chapter twenty-four

chase

Next time, I’d be sure to do a lot more than kiss her.

If she’d let me, of course. With every moment we spent together, I grew more confident this might actually turn into something meaningful. It felt like I had Meghan back, or at least I was on the cusp of getting her back. She had no idea what she was doing to me every time we touched, how the front of my pants tightened around my dick when we kissed outside of City Hall. When she was close to me, it took every last bit of strength to fight the animalistic urges I had to do more. Touch her more.

Next time, I wouldn’t hold back, no matter where we were. Ribbon-cutting? Art show? Shield your eyes, everyone. I’ve waited long enough. We’re the art show now.

That ridiculous thought made me smile while I culled and trimmed footage that evening. Meghan always wanted to explore her exhibitionist side, although I was quite certain that wasn’t what she had in mind. We did it in front of an open window at our old house once, and I swore our neighbors never looked us in the eye after that. But the memory of her smile and flushed cheeks right before she came, the sheer curtains blowing apart to expose us even more, made every bit of awkwardness worth it.

Get it together, idiot , I told myself, adjusting the front of my pants as I waited for my edited files to upload. It was well after dark, and it was rare I was the only person left in the studio. The room was eerily silent. Jillian, Marco, and the others had left nearly an hour ago, but I had too much work to do to call it a night. I had to get this footage ready for the next morning’s briefs.

My phone buzzed on the edge of my desk. It was Sean with an updated schedule for the Comic Con. Now that we had Ethan Killian on board, he’d done a little adjusting to make sure the people waiting in line for him wouldn’t miss Owen’s live podcast recording. I sent him a quick reply to acknowledge I agreed with the changes. I watched the three dots appear on the screen and disappear five or six times before a longer text appeared.

Sean: I need to be totally up front about something. I think it’s time for me to pull back from paranormal investigating. Between this and running the store and trying to be a good dad and husband, I’ve gotta give something up. I haven’t been sure how to bring this up to you, but I hope you understand. Life’s just too much right now, man. I’m sorry.

Myheart sank as I reread the message. It wasn’t a surprise, really—I’d been noticing for a while now that Sean was getting pulled in many different directions. Too many. He hadn’t been himself for several weeks, so I sort of saw this coming. I wondered just how long he’d been waffling over this decision—and I hated that he’d been stressed about telling me. I quickly typed a response so he wouldn’t worry any longer.

Chase: I completely understand. Those other things take precedence. You do what you need to do to be a better dad. And hey, maybe when he’s old enough he can join us on a ghost stakeout. Lol

Sean: He’ll be talking to ghosts before he can ride a bike

Despite the positive message, I laid my phone on my desk and stared at it for a few moments, contemplating what this change meant for my life. This probably signified the death of the YouTube channel. It was just like Owen said—the banter with Sean was the reason most people watched. I wasn’t sure I could carry our show on my own.

I sighed, glancing up at my laptop to find the very last file had finally uploaded. Closing my laptop, I grabbed my phone and keys from my desk and headed toward the door. Outside, only one streetlight illuminated the parking lot. I kept my head down as I trudged along, absentmindedly hitting the unlock button on my key fob as I trudged down the sidewalk. Something made me look up, and I spotted Meghan’s car just a few spaces over from mine. I peered up at the second floor, where only one window was lit up. She had four or five articles to write, after all, so it was no surprise she was still up there working.

I re-locked my car and turned around, hating the thought of Meghan walking through the parking lot alone on such a dark night. They really needed to install better lights out there. Jillian was there before sunrise every morning, too, but I guess Silas Brown hadn’t thought of that. He prioritized sleek office furniture in the conference room over safety measures like lighting.

Maybe Principal Gardner could get it done. As I re-entered the building, I made a mental note to ask her about it next time I saw her.

I lightly knocked on the newsroom door so I wouldn’t startle Meghan. “Hello?” I called out.

She peeked over the top of her cubicle, her face softening when she saw me. “Oh good, it’s just you.” The room was dark, other than a small, warm light coming from her space.

“What’s with the mood lighting over here?” I asked, coming around the back of her cubicle. I wasn’t surprised to find a black welcome mat just outside her cubicle that said, “GO AWAY.”

“The fluorescents drove me crazy, so I got this,” she said, nodding at the little lamp on her desk. “Xander hated it at first, but now he’s on the lamp train, too. We all are.”

I smiled, crossing my arms as I leaned against the side of her cubicle. Her hair had mostly fallen out of the messy bun, with strands framing her face in a way that caught the warm light from the lamp just right. “Did you get all your articles done?” I asked, eyeing her laptop, which was open to a Wikipedia page.

“Uhh,” she started, smoothing her hair down with one hand as she swiveled her chair to face her desk. “No, I did not. I’ve been somewhat distracted by Fannie’s journal, now that I can actually read it.” She nodded toward the packet of papers I’d printed for her.

I held up my pointer finger for her to wait and ventured into Xander’s cubicle to steal his desk chair. “Anything juicy?” I asked, rolling the chair up beside hers.

Meghan dipped her chin and blinked at me. “This lady was obsessed with her chickens. Listen to this.” She flipped back a page to read one of the entries aloud. “‘Miss Red refused to lay eggs today, and I fear something is upsetting her. I will need to sit with her tonight, stroke her feathers, and assure her that all is well.’” She stopped reading to look at me with wide eyes. “She was having therapy sessions with her hens.”

“No different than how you are with Wanda,” I teased, making her roll her eyes with a grin. I nodded toward the printed journal. “Read me some more of it.”

Meghan flipped forward a couple of pages, squinting at the text. “Haven’t read this one yet. ‘May 17th: I believe the radishes will be ripe in a matter of days. I think Evvy and I shall have a nice radish salad on the…” Her voice trailed off and she sat up straighter, rereading the last sentence in a whisper. “Evvy and I shall have a nice radish salad on the tree trunk by the waterfall.”

“Evvy?” I scooted closer to see the journal entry myself, distracted by Meghan’s wide eyes. “Is that Evelyn?”

“It must be,” she said, staring over at me with wide, twinkling eyes. The two women were friends, just like she suspected, and I could almost feel the excitement radiating from her as she frantically flipped through the pages, hoping to find another occurrence of Evelyn’s nickname. “Oh my God, I feel like Nicolas Cage when he found that secret map on the back of the Declaration of Independence.”

Laughter erupted from my chest. “Wow, just when I thought you couldn’t get any nerdier…”

“Says the guy who has an Infinity gauntlet replica on his nightstand,” she said, shooting me a teasing smile.

“Hey, you don’t know what’s on my nightstand.” I swallowed, deciding against letting her know the gauntlet now had a permanent home on my dresser—that information wouldn’t do much to prove I wasn’t a nerd. Instead, feeling a surge of courage, I reached down to squeeze her behind her knee. “I know what’s in the top drawer of yours, though.”

Meghan’s mouth dropped open as she pulled her leg away. “Chase!” I took her smile as an invitation to tickle the smooth, silky skin on the back of her knee some more, delighting in the way it made her squirm. She jerked away with a laugh, closing her laptop and the packet of Fannie’s printed journal pages. “Well, since you’re not going to let me concentrate anymore, I guess I should call it a night.”

I sat back and watched her gather her things with my hands folded across my stomach. She stood directly in front of me and bent over to slip her laptop into her tote bag, my eyes catching the way the hem of her skirt as it hiked up just enough to tease me. When she bent down further, giving me just the smallest glimpse of the edges of her light blue panties hugging her where her ass met her thighs, I knew the teasing was intentional. She’d wanted me to see.

As she turned around, draping her bag over her shoulder, I grabbed her by the wrist and yanked her toward my chair. “Put down the bag.”

The tote bag hit the floor with a soft thud. Standing between my knees, her pretty eyes concentrated on mine, awaiting my next command.

“You think you’re going to just walk out of here after teasing me like that?” I asked, my voice low as I leaned forward to slide my hands up the backs of her thighs. With a firm grip, I tugged her closer, guiding her hips toward me.

She gasped, and without breaking eye contact, she followed my lead, slowly lowering herself onto my lap. The absence of arms on the chair made it easy for her to straddle me, and I couldn’t help but smile as she settled perfectly against me, her hands draping around my neck. “Pretty smooth for a nerd,” she said, biting her bottom lip.

Her body pressed against mine, and as she adjusted herself on my lap, I felt the slow, subtle movement of her hips. I closed my eyes, focusing on the gentle grind that sent a rush of heat through my entire body. When I opened my eyes again, hers stayed locked on mine, and I could see a flicker of mischief there. She knew exactly what she was doing to me.

I was already hard beneath her, the pressure and warmth making it impossible to hide my reaction. “Feel what you do to me, Meg?” I murmured, working with her movements to press my erection against her center.

Her lips curved into a teasing smile as she tilted her hips in a way that made me let out a low, rough groan. I moved one hand to the back of her neck and pulled her in, crushing my mouth against hers as her hips rolled slowly over my lap. Our tongues moved together in a rhythm that matched the way she moved her body. A sudden hiss of air expelled from the chair as it lowered beneath our weight. We might have just broken it, but it didn’t slow either of us down. Gripping her waist tight, I guided her movement as she pressed against my arousal.

She tilted her head back, breaking away from the kiss, her breathing ragged as she concentrated on my face. “Chase,” she whispered, her chest rising and falling with each breath. “I’m still not sure what I want. I can’t give you any answers about the future and I just—I don’t want you to feel used. It wouldn’t be fair.”

The words stung, but I ignored my feelings. “Use me,” I said, my voice hoarse as she continued to grind against me. My forehead pressed against hers, and I squeezed her ass, fighting to hold back. “On second thought,” I rasped, my control slipping with each roll of her hips, “you’d better stop doing… that.”

She slid off my lap, but I didn’t let her get very far before I grabbed her by the hips. Sliding both hands to the soft skin on the back of her thighs, I pulled her in just a little closer, tucking my fingers beneath the sides of her panties to pull them down—I needed them out of my way as quickly as possible. She appeared to have the same goal, helping me guide them down her thighs, and then her knees, until she used one hand to tug them away from her black wedge shoes.

I pressed my forehead against her lower abdomen, inhaling her scent as my hands found their way to her ass. Meghan lifted my chin with one hand, and without a word, she removed my glasses, setting them on the desk beside us. I closed my eyes and she cradled my head against her body, running her fingers through my hair with a tender, caring touch. With one hand still cupping her ass, I slid the other between her thighs, feeling the dampness of her arousal on her smooth skin.

The familiar, breathy moan she emitted when my middle finger grazed over her clit was music to my ears. Fuck, I’d missed that sound. With every pass of my finger against her sensitive bundle of nerves, I became more eager to taste her. I needed it.

I tilted my head back, gazing up at her eyes. “Use my face.”

Her hands rested on either side of my jaw. “What?”

In one sweeping movement, I slid out of the chair and pushed it away to give myself room on the floor. I lowered my body all the way down, my shoulder pressed against the side of her leg. “Use my face,” I repeated, running my fingers along the inside of her ankle with a delicate stroke. “Let me make you come with my tongue. I want your juices all over my chin, Meg. Please.”

She gazed down at me, sucking on her bottom lip like she was doing her best to hold back a smile. Meghan wanted this just as much as I did, but her stubborn streak wouldn’t let her admit it so easily. She had to at least make it look like she was weighing her options. “Chase, I can’t just—I—you’ll suffocate down there.”

“We both know I won’t, and what do I always say?” I grinned up at her, struggling to swallow. I was speaking in the present tense as though we hadn’t spent three years apart.

Not what I always said . What I always say .

Because this is happening right now.

“Not a bad way to go,” she and I said in unison. I licked my lips in anticipation as her fingers slid beneath the hem of her skirt, inching it up her thighs. I took a couple of deep breaths as she stepped over my body, hiking her skirt all the way up to her hips.

I barely had time to react to the beautiful, glistening pussy hovering above me before she lowered herself, resting a knee on either side of my head. Bracing her hands on the desk in front of her, she still hesitated, like she was scared to put the full weight of her body on me. “Let me taste you,” I demanded, gripping the backs of her thighs. I kissed her silky skin—the part of her I could reach—and breathed her in.

Finally, she inched forward, settling her warm, wet core against my mouth. My dick strained against my jeans as I pressed my tongue flat against her clit, taking my time with slow, firm movements—just how I knew she liked me to get started. She tasted sweeter than the ripest peach, combined with a flavor that was uniquely her own—and even better than I remembered.

Meghan still wasn’t putting all her weight down on me. I gently nudged her backward, catching my breath to say, “Come on, use me. Ride my face.”

That was all the coaxing she needed to take control, guiding where my tongue went next by grinding forwards and backwards against my mouth. I wrapped my arms around her hips, feeling her body tense and then relax again and again. Her breaths became more shallow, and I knew when she slapped the desk she was getting close. “Oh my God, Chase, Chase, Chase ,” she exclaimed in a whine. I loved the sound of my name on her lips so much it almost distracted me from the job at hand. I held the pace, licking her clit with deliberate strokes. Meghan’s body twitched, one hand clutching my hair as she cried out. She trembled on top of me, her arousal coating my chin.

And then, with a deep, lingering sigh, she lifted herself off me and collapsed beside me on the floor. I struggled to catch my breath, turning my head to look at her. Her eyes were clenched shut, her hand resting on her chest as she, too, fought for air. At some point during that face ride, she’d let her hair down. and now it was splayed out all around her on the floor of her cubicle. “I knew you liked me,” I said, pulling myself up onto my elbows.

She turned to me with an unconvincing scowl that did nothing to hide the look of pleasure in her eyes. “Shut up.”