“Seriously?” she whispered, still dubious and now he was getting pissed off.

“Yeah, Faye, seriously,” he replied shortly and she stared.

Then he watched as wet filled her eyes.

Fuck.

“Faye, what the fuck?” he asked.

“I… I…” she stammered, “I want to be good at it. For… for you so you… you’ll keep liking me.”

He stared down at her.

Then his torso collapsed on hers because he couldn’t hold it up due to the fact that he was roaring with laughter.

He heard her wheeze and, still laughing, he rolled them so he was on his back again and she was up top. He kept laughing as he lifted his hands and pulled her hair away from her face as she studied him, a look on her face he couldn’t quite read but didn’t give a fuck he couldn’t.

“Shit,” he muttered, still chuckling, “that was fuckin’ funny.”

“I’m being serious,” she whispered.

“I know, honey, that’s why that was so funny.”

Her stare turned to a glare and he started chuckling again.

So she snapped, “Chace!”

When she snapped, he snapped. His hands in her hair at the sides of her head cupped her so he could pull her face to within a half an inch of his.

“First up,” he began, his tone deadly serious because he was deadly fucking serious, “I’m not lyin’ or handin’ you a line. I’ll say it one more time. You’re the best I ever had. I don’t know why and I don’t care why. It’s just true and I figure it’s because it’s you. Second, and a lot more fuckin’ important, you don’t bury shit like this, concerns you have, fears that run deep and not talk to me about ‘em. You don’t go about life with me like all is good and you’re settlin’ in and harbor shit deep that eats at you. You lay it on me so I can help you let it go.”

“Do I get to return that favor?” she asked instantly.

“What?” Chace asked back.

“You’re harboring stuff deep that eats at you. Do I get you laying it on me so I can help you let it go?”

Fuck, how did she maneuver this?

Fuck, he’d walked right into it.

“Faye –” he started and she yanked her head back, pushing up.

“I get it. The answer to that is no,” she muttered but he rolled with her so he was again on top and when he had her contained, he saw it was Faye now who was angry but he also saw she was hurt.

Fuck.

“Give me time,” he whispered.

“I am,” she whispered back.

“It’ll all be yours, Faye, I promise when the time is right, when I can face it, when we’re strong and you can face it, I’ll give it to you.”

Her head gave a slight jerk and she was still whispering when she asked tentatively, “You’re not testing me?”

He blinked then asked back, “What?”

“You, it’s… whatever it is, is uh, deep and if you don’t, um… intend for there to be a, um… future for us then you wouldn’t want to –”

Christ, he was a fucking idiot.

He dipped his head, touched his mouth to hers and stopped her talking.

Then he lifted his head so he was a breath away and he shared softly, “Faye, I’m fallin’ for you.”

Her hands were at the sides of his ribs and he felt her fingers dig in as her eyes got big. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Chace –”

“Straight up, this is the man in your bed. I want in there, Faye, and when I get in there, I’m gonna dig in deep so when I share my shit that’s so dark you’ll be blinded by it and you’ll wanna run to the light, you can’t because I’m so deep, you can’t let go.”

She was breathing heavier as she stared at him before she said quietly, “Nothing about you can be that dark, Chace.”

“It can ‘cause it is.”

She shook her head. “I don’t believe that.”

“Good, keep not believin’ it so I can dig in there and when I give it to you, you can’t let go.”

“It’s not that dark,” she pushed quietly.

“This is the only warning you get, Faye, ‘cause you don’t kick my ass out right now and you sleep beside me tonight, tomorrow I just keep digging deeper but it’s no lie. It is. It’s as dark as it can get. Dark and ugly.”

“That isn’t true.”

“It is.”

“It isn’t,” she stressed, Chace opened his mouth to speak but her hand shot up between them and she pressed the tips of her fingers against his lips and went on. “I’ll tell you why I know. Because what you just told me you were doing, you wouldn’t do. Not to me. Not to anyone. You wouldn’t make me care for you only to hurt me. You know whatever it is, I can handle it. Because if you didn’t know that, didn’t believe it, you would not be here right now. That isn’t the type of man you are, Chace, and I don’t care what you think, I know who you are. I don’t know who you think you are but I know who you are. I also know nothing you can tell me will make me think differently.”

Jesus, he fucking hoped so.

She wasn’t done but she moved her fingers from his mouth to cup his jaw before she kept talking.

“I’m glad you like me. I’m glad to know you’re not sharing with me not because you’re testing me but because of why you explained you aren’t though that’s crazy but, whatever. Take your time. I’ll be here and after, I’ll still be here. And I’m glad you thought that was hot. Because I read a lot of romance novels and my toy got a lot of um… uh… you know, use before you so, um… you’re going to get a lot of um… use now too.”

Chace Keaton stared down at Faye Goodknight, her head against the pillows of her bed, her body under his and he wondered how in the fuck six years of misery led him to all the promise that was her.

He’d wanted her for years not having any fucking clue how much of her there was to get, how deep it ran or how sweet it was.

“Now,” she went on, taking him out of his thoughts, “I need to clean up and get some sleep. Malachi is getting sorted tomorrow and I need to be on my game. You can take from that I’m not kicking your ass out. I’ll tell you now, I do have a temper so that doesn’t mean you won’t one day be sleeping on the couch. I know this because Dad did this on occasion and I am a lot like my Mom. But your behind will never be out. And you can take from that that I’m falling for you too. But you know that since you know I already did it thirteen years ago. I’m just glad to know now I picked really, fraking well.”

His heart pounding in his chest which got tight, his hands moved swiftly, framing her face, holding it steady and his voice was thick when he whispered, “Do not say that shit unless you mean it.”

Her hands moved to frame his face too and she whispered back, “I wouldn’t. You know it. I held out for a hero and I don’t give a frak if you don’t think you’re one. I know you are and even if you weren’t one to the whole town, you’re one to me and you can take that to the fraking bank.”

Fuck.

Cute.

Sweet.

His.

That constriction in his chest relaxed and when he asked, “Take it to the bank?” his voice was suddenly light and her eyes narrowed.

“Don’t tease me when I’m being serious and we’re talking deep.”

“Sorry, baby, you just said I could take something to the bank. No one says shit like that except cops in 70’s cop shows. You talk like that I have to give you shit. Got no other choice.”

She started glaring and then she started bossing.

“Get off me. I’m leaking and I don’t like to sleep in a wet spot.”

“When do you ever have to sleep in a wet spot?” he shot back.

“Well… never,” she answered. “But I don’t want to start.”

Cute.

Sweet.

His.

Christ.

He dipped his mouth and touched hers.

When he lifted away, he whispered, “All right, clean up.”

She shifted under him, muttering, “Fine.”

But as she moved, his arm circled her waist, detaining her, and her eyes came back to his.

“I know what you think,” he started to warn gently. “I know why you think it but you made a decision just now so when you get it all from me, darlin’, and you decide to run, you gotta know I’m not letting go.”

“Fine by me,” she replied immediately, lifted up, brushed her bubblegum lips against his then rolled out from under him.

Her short, chocolate brown satin nightie glided down to settle over her ass as she got out of bed and moved toward the bathroom. Chace watched it then watched it move under the fabric until she disappeared.

Then he rolled to his back, her toy rolled into him so he tagged it and replaced it in her nightstand. After, he again settled on his back but this time he lifted his hands and covered his face, pressing the pads of his fingers into his forehead and digging deep.

He did this hoping with everything he was that Faye didn’t lie.

He did this hoping what she read in him was true. Not that he was who she thought he was because he knew he wasn’t.

But that she could take the dark he had inside him without breaking free to run to the light, leaving him behind in black.

He dropped his hands when he sensed her coming back and watched her walk across the room and turn out the light before she climbed in bed.

The instant the covers were over her, he reached to her and pulled her into his arms, face to face.

She hooked a leg over his hip and pressed deep.

“Faye?” he called.

“Yeah,” she answered quietly.

“No way in hell no matter how pissed you get I’m sleepin’ on the couch.”

“We’ll see,” she replied, still quiet.

“We won’t. We work it out before we sleep or you suck it up. You do not sleep without me.” He paused then finished, “Ever.”