Free Taken by Chance by Chloe Cox Page B

tired to talk. Too tired to do anything
but sink into sleep, lying peacefully on Chance’s chest, feeling like she’d
been thoroughly, irrevocably marked.

 
     
    chapter 8
     
    Chance woke up in
the exact same position in which he’d fallen asleep: with a peaceful Lena
sleeping on his chest, like a kitten.
    Good God, Lena .
    His
brain, his body, on fire with Lena.
    Better than he’d
imagined. Than any man alive had a right to hope.
    He tried to rein
himself in and think about the fact that he’d made a promise, meaning he had an
actual obligation. This wasn’t just empty fucking. She trusted him to help her.
In the back of his mind, as he was advancing on her, scouting her body, taking
in everything he could, he’d wondered if he’d feel the same way the next day,
that this was his only choice, given what she’d said. Or if he’d wake up
knowing he’d made a promise he couldn’t keep to someone who needed help.
    So
far, so good.
    He’d walked up
those stairs convinced that he would explain some things, that would be that,
and she’d be on her way.
    And then she’d
said the one thing that could have compelled him to change his mind. He did not
see that one coming, that was for sure. Once she’d
said she needed his help as a Dom to get over what that idiot did to her, he
was just a goner, no hope for him at all. As a Dom, first of all, he couldn’t
turn away a sub that needed his help. But it was like she knew he’d spent the
last few years reliving the times he’d failed a woman who needed his help, and
knew he’d make up for it in any way he could.
    Except
she didn’t know any of that. She couldn’t. And thinking about Jennie or the Asala family again should set
him on edge, like it always did. Only now he had a naked Lena draped over him,
and he felt…
    In
control. Normally he only
felt like that in the topspace of dominating a sub,
usually in a scene. It was that same feeling he’d had earlier, like just her
presence calmed him, took off that edge in him that was always looking for a
bad guy to fight.
    He frowned. That
was dangerous freaking thinking, right there. Chance knew enough to know that
no one else was going to fix him but him. That wasn’t how people worked, and
looking for that in someone else was as bad as a woman who thought she could
fix a broken man and got herself into a bad situation as a result.
    Focus on the present. Focus on what you promised her you’d do.
    Well, at the
present moment, he was very much enjoying the prospect of Lena in his bed for
the foreseeable future. And the prospect of keeping her naked
for as long as he wanted.
    He smiled. Good
thing it was his prerogative to set the rules. It was good to be a Dom.
    But
first things first. He needed
confirmation that this was the right thing for her. He needed to hear it in the
light of day, and he needed her to hear his own reservations—informed
consent wasn’t just some byword. He’d need it before he broke out the toys or
set any rules.
    Slowly and
carefully, so he wouldn’t wake her, he shifted Lena onto her side, next to him.
She only sighed, and settled down on to her back, giving him an unbelievable
view.
    Damn, she had to
be cute when she was sleeping, too.
    Chance pulled on
an old pair of sweats, then padded to the bathroom and got a warm, wet
washcloth, which he then wrung out and brought back to the bed. They had made a
considerable mess. Normally he wouldn’t just pass out without cleaning up, but
that night had been anything but normal. Still, it was his job to take care of
her, no matter what the outcome of their coming conversation. No woman went
neglected in his bed.
    So he’d take care
of her.
    He climbed back
onto the bed and gently began to wipe her down with the washcloth. Didn’t take
long for that to wake her up.
    But she woke up
smiling.
    “That feels good,”
she murmured.
    He bent her leg at
the knee so he could get to her inner thigh, and she opened her eyes with
alarm. Then she tried to