s going to be fine, Sweetheart,” I promise her as I pull onto the interstate. “They won’t even mention it.”

“I hope so,” she starts. “If they do, I’m getting hammered at Thanksgiving and eating all the pie.”

***

The drive from the airport took much longer than usual because of traffic. Between the drinks she had on the plane, her anxiety and the exhaustion of traveling, I’m surprised she lasted as long as she did. As I pull up to the house my parents are renting, I see that most of the lights are off already. Having just talked to my mom, I know she’s waiting up, but most everyone else is already in bed.

Walking around to Sophie’s side of the truck, I open the door and try in vain to wake her up. My girl’s exhausted. Lifting her from the seat, I wrap her legs around my waist and smile when I h
ear her sigh against my shoulder.

“Love you,
Pumpkinhead,” she whispers before falling back into a deep sleep in my arms.

“I love you, too, Baby,” I say softly as I approach the door and see my mom already waiting there with a smile on her face.

“Well, aren’t you two just adorable,” she says, making me smile as she reaches up on her tiptoes to kiss my cheek.

“Hi
Mama.”

“Hi
Baby Boy,” she smiles up at me affectionately, patting my face. “I’m so happy you’re here. Let’s get you kids settled.”

After showing me where we’d be sleeping, I shut the door and lay Sophie in the bed. Trying my best not to wake her, I undress her and put her under the covers before placing a kiss
on her forehead. After visiting with my mom for a few minutes, I grab the rest of our bags from the truck and am surprised to find the bed empty when I return to our room.

“Sophie?” I call out quietly through the room and look towards the bathroom to find the light on beneath the door. Knocking gently, I push the door open to find her in the shower. Undressing quickly, I step in behind her and kiss her head, grabbing the shampoo from the edge of the tub before washing her hair for her. “You okay
, Babe?”

“Yeah,” she yawns as she tips her hair back under the water. “I woke up and felt nasty from being on the plane so I decided to take a shower. I hope that’s okay.”

“Of course, I’m just surprised you woke up,” I say, taking in the sight of her wet, naked body. “I’m glad you did, though.”

Leaning down, I squeeze her breasts into my palms as I begin running my lips down her neck.
Making my way to her shoulder, I feel her shudder and I push my hand against her sex, massaging her gently. Lifting her leg to the edge of the bathtub to open her to me, she gasps my name as I slip my fingers inside her.

“Open up for me, Princess,” I whisper as I begin pumping into her, rubbing her clit with my thumb and fucking her
slowly with my hand. “Hmm, you’re drenched, Sweetheart.”

“Oh my God,”
she whimpers softly as she leans her head on my shoulder weakly. “Chase, you have to stop.”

Stilling my movements, I meet her gaze, worried I’d brought up a bad memory for her. Although I knew Drake and I had arrived in time to stop Sophie’s attacker from raping her, she’d told me what happened in the bar. The last thing I ever want is to make her feel uncomfortable or scared of my touch.

“Are you okay, Baby? Did I do something wrong?”

“Yeah, I’m okay. You didn’t do anything wrong at all, quite the opposite,” she blushes. “I just don’t think we should be doing this here.”

“What? In the shower?” I say confused. “Why? We always have sex in the shower.”

“No,
” she laughs. “I mean in your mom’s house. We can’t have sex here.”

“Why the hell not?”

“Chase,” her cheeks blaze as she gently moves my hand away and lowers her leg. “We can’t have sex in your mom’s house.”

“It’s not like she’s going to be listening, Baby,” I say, laughing at the look of disgust that crosses her face
as I shut the water off.

After drying off, I walk to the kitchen to grab us a drink and am surprised to find Sophie in pajamas making her way out of the bathroom.

“What are you doing?” I ask her.

“I’m going to bed,” she answers. “What does it look like I’m doing, dork?”

“Well, I figured that,” I say. “I mean what are you wearing?”

“Pajamas.”

“Why? You never wear pajamas at home.”

“Yes, but we’re not at home.”

Taking in the long sleeved t-shirt she’s wearing with the matching short pink plaid cotton shorts she’s got on, I watch her pull the covers back down and climb in. Grabbing her e-reader from the nightstand beside her, she slips her reading glasses on and begins scrolling.

“Sophie, are you serious?”

Glancing up at my shocked expression, her eyes rake over my still naked body and she lets out a regretful sigh.

“I’m afraid so
Love Bug,” she starts. “I brought you some, too. They’re over there on the dresser.”

Focusing back on her e-reader, she begins reading again while I continue to gape at her.

“Baby,” I start, but she shakes her head at me, not even looking up.

“I’
m not having sex with you while your mother is in the next room, Chase.”

“Okay Baby,” I groan, rubbing my hands over my face and pinching the bridge of my nose. I release a deep breath and grab the Nike shorts Sophie put on the dresser. Glancing over at her, I see her struggling to hide the smirk on her face at my childish reaction. “This isn’t funny, Sophie,” I grumble as I huff my way toward the bathroom.

“I’m not laughing,” she answers.

“Yeah, I see that little smirk on your face, Baby,” I say midstride. “Emily and my parents are going to the venue tomorrow for a couple hours. I’ll remember that.”

“What does that have to do with anything?”

“The se
cond they leave, I’m tearing your little ass up,” I warn playfully.

“Not in this house, you’re not,” she challenges. “I’m not having sex with you here, Chase.”

“Sophie,” I start. “You just said…” Watching me as everything clicks into place, she gives me another apologetic look. “We’re going to be here for
two weeks
, Baby.”

“I know,” she sighs. “It’s gonna be rough.”

“Oh my God,” I grumble quietly as I walk into the bathroom. I step back into the shower, this time running the water as cold as I can stand it. When it’s clear there’s not enough cold water in Florida to ease the hard on Sophie’s given me, I shut the shower off and get dressed. Walking back into our bedroom, I find Sophie still reading intently with her thigh pulled up to her chest. The bottom of her pajama shorts are just short enough that I can see the bottom of her ass cheek peeking out. She’s biting down on her lower lip as she absentmindedly twirls the bottom of her braid between her fingers.

Are you fucking kidding me right now?  

Feeling me staring down on her, she smiles sweetly up at me from the bed, completely unaware of the nuclear meltdown she’s causing in my brain.

“We’re checking into a hotel in the morning.”

***