Flash Fic Friday

**The prompt this week features the Eli and Chase from my newest release Enchanted Love! You can find buy links here, if you haven’t already. The prompt: a lost item and a replacement. Enjoy!**

It was irrational to be so upset. I knew that. And yet, I couldn’t stop the dismay that bubbled in my chest, or the ridiculous tears that prickled in my eyes. My breath was coming out in fast pants as I searched. Ripping apart our luggage, tossing things aside, moving the same piles over and over, convinced if I just shook out the right pair of pants or looked under the right shirt, there they’d be.

“Baby.” Chase’s voice was low and soothing, but I ignore him, tossing more clothes over my shoulder as I went through another pile I’d already pawed through at least a dozen times.

“Eli, sweetheart. Calm down.”

“Don’t,” I bit out, voice low, tone menacing.

He sighed, and I could hear the pain in it. Even knowing it was not because my words hurt him, and instead because he was upset that I was upset didn’t do anything to help. I groaned out my frustration, and pushed my hands through my hair, turning in a circle, trying to see if there was something I hadn’t gone through yet.

“Where did you last see them?” Chase tried, that patient tone meant to soothe. I tried to rein in my emotions enough to answer him.

“In our suite. At Halekulani Hotel. The morning we left.”

Chase’s smile was wicked, and his eyes blazed with lust. That was enough to have me remembering it too. Our honeymoon in Hawaii had been amazing, and that morning, we’d packed in a rush because we’d overslept and were about to miss our flight. Overslept because we’d spent our last night making love so many times that neither of us could move. It had been more than twenty four hours, and I could still feel him inside me.

Chase cleared his throat, and his expression turned sorrowful. “Did you, uh, leave them?”

For a second, the sadness threatened to overwhelm me. I choked down my tears and sat heavily on the end of the bed.

“I must have,” I whispered.

He made a sympathetic sound and came closer. When I didn’t move, he sat beside me and pulled me into his arms. I curled against him, reveling in his warmth and tried not to cry.

“I’m sorry, baby.”

I nodded, my stubble scraping roughly against his t-shirt. I let out a sigh. They were only a pair of flip flops. Not even new. And I knew it was silly to be so upset about having lost them, but I just couldn’t help it. But I’d been wearing them the day I met Chase. Hell, I’d met the love of my life because of the flip flops. The sentimental value far outweighed the shoes, even as expensive as they were. It was all about what they meant to me, and not the flip flops themselves. I wrapped my arms around my husband, and let his strength shore me up in the face of my loss.

***

Three days later, I was surprised when I pushed through the door of our apartment and saw Chase sitting on the couch. Wednesdays were his late days, so I didn’t usually see him until at least nine. But there he was, looking freshly showered, and smiling wide enough I was afraid his face would crack. That was a smile I loved to see, and I found myself grinning in response. How had I been lucky enough to meet him, let alone get to call him mine forever?

“Hey, baby.” He stood up. “I got you something.”

“Oh yeah?” I waggled my eyebrows suggestively. Chase laughed, and I had to shake my head. Perhaps my try at seduction hadn’t been great. Usually all I had to do was smile at him and he was ready to take me to bed.

“After.” He chuckled again, then bent to pick up a box that had been laying on the couch. “Here.”

I looked into his eyes, curious, but he wasn’t giving anything away. With a shrug, I ripped off the paper to find a shoe box. My breath caught when I lifted the lid. Inside were a pair of flip flops exactly like the ones I’d lost. A perfect replica, even if they weren’t worn and beat to hell. I lifted one reverently, and the tears sprang to my eyes. I blinked fast.

Chase’s smile softened. “Well, you know. It’s not the same as the ones–”

“They’re perfect. Like exactly the same pair. How did you…?”

He walked closer and cupped my jaw, lifting my gaze to his. “They were the reason we met. I had no trouble finding them because every detail is burned into my brain.”

I tossed the shoes on the couch and threw myself into his arms, squeezing tightly even as I lifted so I could press my lips to his. The thought he’d put into the gift didn’t surprise me–that was Chase through and through–but that he’d taken such care touched me down to my soul. I already knew I’d made the right choice when I’d claimed him as mine. This just reaffirmed it.

“I love you, Sir Chase the Goodhearted.”

He grinned, then his smile turned wicked. “Wanna see my sword?”

I cackled and raced him to the bedroom.