“Worth it,” he told her, smiling because she made him happy and he liked teasing her.
She finally met his gaze. “I know it would be, but...” She’d asked him to go slow, and he kept pushing to get them where he wanted them to be without all the steps in between that she’d never had but deserved.
“I’m sorry about dinner and being an ass.”
She touched his arm. “I know you want us to be together.”
“I do. I know you want that, too, and I want it to be perfect. And this isn’t even close.”
Her hand slid up to his bicep. “I don’t need perfect.”
“You deserve it.”
“Let’s take that word out of our thinking and conversations. It’s not about that. It’s about us being there foreach other. Tonight, you need me to help you. Let me do that. Let it be a step toward more.”
He loved the sound of that, but he wanted her to understand how he felt. “Do you know why I’m so impatient? I feel like I’ve been doing for everyone else for so long that I just want it to be my turn to have what I want.”
She stared up at him, understanding and joy in her eyes. “I’m here. You’re here. We’re together.”
“Are you at least going to sleep in that bed with me?”
“I will be right beside you.”
He took that as a promise for a whole lot more than just being in his bed. “Okay.”
“Okay,” she echoed him, then stepped around him and headed for the bedroom door. “I’ll get Eliza settled for the night and meet you back here after your shower.”
Best thing he’d heard in a long time.
Chapter Thirteen
Shelby walked into Chase’s bedroom and stopped short. He was sitting on the side of the bed wearing nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. His dark hair was wet and dripping on his broad shoulders. He kept his hands planted on either side of him as he stared at the floor, quiet and intense.
“Chase, are you okay?”
“You were right. The shower helped. Now I’m just wiped out.” Pain and fatigue drew lines across his forehead.
“You need to sleep.” The stress, nightmares, and losses he’d suffered had clearly caught up to him. She read it in the sag of his shoulders and the quiet admission that tonight he had nothing left.
She dropped the ice packs she’d brought with her on the end of the bed, walked into the bathroom and grabbed a dry towel, then went back to him. She draped the towel over his head and gently massaged the thick cotton against his scalp to help dry his hair. She pulled the towel off and raked her fingers through his short, dark hair. “There now. That’s better.”
He gripped her hips, pulled her closer between hisknees, and laid his forehead to her chest. “Just having you here makes everything better.”
She wiped the droplets of water off his back and used her other hand to massage the stiff muscles at the back of his neck. “Eliza is asleep in her new bed. I know you’re not finished yet, but her room looks great.”
“Do you think she’ll sleep okay in there?”
“She’ll be fine. She fell right to sleep.”
He sighed. “Good. I want her to be happy here.”
She brushed her fingers across his forehead. “She’s always happy when she’s with you.”
He leaned his head back and stared up at her. “What about you?”
“I’m here. Right where I want to be.”
Chase’s hands tightened. “It’s been a hell of a few days. I really just want to crawl in bed with you and hold you close to me.”