Breathe

Oh yeah, I broke through.

“Okay,” I whispered, my arms sliding around him

“And I never would,” he went on.

“Okay,” I whispered, my arms locking tight.

“You’re cute and you make me laugh and honest to Christ, lookin’ back, except with Deck, I don’t remember doin’ it and feelin’ it comin’ from me free and clean all my f**kin’ life.”

Oh man. Seriously. I broke through.

“Okay,” I whispered, tears again stinging my eyes.

“So let me enjoy laughter without slappin’ my arm and gettin’ all pissy when that laughter finally feels real.”

“Okay,” I whispered yet again then started deep breathing.

Chace stared in my eyes.

I stopped deep breathing and bit the side of my lower lip.

Chace’s eyes dropped to my mouth as he murmured, “Wookieepedia.”

I let my lip go and informed him, “Later when things are, um… less intense, I’ll need your opinion on whether Greedo or Han shot first.”

Chace’s lips tipped up as his brows drew up and his eyes came back to mine, “Is my opinion a deal breaker?”

Nothing with Chace was a deal breaker.

Not anymore.

Still.

“Um…” I mumbled.

His hands at my head pressed in, his thumbs sliding over my cheekbones, one coming to land on my lips as his face got super close and the lip tip faded clean away before he whispered a thick, rough, “Fuck, Faye, but I f**kin’ love you.”

Okay, I didn’t like curse words all that much.

But that sounded really, really good.

“I’m glad,” I whispered back.

His thumbs moved back over my cheekbones then his chin lifted and he kissed my nose before he muttered, “Go clean up, honey, so we can get some shuteye.”

I nodded.

Chace rolled off.

I walked to the bathroom, cleaned up, walked out, went to my dresser and pulled on a new nightie. This one super tight, stretchy and purple that had lace at the cups, was sheer everywhere else and I added the lacy, string-bikini panties that matched.

When I turned to walk back to the bed, Chace’s eyes were on me but aimed low and they didn’t move from my body even as I moved.

I lifted a knee to plant it in the bed and his eyes came to mine.

“Seriously?” he asked a question I didn’t know the answer to.

So I answered, “Um…”

Chace lunged.

We didn’t get shuteye for some time and when we settled, I had the nightie on but the panties were on the floor.

My apartment was dark, we were on our sides, face to face (or my face in his throat, his in the top of my hair), bodies tangled and I was two steps from dream world when he murmured, “Han shot first. Greedo didn’t have a prayer.”

This was the right answer.

Han Solo was badass and Chace knew it.

Therefore, because of that and other more important reasons, I fell asleep smiling.

Chapter Eighteen

My Sister

Chace blinked away sleep, feeling Faye cuddled close to him, smelling her hair, her lingering perfume and seeing the late April sun streaming into her apartment.

His first response was to curl her, already close, closer.

His first thought was that weekend they were going to the mall so they could buy sheets like hers for his bed.

He liked her apartment, he liked the look of it, its vibe, its proximity to La-La Land and work, both his and hers, but he was done with it. Done with two places, two closets, two fridges to fill and morning conversations about which of their two beds they’d end the day in.

She could bring her look and vibe to his place.

He’d decided she was moving in.

This would likely be frowned upon by her mother and father and thus make Faye hesitate.

So he reckoned he best put his ring on her finger.

They hadn’t been together very long so she could have a long engagement just as long as she spent that engagement with his diamond on her finger and her heart-shaped ass in his bed.

Thoughts of her ass sent his hand down to it.

She’d altogether stopped pulling her panties on before going to sleep. She slept in her nighties, something he liked. They were sexy. They felt good. They looked great. But he loved it that she’d shunned the panties.

Which meant, in bed, he always had an all access pass.

He smoothed his palm over her ass as his other arm tightened around her waist, pulling her even closer. She stirred, tilting her head slightly back, her eyes fluttering, taking their time opening before he had her crystal.

“Hi,” she whispered and his hard c**k twitched.

“Mornin’, baby,” he whispered back.

His eyes moved over her face.

He liked her hair like that. It did what she always did, the thick, long bang highlighted her eyes, the layers down the sides did the same to the line of her neck. It was subtle but effective. It made her look more mature but still her age. It was stylish and it was unconsciously sexy.

She snuggled even closer, he ran his hand back over her ass, her h*ps pressed into his and she tipped her head back further, her eyelids going half-mast.

It was an invitation he took, bending his neck to give her a soft, short, deep kiss.

When he broke it, he murmured against her lips, “You wanna sleep in and I’ll run? Or you wanna make love? Or do you wanna f**k?”

That got him a languid blink before she tipped her chin, moved in and he felt her lips against his throat.

It took her a while to pull it together and he was beyond f**king thrilled when she whispered a word she rarely used but one that never failed to affect him when her soft, quiet, musical voice wrapped around it.

“Fuck.”

Oh yeah.

His fingers dug into her ass, his arm around her waist slid up, his hand diving into her hair. He fisted it, gently pulled her head back and bent his to take her mouth.

This kiss was not soft or short. But it was deep.

Then Chace rolled into her.

Then he set about f**king her.

* * * * *

Chace moved with his empty plate to the sink where Faye was, making a mental note that he didn’t have to buy a new robe. He’d dumped his old one and now at his place she grabbed one of his shirts or tees and since he had the same in her closet and drawers, she’d taken to doing that at her place too.

Which was what she was wearing now, one of his clean shirts, sleeves rolled up, hair wet from their shower, standing at the sink doing breakfast dishes.

He set his plate beside the sink, moved into her back and swept her hair aside so it was mostly hanging over one shoulder, just a sweet layering around her neck.