Page 17 of Crave Me
Chapter Six
Simon
Was she trying to torment and tease me? Entering Chloe’s small and modern apartment, I’d expected to find her in jeans or yoga pants and a T-shirt, the common outfits she wore when I was around her years ago. In her ridiculous robe, so long it covered her toes, and her hair thrown into a mess at the top of her head, her face completely void of the makeup I’d seen her wearing earlier, threw me off balance—like so much of her tended to do to me.
Taking time to train her was a mistake. I just hadn’t realized how big of one it was until my heart pounded so hard against my chest at the sight of her. I needed my hands on her.
Now.
“Where’s your bathroom?” I asked, turning. Her back was still pressed against a door in the hallway where I’d left her. At least I wasn’t the only one off-balance.
“In here.” She opened the door behind her, walked backward through it, and disappeared.
I followed. Last night when I’d brought her home, I had found her room immediately but hadn’t bothered turning on lights. Now, with it on full display, I was curious. The place was small, but that wasn’t the problem. Years ago, Chloe used to be messy. She’d drop her suitcase in the living room of her parents’ house and by the end of her stay, her clothes would be scattered all over the place. More than once Cassie lamented the mess. I couldn’t remember the amount of times I’d tripped over shoes she’d left sprawled wherever she’d decided to kick them off. Now, her place could be a showroom. Tidy, almost too clean, and nothing like the girl I remembered.
I met her in the bathroom and gestured toward the sheet of frosted glass to my left. “What’s that?”
She slid it open. “The door to my bedroom.”
Huh. Last night I’d walked down the hall to find her room. Around the corner was a matching door like the one she’d opened on the far side of the bedroom. “That takes you to the living room?”
“You don’t like it.” Her voice was soft, timid. She sounded disappointed in a way I hadn’t expected. Did it matter to her if I liked her place?
“There’s a lot of white.” It was a non-answer but I shook it off. I’d wanted to come to her house tonight to learn more about Chloe, apart from what I’d known of her around her family. So far, she’d shown me she was completely unlike any of them. But she also wasn’t like the girl I remembered. I’d figure out later if it were a good thing or not. “Go sit on your bed while I draw you a bath. Do you have gauze and cream for your wounds?”
She nodded, looking uncertain and still sad. I ignored the pale coloring on her cheeks and curved my hand around her shoulders, gaining her attention. “I told you to go to your bed, Chloe.”
“Of course, yes. Okay.” Her tongue darted out, swiping across her bottom lip, but I couldn’t read her. Not like I could always read her before. Mostly because I’d always only ever seen her happy. Confident.
Uncertainty curled a tight knot in my gut but I pushed through it. I’d already ruined one Reynolds sister. I needed to ensure through all of this, I didn’t ruin another.
“First aid kit is under the sink,” she whispered, her voice hoarse. Timid. Fearful.
I hated it.
I also ignored it and crouched over the edge of her large soaking tub, hidden again behind another immobile frosted glass door. Her place was like living in at the North Pole. I started the water and after it warmed, I pushed off the edge of the tub and grabbed the medical kit under the sink.
I found her in her bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed. Her belt was still knotted at her belly and she was sitting on her hands. Feet tapping mindlessly on the gray and white rug beneath her bed. Flashes of pink on her toenails darting out from beneath the behemoth of a robe she had on.
“You okay?” I asked. Timid and nervous was one thing. Fearful wouldn’t do.
I needed her ready and trusting me, but most of all, I just wanted to get my large hands all over her tiny frame. Feel every curve of her body. Glide my tongue along the crease of her ass. Trace her freckles across the bridge of her nose and taste her everywhere to see if she smelled like fresh springtime.
Fuck. My dick hardened, pressed against my jeans again. She had me acting like a randy teenager and not a man who prided himself on self-control.
“This is weird,” she finally said, lifting her head until our eyes met.
The fear in them stunned me. “What’d you think was going to happen? I dated your sister, Chloe. Did you think during our time together, we wouldn’t have to deal with it?”
“Have you?” she asked, bottom lip trembling. “Have you dealt with it?”
Nope. I hadn’t. I didn’t evenwantto. I also wouldn’t admit it. She wanted a man to take control, and I was the guy to do it.
“Untie your belt and remove your robe.”
Her eyes snapped up to mine and her lips parted. Arching a brow, I didn’t move a muscle until her trembling hands tugged at the belt. Once it was removed, I set the medical kit down on her bed and stood in front of her, watching every slow and hesitant movement she made.
“Do you know what I think, Chloe?”
