Marked

Chapter Twenty: Scarlett

It took me two days to get over my sickness. Two days of barfing my brains out, two nights of Chase sleeping on the couch, spending as much time away from me as possible, trying not to get sick and two days of me feeling like absolute crap, unable to hold down any food until Wednesday evening, just in time for dinner. I had to brush my teeth five times to get the bile taste out of my mouth.

I sat in the hot tub of the hotel's pool. Chase and I sat there together, whispering quietly, just loud enough that we could hear over the kids' screams from the pool but just quiet enough that we could hear just each other.

As the night wore on, couples and families left. Chase and I moved from the hot tub to the pool to the hot tub multiple times. Even though the noise lowered as people left, Chase and I never spoke above an echoed whisper.

"So, are you sure that you're not sick?" Chase asked, inches away from my face. From my lips.

"I'm fine. It was just road sickness and the lights from casinos making me dizzy. But really, I feel fine now." I put my forehead to Chase's. We were now the last people in the pool.

"So, on the protest side of things—"

"Shh, I don't want to hear about it. Not tonight." I put my finger up to Chase's soft lips. "Not until..." I thought about the date: April 30th, "not until May."

Chase smiled under my finger. "Okay. Deal." He moved my finger away from his lips and grabbed my head, pulling me closer to his beautiful lips. "So, what are we going to do tonight?"

I rolled my eyes and kissed him. "Isn't obvious?"

I bounced on the heels of my feet, waiting for the elevator to come down to the first floor. Why did we have to get a room all the way on the top floor? I thought momentarily. I couldn't hold the excitement.

I glanced up at Chase. He had a small smile, showing only on half his face, the half farthest away from me. His blue eyes were bright, but he didn't make eye contact with me. I have to say, he couldn't have looked sexier. I continued bouncing on my feet as the elevator doors opened and I stepped inside, clicking the button for our floor. I refused to hold back a smile as the elevator jerked up.

Chase wrapped his arm around me and pulled me close to his chest. He kissed my forehead. "I really hope you're not sick." He whispered.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm not." I grabbed his face and pulled his lips to mine.

I slid the room key down the lock register like a credit card. I opened the door as hands grabbed me at my waist, lifting me up. I squirmed as Chase carried me to the bedroom area. He dropped me on the bed and I flopped over, laying on my back.

I smiled as Chase put each of his hands at the sides of my head. He kissed me and I wrapped my legs around his back, holding him hostage to my lips. Chase lifted me, never leaving my lips. He pushed me against the wall and I ran my fingers through his wet hair. Chase put his hands at either side of my head, using the wall to keep himself close to me, but not leaning on me.

"It's... been... so long... since... I've kissed... you..." I said, taking breaths with each word.

"I know,"

I wrapped my arms around Chase's neck and ran my hand down his back, under his shirt. I ran my fingers over each piece of his spine, each bump. Chase pushed his hand on the small of my back and pushed me into him. He almost slammed me down on the bed.

He got on me and I rolled on top of him. I sat in his lap, my legs still wrapped around his back. Chase pulled off my t-shirt, wet from my bikini. He threw it to the other side of the room. I pulled off his shirt and threw it to the ground. I ran my fingers over his abs as I kissed him. I felt his hand push me at the small of my back closer to him, then his hand moved to the first tie of my string bikini.

With a small pull, the tie came undone. He ran his fingers up my spine and stopped at the top tie. The hair on the back of my neck stood up as he slowly untied the top knot. My bikini top dropped in between Chase and I. I stopped kissing Chase and looked at it, trying to focus on anything else but the face that I'm one two layers from losing my virginity.

I then felt my heart beat out of my chest. Chase grabbed my chin and raised my head so I was staring at his blue, blue eyes. "Are you okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, just something Stella said is getting to me..." I looked up at the ceiling. "God, I ruined the moment, didn't I?"

"Non-sense." Chase kissed me and I kissed him back, shoving what Stella said far out of my mind.

After a minute of kissing and keeping my mind—successfully—off of what Stella said, I was finally able to work up the courage to pull off Chase's trunks. He pulled off my bikini bottoms and just like that, there were no layers between me and Chase.

He pulled me down on him and kissed me.

"I love you Chase,"

"I love you Scarlett," And with that Chase kissed me.

And kissed me.

And kissed me.