chapter thirty-three

meghan

“What do you have cookin’ up there?”

When I came downstairs into The Comics Vault on Tuesday morning, Erika was at the back of the store, assembling swag bags for the convention. The Woodvale Comic Con logo was printed in white on black bags, and she filled them with stickers, keychains, and exclusive trading cards.

I strolled up beside her with my hands in the pockets of my jeans. “California chicken focaccia flatbreads,” I said, “and stuffed mushrooms. For Meghan.” I glanced at the Batman clock on the wall—she’d be here any minute.

Erika turned to me with bugged-out eyes. “Look at you,” she exclaimed, taking in my appearance, “coming down here smelling all fresh with your damp hair and your button-up shirt and the smell of good food wafting down the stairs? Someone’s getting laid tonight.”

Sean looked up from the box he was cutting open at the front of the store. “We’re baby-free tonight, so I hope we’re all getting laid. Right?”

Erika looked at her husband with mock disgust. “Fat chance. Bending over this table is making my back hurt.”

“That’s what back rubs are for,” Sean called out.

“Uh huh, I’ve heard that one before,” she said with a grin, rolling her eyes. She turned to me. “Do you know what back rubs lead to, Chase?”

I adjusted my glasses. “Babies?”

“Exactly. Back rubs lead to babies.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I answered, looking up just in time to see Meghan approaching the door of the shop. The bells above her head jingled as she stepped inside wearing a black dress and carrying a bottle of white wine.

“Hi,” she said, taking a few nervous steps forward, as though she felt out of place. Erika and Sean greeted her, but I stood back and swallowed, too mesmerized by the sight of her in that dress she was wearing to speak. It was nothing fancy, just a simple, short dress that flared out a little at her hips, but the way it fit her made my chest feel tight.

And she was here for me.

“Wow,” she said, looking around the shop as she tucked her wavy hair behind her ears, holding the wine bottle casually at her side. “It’s changed a lot in here since I last saw it.”

Erika grinned, violently shaking a fresh empty sack to open it. “Yeah, we’ve put a lot of work into it.”

I stepped forward, finally finding my voice. “The Ms. Pacman game was my idea,” I said, nodding toward the arcade game up by the kids’ section. Meghan glanced at it, then at me, her eyes traveling slowly from my shoes to my face. Not wanting her to compliment me first, I quickly said, “You look incredible.”

“Thanks,” she said, giving her dress a casual glance before returning her gaze to me. “You clean up pretty nice yourself.”

“Aw, you two are sickeningly cute,” Erika said, shaking her head. Sean asked her if she thought he was sickeningly cute, too, and she told him to drop the cute part. The two of them kept bickering, barely noticing the way I took Meghan by the hand and led her toward the doorway leading to the stairs. She uttered a quick goodbye before we disappeared around the corner, making our way up to my apartment. The second the door swung open and she stepped inside, she paused to clutch her stomach and laugh.

“Oh my God, Chase,” she said, eyeing the Venom cardboard cutout, “why is he wearing a Hawaiian lei?”

“Because he’s in summer mode, obviously.” I glanced at the timer on the stove just as it hit ten seconds.

Meghan shook her head, coming all the way in and spinning slowly as she took in the room. Her eyes drifted toward the large windows facing Main Street, and she pressed her hands to the glass. “Oh my gosh, I love the view,” she whispered, and it made me grin, knowing what I was about to show her.

“Glad you like it,” I said, grabbing a pair of oven mitts. I pulled the flatbreads out of the oven and nodded toward the lidded ceramic dish on the counter. “Grab that, will you? Follow me.”

She eyed the dish curiously but picked it up without question. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” I teased, leading her back out into the hallway. But instead of heading downstairs, I opened another door to a second set of stairs leading up.

When we reached the top, I pulled open the final door and held it open for her to step out onto the roof. Meghan gasped as the cool evening air hit us, glancing around in awe at the scene. I had a table set for us, complete with a bucket of ice to keep our cucumber and tomato salad cool. I couldn’t take credit for the lights strung up above—Sean did this very thing for Erika when they had to cancel their babymoon. One day I’d tell Meghan I’d stolen this idea from him, but for now, I was enjoying the way she spun around in awe.

She set the container of stuffed mushrooms on the table to walk toward the ledge, taking in the sight of the sprawling metropolis of Woodvale, from the bakery that used to be a bank to the clothing boutique that also used to be a bank. “You’re so getting into my panties tonight,” Meghan said, turning back around with a grin.

And she hadn’t even tried my food yet. With the sun dipping low in the sky, we took our places at the little table and enjoyed each other’s company while we ate and sipped our wine. She vented about Silas, and I told her everything Sean and I were working on in the final days leading up to the Woodvale Comic Con. In every quiet pause, we exchanged this knowing grin like we were asking ourselves, “Are we really doing this right now?”

We had cheesecake bites for dessert, just something I’d picked up from the frozen foods section. Meghan didn’t seem to mind that they weren’t fully thawed yet. She picked one up and drifted into silence, staring at the sunset behind the buildings. I caught that faraway look she often wore when she was deep in thought.

I tapped my fingers on the arm of my chair. “What do you think downtown Woodvale looked like when Fannie and Evelyn were alive?” This whole Silas thing had put our project about them on the back burner. If we couldn’t work on it, though, at least we could talk about it.

“Well. There was a wooden boardwalk connecting all the storefronts back then,” she said, “so the townspeople’s shoes wouldn’t get muddy—Main Street was still a dirt road. It wasn’t paved until the turn of the century.”

Of course she knew that. As soon as she stopped talking, she let out an embarrassed chuckle and tucked her hair behind her ears.

“Sorry, I’ve just… written about the history of this town a lot.”

“I know. And don’t apologize for the things you’re passionate about. It’s one of the things I love the most about you.” Fuck, did I just say love ? We were s o not there yet. She smiled sweetly and looked down at the table without saying a word. But her silence lingered, like something was on her mind.

“Is something wrong?”

Meghan let out a heavy sigh, staring at the cheesecake bite she held between her thumb and pointer finger. “ That’s the kind of stuff I write about. My quirky little historical articles… that’s where I thrive. This whole Silas thing—maybe I’m in over my head.”

I scooted my chair back slightly and patted my thigh. “Come here.”

She hesitated for a second, but she quickly finished the last bite of her cheesecake and walked around to my side of the table. As she slid backward onto my lap, her weight settled perfectly against me. I wrapped my arms around her waist, resting my chin on her shoulder.

“You’re not in over your head,” I murmured against her skin. “You’ve got this. You’re doing something important, and you’re not doing it alone. We’re all in this with you.”

She leaned into me, her body relaxing a little. “I just… it feels so big. I’m worried it’s not going to have the impact we’re all hoping for. It’s missing something.”

I pulled some of her hair away from her neck. “Silas can’t keep getting away with his shady behavior, Meg. Publishing this article might be our only chance at saving the network from a complete downfall. It’s going to be impactful enough. Trust me.”

Meghan settled against my shoulder with an exhale. I hoped my words meant something to her. She at least seemed more relaxed, interlocking her fingers with mine and staring down at our hands. I lightly brushed my lips against her neck, inhaling the floral scent of her perfume. She shivered, a smile stretching across her face. “Don’t, you know what that does to me.”

I nuzzled my lips just below her ear, because I knew what that did to her, too. Her body shifted, turning on my lap so she could kiss me properly. I kissed her back, slow at first, but once she tugged on my bottom lip with her teeth, all bets were off.

One of my hands slid around her body, cupping her breast through her dress. She arched into me as my lips trailed down her neck again. I dropped one hand between her thighs, teasing her with slow, circular strokes against her skin.

Meghan faced me, pressing her forehead right against mine just as my thumb grazed the hem of her panties. “Chase...” Her voice was barely a whisper as I swiped my thumb over her panties again, this time brushing over her clit. She squirmed, her hips moving instinctively, pressing harder into me, and I could feel her getting wet beneath the fabric.

“I wonder if any of the people in the taller buildings can see us,” I whispered. We were in total view of the office building on the other side of the street. It was late enough that everyone had probably gone home for the day, but what if they hadn’t?

Meghan attempted to suppress a grin as she shifted her hips, making the front of my jeans tighten. “We’ll have to be discreet.”

“Then it’s a good thing you wore a dress,” I said, yanking it out of my way with one hand while pressing my other palm flat against the damp fabric of her panties. I draped her dress back over my hand to hide what I was doing. I rubbed her through the fabric, listening to her breathing speed up, before slipping my fingers beneath the waistline of her panties. The satisfied sound she made when my fingers reached her silky folds was a sound I wanted to hear her make again and again. I slid two fingers through her slick heat, teasing her with slow, deliberate strokes, just enough to pull anotherbreathy moan from her lips.

Meghan’s eyes drifted shut as I circled her clit with the perfect amount of pressure, coaxing more soft, desperate noises out of her. When I sunk two fingers inside of her, she cried out, arching her back even more than before. “You like me sinking my fingers deep inside you while we sit out here in the open, don’t you? Anyone could see us…”

I curled my fingers, hitting just the right spot to make her squirm. And the more she wiggled on my lap, the harder my dick pressed against her ass. I thought she was close to coming when her eyes shot open and she said, “Take your dick out.”

I sucked in a sharp breath as she lifted her body up just enough to slip her panties off. I had no choice but to obey. I fumbled with my jeans to free myself and teased her entrance with my tip. “Don't be shy,” I whispered. “Sit back down.”

Meghan lowered herself onto me, letting her skirt drape around us to conceal the act. With a breathy moan, she began to move, moving slowly at first, her hips rolling in rhythm with mine. I cupped one of her breasts over her dress, easily finding the hard peak of her nipple, teasing it with my thumb. My other hand slid lower, and I began rubbing her clit with two fingers in slow, teasing circles.

“God, Chase,” she breathed, reaching one arm behind my neck to tug on my hair. “I love the way you ruin me.”

That was all the encouragement I needed. “Yeah?” I worked her clit faster as she rode me, bucking my hips to help her. “I want to see you completely unravel,” I told her. The sound of her soft gasps turned desperate as her head fell back onto my shoulder. Meghan’s entire body shuddered as she came, her walls squeezing around me in a way that almost undid me right there.

I groaned, gripping her thigh as she rocked through the aftershocks. And with one more thrust, I followed, the tension finally snapping as I spilled inside of her.

Her head still rested against my shoulder with her eyes closed as she tried to catch her breath. “Fuck, Meghan,” I whispered, pressing my lips to her sweaty forehead as I wrapped one arm around her waist. “That escalated pretty quickly, didn’t it?”

She opened her eyes to stare into mine, giving me a lazy, satisfied grin. “We barely made it through dessert.” God, she looked beautiful just like this.

I held her for another moment before we had to come back to reality. With a little awkward laughter, we cleaned ourselves up the best we could. I walked her downstairs to the bathroom, pointing out the clean washcloths on the shelf.

A few minutes later, as I was putting away our leftovers, Meghan emerged from the bathroom with a copy of the Woodvale Times in her hands. “Where’d you get this?”

I leaned onto my arms on the island and raised one eyebrow at her. “I kind of… have them delivered?” With a smile, I added, “I pay a fee, a pimply kid brings them to my doorstep—it’s a whole thing. Maybe you’ve heard of it?”

That earned me a cute giggle out of her. “I’m just surprised,” she said, settling onto my couch as she opened the paper on the coffee table. “It’s funny, I rarely look at the-”

Meghan stopped suddenly, her gaze locked on the open newspaper in front of her. Curious, I walked around the island into the living area to get a better look at what she saw, suspecting a glaring typo that made it to print or something. However, she was staring at a big, quarter-page ad for the laundromat John Weston owned. “What’s wrong?” I asked.

“I’m so stupid.”

“Well, I disagree. Again, what’s wrong?”

Meghan looked up from the paper, her eyes wide, like the pieces were clicking into place. “Why haven’t I thought to talk to the ads department? If anyone would have concrete evidence of Silas’s favoritism, it’s them.”

I winced as I turned on the lamp to brighten up the dark room. “Yeah, they would, but good luck getting them to share it with you.”

“Don’t need it,” she said, sitting up a little straighter as she closed the paper. She watched me move around the coffee table to sit next to her. “I can be very persuasive.”

“I know,” I said, leaning back with my hands in my pockets. I gave her a crooked grin. “I mean, look at us. I let you wear me down for the second time. I guess anything’s possible.”

She lowered her chin to glare at me. “I wore you down?”

“Yup. At least, that’s what I’m going to tell everyone when they ask how we ended up back together.” I maintained eye contact with her, testing her reaction. However, she didn’t even flinch at the notion of us being “back together.” But she did smile.