He reached down and started stroking as he thrust, circling my clit, and pressing as he moved and oh did it feel so good. Moaning, I stopped worrying and started working with him, taking and receiving, moving in rhythm.
“Ah, Emma!” He ground into me, his face contorted with pleasure, mouth open, eyes closed, looking as crazed as I felt. I thrust my hips up to his and he groaned, looking down into my eyes as he started to move, slowly, steadily, deep inside me.
“Chase, it’s so… you’re so…!” I panted, grabbing at him, writhing under him, hand on his muscular ass as he pumped into me. I’d never felt so full, so possessed, so consumed.
“I can’t…” he panted, straining, his muscles taut. “I don’t want to hurt you, but—”
“Don’t hold back.” I raked my fingers across his broad back, wrapping my legs around his waist. “I want you.”
He drove into me, fierce, hard, and I gasped but clung onto him. I didn’t just want him, I needed him, all of him. With a growl, he sank into me, mouth on my neck, hands digging into my buttocks, cock thrusting into me so deep my eyes widened and my mouth opened as I screamed.
But what came out was, “Yes! Oh!” as he fucked me, demanding, relentless. I moaned, sweat glistening, our bodies working together, slick and hot.
“I need you to come, Emma,” he panted, looking into my eyes as he sank into me. “I need it.” I could feel it, so close, bubbling up to the top. With his next thrust I exploded, pleasure pouring over me golden like honey. He reached it, too, his peak, groaning and fisting the sheets as he came, shuddering, sweating, losing control.
Collapsing down, he sank into me, breathing hot and hard at my side, his heart pounding in sync with mine. What had just happened? I’d had sex before, but it had been nothing like that. What I’d experienced before had felt like a little drizzle, a brief interlude that wouldn’t even disrupt a picnic. What had happened between me and Chase? That had been a category five hurricane.
“You’re…” Chase murmured, nuzzling my neck, holding me close. “That was amazing.”
“It’s…I’m…” He’d managed a full sentence. That seemed beyond me as I snuggled into him, kissing his chest, his throat, his lips. How could words describe that kind of intense connection? It went beyond anything I could manage, and I liked to fancy myself a writer, or at least a blogger. Good thing I never wrote sex scenes. At least with a blog you could always just rely on a good visual. For that? It would have to be a GIF of fireworks.
The second time we made love, we went slower, building steady and hungry, drinking each other in as if memorizing every move. I never wanted it to end, never wanted him to stop, never wanted another partner for the rest of my life. It was Chase, Chase who filled me up and made me want so badly I never thought I’d get enough. But when we came together a second time, crying out and groaning and clinging to each other, I got it, the feel of ultimate satisfaction, in his arms, a blissed-out smile on my lips as I drifted off to sleep until morning.
§
The next day, our second-to-last in Atlanta, it felt like everyone wanted a piece of Chase. And they were getting a lot more access than I was. I realized I was growing more protective and possessive. I didn’t like how people prodded at him all the time. His coaches rode him relentlessly, yelling at him to do this, stop doing that, dial it back, focus. It made my head dizzy listening to them.
Reporters hounded him, wanting the scoop. A camera crew arrived, wanting to film another profile on him, requesting his permission to use childhood video footage his father had provided. I was starting to eye reporters the same way he did, feeling suspicious and threatened, wondering what they wanted and how they were going to try to twist what they found for the most dramatic effect.
Chase weathered it all well, keeping so calm. I stopped wondering about why the media portrayed him as cool and started wondering how he kept his cool under so much pressure. They all wanted hype and drama. The real story was how he managed not to lose his mind under all the close scrutiny.
They didn’t know him the way I did. They didn’t care about discovering his past for the right reasons. They just wanted to expand their market with a splashy story.
Around dinner time, my phone rang, finally with a call back from Tori.
“S’up girl?” she belted through the phone. It sounded like she was calling me from a nightclub. “You scooped the story yet?”
“Where are you?” I could barely hear her. I mean, I heard her question well enough to feel a pang of confused guilt stab through my heart. But it was loud wherever she was, her voice nearly drowned out by background noise.
“You’re going to love Rio! Holy shit! I’ve been dancing every night!”
“What time is it there?”
“I don’t know. Six?” So, about our time. I’d thought Rio was only an hour ahead. At five o’clock I had just finished up a run, about to take a shower and change for dinner. Apparently Tori was already going at it full-throttle.
“Wait, someone wants to talk to you!” I heard a rustle and some muffled laughter, then a male voice got on the phone with a thick accent, Portuguese if I had to guess.
“What you up to, the lovely Emma? I see you soon?” I could hear Tori laughing in the background. “I like Tori, your good friend.” Then I heard other sounds, probably kissing.
“OK, Tori?” I asked. “Tori, are you there?”
“Let me call you back in a sec.”
A sec in Brazilian Tori time meant five hours. My phone rang again later that night, while I was in the laundry room at the hotel. I’d been avoiding Chase, like an idiot. But I felt so crazy and confused.
On the one hand, of course we belonged together. There was no question about it. What we had between us was amazing.
But then, there was the stupid blog thing and the more I thought about it the more I knew I was going to have to have a hard conversation with Tori. I couldn’t do it. I just couldn’t treat Chase like that.
I’d pursued my job with the team with that intention, but that had been before I’d met him. Before I’d fallen for him. I’d thought of Chase like everyone else, a target, a prized acquisition to pursue. But now, that made me sick. I hated seeing others treat him like that. And knowing I’d been one of them—still kind of was since I hadn’t officially taken myself out of that role with Tori yet? It ate away at me.
I needed to talk with Tori and explain, get it off my chest. Then I could talk to Chase and tell him with a clean conscience, yes, in addition to being a physical therapist my friend and I ran a blog. The kind of blog that ran stories about people. And, yes, I had intended to do exactly that about him.
But I wasn’t any more. I wanted off of that train. I felt nervous about telling him about it. He might get angry, feel confused and betrayed. But it wasn’t too late. If we had the conversation now, complete with my assurance I wasn’t after that story any more, it would be all right, wouldn’t it?
“Emma!” Tori sounded blazing drunk. I could picture her, mascara all smudged, hopefully with her clothes still covering all her naughty bits.
“Are you OK?” I asked. At least it sounded quieter now.
“Shag-a-delic, baby!” She burst out into laughter. “Remember that stupid movie? August Powers?”
“Austin Powers.” I remembered. She had a brother who’d been 13 when Goldmember had come out, and he’d pretty much memorized the movie and quoted it day in, day out until we’d started quoting it ourselves.
“Groovy baby, yeah!” Gales of laughter from her. Less from me. This might not be the best time to have the heart-to-heart conversation with my best friend about my change of heart. You know that dream we’ve both had for years now? About taking our blog to the next level? I’m out. Not going to happen.
She babbled, drunk as a skunk, about Luiz and Paulo and the personal tour they’d given her. “Water polo, Ems! That’s the way to go.” Apparently they both played for the Brazilian Water Polo team and they were quite good with their han
ds.
“OK, Tori. Let’s talk tomorrow.”
“It’s all coming together, Emma! Just like we always wanted. Can’t believe it. All our hard work. About to pay off!”
“Right.” About that…
She burst out laughing again, trying to tell me about something that had happened at some club but the words weren’t forming right.