you’ve been ridden hard and put away wet.” Damn, didn’t he know the mental image that statement brought with it? “Go take a shower and do something to your hair. When you’re decent, then you can put your father’s mind at rest. I’ll send Declan a quick message to expect your call.”
Used to being the one to take charge of situations, I didn’t know how to respond to Charles taking over and giving the instructions. But he was right about making myself presentable before I called Dad. I already expected to get an earful from him.
At least he was in Greece and couldn’t drop by on a whim.
“All right, I’ll take a shower.” Before I quit the room, I turned to Charles. “Stay.”
He paused in picking up the sheet I’d let fall onto the floor. “What’s that?”
“I said stay. Don’t go before I’m finished with my shower.”
“Umm.” He licked his bottom lip and tightened the corner of the sheet in his hand. “I’m really here just to get you to call Owen.”
“I need you here.”
The words came out as a whisper and shocked me as much as it did him. Was I going to scare him off now that I’d admitted that?
He nodded slowly, eyes fixed on the sheet on the sofa instead of me. “Go take that shower.”
In that moment, something shifted between us, even though we didn’t exchange the words we were thinking. Were they even necessary? We’d been fighting this attraction since the moment we met. Now it made me feel again, where I’d been numb in the past days.
I didn’t want to let go of this emotion. It kept me anchored instead of letting me slip further into the crevice of my mind.
I tried to take a quick shower, but I was still feeling quite sluggish, and it affected my movements and coordination. By the time I’d toweled off my body and entered my bedroom, I was convinced that Charles had left. I moved faster, pulling on a pair of jeans and a decent T-shirt, just as he had suggested. I also ran a comb through my still-damp hair, then headed back downstairs.
The first thing that caught my attention was the scent of food that permeated the first floor. I followed the odor to the kitchen, where Charles was unwrapping plastic containers of food at the island.
When I entered, he glanced up, and his shoulders dropped as if releasing weeks of tension.
“What’s all this?” I stepped closer to him and went to pick up a container.
Charles slapped at my hand. “You sit. I’ll handle this.”
“Fine. So you know, nobody likes bossy.”
My mood was already improving greatly as I pulled out one of the chairs and sat.
“This is what I get for throwing that awful pizza out and getting you real food? Do you know how many calories I just saved you from? Possibly a heart disease too?” He made to put back the container in the large brown bags they came in. “Maybe I should take my bossy self back home.”
“Then I’ll go back to the couch, feeling sorry for myself, and it will be on your conscience this time.”
Charles pointed at me. “You, sir, drive a hard bargain.”
I sobered at him calling me sir, only half listening as he recounted all that he’d delivered to the house while I was in the shower. I was nobody’s sir, and given what had happened at the club, no sub would want to play with a Dom who had to deal with his own Dom drop and didn’t have what it took to administer aftercare.
For me, providing aftercare was a crucial element of being a Dom. If I couldn’t give subs that much-needed attention, I didn’t believe I could ever return to practicing the lifestyle unless I worked through my anxieties. They made the drop even worse.
Charles dished up a plate of kale pasta and pan-roasted chicken with potatoes. He seemed quite exact in the portions he put on my plate, but I couldn’t eat all this with my stomach still in knots.
“Aren’t you going to have something to eat too?” I asked him as he poured me a glass of iced tea.
“I already had dinner.” He returned the pitcher to the fridge.
“You were out? I hope you didn’t leave any unfinished business to drop by.”
“Declan called me.” He placed the iced tea before me on the counter.
“So you came because Declan asked you to.”
“Not entirely.” He squeezed my shoulder, the warmth of his hand seeping through the