Page 13 of Crave Me
Chapter Five
Chloe
I ached everywhere. My back burned every time I twisted and turned. Even sitting in my office chair in the back of my store was making my ass burn. I had dressed in the most loose-fitting clothes I could find, a silk black top and a pair of maroon, fleece-lined leggings. Tucked into a pair of black boots and with my hair pulled into a messy knot at the top of my head, I still appeared presentable and professional, yet casual.
It didn’t help. I had opened the store and it had taken me an hour of standing behind the counter before I broke out in a sweat from the pain on my back.
I wanted to go home. Take a hot bath. Lie on my stomach and forget everything about last night.
I didn’t go to Luminous searching for Simon. After our kiss gone wrong in February, I’d tried to put him out of my mind. I’d even gone out on several dates since then. But no man I ever met or dated compared to the way my heart rioted inside my body when Simon Delgado was anywhere near me. Deciding I still wanted submission without him, I started researching and found Luminous a few weeks later. Considering it was the only kink club in Grand Rapids, I assumed Simon would be a member, but I had been there a handful of times since April and hadn’t seen him once.
He’d seen me vulnerable and humiliated, and he’d only looked at me with anger and frustration tightening his features. I doubted I’d return to the club after such a disaster.
Which was even more depressing.
Every time I went to Luminous, it solidified my desire to submit.
I tossed the pen in my hand onto my desk and groaned, slowly stretching my back with my hands on my hips. I had worked through lunch, getting caught up on bills and ordering more ankle boots and fall jewelry accessories. I’d been busy all day long, and it was the only good thing about having my back in such bad shape. It made me focus on my office instead of the pleasurable activities of working the front room.
The sound of my door opening caught me by surprise and I turned as Tyra appeared in the doorway, Simon right behind her.
“You have someone to see you,” she said, pointing at him over her shoulder as if I couldn’t see him scowling behind her. “I told him you didn’t want to be interrupted today but he insisted.”
Of course, he did. Tyra was one of the few friends I had, but she was protective. A housewife, married to a Senator and with more money than creation, she’d practically begged me for a job to give her something to do. I paid her crap because she didn’t want the money. But she was loyal and always on time, a bit flirtatious, even with the women sometimes, and always with the men. I didn’t mind. She was the best sales associate I’d had since opening CC’s.
“It’s okay, Tyra. He can come in.”
She moved out of the way.
Simon walked in and closed the door behind him. As soon as the door clicked shut, he crossed his arms. “You’re still hurt.”
My fingers curled around the edge of the chair, holding me in place. In jeans and worn, black work boots, a simple gray sweater worn over a plain white-T-shirt, there was absolutely nothing memorable or sexy about his clothes. But good grief, they fit his every dip and curved muscle absolutely perfectly.
“Why are you here?”
He smirked, walked to the other side of my desk, and took a chair I didn’t invite him to have. He needed to leave. His presence was too strong, too alluring.
A desk separated me from him, but I still wanted to throw myself over my desktop and drop to my knees in front of him. Take out his cock. Swirl my tongue around the head and wrap my fingers around what I was sure was a very thick shaft.
“Came to talk about what we discussed last night.” He sat back, crossing his arms and I realized where I was looking.
At his crotch. My gaze had zeroed in on the bulge beneath his denim zipper like a homing beacon.
I jerked my gaze to his. Heat pooled low in my belly. I was too turned on to be embarrassed. He knew I wanted him. And when the man you had a crush on, lusted after, realized you used his name as a safe word, there weren’t many more things I could be embarrassed about around him.
“Why are you here, Simon?” I asked again.
I remembered very little of what we’d talked about last night. Mostly, I tried to block it out of my mind after we got into his car. There were vague recollections of him carrying me, mentioning him being my Dom, but it was all hazy.
His gaze seemed to penetrate to the very depths of me. He stayed silent, searching me, eyes roaming my face and dropping to my silk shirt. My nipples hardened in response, my breasts swelled from the intensity pouring off him.
He hadn’t moved a muscle. Hadn’t said a word, and still, I understood his intention.
I swallowed thickly, pushed down the apprehension and set my hands in my lap so he wouldn’t see how badly they were trembling.
“Simon—”
“Sir,” he clipped, his tone lacking all the warmth it usually held.
