The Choice (11 page)

“Nothing’s wrong. You’re taking me to get a tattoo,” she says seriously, frowning when I laugh.

“You’re serious?”

“Yes,” she says. “I
’ve always wanted one. I know it’s not exactly the craziest story, but it’s a start so come on.”

Before I can process the information, she’s already walking inside and grabbing her purse. Ana giggles and hops off of Drake’s lap, running after her. “I’m coming, too,
Soph!”

Ten minutes later, we’re all piled into my truck on the way to the
same shop I’d gotten most of mine done at.

“Do you know what you’re going to get?” I ask her and she immediately shakes her head.

“Nope, not a clue,” she laughs.

“Well, are you sure you want to do it tonight, then? You don’t have to, you know,” I offer.

“I know, but that would defeat the purpose,” she says. “I’m going to go in, pick what I want and doing it tonight.”

“Alright,” I say smiling as we pull into the parking lot. “Well, maybe you should get something small then if you’re not sure.”

“No,” she disagrees immediately. “If I’m doing it, I’m doing it right.”

“Sophie,” I laugh
, but she ignores me. Kissing me on the jaw, she hops out of the truck and is halfway to the door before I’m out.

Walking inside, she takes my hand and makes her way into the small shop. Behind the desk is
Steph, one of the artists that’s worked here for years. I’m not surprised when she recognizes me immediately.

“Hey, Cupcake
!” she calls over to me with a smile. “How ya been?”

“Good,” I smile.

“Are you getting some more work done?”

“No,” I tell her. “I’m actually
here with my girlfriend. She’s interested in getting her first.”

“Ooh! You brought me a
virgin!” Steph smiles over at Sophie and gives her a chuckle as she claps her ink clad hands together excitedly. “Do you know what you want?”

“No,” Sophie shakes her head, glancing around at the different artwork hanging on the walls.

“Okay well take a look at what we’ve got out here and let me know if you see something you like,” she offers. “Let me know if you need any help.”

“Thanks,” Sophie smiles at her before Ana and her make their way over to the book in the corner. I start to make my way over to her when I see
Steph grinning up at me.

“She’s hot!”
Steph whispers.

“Thanks,” I chuckle. “I know.”

About twenty minutes after we arrive, Sophie breaks the silence.

“I found it!”

“What is it?” I ask, curious since she’s shot down everything we’ve shown her.

“This,” she says full of pride and I can’t stop my eyes from bulging from my head.
Sophie has chosen a large feather tattoo that will easily cover the top half of her ribs, where she’s telling Steph she wants it placed.

“Baby,” I t
ell her warily. “That’s a big ass tattoo!”

“Yes,” she says plainly. “
Do you hate it?”

“No,” I say immediately. “I love it. I just don’t know if you realize how large it’s going to be.”

“Ha! That’s what she said,” she says with a laugh. “I know how big the tattoo will be. I’m good. I told you, if I’m doing this, I’m doing it right. I’m not going to half ass this tattoo just because it’s my first.”

“Okay,” I tell her with a smirk. “You ready?”

“Nearly,” she says with a smile. “Steph?”

“Yes Cupcake
?”

“Do you do piercings?”

“Yes, ma’am,” she grins.

“What?” Ana and I say at the same time.

“I’ll be getting at least one of those while I’m here, too,” Sophie says, ignoring us and walking to the back with Steph.

Four hours, one tattoo and three piercin
gs later, we’re done. Her speech is slurred around the barbell she just had put through her tongue, but mine isn’t much better since she’d convinced me it would be “mutually beneficial” for us to get it done together.

Deviant
.

“So when are you guys leaving for Florida again?” Heather asks me as she pulls the food from the window for her table.

“We leave on Saturday and we’ll be back in two weeks, but I won’t be at work until December first.”

After taking our food to our respective tables, we meet back at the coffee machine and continue talking while we work.

“We should totally go out before you leave,” she says excitedly. “We need a girl’s night and we’ve been working out too hard to not show off a little!”

Since I’d found ou
t I’d be in Emily’s wedding, I’ve been working out like a madwoman. Seeing my distress the first day I’d returned to work after our trip to the beach, Heather jumped on board and agreed to be my workout partner. Chase was more than happy about it. Not only had I made a friend, he was off the hook for working out and could still drink beer.

“Yeah, that would be fun!” I agree. “I’ll invite Ana and we’ll have a blast!”

“Sweet! I think ladies night is Wednesday!”

“Okay I’ll call her and let you know if she’s in,” I tell her as we leave the line to return to work.

The rest of the shift is spent planning. Since Ana and I had moved in with the guys, we hadn’t been seeing much of each other over the past couple of weeks. As soon as I was able to, I sent her a text asking if she’d come along. To my delight, she responded immediately.

Hell yes I’m down! Let me know when you have

the details and I’m there! Love you! ~ANA~

Relaying the information to Heather, our excitement is renewed as the new manager, Jamie, walks around the corner.

“What are you girls so excited about?” he asks with a grin, causing Heather to blush.

They’ve been seeing each other secretly for a couple of weeks and she’s so smitten with him it’s adorable.

“Me, Sophie and her best friend are all planning a girls night before they leave for Florida,” Heather tells him.

“Ah! Girl’s night! Sounds like fun!” he says, shooting her a wide grin. “What night are y’all planning on?”

“Wednesday probably,” I tell him. “It’
s ladies night at all the clubs. I can’t be out real late because we’re heading to Corpus first thing Friday and I’ll need all day Thursday to pack.”

“Well, you girls behave,” he says, winking at Heather.

One glance at the
hazel eyes and muscle bound body towering over her and my poor friend is a mess. Laughing to myself, I turn to grab my purse and jacket as well as to give them a little privacy to say their goodbyes.

After the restaurant is locked up, I hop into my truck and dial Chase while I wait for Heather. He answers on the second ring.

“Hey Baby,” he says cheerfully. “How was work?”

“Good,” I smile. “I’m leaving in a second, just waiting for Heather so I can drop her off. How’s your day?”

“It’s alright. I’m ready to come home to my girl, though.”

“I miss you, too,
Babysaurus,” I confess and smile wider when I hear his chuckle. “Before I forget, I’m going out with the girls on Wednesday so you should call Drake and see if he wants to hang out or something.”

“Okay,” he says. “What are y’all going to do?”

“It’s ladies night,” I tell him. “We’re just hanging out before we leave for vacation.”

“Woo
hoo!” he yells into the phone, causing me to giggle. “I can’t wait to get the hell out of here for a couple of weeks. We are long overdue for a vacation, Baby. Are you excited about … Shit hold on, Sweetheart.”

I hear him talking into the radio as Heather climbs into the cab
of the truck and gets settled. I attempt to let her know we’ll be leaving in a few minutes, but she’s so busy gawking at Jamie climbing onto the back of his bike, she doesn’t notice. After chuckling at her dramatic response to him taking off through the parking lot, I switch the call to hands free so we can leave.

“Baby?” Chase says through the speakers.

“I’m here,” I tell him immediately. “You’re on speaker and Heather’s in the truck.”

After last week’
s surprise phone sex proposition over the loud speakers in my truck while I was dropping her off, I’d be sure to tell him when we weren’t alone from now on. Remembering, Heather greets him with a reddening face.

“Hey, Sweet Cheeks,” she laughs, more comfortable since we’d been hanging out more.

“Hi Heather,” he says, amused. “Okay Gorgeous, I’ll let you go so you can drive. Be safe.”

“I will,
you too,” I promise. “I’ll call you when I get home.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too, Honey Pants.”

“Bye, Baby,” he chuckles as we disconnect.

Pulling onto the highway, Heather grins over at me and chuckles.

“Y’all are disgusting,” she laughs.

“What?”

“You’re so cute together I can’t stand it! I hope Jamie and me are like that someday,” she says dreamily. “Why is he so hot?”

“I don’t know,” I say, laughing at her as she leans her head dramatically against the seat.

“Did you know that he’s a bull rider? He’s a freaking bull rider, Sophie!”

“No,” I say, still smiling. “I did not know that.”

“And he has a bike,” she continues. “And a killer body that is cov
ered in tattoos and hotness and I think I hate him!”

“You don’t hate him,” I laugh at her. “You’re smitten with him.”

“No, I really think I hate him!” she wails. “Who the hell does he think he is anyway? How dare he walk around looking like that and smelling like he does. Have you smelled him?”

“No,” I chuckle
.

“Ugh! He smells like a cotton ball that’s been drenched in sexiness
and magic, the rat bastard!”

“You’re ridiculous!” I tell her as we pull into her apartment complex.

“I’m not ridiculous!” she says defensively as she gathers her things and opens her door. “What’s ridiculous is that sex demon coming into my job and ruining my life!”

“The nerve!”
I laugh at her as she waves her goodbye. “See you tomorrow.”

***

Sophie is washing her hands across from me, gettin
g ready to cook our supper. She’s shaking her ass and singing ‘You Know I’m No Good’ by Amy Winehouse to me across the kitchen bar I’m sitting on the other side of. She’s just come out of the shower and is wearing a thin white tank top and a pair of tiny, black cotton shorts. The sparkly charm hanging from her belly button is peeking out from under the bottom of her shirt and making me crazy. I didn’t think this woman could get any hotter, but I was wrong.

“What time are you going out tomorrow?” I ask her when she’s done singing as I take a long pull from my beer, raking my eyes over her.

“I think probably around nine or nine thirty,” she says. “Ana and Drake are going to be here before then though.”

“Are you wearing a bra?” I ask her. I’d be lying if I said I’d even registered what she just told me. This conversation started out innocently enough, but it’s about to end with me taking her in the kitchen. Her laughter breaks my
gaze from her nipples.

“No,” she blushes. “I just got out of the shower and threw this on.”

Rising from my stool, I finish my beer and hold her green eyes before I begin making my way around the bar. She playfully backs away from me, those rogue dimples of hers making their way to the surface.

“Are your panties wet?” I say as I sweep my eyes over her again.

“They might be,” she teases as she pulls her bottom lip into her teeth. “If I’d put any on.”

“
Fuck Sophie,” I chuckle huskily as I take the final step separating us, caging her with my arms on either side of her. Staring down at her, I run my nose up the side of her neck taking in her feminine, coconut scent. “I was wrong about you, Baby. You’re not a good girl at all,” I whisper into her ear, smirking when I feel her familiar shudder. “You’ve been very, very bad.”

“I warned you I was up to no good
, Chase,” she pants against my chest. Her hot breath on my skin shoots electricity through my veins. “Guess you’ll have to teach me my lesson. Otherwise, I may never learn.”

Her words are my tipping point and I can’t help the force in which I push her against the counter. “I think you’re right, Princess.
” 

Slipping my hands under the front of her shirt, I flatten my palms and slowly push the fabric up over her bare breasts. Pinching them with just the right amount of pressure, I lower my head to take her mouth, swallowing her low moan. Gripping the hair at the nape of my neck, she
teases my mouth with her tongue before taking my lip with her teeth.

“How will you teach me my lesson?” she whispers, looking up at me through her thick eyelashes as I continue kneading her breasts with my palms. “You can’t have me traipsing around here, looking like a
common whore, can you?”

“Holy shit, Sophie,” I growl into her mouth before I kiss her harder, punishing her mouth
with my own and bruising her soft, full lips. “Take your fucking pants off. I’m about to fuck the shit out of you, Baby.”

Holding her eyes, I back away slightly and unzip my pants while
I watch her push her shorts down her thighs in one swift movement. She starts to speak, but I don’t let her. Lifting her onto the edge of the counter, I plow into her with enough force to make her gasp loudly as her head falls against the cabinet door behind her.

“Chase,” she breathes my name as she grips my neck again, rougher this time. Licking my way down her neck, I suck her skin hard into my mouth, marking my territory. As the groan leaves her lips, I
grip her hair into my hand and bring her mouth back to mine.

“
Be quiet. You’re being punished,” I tease her, controlling her mouth as she shakes with pleasure, meeting my thrusts. Lifting her in my arms, she grips me around the neck as I make my way across the room. Pulling away from her mouth, I yank her hair into my hand and force her head back. “Have you learned your lesson yet?” I tease and watch as the playful gleam dances across her features as she shakes her head. “Hmm… I guess we’ll just have to try harder.”

As I kick the chair out of the way, h
er eyes become heavy with arousal and I pull out of her, feeling the loss of her immediately as I drop her to her feet. Spinning her around, I grip her by the back of her neck and cup her sex into my hand, ordering her to spread her legs. Dipping my fingers inside her, we both gasp at the wetness dripping from her. I fuck her slowly with my hand as I hold her hair roughly in my fist, biting my way down the nape of her neck as I feel her begin to grind her ass against my dick.

“Please fuck me, Chase,” she begs with a low moan.

“Shh,” I whisper into her hair. “I told you to be quiet, Princess.”

“I can’t,” she whimpers as her walls begin to clench around my fingers. “Please let me come.”

“Will you be a good girl if I make you come?” I tease as I watch her eyes begin to tear.

“Yes,” she promises, grinding against my hand harder.

“Okay Sweetheart,” I whisper. Licking the tear that escapes from her cheek, I continue to work my fingers inside her as I move the pad of my thumb over her swollen clit. With the slightest pressure, I send her flying in seconds. “Go Baby.”

Screaming my name out, Sophie rides the waves of her orgasm as I bite into her shoulder. I watch her eyes roll back into her head as she leans her head
back against my chest, spent. I continue to push my fingers into her, slower now as she looks up at me dreamily.

“I hope you don’t think I’m done with you already,” I whisper against her lips. Pulling my fingers from her, I raise them to her mouth. “
Open,” I order her, spreading feather light kisses against her jaw as she holds my gaze. “See how good you taste after you come for me, Baby?”

“Yes,” she says around my fingers. Removing my hand, I take her mouth again, growling when I taste her juices there.

“Bend over,” I command as I lean her over the table top in front of us. “Touch yourself and don’t stop until I say so, Sweetheart.”

Bent over my kitchen table, Sophie begins running her fingertips over her clit, her soft moans growing louder in minutes.
I run my hand over my cock, so hard I can barely stand it. Lowering to my knees behind her, I push her ass cheeks apart, gripping roughly with my free hand as I begin running the tip of my tongue along her center. As I reach her tight bud, a violent shudder runs through her and she moans louder. The surprise in my action causes her to stop movement against her sex and I move my hand up to hers, encouraging her.

“Don’t stop, Sophie,” I whisper against her ass before licking my way back up. She’s teetering on the edge of another orgasm in what seems like seconds. Spreading her wider with my shoulders, I pull her closer to my mouth. “I’m going to take your ass
soon, Princess,” I say as I slip a finger inside her drenched sex, feeling her pulse. With one bite onto her thigh, she’s screaming out in pleasure again.

“Fuck!” she yelps as I slide between her open legs and lap her juices greedily, sending her flying higher. “Oh my God, Chase!” she calls out loudly and I rise behind her, moving her legs where I need them as I slam into her, making her scream my name.

“That’s right, Baby,” I say as I begin driving into her ruthlessly. “Let me here you scream, Sophie.”

I grip onto her shoulder, fucking her hard as she continues to scream
my name into the kitchen, drowning out the Stevie Nicks’ song coming from the radio. Running my fingers over her skin, I become lost in the feel of her around me, consuming me, taking me.

“
Yours,” she gasps as she contracts around me. “Holy shit Chase! I’m yours!”

“Give me what’s mine, Sophie,
” I ground out. “Go Baby.”

In seconds, she’s falling again. Hugging my tighter with her walls and growing wetter as she tears my sanity further. With a loud groan, she finds her r
elease and only seconds later I fill her.

With a few final thrusts, I slow my movements and rest my hands on her trembling hips. As we catch our breath, I gently trace my fingers over
the lines of her tattoo and listen to the sound of her quiet hum of contentment.

“I love you,” she whispers, neither of us moving.

“I love you, too, Baby,” I answer as I bend to kiss her on the shoulder, slowly pulling out of her. “Come here.”

She stands slowly, unsteady, and faces me. Lifting her into my arms, I kiss her on the side of her face as I carry her to ou
r bathroom. Setting her on the counter, I turn the water on and switch on Sophie’s MP3 player before carrying her to the shower with me.

As we wash each other, we talk about our upcoming trip and plan another to Camden to see JT
when we get back. Gripping her at the waist as she leans her head back to rinse the shampoo from her golden strands, I help her get the last of it out before she raises her head to face me with a heart stopping smile.

“Thanks, Baby,” she says in her soft voice and reaches up on her tiptoes to kiss me gently.

Holding her there, I stroke her cheek as my heart swells with emotion for her.

“Marry me, Soph
ie,” I whisper against her lips. “Please marry me.”

“Chase,” she mouths
as her expression instantly falls, taking her lip into her teeth as she rests her head on my chest and grips me tightly around my torso. “I can’t.”

Lost for words, but full of hurt, I nod slowly and look away from her. Quickly kissing her on the forehead, I pull away from her and step out of the shower, leaving her.

***