Swagger: A Stepbrother Romance (12 page)

~*~*~*~

“You know how to salsa?” She gave him a skeptical look as they entered the club and peered down over the metal railing at the dance floor where close to a hundred couples were grinding against each other in time with the music.

“Nope.” Grabbing her hand he led her down the stairs.

“Then why are we here?”

He look down at her and shrugged. “It was an idea. Depending on how this works out it may or may not have been a good one.”

 
They stood on the sidelines for a song. Glancing up at Reed, Chloe grinned, he was watching the couples with intensity as if studying the moves. She suspected that might actually have been the case. Despite his antics, he was an overachiever.

“Alright. We can do this,” he stated pulling her onto the dance floor. Once they were dead in the center of the dance floor he twirled her around pulled her back up against his front and into his arms just as the song switched over to a soft, sultry melody.

Leaning her head back against his shoulder, Chloe closed her eyes and allowed the music to flow through her. Her body moved with and against his. It didn’t take long for her to feel the emergence of an erection pressing at her bottom. His hands slid to her lower abdominals, pulling her bottom tight against him. Her arousal increased with each second that passed.

Chloe reach up behind her and slid her hand behind his neck as she turned her face to him. “Now I’m starting to understand why we’re here.”

Reed looked down at her and grinned. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” But the amusement mixed with desire dancing in his blue eyes betrayed him.

She couldn’t help but smile back. “Liar.”

He slid his hand up her body to her chin and tilted her face up as he lowered his lips to hers. As their lips met, his hand on her stomach snaked it way under the waistband of her skirt stopping just as he reached her mound. She moaned against his lips, wanting him to move lower and wanting him to stop at the same time. There were so many people around them, anyone could see, but none seemed to be paying them any attention. Each couple was enthralled in their own partners attention.

Reed’s lips left hers and his hand slipped back to her stomach when the song changed, this time a faster song. Chloe groaned inwardly, she didn’t want to leave the pleasure of his arms quite yet.

“Ready?” Reed asked, taking her hand in his opposite one.

Chloe didn’t have a chance to respond before he gave her hand a tug, spinning her out and away from him and then pulling her back. Giggling Chloe did her best to keep up with him.

“I thought you said you didn’t know how to salsa.”

He winked and pulled her back into his arms. “I’m a quick learner.”

As the night wore on and Chloe’s feet began to hurt from dancing in her heels all night she found herself surprised at just how well he adapted. They certainly weren’t the best dancers, but they managed, mostly due to whatever dance God blessed Reed that night.
 

Chapter 4

“Are you sure I’m allowed to be here?” Chloe asked as Reed led her through the back door of his dorm building. It had been five days since they had their first date at the park and they’d had as many dates. Normally she didn’t care to be smothered by someone she was dating. A couple dates a week was more than enough, but this was different. She couldn’t get enough of being with him and he didn’t hide the fact that he felt the same way.

 
He looked back at her and winked. “Nah, you’re not, it’s after hours, that’s why we’re sneaking in the back way.” The door closed silently behind them and they made their way up a flight of stairs to the second floor.

“It’s the weekend, won’t someone be up and about?”

“It’s a
long
weekend so most of the people are gone. Of the ones left, the college bar doesn’t close for another hour, most of the guys stay till the very end and many hook up so don’t make their way back until morning. Sometimes, depending on how wild of a weekend they had it may not be till Sunday night.”

They stopped at the door that led into the corridor of the second floor. Reed opened it and peered inside. “It’s clear, come on and be quiet.”

They rushed into the corridor and three doors down and to the left was his room. He had the key out and inserted it as they reached the door, unlocking it and unceremoniously rushing her inside. Closing and locking it behind them.

“What if I have to use the washroom?”

“Our room has a private washroom and shower. It’s tiny, but better than having to share with the rest of the floor.” He flicked the light on and the room, which contained two beds, two desks and two closets lit up. “We also have a small kitchen.”

Chloe took the tour which lasted less than a minute, grateful she and Abagail had decided to get an apartment off campus. “Why are you in a dorm? Why not an apartment like Abagail and I?”

“I came here on a sports scholarship which included housing in the dorm.” He shrugged. “Seemed like a good idea. Each year my scholarship is renewed and so I just never bothered to go off-campus. Less expense means I can spend more time studying and can manage off the money I make as a teaching aid.” He sat down on the bed which she assumed to be his and patted the empty area beside him.

She started towards him when she noticed an easel in the cover of the room holding a painting which was covered in a sheet and a pallet of paint sitting on the wooden stool in front of it. “Is this yours?” She walked over to it and pulled the sheet off of the painting before he had a chance to respond. To her disappointment the painting was blank.

“It’s mine.”

“That amazing, you’re still painting and sketching.” She spun around to face him. “Where’s you’re sketch book?” As soon as she asked, she noticed the book hanging on the back of the easel.

“Chloe. Ah…”

Not giving him a chance to protest she grabbed it from the peg, opened it and began flipping through it. He’d always been so secretive about his sketching when they were kids. She used to sneak into his room when she knew he was gone for the afternoon and wouldn’t be caught just to get a peek at what he was working on.

Walking across the room while scanning through the pictures, all beautifully drawn she reached the last picture as she came to a stop before him and her mouth dropped open. When she looked up to catch his eyes she noticed his face had begun to flush.

“When did you do this?” She looked down at the picture of herself, from the shoulders up. Although the Chloe in the picture was much sexier than she was in person, at least in her mind.

“When I got home the night of our park date. I couldn’t get to sleep so I started messing around. It’s nothing.” He reached for the book, but she snatched it away from him before he could grab it from her.

“I don’t think I’m quite as sexy as I’m pictured here though.” She wasn’t fishing for compliments, the fact he actually thought she was worth sketching was flattery enough, but genuinely felt that way. She could be convinced that she was cute, but sexy… not so much.

“You really don’t believe that?”

When she looked up she saw the frown on his face and shrugged. “I’m not the sexy one. That’s Abagail.”

He stood up and took the sketch pad from her as he slipped a hand to the back of her head and lowered his lips to hers. His kiss was soft, but there was a hint of restrained passion. She sighed against his lips, smiling as returned his kiss, as their kiss grew more passionate, she didn’t even notice he’d twirled her around so she was the one next to the bed, him standing before her.

“Then let me prove it to you.”

She crinkled her nose at him. “How?”

“Let me sketch you.”

She looked down at the pad. “You already did.”

He tossed the pad onto the end table next to the bed and began to undo the buttons of her blouse. Her heart began to thump in her chest as button after button came away and he pushed the blouse off of her shoulders and tossed it onto Corey’s bed.

“Do you trust me?” he asked.

“Of course.” She didn’t even have to think about it.

“Then let me show you how stunning you are to me.”

She chewed at her lower lip as he unzipped the back of her skirt and let it fall to her feet, leaving her in her white lace bra and panties. “What if Corey comes home?”

“He sent me a text, he’s gone for the night,” Reed murmured as he lowered his head to the side of her neck and gently brushed his lips along the side of her neck. Chloe moaned softly, clutching to his bi-ceps and the desire flared up within her. “It’s just us.”

His hands slipped to her back and with a quick flick of the wrist undid the clasp and slowly slipped her bra straps down exposing her breasts. Reed took a step back his eyes slowly lowering to her chest. “You’re breasts are incredible.”

Her body trembled – a combination of desire and nervousness. “Th-thank you.”

A concerned look crossed his face. “We don’t have to do anything you don’t want to. You’re so beautiful, I just want to sketch you. Just say the word and we stop, okay?”

Chloe nodded. “Okay.” She wanted to be bold, but she was trembling inside. She wanted to be that sexy woman he saw he as, even if she didn’t quite believe it herself. “I’m okay.”

Reed crouched before her and placed a kiss on her stomach as his thumbs hooked into the waistband of her panties and tugged them down. She stepped out of them and watched him open the nightside table drawer and place them inside.
 
She suspected she wasn’t getting them back. When he kissed her mound she gasped and started to jump back, but he held her in place, moving back up her body and planting a string of kisses up the front of her body as he stood. By the time his lips claimed hers again, she was a bundle of nerves and need clinging tightly to him and tempted to undress him as he did her.

“Why do you get to keep your clothes, but I don’t?” She asked as he released her and took a step back, his eyes travelling with appreciation up and down her body.

“Because I don’t need to be naked to sketch you.”

“You’re sketching me nude?”

He chuckled, his eyes taking a devious gleam. “Why else do you think I undressed you?”

Chloe didn’t respond, but simply folded her arms over her chest, and raised a brow at him.

“And once I’m done you’ll see just how sexy you really are.” Grabbing the chair from the desk he sat down grabbed his sketch book and charcoal pencil. “Lay down, however you feel comfortable.”

She was tempted to jump into bed and pulled the covers up to her chin, but didn’t. She took a deep breath in and slowly released it gathering her courage. As she slipped onto the bed her eyes spotted the large bulge in his jeans as his thick erection pressed against the denim. The knowledge gave her the courage to refrain from hiding her body from him.

Propping her head up with on hand, she draped one leg over the other concealing her mound from his view, not to purposely hide from him, but for comforts sake, since she had no idea how long he expected her to lay in that position.

“You look perfect.”

Her blush turned a deeper rosy shade at the compliment. She felt so exposed, but as he began to frantically draw, scrutinizing every inch of her body her confidence grew until she could hold a conversation with him as easily as if they were clothed at a coffee shop.

“Do you always draw your girlfriends?” she teased as he began to put the finishing touches to the portrait.

He looked up from the drawing and smiled. “You’re the first.” His expression grew serious. “No one ever sees my work, not even Corey. That’s why I have the cover.”
 

“Why?” she asked perplexed.

He shrugged. “It’s a personal thing. It’s meant for me, not for others.”

“But it’s beautiful. Why did you let me see it?”

He chuckled. “You didn’t give me a chance to stop you.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Nah, it’s okay. If you hadn’t seen it then I wouldn’t have had an excuse to get you naked and stare at you for an hour.” He looked up long enough to give her a wink. “Besides, I know you used to sneak peeks of my drawings when we were kids.”

“How did - ”

“I knew. You weren’t very good at covering your tracks.” He made a few more marks on the pad finished. Setting down the pencil he flexed his hand and stood. “Ready to see it?”

She nodded and gave him a weak smile praying that seeing herself exposed like that through his eyes wouldn’t be as embarrassing as she feared it would be.

~*~*~*~

It had been agony to sit and draw her for over an hour when he wanted her so damned bad. He was currently suffering from the worst case of blue balls he’d ever had in his life and didn’t anticipate relief tonight. He’d pushed her as far as he was willing to. Maybe if she hadn’t revealed she was a virgin, but that was a bit of a game changer, it made him want to take things much slower with her.

Yeah, getting her naked on your bed is definitely taking it slow,
a voice in the back of his head mocked.

He watched her expression on baited breath. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass her, he wanted her to see how beautiful and sexy she was. From their conversations he suspected she felt that her looks paled in comparison to Abagail, while he had no idea what her friend looked like all grown up, he barely remembered her from years ago, he didn’t want her thinking she was second best to anyone in any way. He hoped seeing herself how he saw her would accomplish what he set out to do.

“Well,” he prompted.

“I don’t know what to say. It’s beautiful.” She looked up at him, her eyes tearing up.

He smiled catching her gaze. “It’s you. I just drew what saw.”

Sitting up on the bed, she took the pad from him and placed it on the nightside table. “Thank you.” Her hands slid up his chest and her fingers laced behind his neck. “I don’t have words to describe how I feel right now.”

“As long as it’s good.”

If I touch her I don’t know if I’ll be able to control myself
. Despite his fears, it was impossible not to slip his hands around her and pull her tighter to him.

“It must be killing you,” she whispered in his ear.

“What?”

To his surprise one of her hands slipped between them and caressed the ridge of his cock outside of his jeans. “This.” She kissed his neck, alternating between tender kisses and nips, sending chills through him.

He groaned loudly. “Dammit Chloe. You’re making this hard.”

“I know.” Grabbing the hem of his t-shirt she tugged the shirt up and with his assistance pulled it up and over his head, tossing it to the floor. “You’re gorgeous,” she whispered as her fingers began to trace the lines of muscle. “Your body is amazing.”

It was his time to be embarrassed, however his embarrassment was short-lived replaced with raw lust as she began to undo his pants.
 
If she’d been anyone else he’d already be fucking her senseless, unleashing all the pent up anxiety. But she was Chloe and it went beyond the fact she was a piece of his past. She was the woman he’d spent over a month texting back and forth with sharing shit that he’d never shared with anyone else, partly because there was a sense of anonymity before they met and realized who they really were, but mostly because he’d felt a connection. As crazy as it was, he’d felt a drawn to her through her words. He didn’t want anything to fuck that up, even if it meant waiting for the sexual release his body craved.