You’re the Reason, стр. 35
Chase rolled me onto my side so we lay chest to chest, facing each other. “We don’t need to rush anything,” he continued to assure me. He reached up and traced the outline of my lips.
I shuddered as the tip of his finger drifted from my lips to my left cheek and over my nose to my right cheek. “I love these freckles.”
“Oh yeah?” I said, all breathless and still reeling.
He nodded. “You can’t see them unless you’re up close. Like they’re a secret you only share with some people.”
I closed my eyes, taking it all in. He was the guy in the media room. He was the guy who took me to the coast in a convertible. He was the guy I wanted to spend time with when he was acting like this.
“Will you tell me something?” he asked.
I opened my eyes only to be swept up in his pretty blue ones staring back at me. “What?”
“Do you ever plan to play soccer again?”
“Next question.”
He hesitated, probably deciding if he should press me or not. “What else is in your jar?”
I smiled. “Lots of things.”
“Give me a few.”
I thought about the jar now hidden in the closet and all the private wishes I’d made for myself before starting here at Crestwood. “Get a tattoo.”
“Yeah? What would you get?”
I shrugged. “Not sure. Something meaningful.”
“I like that one. Tell me more.”
“Oh…I don’t know…normal college stuff… steal the school mascot…pull an all-nighter...watch the sun rise…skip a class.”
“Skip a class?”
I shrugged. “I’ve never done it before.”
He snickered. “What else?”
“Go to a fortune teller…have a picnic on the beach...go sledding on a dining hall tray.”
“Not much snow in Texas.”
“Stranger things have happened,” I said, meaning more than just snow in Texas.
“They certainly have.” He flashed me a lop-sided grin, reading my mind. “Does anything in that jar mention hooking up with a frat guy?”
“Absolutely not. Frat guys have STDs.”
“I do think I’ve heard that somewhere before,” he said, wrapping his arms around me.
I tucked my head beneath his chin as he held me to him. “But I think I do have one about falling asleep in a hot guy’s arms.”
“Are you calling me hot?” he asked.
“Maybe.”
He laughed again.
That was one of the last things I remembered before sleep pulled me under.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The next morning, I woke with my arm and leg draped over Chase, who slept soundly beside me. I twisted instinctively to check Chantel’s bed. It was empty. If she’d come back and found Chase and me in bed together, that would’ve been very bad.
I slowly pulled away from Chase and climbed off the bed, careful not to wake him. I grabbed his shirt from the floor and tugged it on, swiped my toothpaste and toothbrush from my closet shelf, and ducked out of the room.
When I returned from the bathroom, Chase sat on the edge of my bed, wringing his hands in front of him, his hair an adorable mess. He glanced up at me through his eyelashes. “I thought you bailed.”
“And left you in my room? That would’ve been the worst move ever.”
His eyes moved to the shirt I wore. “I like you in my shirt.”
I glanced down at his shirt, which hung over my hands and down to my knees.
He crooked his finger at me.
I placed my toothpaste and toothbrush down on my desk and climbed onto his lap, straddling him.
“I have a confession to make,” he said.
I stilled, preparing myself for the worst.
“I took a shot of your mouthwash.”
“Yeah?”
He nodded.
“Does that mean you plan on kissing me?”
He nodded again, his dimples pinching the sides of his mouth.
I whispered. “Where?”
He reached his hand to the back of my head and drew my mouth to his, this time pulling my top lip between his and sucking on it gently. I waited him out as he moved to my bottom lip, doing the same. I closed my eyes, surrendering myself to his mercy. His tongue swept into my mouth, and only then did I join in, relaxing into him as he deepened the kiss, our tongues melding together.
His phone pinged somewhere nearby.
He reluctantly pulled back. “I’m sorry. I just need to check this.” He reached for his phone on my desk and checked the screen. “Fuck.”
“Something wrong?”
He paused, indecision flashing in his eyes. “I need to head home.”
I felt everything inside me deflate. “Oh.”
“Not home to the frat, home home.”
“Oh.” I climbed off his lap and leaned against my desk. “Is everything all right?”
He gathered his shoes and put them on. “Yeah. It will be.”
Though the sight of him shirtless in broad daylight stole my breath away, I pulled off his shirt and handed it back to him.
Instead of taking the shirt, he grabbed my hand and pulled me to him, wrapping his arms around my waist as I stood between his knees in my bra and panties. He placed soft kisses to my bare stomach like he had the previous night. My knees weakened, and I hoped they didn’t buckle. “I really don’t want to leave.”
“Then don’t.”
With a huff, he pulled back and took his shirt from my hand. I stepped back, and he pulled it over his head. “I really am sorry.”
“It’s fine. I had a nice time last night.”
He quirked his brow. “Nice?”
“Very nice?”
“Oh, very nice.” He smirked. “That’s an improvement.” He stood from my bed and wrapped his arms around me, pulling me into him one last time.
He lowered his nose and nuzzled it against mine before dropping a kiss to my lips. Regret shone in his eyes when he pulled away. He grabbed his