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I nod and pull my hands from his, turning to face forward.
“I’m sorry I got you into this mess,” he says.
I shrug. “I was a willing participant.”
He nods with an ornery grin that tells me he remembers exactly how willing I was. His eyebrows do a corny little wiggle that has me laughing along with him.
I gently knock the toes of my boots against the ground to move the swing. At first, it resists because of Chase’s boots rooted to the ground, but then he pushes up and slowly starts rocking us.
“Do you even ride motorcycles?” I suddenly ask, realizing he’s wearing the same motorcycle boots he had on when we met.
The first time I laid eyes on him, I was so busy trying to hide my nipples from his broody gaze that I didn’t pay much attention to his choice of footwear. But now that I’ve gotten to know him better, they seem so out of place.
“Huh?” His eyes narrow in confusion, then drop to his feet before he laughs.
It’s his deep, sexy laugh. The one that hooked me from the very beginning, and the one that, even now, causes a blush to rise in my cheeks.
“Willow bought them for me. I needed new boots, so she got these for me for Christmas. I suppose my mother didn’t care to explain to her that these weren’t the kind of boots I needed. So, I just wear them.”
I try my best not to swoon, but he says it so nonchalantly, as if it’s not one of the sweetest things I’ve ever heard. He could have just as easily returned them or stuck them in the back of his closet, but instead, he’s worn them almost every day I’ve seen him. Knowing Chase, he probably doesn’t even realize how adorable that is.
“Speaking of my truck,” he says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out his keys. “Here.” He opens one of my palms and plops them into my hand.
“We weren’t talking about your truck,” I say. My hand instinctively tightens around the sharp metal, even though I have no idea why he gave them to me.
“We weren’t. But the way your eyes just lit up, I was reminded of how fucking beautiful you were in the back of my truck, under the stars, telling me how passionate you were about opening your dance studio. Did you?”
“I, um, what?” I manage to stutter out, unable to keep up with all the thoughts he’s throwing my way.
He called me beautiful.
In my precious hormonal state, that almost brings tears to my eyes for a second time this morning.
“Sorry,” he says with a chuckle. “Did you end up opening a dance studio in LA?”
“Oh. No, not yet.”
He nods, relief flashing and disappearing on his face so fast that I wonder if I imagined it.
“Why am I holding your keys, Chase?”
“Can you drive that thing?” he asks, pointing toward it.
I shrug.
“Have I ever driven anything that big? No. But am I confident in my ability to be a natural? Also no. Why?”
He chuckles. “If you’re going to be here for a while, you should probably stop paying for a rental. You can use my truck while I’m at work. I can just drive a work truck to and from.”
“No way, Chase. I can’t take your truck.” When I look at it this time, my eyes bulge. I swear it wasn’t that big ten seconds ago.
“You’re not taking my truck. I’m loaning it to you. I’m not using it during work hours anyway, and I need you to have access to something safe and reliable. Plus, paying for a rental is a waste.”
“But it’s so big,” I exclaim.
“Thank you.” He grins and I smack his arm, rolling my eyes at his lame joke but letting the smile take over my face anyway.
I love the relaxed, goofy side of Chase.“Honestly, I’d expect something like that from Drake, but not you. I thought you were above penis jokes.”
“No man is above penis jokes. Besides, you can’t be best friends with someone for years and not pick up on their annoyances.” He pauses for just a second. “But I’ll teach you how to drive it, don’t worry. You’ll be fine.”
I nod and drop the keys into my purse, taking a quick check of the time on my phone. Turning to Chase, I ask, “Welp. You ready to move in together?”
