Enjoying the Chase

  space between our bodies. I knew that the more time I spent with her, the more I would like her, but did I really want to give up my easy life for a girlfriend?

  “Can I ask why?” I questioned, looking at her curiously. Part of me still hoped this was some kind of test to see if I’d stick around for more than a couple of dates.

  She frowned. “I was burned once, really badly, and I don’t ever want that to happen again. The guy I was with, he was a player just like you, and, well, it doesn’t really matter what he did, but what I’m saying is this; if a guy is willing to wait for me then he’s less likely to cheat and hurt me. If he can’t wait for me, then I guess I’m not missing out on anything.” She looked so vulnerable and hurt that I wanted to hunt down the guy that had hurt her and beat seven shades of shit out of him.

  “This player guy, he cheated on you?” I asked, shifting my weight slightly so I could brush her hair from her face. Why would a guy even cheat on someone as amazing as Rosie?

  “Yeah, and I won’t ever let anyone treat me like that again. I’m a stronger person than I was back then; I won’t put up with any crap. So maybe you should just go, because you’re not going to get what you want. There are plenty of girls out there willing to fall for your looks and confidence, Nate. Go find one of them because, seriously, you’re wasting your time with me.” She said the words confidently, but I felt her hand grip the back of my T-shirt. She didn’t want me to go anywhere, she wanted me to stay and wait for her to be ready.

  Can I wait?

  I knew only one thing for certain – I couldn’t seem to move off her. My body was frozen in place as my mind started racing through things so fast I could barely keep up. I wanted to wait for her, but I wasn’t sure I would physically be able to. I’d been in a routine for so long now that I was used to instant gratification. Waiting would mean throwing out everything that was natural to me, and starting something new.

  I pressed my face into the side of her neck and breathed in her intoxicating smell. I wanted to see her again; I knew that for sure. Even if I didn’t get any for tonight, I knew I still wanted to take her out for lunch tomorrow. I’d had such a good time tonight with her; I still wanted more of her.

  I kissed the side of her neck lightly and pushed myself up, going onto my hands and knees so I was still above her but not touching her at all.

  “Okay, muffin. I’ll pick you up at about eleven thirty tomorrow.”

  Her eyes widened as her lips popped open comically. I grinned at her shock. She’d actually expected me to run after her admission; that much was clear. I chuckled and hooked one finger under her chin, closing her mouth before bending and pressing my lips against hers for a second or two. When I pulled back, I winked at her and got up to my feet, gripping her hands and pulling her up too.

  “You can walk me to the door, that’s the polite thing to do,” I teased.

  She cleared her throat weakly. “Nate, seriously, did you hear what I said? I’m being completely honest with you now; I’m not going to have sex with you anytime soon.” She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest defensively.

  “I heard what you said. I get it, the asshole hurt you so you need to be sure before you take things further, I understand. I’m disappointed that I won’t get to see you naked for a while, but I understand. I have a pretty good imagination so I can just have sex with you while I’m on my own.” I waggled my eyebrows at her suggestively making her giggle and hit my arm in playful reprimand.

  Taking both of her hands in mine, I interlaced our fingers and pulled her closer to me. She actually looked scared, like a little frightened animal. I hated her being scared of me, and I didn’t want to hurt her or cheat on her. Of course, it would be hard for me, but I was pretty sure she was worth it. Her personality had already hooked me, I could wait for the physical stuff to follow after.

  “Don’t look so nervous, cupcake, we’ll see how we go. Hopefully it won’t take you too long to fall for me.” I pulled her flush against me and pressed my lips to hers again lightly. The passion I felt inside instantly sparked back up again but I tried my best to ignore it. I pulled out of the kiss just as I was getting a little lightheaded, and put my forehead to hers.

  She sighed a little and left her eyes closed, her hands squeezing mine gently.

  “Okay, so I’d better go. I’ll pick you up in the morning. Oh, and because we did girly crap on this date, tomorrow I need to get a dose of testosterone, so we do something of my choice, alright?” I asked hopefully.

  She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Strip club?”

  I faked shock. “How did you guess that?”

  “Get out of my place, player.” She smiled, indicating towards the door.

  I kissed her again softly as we said our goodbyes. I sighed as she shut the door behind me. This was going to be hard, but I was certain that she was worth the effort. If, after a couple of dates, I lost interest in her, then we could just end it. No big deal. My mind wandered to how good we looked together in the mirror at Ashton’s place, and how her hand felt in mine as we walked out of the movie. I was almost positive that she could hold my interest.

  Chapter Eight

  I barely slept that night; all I could think about was Rosie and what she said. She’d been burned by a player before, but if she was telling me that she wanted me to wait then she was clearly not opposed to the idea of sleeping with me at some point. Which meant that I was in with a shot. And that also meant that she didn’t have a boyfriend, after all, how could I be in with a shot if she were dating someone else? Rosie really didn’t seem like the type of girl to cheat and cause someone any pain.

  That still left the huge question of DJ. I knew he existed because Ashton had asked about him, but he wasn’t her boyfriend I would put money on it. She had never actually specifically told me she had a boyfriend, in fact, she’d never mentioned the word ‘boyfriend’ at all. I was just jumping to conclusions, and she was playing along trying to ward me off because she was scared of players.

  Due to her cancelling the evening date, I called Seth to see what he was doing instead; I didn’t really want to sit in on my own on a Saturday night, that wasn’t my thing at all. He was going to a bar with the boys, so I arranged to tag along for a couple of hours. That way I’d still get my fill of Rosie, but I could still see the boys too. Perfect.

  When I pulled up outside her place, I started to get a little worried that I’d chosen the wrong thing to do. My choice of entertainment wasn’t a very good date to take her on, but I had wanted to be original and do something she would remember. Though I was hoping she’d remember it as inventive, rather than the worst date in the history of bad dates.

  I headed to her door with a big grin on my face just because I was about to see her again. She’d been texting me all morning asking me where we were going so she knew what to wear. After numerous messages I’d finally managed to convince her that we weren’t going to a strip club.

  When she opened the door, my lungs constricted. Does she just get hotter every time I see her? She was just wearing jeans and a tank top with a blue cardigan over the top, but my mouth watered at the sight of her.

  “Hi,” she greeted, smiling happily as she opened the door wider for me so I could enter.

  “Hey, precious. Excuse me a minute, I just dropped something when I saw you.” I looked around the floor obviously.

  She looked down too. “What was it?” she asked curiously, frowning because there was nothing there.

  “My jaw.” I shrugged.

  She burst out laughing and grabbed the front of my T-shirt, pulling me into her apartment. “Oh and we’re back to cheesy lines, huh?” she teased, her eyes sparkling with amusement.

  “That wasn’t a line, sweetness.” I looped my arms around her so she couldn’t squirm away from me. “So, are you going to kiss me or do I have to lie to my diary?” I inched my face towards hers slowly, giving her the time to shoot me down if she wanted to.

  She smiled and
rolled her eyes, going up on tiptoes and pressing her lips to mine softly for a couple of seconds before pulling away.

  “So where are we really going? Do I get to know yet or not?” she asked, pouting.

  I fought desperately hard not to think she looked cute, I hated that she made me think things like that. I was a man’s man, I shouldn’t be thinking a girl was cute!

  “How are you with heights?” I asked, hoping she’d say fine.

  Her eyes tightened. “Umm… okay, I guess.”

  “Awesome. We’re going rock-climbing.” I grinned as her mouth dropped open in shock, her eyes widened and the smile faded from her face as she took in what I said.

  “Rock-climbing? Please tell me that’s a joke.”

  “No joke, that’s my choice. But if you’re not tough enough for it…” I trailed off teasingly.

  “Seriously? This is your choice? Making me climb a freaking mountain?”

  “Are you scared?” I teased, brushing the hair off her face lightly, letting my fingers linger on her cheekbone. I smiled and bent my head forward pressing my lips against her flushed cheek. She gulped and her breathing faltered, I wasn’t sure if it was the climbing or me being this close to her that did it. “I’ll protect you, sunshine, you don’t need to worry,” I whispered.

  She whimpered and let her head droop, pressing against my chest. I grinned happily, tightening my arms on her. It felt natural to hold her like this, so easy and comfortable. “If I say I don’t want to go then you’re going to be holding that over me and teasing me about it aren’t you?” she mumbled against my chest.

  “Probably, but if you really don’t want to then we can do something else,” I offered, secretly hoping she’d agree to it. That was one of my favourite things to do, and I already knew that her sexy little behind would look edible in a harness.

  She sighed and pushed herself away from me; she still didn’t look totally convinced about it. “Okay fine,” she agreed. “But if I break my neck then I’m coming back to haunt you in the shower.”

  “If you want to see me in the shower you could just ask, pumpkin, you don’t have to haunt me for it.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me and dramatically fake coughed. “Oh no! Looks like I’m coming down with that flu that’s going around my school,” she stated, forcing a cough again.

  “We’ll get you some Night Nurse on the way.” I winked at her and grabbed her purse that was on the side, passing it to her, nodding towards the door. “Ready, sweetpea?”

  Rosie sucked in a big breath through her teeth and then blew it out dramatically. “Yeah come on then, let’s get this done so we can eat,” she grumbled. I couldn’t help but laugh at her as she stalked out of her place letting me close the door behind us.

  She flicked through my music as we drove to the indoor climbing wall; I’d done a lot of this and was actually quite an experienced climber. The indoor wall was pretty easy, even for beginners, so she’d be fine.

  “So how did you sleep then, kitty? Did you have any hot little dreams about me that you want to share?” I asked, as we made the short drive.

  “Aren’t you running out of those pet names yet?” she asked, obviously choosing to ignore my comment.

  “No, I got a ton. We could date for at least a year before I run out,” I joked.

  “Just don’t call me stupid and then we’ll get along fine.”

  “Or bunny, you don’t like that one,” I reminded her.

  She cringed. “No, I don’t like that one.”

  I smiled and tried my hardest to keep my eyes on the road on the way there so that I didn’t kill us both through lack of concentration. When we finally pulled into the parking lot, she looked at me nervously.

  “So we really are doing this?” she asked.

  I laughed and got out of the car. Even if they just strapped her in the harness and she refused to climb, that would still make my day. I headed around to her side and opened her door for her. She frowned and crossed her arms over her chest not even looking at me; I could see she was fighting a smile though.

  “Are you coming inside then, honey?” I asked, holding my hand down to help her out of the car.

  “I’m thinking we should skip the climbing and go straight to lunch,” she replied, shrugging casually.

  “Oh really? You chicken?” I teased, squatting down so I could see her better.

  She groaned and shook her head. “No, I just don’t like the idea of climbing up something high with a piece of rope being the only thing between me and certain death.”

  “I won’t let you get hurt, come on, you can trust me. How about we go look and if you don’t want to try then you don’t have to. But remember, I did sit through two hours of pain for you last night, and I let you finish my milkshake!”

  She closed her eyes for a couple of seconds. “Fine, I’ll look, but if I don’t want to climb then I’ll just watch you, deal?”

  I nodded and took her hand, pulling her out of the car before she changed her mind. “Deal.”

  Half an hour later I had finally convinced her to have a go. We’d stood on the side-lines for ages, just watching people do it. Not that I had minded, of course. Standing on the side-lines with my arms around her and my chin rested on her shoulder while I pointed out easy routes and techniques was actually fun in itself. It was nice just to have a hold of her, so even if she had refused to try I still would have had a fantastic time.

  When it was finally our turn, I held out a harness towards her and got onto my knees, holding it open so she could step into it. As I pulled it up her legs, I made sure to do it slowly, and to accidentally brush my hands up her thighs. Her hold on my shoulders tightened as I straightened one of the straps around her inner thigh. I swallowed, trying to push down the lust that was building in me.

  “Do it tighter,” she begged, looking down at it as I stood up and made sure it was buckled at the front.

  I gripped the front strap, pulling a little. It was perfectly tight enough for her pert little ass and waist. “That’s fine,” I assured her, showing her that I couldn’t even slide my hand between the harness and her hip.

  “Please? Just do it tighter.” She looked at me pleadingly.

  “Rose, I promise that’s tight enough. You can trust me, I wouldn’t let you get hurt.” I bent down and placed a soft, chaste kiss on her lips.

  When I went to pull back, she shook her head and wrapped her arms around my neck. “If I’m going to die then I want something incredible to be my last memory. So make it count,” she muttered, pulling my mouth back to hers roughly.

  I smiled against her lips and kissed her passionately, tracing my tongue along her bottom lip. She stepped impossibly closer, crushing her chest against mine as she moaned into my mouth. I grunted, sliding one hand to the nape of her neck. All I wanted was to kiss and feel every inch of her.

  I broke the kiss just as I was getting a little breathless. Dipping my head, I nibbled on her earlobe, listening to her pant for breath. “That was so hot,” I whispered, as I ran my tongue along the edge of her ear.

  She shivered against me and nodded. “That’s just what I was thinking.”

  “So, are we ready now, or was that not incredible enough?” I teased, pulling back fractionally. It was certainly incredible enough for me, if I died right now I would be a happy man – of course, I would be even happier if that had happened while we were naked and I was buried balls deep inside her, but I could wait for that.

  “Yeah okay, come on then.” She looked a little pained as she let go of me.

  After quickly slipping on my own harness, I led her to the bottom of the wall, watching as the instructor checked her harness again. Rosie was slightly pale as she looked up at the wall with wide eyes.

  As we climbed, I matched my pace to hers, pointing out where to put her hands and feet. Surprisingly, she was actually enjoying herself. We were laughing and sending teasing insults back and forth the whole time. When we got to the top, I scooted over next to
her.

  “Told you you could do it.”

  She beamed proudly. “I actually really enjoyed this. Thanks for making me try.”

  “Glad you liked it, now you can come with me another time,” I said, shrugging. I’d actually never had this much fun climbing before, which was pretty weird considering it was one of my favourite things to do.

  “Again with the overconfidence in your skills?” She waggled her eyebrows suggestively, and I couldn’t help but laugh at her as I realised what I’d said. Obviously my little innuendos were rubbing off on her.

  I dipped my head, capturing her soft lips in a kiss. I loved being here with her; it was like hanging out with one of the guys, but better, because I could lust after her and flirt with her at the same time.

  “And now we go down,” I stated, wondering if she’d pick up on my innuendo too. She did. She chuckled and rolled her eyes in response. “Right then, getting down is the easy part. Just lean back on your rope and let it take your weight. After that, you just walk down the wall.” I leant back on my rope, sitting in my harness.