“I already told you where I was last weekend.”
“Yeah, with Camilla and Warren—oh, did y’all have some kind of three-way thing going on?”
I yanked her across the room behind a wall of folded-up tables, gripping the top of one of them, caging her between my arms. “I’m going to pretend like you didn’t just ask me that,” I said, looking her dead in the eyes, “but I gotta ask you, Chloe, are you as into me now as you were in Vegas? Or was that just a miserably failed one-night stand that ended with a fake marriage, and now you’re just trying to push me away? Or are you scared?” She swallowed hard. That’s what I thought. “Because my feelings for you, whatever the hell they are anymore, have not changed. And every time I see you only confirms to me that I’m not as crazy as I’d initially thought I was, or maybe I am. But if you really don’t want me, just say the word. I’ll stop pursuing you and move on, like I probably should’ve done over a year ago.” And not because I wanted to.
Chloe responded by wrapping her fingers around my belt and pulling me even closer into her. “I’m not pushing you away.”
“I don’t want you to.” Bracing myself with one hand, I reached behind her, cupped her ass and squeezed it hard. “Am I still what you want, Chloe?”
She closed her eyes, dropping her head back against the table. Her lips parted as her breathing became more rapid. She didn’t have to say a word—the way she responded without her voice told me everything I needed to know.
I dipped my head down, planting a soft kiss on the side of her neck. She turned her head to the side, exposing more skin for me to access. I kissed her again, and again, as I worked my way up to the corner of her jawline, just below her ear.
“You know what I want,” she said in a ragged whisper.
I smiled against her delicate skin.
With one hand still holding tight on to her ass, I dropped my other hand to one of her large, half-exposed mounds of cleavage and squeezed her tit through the sheer material of her flimsy white blouse and lacy bra. “I have half a mind to rip this shirt right off of you.”
She let out a whimper. “We—we should go before we get caught.” The tug I felt on my belt, drawing me even closer into her, told me she wanted otherwise. Then she smiled against my lips.
Without wasting any more time, I took her mouth with mine.
This time it wasn’t soft and nice and sweet. There was no holding back or giving her time to wonder what I wanted. My message was loud and clear. This was a kiss of need and passion—the kind where teeth clink together and your rhythm is off, but you don’t give a shit. You keep on going.
She tried reaching her hand down the front of my pants, but my belt was on too tight, so she opted for rubbing my rock-hard dick through my dress pants instead.
Our mouths never lost contact as our hands roamed and grabbed and rubbed on whatever we could reach. I slid my hand from her ass up under the hem of her skirt to the inside of her thigh. She moaned and whispered unintelligible words into my mouth as we kissed.
I pulled away, trying to catch my breath, dropping my forehead onto hers. “May I?” I needed to hear her give me permission to go any further with her, even though I was pretty damned convinced we both wanted the same thing.
She shook her head. “Yes. Safe. IUD.”
That was all I needed to hear. “Fuck, Chloe.” I rubbed her on her pussy through the outside of the lacy material, my fingers not yet touching her skin. “You are so fucking hot and so goddamned wet.”
She rocked her hips into my hand. “Daniel. I need to come. If you don’t do it, I will.”
“Don’t tell me that,” I growled into her ear. My cock tensed in need of release, but the throbbing pain I felt was worth every second I had with her.
“I know you don’t think as many times as you’ve left me horny that I’ve just been carrying on this whole time needing an orgasm?”
I let out a low growl, then pushed her panties to the side and slid my fingers beneath the fabric between her legs. I’d barely touched the tip of my finger over her clit when she let out a moan that I was sure could be heard clear on the other side of the other room.
Instinctively, I covered her mouth with my free hand. “Shh. Fuck. I want to hear that pretty little mouth of yours screaming, but not here. Not now.”
She nodded, a promise to keep quiet.
I uncovered her mouth and wrapped my hand around her waist, my fingers still barely breaching her entrance.
I teased her, running the length of my fingers back and forth, from front to back, pressing my palm against her clit.
As I taunted and teased her, she started jacking me off through the outside of my pants. Then, I felt her other hand on mine between her legs. “You’re taking too fucking long,” she said as she pushed my fingers deep inside of her.
That was all it took. I worked hard and fast on her. She panted as she squeezed and rubbed my dick even harder. Her dripping wet pussy tensed around my fingers. I threw my mouth over hers to catch her moans and cries.
Just as I was sure she was coming, I heard someone calling out. “Yo, D. Where are you? You coming? We gotta go.”
Fuuuuck. Yeah, I would be if you hadn’t interrupted me.
We broke our kiss, both jerking our heads toward voice on the far side of the room. Thank God if anyone had walked in they never would have seen us hidden behind the folded-up tables, but we still had to somehow get the hell out of there unseen.
“I’m so sorry.” I slowly pulled my fingers out of her, careful not to touch her dark-colored skirt. “I owe you big-time.”
“So what’s new? And who was that?” she asked, straightening herself out while watching me as I licked my fingers clean of her.
“Warren. We’ve both been MIA for a minute.”
“Yeah, no shit.” She gave the front of her shirt and skirt a once-over. “How do I look?”
I brushed her hair back in place with my clean hand. “You’re beautiful, Chloe.”
Even in the dark room, lit only by a little bit of summer sunlight that poured from behind the curtains, I could still see her bright smile. “Thank you. But can we go now? I need to get back to Rowan’s and figure out how I’m going to finish what you started.”
I leaned down and gave her one more soft, lingering kiss. “Ladies first.”
We made our way back into the main dining area. “There you…two…are,” Rowan called out, her voice trailing off, as Chloe and I reappeared.
“I’ll, uh, meet you in the car, Rowe.” Chloe scampered away, heading for the front door, adjusting her skirt in the process.
Rowan smacked my arm.
“What the—?”
“Stop ogling her like she’s a strip of bacon and you haven’t eaten in a week.”
“Wha—I can’t. Never mind.” It wasn’t worth the argument to find the right words to defend myself against gawking at Rowan’s best friend. She’d busted me free and clear.
Rowan shoved my arm, spinning me around, and shielded herself from anyone seeing the tongue-lashing I had no doubt I was about to receive. “Daniel Brown,” she scolded me in a hushed tone. “I’m serious. I know how you are, and I am on to you. Do not fuck with my best friend. Because if you hurt her, I will kill you. Dead.”
“Rowan. You need to chill. I am not fucking with your best friend. I happen to like Chloe. And as it turns out, I’m starting to think she kind of feels the same about me.”
“Those are pretty bold words for someone who’s a self-proclaimed man-whore.”
“Well, I mean, yeah, I am, but people change. And I know a good woman when I see one.”
She blew out a deep breath and relaxed a little. “I just worry about her. I know she’s a big girl, and God knows she can damned sure hold her own, but she’s been through a lot, and the last thing I want to see is her getting hurt again. Especially by you.”
I pulled Rowan into a hug. “I assure you, Rowan, the last thing I want to do is hurt Chloe. You have my word.”
>
“Good. Now whatever this shit is between you and Camilla, end it. I already know there’s a history there, and I’m sorry y’all have to walk together in the wedding, but let that be the last of it if you’re going to continue whatever it is you and Chloe are up to. Please.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Because sooner or later, I fully intended on taking care of her friend, too, and in more ways than one.
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHLOE
Friggin’ Daniel. What the hell? He sure had a knack for turning me on and leaving me furiously horny and frustrated. So far we were zero out of what felt like way too attempts at getting any further than second base. As sexy as that was, I was about to go out of my damned mind. Not only because we’d had a very few opportunities to start with, but our time together was dwindling away fast. We had one week and one day to make something, anything, happen.
I wanted to scream and rip my hair out.
“All right, ladies. Who wants a drink? Kat? Chlo? Water? Wine? Anyone?” Rowan asked us while bustling around her kitchen, seemingly looking for nothing in particular.
Kat raised her hand. “I’ll take a glass of wine. But not too much. I know how you like to pour.”
“What? I’m a generous person.” She pulled two long-stemmed wine glasses out of a cabinet. “Anything in particular? Red? White? Pink?”
“Surprise me.”
“Chloe?” Rowan asked me. “What about you? You want a glass?”
A glass of wine did sound nice. Something to help me unwind, take the edge of the day off…my mind off Daniel. “Eh, Maybe a small touch of something later.”
“Suit yourself.” Rowan poured Kat some wine and handed it to her, then put the empty glass away.
“Where’s yours, Rowan? You not drinking one? Y’all wanna talk about me not drinking. This one here hasn’t had a drop of alcohol since we’ve been here.”
“Can’t. Still on meds for this crazy UTI. Y’all know me…Miss Play it Safe.”
I grabbed Kat’s glass out of her hand just as she was about to take a sip.
“Hey, hooker,” she said, swatting at my hand. “Get your own.”
I took a fast sip before she caused me to spill it and handed it back to her. “I’m not a hooker, hooker. And I don’t want my own glass. That’s what I have yours for.”
“Well, Chloe knows how to make her own drink, if she changes her mind.”
“Whatever. So, what’s on the agenda tonight?” I asked. “Anything in particular you wanna discuss or go over?”
“Not really. Thought we’d take a night off from the wedding. I know y’all are probably tired of talking about it. Plus, I’m feeling kinda blah, and we have a ton of stuff to do over the next week.”
“Where’s Camilla tonight?” Kat asked. “You didn’t invite her to hang out with us?”
“I didn’t really have anything planned other than just hanging out here. She told me unless I needed her, she had something else going on and she’d just catch up with us tomorrow.”
I had no problems with taking a night off from Camilla. My problem was the only time I seemed to have seen her was when Daniel was around, which likely meant if I didn’t want to see her, I’d probably have to go without seeing him too.
Well, shit. Now I wondered if they were out together somewhere. I hated the thought, and I still didn’t have his damn phone number, or I’d text him and see. Having my own drink was sounding better and better.
“I’ll tell you what I do want to do at some point…maybe,” I said, probably sounding just as deflated as I felt.
“What’s that?” Rowan asked.
“I’d like to go out.” At this point, I needed to get out. “I really want to see this city at night. Not that your place isn’t amazing.” Because their penthouse was just as spectacular as the view from every window. “But I’ve been itching to go and do a little exploring.” It was one thing to get a glimpse of life below, but it was an entirely different experience to see it from the ground up.
“Well, don’t let me stop you. If you’re gonna go do anything, tonight’s probably your best bet. We have a busy week ahead. Just don’t forget, dress shopping in the morning.”
“We can’t leave you,” Kat said as she jabbed her elbow into my side. “Can we?”
“Of course not, Rowan.” I smacked Kat back on her thigh. “We’ll stay in and help you work out any last-minute kinks.” Though, I could easily think of a few kinks I had of my own that needed to be worked out, and they had nothing to do with weddings or wine or dresses or anything either of them could do for me.
“Chloe, I know you way too well. You’ve been in a new city for a week, cooped up. I know you’re dying to go do something nightlife.”
She wasn’t wrong. But I wasn’t here for me. “It’s okay, really. I can come back to vacation any time I want. This trip is all about you.”
“Oh puh-lease. If it were me, I’d leave you. Just don’t go far. Neither of y’all know your way around.”
“Y’all? Don’t bring me into this mess. I’m not leaving you or going anywhere.”
Rowan rolled her eyes. “Right, Kat. But neither of us are going to let this one”—she nodded toward me—“go out alone in freaking downtown Chicago.”
Wesley strolled up out of nowhere. “Who’s going out alone in downtown Chicago?”
“No one,” I said. “Nobody is going nowhere. Y’all aren’t blaming this one on me. Just because I said I’d like to go out, doesn’t mean I am.”
“Kat. Get your girl. Take her out but don’t wander off too far. There’s a few classy places close by y’all might like.”
Wesley wrapped his arms around Rowan, hugging her from behind. It was the sweetest thing, watching the two of them together. Also kinda made me sick…but in a good way. “You sure that’s a good idea? Letting these two out into the wild unsupervised?”
“I assure you, between the two of them, they can handle it. Trust me. There’s plenty of trouble for them to get into in a two-block radius of here.” She looked back and forth between Kat and me. “Seriously, you won’t even need to take an Uber back. We’ll plan for our last girls’ night closer to the wedding…like next Friday?”
Rowan didn’t need to convince me any more than I’d already convinced myself that I really wanted a night away. I was sold.
I looked at Kat who looked like she was just as anxious and giddy as me to get out for a little while and not discuss anything wedding. “Okay…okay!” Kat said, polishing off her wine. “We’ll go. But only for a little while, and promise we’ll stay close.”
I rounded the kitchen island, shoved Wesley out of my way, and kissed Rowan on the cheek. “What are you going to do? You wanna go?”
“Oooh, no. I’m not up for going anywhere.”
“She’s going to sit here with me and Shane and suffer through stories from when we were teens, then pass out on the couch before ten,” Wesley said.
“Come on, let’s go before Mother Hen changes her mind.” I ran over, grabbed Kat, and dragged her toward the door. “Don’t wait up,” I yelled to Rowan.
“Trust me. I wasn’t planning on it. Y’all have fun and be safe. And don’t stay out too late,” she called out as the door closed behind us.
As soon as the elevator hit the ground floor and the doors slid open, Kat and I were on our phones scouting out nearby restaurants and bars.
“Here’s one. It’s right over there,” Kat said, pointing almost directly across the street.
“Nah. Too close.” I pulled up another bar that was a little further away. “How about this one? Looks like they have karaoke and it’s right around the corner.”
She skimmed through the pics on my screen. “Looks like dive-bar and I am not in the mood for karaoke.”
“Well, let’s start walking and see what we come up with that isn’t within our two-block radius limit.”
“How about three?” She handed me her phone.
“Huh. Seems kinda swanky.
” The place she showed me was the complete opposite of a dive-bar with its high-end crystal light fixtures, dim mood lighting, and everything covered in polished brass, wood, and leather.
She grabbed her phone from my grip. “Swanky sounds perfect. Let’s go.”
We walked more than two city-blocks away from our promised one and then three more. “I hope you know where the hell we’re going.”
“Just following Google.”
It wasn’t much longer and we were finally walking into one of the fanciest places that had no business calling themselves a bar, that I’d ever stepped foot inside.
Before we made our way through a second set of double doors, a bouncer stopped us to check our IDs and collect our entry fee.
“I had no idea Chicago was this damn expensive. If they charge that much to get in, I can’t imagine what they expect me to pay for drinks.”
“Judging by the quality of men that just left, I’m willing to bet it’s worth it. With any luck we’ll find someone else to pay for them, anyway.”
I sure as hell hoped so.
We stood just inside the main entrance and scanned the room. Most of the tables were already occupied, and so were all the over-stuffed leather sofas in a sectioned-off seating area in the middle of the room.
What the hell kind of place did Katie bring me to?
“This place is fancy as fuck,” I said out loud, more to myself than anything. From what I could tell, the majority, if not all of the patrons, were way overdressed and a far cry from the folks I was used to seeing back home, even on a good day. Every man from what I could see was sporting some form of GQ-looking businesslike attire; the women were decked out to the nines in dresses that were extra short, tops that were exceptionally tight, and shoes with heels taller than even my own. I was still wearing the outfit I’d had on at brunch. Not that I looked like a dumpster fire in comparison, but what I had one was not up to par for keeping up with these people.
“I think our safest best for now is the bar.”
I followed her lead as we grabbed two empty, full-sized leather chairs—not barstools—at the bar. Within seconds, a bartender approached us out of nowhere, and took our drink orders.
Roll the Dice: Part Two. A Second Chance Romance Novella. (Between the Rescued Series Book 2) Page 5