Taming A Predator

Chapter 60

Doe's POV:

We kicked Nico out of the bathhouse, Khloe kindly herding him back into the bedroom to give us our space.

Meanwhile, I was idly covering my chest with my shirt not wanting to mess with the paint on my back. Khloe did a good job of distracting him away from my presence, chatting him up while she lead him to their closet with nothing but a towel wrapped around his waist. Just for us to bolt into the bathhouse once the closet door was shut.

A show I wasn't expecting to see but did help me solidify that Xander in his entirety was more my type.

Dunno. Nico was just still deemed as scary and intense somewhere in my mind. I still don't understand how Khloe manages it.

She filled the pool up again after it'd emptied, and tossed one of those things Xander would throw in ours to make it smell nice and change the color of the water.

This time it was close to a dark green and smelled like green apples.

Nice.

My brows rose watching her remove her shirt on her way back over to me.

I don't know why I thought we'd be enjoying this bath in any other state other than naked.

I mean, we did walk in here with nothing but the clothes we were already wearing, but Khloe's just always seemed a little more reserved when it came to her own body.

Either way, I didn't care and started stripping myself down along with her.

Actually... ever since her birthday, it's been like she's had a major boost in confidence. She had a new glow around her.

It was reminiscent of that 'I just lost my virginity and he made me feel like a the most perfect specimen in the world' confidence boost I'd had once and still haven't come down from.

Good for her.

She was very pretty and deserved to feel as such in any state.

We set out clothes on the little bench by the door, seeing that the water was almost full again.

"I feel bad just washing this off." I spoke, pointing back to the scene she'd just painted on my back.

I didn't have anything in mind for her to paint when she asked, so I just told her to do whatever she wanted.

And boy did she deliver.

I ended up with an intricate bouquet painted on my skin with color splashes all over the place yet in a way that all felt intentional.

It was beautiful. Everything she made was.

And it kind of made me feel... happy when she explained the reasoning behind her choice to me amidst her concentrated painting.

She told me that she used to doodle flowers and vines on her sister's arm back when she was younger and lived her life as a citizen back in Bronwyn's territory. It was something she'd do to ease her mind or help her focus on something else when things grew sense in her household.

Drawing or creating these kinds of things became somewhat cathartic to her in a sense, and I felt honored to be a part of that for a little bit.

Especially when she kept mentioning her sister... I dunno I felt it tug at something in me.

And now I was just gonna wash it off?

Khloe shrugged with a knowing smile, "You'd rather get paint flakes all over your bed tonight?"

"Maybe." I stayed steadfast, committing to my works now that I'd said them.

She shook her head, "Wash it off and I'll do a better one next time," She insisted, "Or if you find something you really like, once I get good enough, I can make it permanent with the tattoo gun Xander got me for my birthday."