Chapter 29

My skin is on fire as we walk side by side down the hall and back to the ballroom where all of our friends have probably noticed our absence by now. I feel Chase's eyes on me every now and then, but I keep my focus forward, fixing my dress as I continue to the doors.

The taste of him still lingers on my tongue and I'm relishing in the state of control I just had over him. Over the man I've been hopelessly in love with for as long as I can remember. He was just at my mercy. All of these physical encounters lately only have me fiending for more. For all of it, all of him.

Chase opens the door and holds his hand out for me to go in first. The room has cleared out a bit, but still plenty of people are around as I walk back to our table.

"Nice of you to rejoin the party." Mia smirks at me as she butters a piece of bread in front of her. She's the only one sitting at the table when I take a seat.

"Well, I couldn't just leave. I have to thank the host and hostess for inviting me to such a thrilling event." Refilling my water glass from the pitcher, I take a sip, leaning back in my chair. I can see Chase standing at the bar talking to Liam and Nate.

"Oh, I'm sure you've had quite the thrill tonight," Mia says, smiling at me with a small shake of her head.

Chase glances over to me from the bar and winks as he brings a glass of whiskey to his lips.

If we're trying to hide anything, we're already doing a shit job of it.

My time with CeCe lately has been scarce due to Diane being in town, but Chase still mentioned needing my help this morning.

He's been going on and on about his knees bothering him quite a bit lately, so I guess this morning he's hoping to get some additional therapy done on them. We haven't seen each other since the charity dinner on Friday and I was tempted to offer my services, a massage for his knees that might lead to more, but figured that innuendos at eight in the morning might not be his cup of tea.

"So, who made the pancakes?" I ask CeCe while she dips her fingers through the syrup on her plate.

"Daddy." She beams up at me, chocolate smeared all over her lips as she licks them.

"Really?" I'm surprised that Chase had time to cook before he left this morning.

"He was up really early."

Hmm. Maybe his knees were bothering him and he couldn't sleep? I'm sure I'm thinking way too much into this, but CeCe seemingly answers my question when she continues talking.

"He wasn't tired anymore. When I'm not tired anymore I get up too."

"Well, that makes sense." I swipe a damp paper towel over her lips.

"Daddy isn't tired anymore." She smiles as I pull the paper towel away and for some reason her statement makes my eyes all of a sudden feel heavy, and a small lump forms in my throat. "We played a puppet show last night!" she exclaims, hopping down from the stool and racing to her bedroom.

Chase has been tired for the last three years. Even with Abby helping him, he still forced a lot of the load on himself. It doesn't take any kind of specialist to look at Chase and say he's overwhelmed, but he'd never admit it out loud. He'd never flat out say, "I need help."

In the last month, I've watched him shed a small layer of that. He's still overprotective and has his routines, but he seems to be enjoying himself a little more and accepting the fact that my purpose right now is to help him. I noticed it the day he asked me to come over at the last minute. Chase and last minute are two things that rarely go hand in hand. He's a planner and an organizer, he doesn't just "forget" something—but that day I think he understood he was juggling more on his own than he needed to.

CeCe comes back into the kitchen as I'm loading the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher and shows me the dolls that they were playing with last night. One of them has long black hair, but it's pulled back in kind of a wonky looking braid and then there's another doll with blonde—almost yellow looking hair—with a braid as well. Except that braid actually looks pretty well put together.

"We did braids," she says, taking her fingers and smoothing out the small pieces on the side of the one with black hair. "Here."

She places the blonde haired doll on the counter next to the sink.

"Wow, she's so beautiful." I smile as I press start on the dishwasher and wipe my hands on the towel.

"Summer," CeCe says, looking up at me as I pick up the doll. She's wearing a purple dress with one shoe missing.

"Yeah?"

"She's Summer too."

"Oh yeah, she does have the same color hair as me." I smile and walk toward the living room with her.

"That one is Daddy's favorite."

My brows crease slightly as I take a seat against the couch on the floor with her.

"Oh?"

She nods and puts both dolls next to each other on the floor before she starts making multiple trips back and forth, bringing out a bunch of stuffed animals for us to play with.

I giggle to myself at the thought of Chase putting on a puppet show with his daughter, using a doll named Summer.

When Chase walks in the door later, I hear him place multiple bags on the floor as he shuffles around in the foyer. CeCe wastes no time running toward him where they meet in the kitchen and I can hear a different energy in his voice.

Usually, when Chase gets home from practice or a meeting, he sounds exhausted. But today, there's a pep in his voice and his step when he walks toward me as I'm putting the pillows back on the couch.

"Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?"

I eye him cautiously, "No…"

"Okay, good." He turns around quickly, leaving me confused at his question.

As I enter the kitchen, I see CeCe sitting on a barstool, rummaging through one of the bags he brought in and pulling out all sorts of Christmas decorations. Garland, lights and ornaments begin to pile up in front of her and I tilt my head, again in confusion at what he's doing.

"CeCe, careful not to break any of those ornaments, put them on the counter gently." He hauls another bag from the floor onto the counter, and I just stare. Not knowing what to do or what to say.

Chase isn't an overly festive person. Between him and his sister, Abby got the holiday gene. Last year, I remember he had a small fake tree in the corner by the fireplace, and I'm positive he only had it for the sake of CeCe.

"What's uh… what's going on here, Buddy the elf?"

"Great movie." He points at me and hands me the last plastic bag from the floor. "No idea what's in here, can you take a look?"

"Sure…" The word drags out slowly as I study him.

The blue t-shirt he's wearing is covered in glitter all down one side. "Where'd you get all of this?"

"Mia." He shrugs as if it's the most natural answer in the world and I'm some kind of idiot for even asking.

"You got Christmas decorations from Mia?"

"I bought some, but the stores didn't have a lot. Abby is busy so I knew I couldn't ask her right now, so the next option was Mia. She said these were extras she didn't have space for."

Decorating for Christmas is one of my favorite things to do. I don't do much in my apartment because it's just me and I'm not there often, but a tree and lights are always a must. Anything to make it feel more like the Christmas season in Florida when the weather still feels warm.

"Oh," I say, smiling.

CeCe takes a bunch of the garland into her bedroom and Chase lets her have free range on decorating her room however she wants to. It's pure chaos when I walk in, but she loves it.

"What prompted you to want to decorate all of a sudden?" I ask when it's just the two of us while CeCe finishes her bedroom.

He stills briefly, holding a string of lights in his hands that he just tested to make sure they all work and looks over at me.

"I've felt… I don't know… compelled lately to make things more fun for CeCe. I saw all the Christmas decorations at the facility today and I heard Nate talking about driving the boys around to look at lights this weekend and I just thought I needed to start making more memories like that with her. Bedtimes can be pushed back and candy canes can classify as dinner every now and then, right?"

My smile widens as I walk closer to him. "Right."

The back of Chase's hand skims the side of my bike shorts as I stand in front of him. Creating instant goosebumps down my legs.

"Since you aren't busy the rest of the day…" His other hand discreetly feathering the small of my back under my sweater. "I was hoping maybe you'd want to come pick out a tree with us."