Chapter 242

I don’t want to admit to myself that I am hiding in my old bedroom, but there’s not really any other way to spin it. I am hiding, not just from Steven, but from Archer, Neil, and Beau too.

I have no idea how my life came to this.

Before I moved into the Pyramid, I’d more or less given up on boys. None of them seemed all that interesting, or interested in me. Though I suppose, in my heart, I longed for the companionship of a good man, someone brave and kind enough to support my warrior career.

I never imagined that I would end up falling for no less than four asshole brothers.

On top of that, in the span of only a few days, I went from believing I might never see any of them again, to wanting them all in my bed.

Leaning back against the door, I hang my head a minute. Gods, my past self would be so embarrassed to see the woman I’ve become. But… to be fair, that opinion might change when my past self sees how hot the guys we’re dealing with are.

If ever there were four hot, asshole brothers to fall for, these four were by far the hottest. Just when I think one is hotter than the other, I see the next and my opinion shifts again. They each seem to break the mold every time I see them.

I’m totally screwed. Who am I kidding? I never had a chance.

With a sigh, I kick away from the door. My old room is so barren now, it’s almost difficult to look at. I can see the shape of how things used to be. My bed’s in the same place. My dresser is there. No one’s moved the closet or bathroom.

Yet it is so empty of life and the things that make it feel like home that I feel like a visitor at a hotel, not a person in the room that used to be hers.

It kind of hurts my heart to think of it. I want to leave, but that would ruin the point of me hiding. Instead, I look over the room again, hoping for a distraction. My eye catches on the dresser.

I wonder if…

I go to the dresser and pull open the top drawer. There, just where left it, is the BDSM erotic novel that Debbie had recommended and Beau had teased me for. I was too embarrassed to take it with me when I was moving. Plus, I didn’t want to be reminded of the memories it held.

Chapters read aloud that lead to practicing those scenes together.

I shiver pleasantly, remembering. Then I shake my head to clear the memories away.

I should really put the book back. It’s only lead me to trouble in the past. Yet, I didn’t have the book when I landed myself in my current trouble, so maybe I should do more reading and less acting on my horniness.

With that in mind, I flip open the book. I skim past the familiar chapters until my attention catches on something I don’t remember reading before.

It’s a chapter farther back in the book, entitled, The Pleasant Torture of Edging from a Nerdy Boy.

What the hell are these titles? Though I suppose it is effective. It catches my eye, after all.

Quietly lambasting the author in my head, I skim through the chapter. Within it, the heroine is flirting with a shy, nerdy boy who mostly stammers at first – until the clothes come off. Then it’s like he’s an entirely different person.

He strips the girl naked then makes her sit in his lap. He touches the tip of his finger to her clit, and tells her to rub against it until she comes. She cries and moans. It’s not enough. She wants more. But he gives her only the tip of his finger.

“Come from just this, and I’ll fuck you until you can’t walk,” the nerdy guy says.

The heroine persists, bringing herself close from the faintest touch and the promise of more. Yet, just as she is about to climax, he pulls back his hand. She cries out. He waits until she’s mostly settled, then he puts his finger back against her.

“Do it again. Like you mean it this time.”

Gods, it goes on and on like this for several pages. He brings her close, then stops just before she can come. Pleasant torture, indeed.

Then, when she is crying and begging, he gives her more. He gives her everything. And her orgasm is so strong that she blacks out.

… Is this how Steven would be? Some of the things he said would line up with this.

Gods, I can feel myself getting damp again. For these brothers, my body seems to be insatiable.

I can’t seem to get enough. I want and I want, and I want and I want.

What a selfish woman I am.

A knock sounds on the door, and, with my mind in a haze, I can’t react fast enough before Steven enters and sees me holding this book.

A bit of red rises in his cheeks. “We should… uh… probably talk,” he says as he comes closer. He glances down at the book. I don’t know what he sees. I’m still open to the page of the nerdy guy and the heroine’s mutual pleasure after edging for such a long time.

His blush deepens. “Is that… the pleasurable torture chapter?”

I have no idea how he knows that, but I nod all the same.

“Beau told me to read that chapter… He said I might learn a few things…”

“Did you?” I ask.

Steven swallows hard. “Yes. I did.”

His gaze lifts from the book up to my mouth. I lick my lips on impulse.

The air between us feels thick and charged. It feels like something is about to happen, or that anything might happen.

I brace myself. If he wants to pleasantly torture me, I am 3000% down for it. I’m down for anything that involves Steven – kissing, touching, simply looking into each other’s eyes. Whatever he wants, we’ll do.

His gaze lifts more, up to meet my own eyes. In his, I can see the heat of desire. He’s looking at me like he can see straight through me.

“Chloe…”

“Whatever you want, Steven.” That’s my consent. Whatever he wants.

He inches closer and I think I’m about to be kissed. I close my eyes in anticipation.

The kiss never comes.

Instead, Steven sighs. “I’m sorry, Chloe,” he says.

I blink my eyes open in surprise.

“I’m not like my brothers,” he says.

“You don’t have to be.”

He shakes his head a little. “They can do things that I won’t allow myself.” He takes a small, steadying breath. This seems difficult for him to say. “I don’t want to have sex just to have sex.”

“That’s okay,” I say. “These things take time. It took me a long while to be ready for any kind of penetration.”

“No, you don’t understand. Let me try again.”

I nodded and waited for him to continue.

“When I sleep with a woman, I want it to be because she’s in love with me.”