Chapter Thirty Three

Lee glanced down at Chloe when she eventually removed herself from his arms, sighing quietly to herself as she stared at the floor.

"You look stunning in that dress." he told her.

"Did you see the girls on your way in?" she asked, not acknowledging what he'd said to her.

"Yeah, Michelle was whining about the fact that I wasn't going with her." he told her.

"She was being a bit flirty with Ben earlier too, I don't know what's gotten into her." she frowned. Lee raised his eyebrow, deciding not to comment.

"The girls looked amazing though, their dresses were so pretty." she said.

"Speaking of dresses, I really need to take it off." she added, glancing at herself.

"Why, you look amazing...I kind of want to take you out and show you off." he admitted, smiling slightly. Chloe glanced down at her hand as she felt Lee take it and twirl her, gently pulling her close. She smiled at him and wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers gently stroking his hair. Lee slowly ran his fingers down the length of her arm, smiling slightly when she shivered. He still couldn't believe how breath-taking she looked, standing quietly in the dress. Chloe glanced down at her hips as Lee placed his hands on them and pulled her towards him, no longer able to fight the deep longing he was feeling for her. Before Chloe could react, he leaned towards her and kissed her gently, his hands slowly tracing their way up her torso. As Lee deepened the kiss, Chloe quickly pulled away, turning her head away from him.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have done that, I know you want to take things slowly." he said quickly.

"It's okay." she said quietly, feeling slightly guilty that she'd pulled away from him.

"You just look so good, I couldn't resist." he said, smiling slightly. Chloe unwrapped her arms from around his neck and quickly stood back from him.

"I'm going to get changed." she told him, before quickly walking away. Lee nodded slowly, running his hand through his hair in frustration as he threw himself onto the sofa. He couldn't help but feel like he'd pushed things too far with her, it hadn't been his intention to lose control for a moment, she was just so stunning that he struggled to resist her. He knew how delicate she was and the last thing he wanted to do was push her too fast, when he knew that she wanted to take things slowly. His eyes flickered to the hallway as he saw Chloe hovering nervously, still wearing the dress.

"I have a problem." she said quietly, glancing at him shyly.

"Me too." Lee muttered under his breath, so quietly that she didn't hear him.

"I can't reach the zip." she admitted, her cheeks colouring. Chloe quickly reached behind her head and untied the mask, carefully placing it safely back in the bag. Lee hesitated for a moment before slowly crossing the room and standing in front of her.

"Turn around then." he mumbled, staring down at her. Chloe glanced up at him briefly, before slowly turning her back on him. She carefully reached behind herself and gathered her hair, pulling it to one side. Lee carefully took hold of the dress material, his hands shaking as he slowly unzipped it. He gasped quietly as he laid eyes on the back of her white lace bra. His hands lingered at the base of her spine, when he finally reached the end of the zip. Lee couldn't resist placing his hands on her hips, enjoying the feel of her soft, warm skin under his hands. His eyes wandered to her bra, as he found himself longing to unfasten it.

"You're so beautiful." he breathed, gently placing his chin on her shoulder and planting a soft kiss on her neck.

Chloe sighed quietly, feeling content that her back was resting against his chest, her skin tingling under his touch. She frowned to herself as he quickly moved her away from him, towards the doorway.

"Go and get changed then." he said quietly, quickly turning away from her. She turned to face him, frowning in confusion when she realised, he had his back to her.

"Is everything okay?" she asked.

"Yeah fine, you get changed, I'll order a takeaway." he said quickly, still not turning to face her. Lee glanced behind himself as he heard her walking away from him. He quickly sat on the sofa, pulling a cushion on his lap and resting his phone on it, as he ordered the food. As soon as he'd ordered the food, he put down his phone and closed his eyes, trying to think about something else other than how stunning Chloe looked.

His eyes snapped open as he felt her sit down on the sofa beside him, carefully wrapping her legs under her. Chloe smiled at Lee as he glanced at her. She felt much more comfortable now that she was wearing her leggings and a jumper.

"I've ordered the food." he told her.

"How did you know what to order?" she asked.

"Because I remember what you like and don't like." he told her, smiling slightly. She smiled, raising her eyebrow sceptically.

"I ordered pizza, and I remembered that the vegetable one is your favourite." he stated.

"Did you order garlic mushrooms?" she asked, a smile playing at the corner of her lips.

"Nice try, I know that you hate mushrooms." he smiled.

"Damn it." she giggled.

"See, I'm good." he chuckled.

"I'm surprised you remembered to be honest." she admitted, smiling slightly at how sweet he was.

"The five of us used to hang out a lot didn't we." he reminded her.

"Yes, but that was a while ago." she pointed out.

"I remember loads of random facts about you." he said smugly.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yep, I know that you hate having flowers inside the house because it reminds you of funerals. You're allergic to peanuts."

"Your favourite food is pasta, Winter is your favourite season because you think it's beautiful and you've always wanted to go to Svalbard to see the Polar Bears." he continued, smiling slightly at her shocked expression.

"Wow, that's a lot." she breathed, slightly impressed that he'd remembered so much about her.

"Oh, and your favourite boyband is Eclipse." he chuckled.

"I wouldn't go that far." she said, smiling slightly.

"And I'm your favourite member obviously." he grinned.

"Oh, I don't know though.... what about Nathan?" she giggled, playing along with his banter. Lee smiled at her before kissing her lips tenderly.

"Still Nathan?" he winked.

"No, I think I'll give you that one." she laughed.

"Speaking of the boys, I'm coming back to work with you." she told him.

"Awesome." he smiled.

"Why aren't you surprised?" she frowned. Lee sighed nervously, not entirely sure how she was going to take what he was about to tell her.

"I knew that we needed a tour manager to work with Matt to organise our schedules, so I suggested to Matt that he offered it to you." he explained.

"Why?" she asked.

"The boys and I miss you, and the tour won't be the same if you aren't there with us." he said quietly. Chloe nodded slowly.

"Matt gave me a bit of a talking too." he chuckled. Chloe raised her eyebrow and waited for him to continue.

"He wanted to make sure that I treated you better than last time." he said quietly. Lee quickly stood up as the doorbell rang, returning a few moments later with the food.

"I feel bad that you keep buying me things." she said quietly when Lee handed her a pizza box.

"It's not a big deal." he told her gently.

"You can have half of it anyway, I won't be able to eat the whole thing." she told him.

"I don't need yours; I have my own." he said.

"Why don't you eat much?" he asked.

"I've never really eaten much." she admitted.

"What did you do about food when you were living in the park?" he asked nervously, slightly afraid that he was going to upset her.

"We scavenged food that people brought for the ducks." she said quickly. Lee paused mid mouthful and turned to look at her, bursting out laughing when he noticed her smiling at him cheekily.

"I always had a small amount of money left for food, but I kind of lived off sandwiches. It's been so nice having hot food since I've been staying here." she told him.

"Danny earned money from busking for his food." she said. Lee nodded slowly. Lee glanced at Chloe as she quickly placed her slice of pizza back in the box.

"Oh no....Danny." she whispered.

"What?" he frowned.

"I've been living here in the warm, with three meals per day, while he's still in the park. I haven't even given him a second thought the past couple of weeks." she explained.

"You've been recovering that's why." he told her quickly.

"That's no excuse, I'm such a bad friend. We were supposed to look out for each other." she sighed.

"Well why don't we go for a walk tomorrow; we can go and see him when he's in town busking?" Lee suggested, not comfortable with taking her back to the park to see her friend.

"We can take him some food." she said. Lee nodded, feeling pleased that she had agreed to leave the house. He couldn't help but hope that if she was able to leave the house for a short time in a quiet location that she would eventually start to feel more comfortable in larger gatherings.

"You forgot the garlic bread." she teased him, trying to lighten the mood.

"Are you trying to put me off doing this?" Lee smiled, slowly leaning over and kissing her tenderly. As soon as his lips left hers, he gently rested his forehead against hers, watching her closely.

"Why would I want to put you off kissing me?" she smiled, before kissing him softly. Chloe rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, suddenly feeling very sleepy.

"I think you need to go to bed." he told her. Chloe nodded slowly, watching Lee as he gathered up the food and quickly put it safely in the kitchen. She curled up on her section of the sofa and pulled her blanket over herself.

Lee smiled at her as he watched her, he couldn't help but notice how adorable she looked curled up on the sofa. He lay down on his section of the sofa, glancing over at her as he saw her face illuminated by her phone as she looked at something on it. She smiled to herself and placed one of her earphones in her ear, safely putting her phone under her pillow and closing her eyes. Lee sighed as he thought about Chloe, laying just a few feet away from him, he didn't want to be apart from her.

"Sod this." Lee muttered under his breath. Chloe opened her eyes slowly as she heard Lee muttering, she watched him in the faint light as he shuffled along the sofa. She turned her head around, smiling slightly as he laid down behind her, gently wrapping his arms around her waist and pulling her close.

"Are you alright there?" she teased him.

"Yep, you're my girlfriend now, so I can do this." he whispered, planting a soft kiss behind her ear.

"What are you listening too?" he asked her, snuggling his face against hers.

"You'll laugh." she said quietly.

"No, I won't." he told her. Before Chloe could react, he gently picked up the spare earphone and placed it in his ear.

"Wait, is that your Dad's voice?" he asked.

"Yes, he liked to write books and he recorded them as audiobooks too for me and Mum, I like to listen to them at night sometimes." she explained.

"That's really cute." he said, closing his eyes, feeling comforted by holding her tightly. Chloe closed her eyes and placed her arms over Lee's, quickly linking her fingers with his.

Chloe bolted awake as she heard the front door close and the sound of voices from the hallway. She quickly turned over, noticing that she was still asleep in Lee's arms.

"Lee?" she whispered, trying to wake him so that she could remove herself from his tight embrace before the others noticed.

"Lee?" she hissed again, when he continued sleeping.

"Damn it." she muttered when she tried to squirm out of his arms sighing when she realised that his grip was too strong for her.

"Where are you going?" Lee asked groggily as he slowly woke up, instinctively pulling her closer.

"The others are back." she said quickly.

"Let go of me...quickly." she told him, as she heard footsteps approaching.

Chloe glanced up at Kirstie and Louise starting to panic slightly. She sighed in relief as she finally managed to loosen his grip slightly and squirm out of his arms. She avoided eye contact with Kirstie and Louise as she quickly shuffled over to the other side of the sofa, rolling her eyes at Lee as he fidgeted slightly and fell back asleep. Kirstie switched on the lamp and raised her eyebrow at Chloe as she sat cross legged on Lee's side of the sofa, gazing at her lap, her cheeks a deep shade of red. Kirstie bit her lip to stop herself from bursting out laughing, glancing behind herself as Ben and Matt walked into the room, the four of them staring at Chloe, who was squirming slightly.

"She must have had another nightmare, the only way to calm her down is to hold her." Kirstie said, thinking quickly.

"Oh, really, is that the excuse we are going with." Louise giggled.

"Nothing happened." Chloe said quickly.

"You shouldn't have worn that dress in front of him." Ben teased her, laughing when her cheeks coloured even further.

"Well, nothing happened, they are both still dressed." Kirstie said sternly, glaring at Ben to subtly tell him to drop the subject. Ben shrugged and walked out of the room.

"Right, where is everyone sleeping?" Kirstie said, quickly changing the subject when Michelle walked into the room.

"Louise can have the other half of my bed." Michelle stated.

"Okay cool, Matt, will you be okay on the air bed?" Kirstie asked him.

"Yeah, that's fine." Matt slurred, quickly leaning against the wall as he staggered slightly.

"If it's a pain we can get a taxi?" Louise offered.

"No, it's fine, the more the merrier, Ben can cook his famous fry up for everyone that he keeps bragging about." Kirstie said, smiling slightly.

"Also, you can all tell me about the ball in the morning." Chloe smiled, relieved that the subject had been changed, especially since Michelle was now in the room, her eyes fixed on Lee who was sleeping peacefully. Louise quickly linked her arm through Michelle's and walked down the hallway, trying to get her away from Lee before he woke up. Ben quickly walked into the room, placing the air bed onto the living room floor and handing Matt a blanket, before disappearing back down the hall.

"I get to be in the room with the lovebirds." Matt sighed, half falling onto the mattress as he tried to climb on it.

"Nothing happened!" Chloe insisted.

"At least now I know why he wants you to come back and work with us." Matt chuckled, completely ignoring her. Chloe sighed and glanced at Kirstie who shook her head slowly, subtly giving her the signal to not worry about it.

"See you in the morning." Kirstie said quietly.