Haynes, K. R. - The Light in Her Eyes [In Her Eyes] (Siren Publishing Classic) (7 page)

There was no music playing now. No one was dancing.

For three o’clock on a Sunday afternoon, the pub was fairly empty. There were a couple of old codgers up at the bar discussing the results from last night’s game. Other than that there was no one else around. Or no one she cared to see. She rested her head against the back of the chair and closed her eyes.

I shouldn’t be here
were the whispered words running through her head. Chloe knew she shouldn’t miss him either, but that didn’t stop her from doing it.

“Mind if I sit?”

Opening her eyes, she peered up at the soft, feminine face of Mary J. The young barmaid stared down at her, a look of sympathy dancing in her eyes. “No, I don’t mind. Please take a seat.” Chloe gestured with her hand to the vacant seat across from her.

“I didn’t expect to see you here so early this afternoon, sweetie. Something on your mind, or should I say is someone on your mind? Is that why you’re in here drowning your sorrows so early in the day?” Mary J asked her.

Was she so transparent that even the barmaid who barely knew her could see right through her? Shaking her head, Chloe offered up what she hoped sounded like the truth. “I’m just trying to forget someone, that’s all.”

“So this someone wouldn’t happen to be male, six foot two, with dark-blond hair and muscles that make a girl want to drool?”

“Yeah, sounds like him,” Chloe said gloomily.

Mary J laughed. The sound of her soft, light chuckle made Chloe smile, something she hadn’t done in the last few days.

“It’s Chloe, right?” Chloe just nodded her head. “Well, Chloe, there’s something you should know about that man.”

“What about him?”

“Well, how do I put this without sounding daft? He’s been chasing after a dream, or at least has been for the past six months or so I’ve known Randall. Far as I can understand it’s a woman from his past. He doesn’t talk about her much. The odd bits and pieces I have picked up on come secondhand from his buddy, Mick.”

“I’ve met Mick. He’s the one that fixes up cars in his spare time, right?”

“Yeah, that’s him.”

Chloe watched as Mary J’s face lit up as she spoke about Mick. She wondered if the pretty redhead even knew how much she lit up when she spoke about him.

“Yeah, he’s good at fixing up cars. He also works on the force with Randall. The two of them go way back. They’re closer than brothers. Not sure of their full story though,” Mary J said with a wink, “but I plan to find out one of these days.”

“Me, too,” Chloe mumbled to herself.

Mary J rose from her seat then and stood at the end of the table. “Can I give you some advice on your Officer Randall, sweetie?”

He’s not mine,
Chloe wanted to remind the other woman. She didn’t though, opting to say “yes” instead.

“Ask him about his past. Ask him about the woman he’s chasing from that past. And do it soon, sweetie, before you fall too deeply for him.” Squeezing Chloe’s hand within hers, Mary J added on, “I wish you all the luck in the world with that man. If you ever need a shoulder to cry on, or feel like gossiping about men in general and their stupid behaviours, come find me. I don’t want to see you drowning your sorrows in alcohol alone again. Ya hear me?”

“I will. I promise you on everything, Mary J. Thank you.”

“No problems, sweetie. Just remember everything I said, okay?”

Scooting out of the booth, Chloe hugged the other woman briefly, and promised to remember her advice before leaving the pub.

* * * *

Pulling up outside the pub, Randall caught sight of Chloe stumbling out the front entrance. Locking up his truck he made his way over to her, calling out her name to her to get her attention. When she didn’t acknowledge him, Randall raised his voice louder so she could hear him clearly. “Chloe, goddamn it, will you wait, woman.”

She wheeled around on him then. “What, Jon? What the hell do you want from me?” Her agitation toward him was valid. He had been so caught up in his reinstatement back into the Bomb Squad, he hadn’t had a chance to make amends with her after storming out of her place a week or so ago.

“What I want, Chloe, is you.”

“Well maybe you should have thought about that before you stormed out of my house last weekend and never looked back.”

“I was angry at the time, Chloe. That doesn’t mean I don’t want you.”

She turned away from him then. Randall sensed Chloe was fighting to hold back the tears in her eyes. He knew it would be hard for her to hear his words of how he wanted her. He needed her to know how he felt. Even if he stuffed it up royally on what he was trying to say to her. She had to know.

He wanted her.

His need for her was never going to change, no matter how many times she pushed him away. Randall would always want her. He didn’t care if Chloe chose to defy him with her disobedience. Hell, he actually loved the fact she had the knack of pushing his Dominant buttons all the damn time. It made him feel alive when she did it. Her sassy attitude toward him always fuelled his dominance. Chloe made him believe in the man he needed to be for her. She made him want to be her
Master.

She had once given him the honour of being the Master of her body and the Master of her pleasure. Would she allow him that same honour again?

He would go easy on her today and give her just a glimpse of his dominance. The next time, however, that she chose to push her fiery attitude onto him she wouldn’t fare so well. All he could say was, Chloe had better prepare herself for the consequences of her actions if she purposely pushed his Dominant buttons again. Next time he wouldn’t be so lenient on her. He would push her to her absolute limits.

Gripping her shoulders with his hands in an effort to prevent her from moving away from him, Randall tamped down on his need to dominate her before he spoke to her. “Don’t turn your back on me, Chloe.”

She glanced over her shoulder at him. Randall could see the confusion shadowing her eyes. Her voice was low as she spoke to him. “This is nonsense. How could you possibly want me when you don’t even know me?”

“I know you all right, Chloe. I know how you ache for me even if you wouldn’t admit it to yourself. ”

She shook her head at him.

“Don’t lie to me, Chloe. We both know you want me just as much as I want you.”

She dared him by saying, “Prove it.”

Randall spun her around so fast to face him, her head was probably spinning. He didn’t wait for her to get her bearings as he crushed his lips to hers. He kissed her lips in a passionate, fiery way that matched her fiery spirit. His lips moved and rubbed against hers, demanding for her to comply to him. To let him take from her what he so desperately needed from her.

His tongue slid along the softness of her pillowy lips, swiping at the taste of her. It wasn’t enough. He needed more, always more. He groaned against her lips at the feel of Chloe’s tongue peeking out tentatively to savour the taste of him. It was so fucking hot. The sensation of feasting on her lips as she licked and sucked at his own had his cock growing harder by the fucking second.

His tongue swiped over her bottom lip after lightly biting it. Randall pulled away from the kiss almost breathless. Chloe moaned at the sudden loss of contact from him. He stared into her eyes and saw the blaze of heat she held for him.

“I want you, Chloe, don’t ever forget it. I’ve always wanted you.”

With her hands on his chest, Chloe tried to shove him away from her. Randall didn’t budge. “What the hell does that even mean, Jon? You act like you’ve known me for years and yet you haven’t.”

“Chloe, don’t you remember our first kiss?”

“Yes, it was just then.”

“No, it wasn’t.”

“What the hell are you talking about? Of course it was our first kiss. A pretty damn good one, might I add.”

He smirked briefly at her comment before sobering up. “No, Chloe, our first kiss was on a starless night underneath the big old oak tree up at your parents’ house.”

Chloe shook her head at him. Randall knew then she had no idea what he was talking about.

“I think you have me confused with some other woman,” she told him. Her disappointment echoed in her voice.

“I’m not confused, Chloe. Don’t you remember?”

Chloe gave him another shove with her hands upon his chest as she said, “Remember the bloody hell what?”

Randall tugged at his hair in frustration as he spoke to her. “Don’t you remember your sixteenth birthday party? I was there. You were there. You were wearing this soft, floaty pink summer dress with ties at the shoulders. After about an hour at your party we both left together. We headed up to our oak tree at the back of your parents’ property.”

“I don’t remember. I can’t remember anything that happened from the time I turned sixteen and the following six months after that.”

“What do you mean you don’t remember?”

“Exactly what it means, Jon. I don’t remember. I have no memory of what happened to me during those six months. I’ve tried everything, including hypnosis, in an effort to get those missing six months back. Nothing worked.” Chloe stepped back from him then and he let her go, knowing she needed the space. “Every so often I get flashes, like images of things, events, people, but they are so quick I can barely make out what it is. None of the images last long enough to create a full memory. So to answer your question, Jon, I don’t know
what happened back then. I don’t
know what or if something happened between us. What I do know is I feel like I somehow know you. I just don’t know how or why.”

Even though he listened to every single word that fell from her lips, Randall still couldn’t believe it. Her words churned around in his head as he tried to make sense of them. Chloe didn’t remember their time together at all? She didn’t remember the night he took her virginity underneath their oak tree or the countless other times he had made love to her? Just hearing her say she couldn’t recall their very first kiss hurt more than any of the other things she couldn’t remember. Their first kiss was also the first time Randall had ever kissed a girl that he wasn’t related to in some way. And to have Chloe tell him she couldn’t remember it, well, it stung like a bitch.

Closing the distance between them, Randall wrapped his arms around Chloe’s waist, bringing her closer to him. Suddenly he needed to feel her in his arms, needed to feel her heart beating next to his own. To know she was actually here with him and that this wasn’t all a dream. He knew his immediate goal was to help Chloe remember their time together. He lifted her head up from his chest and ran a finger down her cheek to her soft kissable lips.

“I’ll help you remember, Chloe. Let me help you remember us.”

Not waiting for her answer, Randall slanted his lips over hers again. She gasped in surprise against the domination, but his kiss prevailed. His tongue forced its way through the small part in her lips. She tasted the same to him. She tasted exactly the same as she had back when they were teenagers, sweeter than sugar with a hint of peppermint.

He groaned against her lips and took her hand in his, squeezing it gently. Looking deep into her hazel eyes, Randall hoped that what he was about to offer her, Chloe would accept whole heartily. He had been a fool to let her go once. He wasn’t about to make the same mistake twice. He also knew this would probably be his one and only chance to show her what they had once shared together. Taking a deep, steadying breath, looking her right in the eyes, Randall let his words fall from his lips.

“Come home with me, Chloe. Let me show you what we had together. What we can still have together.”

* * * *

She didn’t know what to say to his offer. All Chloe could hear in her head was Mary J’s advice to her before she left the pub. “Ask him about his past, sweetie. Ask him about the woman from that past…” Chloe feared she already knew the answers to all those questions Mary J had posed to her to ask Randall. She was the one. Chloe was the woman from his past, the one he had been chasing after. She knew it. Felt it in his scorching kiss and feared the truth of it all at the same time.

She nodded her head to answer him, too afraid to verbally answer him, fearing the tremble in her voice would give her away or, heaven forbid, the wrong words would fall from her lips. Randall accepted her nod as confirmation and placed a hand on her lower back and started to usher her toward his truck. Chloe winced when she placed weight on her right foot. She had twisted her ankle when she missed the step on her exit out of the pub.

She squealed in delight when Randall suddenly lifted her up into his arms and carried her over to his truck. He was so gentle with her when he placed her inside the cab of his truck. More than gentle, actually. Randall showed her tenderness she had never been shown before.

For the first time in her life she felt loved. She felt cared for and cherished. The very things that have been missing from her life for so long now and ones she hadn’t felt since she was a young girl.