Personal Chef

Chapter 27

I walked up to Shawn's door about an hour before the party was set to start. Normally I'd just let myself in, but for some reason that felt strange since I wasn't there in my typical chef capacity. I knocked on the door instead.

Shawn answered and I had to fight the urge to gasp at his appearance. Jesus, he looked so good.

It was a cool spring evening, so he'd opted for a long sleeve button down shirt in a grayish green color. It was unbuttoned enough to give a peek at his chest hair and the necklace he always wore. He had on his standard tight black jeans and ankle boots.

"Wow," he said after looking me up and down. "You look so damn hot!"

I could feel my cheeks turn pink at his words. I wanted him to think I looked sexy and he'd confirmed that right off the bat.

I stepped inside and stood on my tiptoes to give him a kiss. "You look hot, too."

Shawn took my overnight bag and carried it to his bedroom. I followed and watched him place it in the closet before shutting the door. Obviously no one could know I was sleeping over. I looked around his room and was impressed by the neatness.

"Did you clean for me?" I asked.

"Maybe," he said with a grin.

My eyes kept going to the bed. We'd be in it later. Hopefully naked. I shuddered at the thought; it was so exciting.

"How's your ankle?" he asked, looking down at my boot-free leg.

"It's good!" I said, sitting down on the edge of his bed. "See!"

I held my foot up for him to inspect it. He took hold of it and looked over the area that had been horribly bruised a swollen before.

"Nice panties," he said with a smirk as he gently set my foot back down.

So maybe I knew that holding my leg up would flash him. I was hoping to seduce him later, after all.

"My skirt is a bit short," I said in response.

"I noticed. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to keep my hands off you all night with you looking like this. You're a bit of a tease, Chelsea Price."

"I could say the exact same thing to you. Here you are looking insanely sexy like you've just stepped out of a magazine photo shoot. Girls are going to be checking you out all night and I can't even show them that you're mine."

Shawn sat next to me on the bed. "I am yours, baby. I know we agreed that we're just dating, but I hope you know that as far as I'm concerned, we're exclusive. I keep referring to you as my girlfriend to my family."

A million butterflies set flight in my stomach. Could he see them since I was wearing a crop top?

"So I can think of you as my boyfriend?" I asked.

"I'd like you to, if that's what you want."

"I've never had a boyfriend," I said quietly.

"What about Ben?" he asked as he took my hands in his.

"We never talked about it. We were just dating. Exclusivity was implied, but never officially agreed to. I don't think he wanted to commit to me when he clearly still loved Karyn. Which was probably good of him."

"Are you still feeling okay about seeing them tonight?"

Nodding, I said, "It's fine. You didn't tell him about us, did you? I'd rather he not know right away. I don't want him to suspect there was something going on between us before things ended with him."