I Never Thought

Chapter 43

Chase's POV

I knew for months before this day that I loved her. I knew before I was even aware that she had my flesh and blood growing inside her womb. It wasn't because of the pure elation that we both felt upon hearing the heartbeat that we both created, nor was it that I was newly single and could finally make her fully mine with minimum complications. What made me know for sure, were the nights when I fell asleep with her face and voice replaying like a movie behind my eyes, the tingles on my skin that her touch left behind, the way my heart palpitated like it would beat out of my chest whenever she was near, and the drop I felt in my stomach every time I saw her face. These things were merely the tip of the iceberg when it came down to the reasons why I loved her. 

I had told Chloe that I loved her before, but not like this. When our relationship was nothing but a close-knit friendship, I had allowed the words to flow off my tongue casually. The same way I said it to my mom or Isabell, and it was love you and not I love you. There is a difference to me. Love you is the generic way to express your love to someone, its informal and apathetic even. When you add the "I" to it, it makes it intimate and passionate,  you take ownership to the emotion behind the words and mean it with more than just the action of saying them. When I said it to Chloe, I meant that I was purely in love with her.

Her big honey colored eyes grew even larger and her mouth followed suit as her full lips parted. I saw the words circling around in her mind as she processed them, and a second later, her lips pursed and she cocked her head to the side. The corner of her mouth tugged up into a half smile before she asked "what?"

"I love you," I repeated, taking her hand into mine this time.

Clearing her throat and completing her smile, her eyes bore into mine. "I know that, I-"

"No Chloe, I love you. I am in love with you." So in love with you. I explained and her smile fell off her face, but not in a bad way. Something replaced it and I tried my best to figure out what it was as she stared back at me. It looked like... Disbelief.

I squeezed her hand and she visibly swallowed. I could tell by the way she reached up her right hand to tug on a spiral of her hair that she was unsure how to behave under my gaze. "You don't have to say it back. I know that there's a lot going on and that you're still processing everything that had happened in the last week and-"

"I love you too," she cut me off and I halted mid sentence. She smiled nervously at me before glancing down at our intertwined hands. 

The crease between my furrowed brows smoothened and a grin of my own broke out on my face. As if right on cue, validating my earlier thoughts, my heart did a backflip in my chest for maybe the tenth time that morning. She said it back. 

Suddenly, nothing else in the world mattered to me. Not Yanique, not Jack or Greyson, not Chloe's family. Nothing but what we'd created in our little bubble. The couple on the opposite side of the waiting room disappeared from my field of vision and the only thing I could see was the stunning woman sitting across from me, and she loved me. 

About all of my common sense dissolved into thin air the second that I planted my hand under her chin and pulled her round face closer to mine. I confidently pressed my lips gently onto hers. She went still with surprise but not long after, her shoulders relaxed and she puckered her soft lips to satisfy my yearning ones. She exhaled through her nose and I inhaled her delicate floral aroma as my thumb caressed her cheek. Her lips parted and I allowed my tongue to find its way between them to meet with hers. She tasted like everything I'd ever desired and more. It was impossible to ever get used to the way she tasted; so sweet and irresistible and it had the ability to keep me wanting more and more.