Chapter 8

Chapter Eight

Maple

In less than a week, I have been worn down and worked around by the two Newcroft men and I move into the guesthouse before the building I live in can even be officially condemned. It is a nice place, but I am constantly worried I'll fuck something up. Eddie has already told me to change anything I want, but I don't really think it's my place to do that.

And then there's Caspian. I still can't figure him out. What does he think his end goal is going to be? And why does he go from sweet to a complete ass in no time flat? One minute he's talking dirty to me and the next he's telling me I need self-defense like he's genuinely worried about me.

Since the impromptu picnic, he hasn't touched me and has barely talked to me aside from backing up his grandfather about trying to get me to stay. Like nothing. Not one wink, nor one sexual innuendo. Not even that stupid nickname he calls me just to piss me off.

Maybe he found someone else to be his sugar baby. I would be grateful to that woman. Really, I would. I wouldn't care if he told me all those things and then didn't do them. I'm just glad he is leaving me alone.

So then why am I pacing like a caged lion and wondering where he went today and if he plans to come back? Maybe he's gone like before and I won't see him again for months or even years. Why does that leave such a hollow feeling in my chest? Why should I even care when I'll catch a glimpse of him or fight with him or feel his eyes burning into my soul again? Why should I give a shit that he's probably making some young woman the center of his world?

I did tell him I wasn't going to be his damned sugar baby after all. I turned him down. Not that I really believed he was asking me for real. Now… maybe he was, and he went looking for someone else to fill the slot. Enjoy it while it lasts, sweetheart, because I doubt it will go longer than a couple of months before you get too old, and he moves on. I didn't even warrant a couple of days of his attention before he was moving on.

I turn the television on and flop heavily on the couch. I don't care. That's the answer to all those questions and thoughts that have been weighing me down since I got to the main house and found out he was gone. My eyes start to burn and grow heavy with sleep even as my mind keeps tripping back time and time again to the asshole who thought I was sleeping with his grandfather. Just got to focus on the movie, just got to stop thinking god damn it. I'm perfectly happy he finally got it through his head I have no intention of running off with anyone for any reason.

I must drift off because I come awake with a jolt and don't know why. I was having such a good dream. Such a good dream. The shifting of floorboards has me fully alert and my heart starts to pound like a caged bird beating against the bars. Is someone… here? How did they get past the gates and security?

I'm just about to make a run for the bedroom when a large, broad hand lands on my chest pinning me to the couch. "What the hell?!"

My mouth is covered and for just a second, I fear whoever is here with me is trying to smother me. My nails come up to scratch at the back of the man's hand. Surely, it's a man since his hand is so fucking big.

"Don't panic, Sweets."

What the hell?! What the utter hell?!

Caspian!

I still and see the dark shadow move close to me. He takes his hand off my mouth and reaches for the lamp on the end table. I have to blink a couple of times at the brightness washing through the room. Sure enough, Caspian is in front of me, down on his knees.

"What the hell are you doing here? Why are you in the guesthouse?"

Like always, he answers my questions with his own, "Why did you not eat tonight? Why are you not sleeping in your bed?"

My heart starts thumping again.

"H…how did you know I didn't eat? Have you talked to Eddie?" His eyes search mine before something like a blush comes across his cheeks. But what does he have to be embarrassed about? "How long have you been back?"

"I just got back." So…he didn't talk to Eddie about me not eating dinner with him.

Before I can ask more questions, his mouth comes down on mine. I should shove him away from me, tell him to get his ass out of my living area. But stupid me melts under him. His hands come up and trace the straps of my worn-out tank top.

"Fuck, I knew you would be soft but son of a bitch, sweet girl. You are like cotton candy. I wonder, will you melt under my tongue once I have it on you? Will you melt for me when I have it in you? I bet you will. I bet you'll turn liquid for me." He says the words in between kisses causing me to lose focus as I sink into the feel of his tongue dancing over mine.

The strap on my tank top slips and his mouth leaves mine. He doesn't go very far though as he drops kisses on the slope of my shoulder.

"Come here, sweet stuff." I cry out as I'm being shifted so that instead of lying on the couch I am now sitting in his lap and both of us are on the floor.

I wasn't expecting someone so I'm in itty bitty shorts with slits up the sides that only meet at the top of my hips leaving the sides of my legs bare. It makes it easier to sleep in them and not feel confined. They're one of my favorite things and I have them in like five colors.

Now they seem too thin and too short especially when Caspian's hands are cupping and massaging the globes of my ass through the soft barely-there material. He growls in my mouth causing a shiver to race through me.

"So, fucking sexy. So, fucking soft and sexy."

The kiss is turning frenzied and needy as he plays with my bare skin. When I feel his hands slide inside the open sides, I know I have to stop this. Now.

"Ca…Caspian…"

"Oh, fuck yes! Say it again. Say my name again."

"Caspian," I absolutely do not say it again just because he demanded it.

"Sweetheart, you aren't wearing anything under these shorts, are you? Naughty, naughty girl."

Another shiver courses through me. Oh god! Why did I get so turned on when he called me a naughty girl? Why did that make everything a lot wetter down below? I don't have time to turn all introspective as the brush of his fingertips along either side of the bends of my legs, so close to an area that has never been touched before, surprises a yelp out of me but they don't go any further than that.

"I missed the fuck out of you, and I was only gone for a fucking day." Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me either.

One of his hands comes up to dig into the strands of my hair so he can control the tilt and angle of the kiss. His tongue comes back up and dips into the waiting opening of my mouth as I mimic what he is doing to mine.

Then his hand squeezes up on the soft swell of my ass as he drops kisses down my throat and across the top of my chest. And then… I feel his mouth through the thin fabric of my tank.