“This is not happening. This is not happening. This is seriously not fucking happening!” I don’t know why my brain kept thinking that, if I kept repeating that mantra over and over, and over and again in my head, it’d somehow be true. I mean, if there were a genie behind the mirror listening to my one-person conversation, then maybe. But, since I have worse luck than Mufasa from The Lion King, fat chance on that happening.

What was happening on the other side of that bathroom door however, I just plain wasn’t ready to deal with. To tell the honest to goodness truth, I don’t think I would EVER be ready to deal with it.

Because once I open this door I’ll be opening up a can of worms. No, that’s not quite right. Try snakes—really big snakes, more like anacondas.

So, looking in the hateful mirror that was not being helpful in any type of way whatsoever one last time, I pulled up my proverbial big girl panties. Closing the robe provided by the hotel as tightly as I could (since I refused to pick up the dress that lay discarded in a heap in the next room) I grabbed the knob and pulled it open to see the person that I was hoping against all hope was still fast asleep, getting ready to knock on the door.

“Hey.” We said it at the same time. I swear I felt as though I were back in high school with a million butterflies fluttering in my stomach.

Chase was the first to speak. “Just wanted to check on you, been in there for a while.” He stood there looking just as good as he had when I was still under the influence, if not even more so. See, I’m one of those people that all it takes is a nap, small or long, and I’m sober all over again. All he had on was his pants, and part of me wanted to just rip them off him. “You okay?”

I looked up at him then and quite possibly for the first time ever I let myself see all of the love he really did have for me pouring off of him in waves. It was all right there in his eyes. So when I opened my mouth to just blow that question off with a simple sure, the dam broke and I started bawling like a friggin baby. The waterworks began to flow and there was just no stopping it. Instead of saying anything or ridiculing me like any of the other men I had been with would have done, he just gathered me into his arms. Placing one arm around my back and the other under my legs, he picked me up and carried over to the chair in the bedroom. He then sat down with me in his lap, and held me close. He must have grabbed one of the washcloths from the bathroom, because he also started wiping my face off.

When the worst of the shudders and hiccupping sobs had finally subsided, Chase lifted my chin and turned my face to his. “Just answer me this, do you have any regrets about anything we did?”

“That’s the problem! I should, I really, truly should, and I almost want to, since I know I need to, and I know we can’t—”

Chase called my name, interrupting my very sincere rant.

“I didn’t ask if you think you should have regrets, I’m asking you yes or no, do you have any regrets?”

“No. Umph.” Standing up with me still in his arms, Chase walked us back into the bathroom.

Setting me down on the large counter, he turned on the tap in the sink to wet another washcloth. He wiped the rest of the tears from my face with a gentleness that belied the strength I now knew was in those arms. “Before you say anything, just hear me out.” He set the cloth down, then spread my legs so that he was standing directly in front of me. “When we were younger, I was never one for words; now I’m a lawyer, go figure. So let me validate my case. I have been in love with you since high school, and those feelings have never died down to this day. No woman I have ever been with has even come close to how beautiful, intelligent, generous, or as loyal as you are. Today, yes, it’s still the same day, we only slept for a few hours. Today has been the best day of my entire life.”

“Mine too,” I admitted.

“Then for the rest of this trip, let’s continue to bask in it. Enjoy it. I don’t want you to worry about anything in the future, or about anyone else’s feelings besides your own. Plus, you never know, Max may actually be happy if he knew we were together; we’d truly be brothers then.” He said that last with an impish grin.

“But, we’re actually married now. As in we consummated the marriage.”

“I know, and if you want a divorce after all is said and done, we’ll cross that bridge once we get to it. I know an excellent lawyer. Until then…” He untied my robe, and allowed one hand to creep up to my breast, while the other explored my already wet folds. He made me gasp when he slid two fingers inside. “Let’s just enjoy, feel, and have fun,” he said.

He tweaked my nipple as his thumb rubbed my clit in circles. He worked his fingers inside of me faster and faster until I cried out, “Chase, please.”

Releasing my breast, he pushed the robe down off my shoulder. Bending his head to nibble on my ear and whisper in a voice that had grown both deeper and huskier with intent, “Please what, Mrs. Reynolds?” He thrust those long, thick fingers inside me one final time before pulling them out, only to replace them with the crown of his rock hard erection. He just let it sit there, an unspoken promise. “What is it that you want from your husband?”

I started to squirm, trying to push myself down further to force what I wanted, needed. He grabbed onto both of my thighs, stopping me, “You, Chase, I want you.”

Sliding those large hands up to my ass, he pulled me to the very edge while entering me fully and completely, making me damn near scream. “Coming so soon? Maybe I should stop.”

“Don’t you dare!” To my shock and horror, he actually pulled out. But to my utmost relief it was only to turn me around and bend me over.

Placing himself at my waiting entrance once again, “Who do you want, Justine?”

He started creeping into me so slowly I thought I would go mad, so I answered him, “You.”

“Not good enough. Who am I to you, Justine?”

When he started pulling out I practically yelled, “My husband!”

“Well, since I did promise to honor and obey…”

“Oh, God, Chase!” I did yell it then. He was thrusting into me harder and faster, and in this position he was even deeper than before. I grabbed onto the counter as my legs began to feel like jelly. But I had no worries about falling with the firm grip he had on my ass. Then he brought me so hard that I could feel my own juices flowing around him and down my legs. We both cried out as he gave one hard and deep final thrust before pulling out and spilling his seed up my back. Instead of just stepping back like most guys I had been with, he turned me around and pulled me into him for a kiss that promised so much more without even a word.

Finally coming up for air, he pulled one my hands to his lips and placed a gentle kiss on it. “Now, how about we get cleaned up and get those nachos and drinks that I promised you? The night is still young, and I am in no way done with you yet.”

Chase had seemed to not only bust out of the shell he used to cocoon himself in, but had burned that bitch. I had to admit even if only to myself, this new aggressive Chase was embedding himself ever deeper into my heart.