Reluctantly Yours(39)

My legs finally get the signal to move, so I leave, pulling the door shut behind me.

Three minutes later, Chloe appears in the kitchen in a bathrobe. It’s the robe Rose puts in all the guest bathrooms. It’s one size fits all and it swallows Chloe up. She looks like a giant marshmallow. Good. I think I’ll lose my mind if I have to see any of her soft, creamy skin right now. I’m sure the bath water has made it warm and pliable.

She takes the seat where I’ve put a place setting for her and sets the napkin in her lap.

“Sorry about that. I didn’t realize you were waiting for me to come,” she says.

“I didn’t either.” I pick up my fork and start eating.

Chloe’s mouth opens wide with surprise, but then her eyes shift to her plate and she fills it with a bite of food. Those lips closing around her fork threaten to make my dick hard again. This is going to be a problem.

I usually like to taste my food. Enjoy what Dimitri has prepared, but tonight I shovel everything down in two minutes and excuse myself. I grab my laptop from my desk and head for my bedroom. With Chloe adding it to her list, the study is no longer a safe space, and with the way I’m feeling tonight, I need to be alone.

In my bedroom, I drop into the chair by the window and open my computer. But work is not enough of a distraction and eventually my mind wanders back to Chloe.

I wonder how I’m going to navigate this new living situation, how I’m going to keep things professional with Chloe—keep my hands to myself—but most of all, I wonder if Chloe finished.





The next morning, I don’t expect to see Chloe. She was adamant that she would be walking to work, and I was glad to hear it. I like the routine of checking emails and going over my daily schedule on the drive to the office. I don’t need Chloe’s presence distracting me from my morning routine.

Marcus is about to pull away from the curb when Chloe comes running down the steps.

“Wait!” I hear her call.

I have half a mind to pretend I don’t hear her, but Marcus is much nicer and hits the brakes.

Chloe flings open the door.

“Hi. Sorry,” she says, out of breath. “I’m running late.”

The ivory lace bra peeking through the buttons on her blouse catches my attention. So late apparently that she forgot to button her blouse.

With a clenched jaw, I pull my gaze away from Chloe’s cleavage. “You missed a button.”

“Oh. Thanks.” She looks down, a blush coloring her fair cheeks before she scrambles into the car. The height of the SUV gives her momentary pause before she uses the handle by the door to lift herself up.

Along with the white blouse, she’s wearing a fitted red skirt that hugs her hips and nude heels. Her thick, red hair is pinned up on her head in a messy bun, and her lips are the color of her skirt. Deep red. My brain automatically wonders what those red lips would look like wrapped around my cock.

She sets her purse and her travel coffee thermos on the seat next to her and when Marcus hits the gas, her thermos tips over and sloshes its contents onto my pant leg.

“Shit!” I exclaim, my blood reaching a temperature close to that of her liquid caffeine.

I upright the mug and place it next to mine in the cup holder in the middle console by our feet. Where coffee thermoses are intended to go.

“Oh God.” Chloe leans toward me, using a tissue from her purse to dab at the wet spot on my thigh. “I’m sorry.”

I grab her wrist, probably harder than I mean to, but her actions are not helping this situation.

“Please stop.”

“Sorry, again. I’m having an off morning. I didn’t sleep well.”

“The luxury Egyptian cotton sheets were too comfortable?” I ask, trying not to take offense to Chloe’s lack of rest.

“Oh, it wasn’t the sheets. Those are amazing. Very soft and pleasing to the touch. Just first night in a new place. You know when you wake up in a strange bed and forget how you got there. That kind of thing.”

I want to ask her how often she’s woken up in a strange bed but I choose a safer topic.

“How’s your head?” I ask.

“Good. It hurts less than yesterday. How does it look?”

I study her face. Those big blue eyes surrounded by long, dark lashes and her petite nose. If she has makeup on, it’s hard to tell with the light smattering of freckles still visible across her nose and cheeks. There’s one prominent freckle near her lips. It’s always pulled my attention there. Lush, pink lips that taunt me. Because they’re red today, I’m even more entranced.

Finally, I lift my gaze to her forehead. The ice took care of most of the swelling, but there is definitely a bruise. My chest tightens with regret. I hate that she got hurt.

“Better,” I reply.

“Good.” She gently touches the spot before reaching for her purse. “How’d you sleep?”

I know she’s making conversation but her question provokes the reason for my curtness this morning. I slept like shit. Like Chloe, it wasn’t due to lack of comfort. Knowing Chloe was down the hall set my body on high alert. Then there was the hour I spent wondering what she sleeps in, and my mind replayed the scene with her in the bathtub over and over until I had to take matters into my own hands for the second time that day. By the time I drifted off to sleep, it wasn’t long before my alarm clock was going off.