6. Chloe

CHAPTER 6

Chloe

I come out of the office after the gym closes and step into the darkened space. Only to scream and jump when a dark voice comes out of the inky gloom.

“I think we need to talk, Sweets.”

“Shit!” I jump about a foot in the air. Then spin around and grasp my chest like I can steady my racing heart literally. I glare into Samson’s ice-blue eyes. “What the hell are you doing? Trying to scare the hell out of me!”

He crowds into me and I have to tip my head way back to see his face. It’s a palette of shadows and rock-hard, clenched muscles. “I’m not trying to scare you, Sweets. I’m trying to find out how long you’re going to play this game? How long you’re going to leave me dangling?”

I rock back on my feet, trying to move out of his space and give myself some room to breathe, to think. When his scent, pine wood and man, wraps around me I can’t think straight.

“I can’t talk about this right now, Samson. I’ve got a lot going on. I can’t deal with our situation.”

He moves closer to me again and I suck in a deep breath of him, feeling my head spinning, my body leaning into him. His body is so warm and tempting. I just want to give in.

But I have some unfinished business that needs taken care of before I can come to him free and unburdened. Something that I need to take care of by myself.

My phone pings and I glance down at the screen, my eyes closing and my whole body going numb for just long enough for Samson to grab the phone out of my hand.

I open my eyes quickly and try to grab the phone out of his hand. He just holds it up and I’m standing there jumping around like some yappy little chihuahua.

“What the hell does this mean, Chloe? I’ve got my eyes on you. You’re mine and you’ll never get away from me. ” His icy eyes leap to mine and he snarls, “Who the fuck is this and what’s going on?”

I sink to my heels and wrap my arms around my body. “It’s nothing. Just an ex.”

Samson’s dark brow lifts and he eyes me quizzically. “If you think I’m going to buy that you’re not as smart as I think you are. What the hell is going on, Chloe? I’m not going anywhere until you tell me what the fuck this is!”

I stamp my foot and glare at him. “I can handle this myself! I don’t need your help, Samson!”

He steps closer and then he leans down until we’re face to face. I’m drowning in his alpine blue eyes and he sighs. “Chloe. What affects you affects me. Hell, it affects all of us!”

I grasp onto his hand and groan. “You cannot tell my parents or yours, Samson! Not one word! I’ve got a restraining order against him so if he actually shows up here and violates the order he’s going to get arrested.”

He stands back up to his full height, towering over me as he snorts. “Well, isn’t that great! They can arrest him after he’s already hurt you! Perfect! I’m glad you’ve got this all thought out! Perhaps you don’t remember what happened to Wren and her editor.”

“It’s not the same thing. I know who this guy is. He’s my ex.”

“That’s another thing, Chloe. Why did you go out with another man when I told you that I loved you and you ran? Do you not love me?”

The hurt and fear in his blue eyes makes me shiver. I shake my head. “No. That’s not it at all. I do. I do love you.”

“You’ve got a funny way of showing it!” He snorts.

“I’m sorry. I went out with him as favor to a friend. He’s her brother. But then he started acting weird and following me around and she told me that he’d taken pictures that were papering his dorm room. He tried to call me every day after I told him that we weren’t going to be dating. No matter what I did he just kept coming. Kept calling.”

“Why the hell didn’t you tell your parents? Or me? Somebody!” He throws his hands up and paces around the room.

“I tried! I talked to the police but they couldn’t do anything until he trashed my apartment. They found his fingerprints in there. I hoped that would be enough to arrest him but his attorney made the point that we had been dating so there was a reason his fingerprints were in the place.”

Samson paces back and forth. “I don’t like this. Where the hell is he?”

“They don’t know. He lost his scholarship because he wasn’t going to class and started failing his courses. Then he got kicked out and he was yelling at me outside my dorm for days so I moved off-campus. The building had a security guard so he dropped out of sight.”

“But now that I’m graduating and I left the area he may be trying to find me.”

He shoots me a sharp look. “You think? Yeah. He sounds like a damn psycho. Why didn’t you mention this before?”

“I didn’t want anybody else getting hurt. He’s kind of a nut.”

“Good. So am I.”

I huff out a breath. “Don’t get in the middle of this. I’ll get it figured out.”

Sam snorts. “Yeah. That’s not happening. If some asshole thinks that he’s gonna touch you he’s gonna have to go through me first. And I’m a little bigger and harder to move than you.”

“Samson. Don’t be silly.”

He stalks up to me and his icy eyes flash blue fire. “Do you really think that I’m gonna walk away and just forget what you told me? You’re mine, Chloe. You’ve always been mine! And this guy thinks that he’s gonna get between us and hurt you…or me, you’re absolutely out of your damn mind. From now on, I’m gonna be on you every second of the day. We’re gonna be joined at the hip. And as soon as this asshole shows his ugly damn face, I’m gonna put a fist through it! Nobody but nobody threatens what’s mine, Sweets!” He leans down and picks me up, walking into a wall. My legs wrap around his waist and he grunts, his big body pinning to the wall. His hands come up and he gently touches my jaw, turning me to face him. My eyes lock on his soft, steady gaze.

“I am not letting anybody touch you, treat you bad. Not even to yell a swear word in your face. From now on, I’m the one that will be standing between you and everything else. I’m your wall. And there’s no way that anything’s getting through this wall. I’ll kill him first.”

Chuckling, I lean my head back. Our breaths are so close that it’s like we’re one, the same air, the same heartbeat. “That will definitely not make me happy, Sam. I want a life with you. I always have. But I didn’t want to get you involved for exactly this reason. You’re gonna go all macho and grunty and want to break something. Like some guy’s face. I don’t need that and neither do you.” I reach up a hand run it along his strong jaw, lost in the mountain spring blue of his eyes as they darken to sapphire. “I couldn’t bear it if anything happened to you, Sam. And that includes going to prison for murder!”

He leans so close that he rubs his cheek against mine and my eyes close. He’s so gentle, so sweet that it breaks my heart one beat at a time. “I’ve missed you so much, Chloe. I couldn’t bear it if I lost you. Never again.”

My eyes open to search his heavy-lidded eyes. “You’re not gonna lose me again, Sam. I promise you. I needed the time to think and plan. I wanted to be sure because I couldn’t bear to hurt you if we did break up. And then there’s all our family to think of. It just seemed like it was going to be so complicated.”

His forehead leans on mine and he sighs. “It’s not complicated at all, Sweets. I love you so much that death would be preferable to watching you walk away. You love me too. That’s the easiest thing in the world.”

I snort. “You’re such a big softy, Samson Wolf.”

“Only for you, Sweets. And our families. Everybody else gets the wolf.”

I throw my head back and laugh and he leans down and his lips touch mine gently and that’s all it takes. My whole body lights up like a lit fuse, fireworks going off behind my eyes.

He lifts his head and studies me carefully, worried. I don’t let him say one word. Just wrap my hand around his head and pull his down. His lips touch mine and this time it’s hard, fast and deep. Our mouths meeting and tongues twining. I moan and he growls and all of a sudden it’s like two animals going at each other like wild things.

Sam walks back to the back and straight to his empty office. It’s the smallest one but it still has room for a couch and he drops me to the cushions, dropping to his knees beside the couch. His eyes pull at me even as we both stare, panting.

“Do you want this, Sweets?”

“I do. I love you, Sam. So damn much.”

He nods his head and then stands up, closing and locking the door. “Take off your clothes, Chloe. Let me see what’s mine.”

I stand up and slowly drag my sweater up my body. His eyes follow every piece of bared skin, his face flushing red and his body as tense as a cat in a roomful of rocking chairs.

I throw the sweater up and over my head and nod at him. “Your turn. I’m not gonna be the only one going naked here, Sam.”

He grins and then tugs his t-shirt over his head. It flies by my head and I giggle. He nods and I peel a sock off, chucking it at his head.

“You’re gonna pay for messing with me, Sweets. More than a sock, please.”

I pull off the other one, grinning cheekily. He grunts and then tugs off his shoes and socks. “Faster!”

I grasp the zipper on my jeans and slowly tug it down, then shimmy my hips while he rubs at his lips like he’s salivating. Like the big bad wolf he is.

“Oh, hell, Sweets! You’re even more beautiful than I dreamed.”

He tugs off his jeans and then waves a hand at me. Then it’s a race t0 see who can strip the fastest. As soon as we’re both naked he pulls me into his arms and his lips claim mine. His hands drift down my body and his fingers pluck at my nipples. My hips push into him and he groans. I can feel the thick length of him pushing at my belly and now I’m the one that’s struggling not to drool.

I pull back and pant. He lifts me into his arms and then I’m on the couch and I don’t know how I got here. But I know he’s on the floor at my feet and he’s pushing my thighs wide, his eyes raking my body hungrily.

“Fuck! You’re so gorgeous, Chloe! So damn beautiful and so damn mine! Aren’t you, Sweets?”

I nod my head, my tongue glued to the roof of my mouth. “You want me to lick that pretty clit and make you come all over my face, Sweets?”

My breath sucks in sharply but I nod again quickly.

He grins. “Words. I need the words.”

“Please,” I whisper huskily, rasping the words past my dry throat.

He leans down and his breath traces my slit before any other part of him touches me. “Oh fuck!” I hiss as his tongue lightly traces my seam before he plants his fingers on both sides of my pussy, splaying it open for his rampaging tongue and teeth. His mouth eats at me desperately, feasting on me like a hungry animal, growling and snapping.

“Oh yes!” I can’t see and I tilt my head back, closing my eyes and fisting my fingers in his shoulder-length chestnut hair, twisting it so hard that I know it stings but it just drives him harder and he licks and sucks and nips along my lower lips until I’m howling and coming apart on his mouth, screaming desperately, my body so tense that I feel like I’m about to snap in two.

Then the rubber band snaps and I scream as the whole world goes white. Ecstasy rolls over me, crashing into me and taking me under its seething, agonizing depths until I fall to the couch, limp and exhausted, sweaty and happier than I’ve ever been.

He sits back on his heels and grins, wiping his mouth and licking his lips. “You taste fucking delicious. But I want to come in that pussy like I’ve dreamed of for years now.”

And with those words, he falls across my body and drives into me, stopping with a tortured look when he feels the thin barrier that I’ve saved for him all these years.