“Nah, we went to the beach today. That reminds me, though. We should do a fishing trip before it gets too cold,” Chris said.
Nodding, Deacon said, “Next weekend?”
“Going to San Diego next Friday for work, and we’re going to stay over the weekend,” he answered, gesturing to Chloe.
Deacon and Chris started talking about fishing. Chloe grimaced and tuned out, turning to face Sara.
Sara said, “San Diego is so much fun! I love the Gaslamp District. Oh, and Coronado is so pretty!”
Chloe turned toward Sara and said, “Yeah, I’ve never been, and aren’t we staying in Coronado, Chris?”
Without even breaking conversation he nodded at her, then turned back to conversation with Deacon.
Sara raised her eyebrows and said, “Fancy. Coronado is really, really pretty. You’re going to get such amazing pictures. I can’t wait to ogle them jealously on Facebook.”
Laughing, Chloe said, “Yeah right. Like you couldn’t talk Deak into doing anything. I mean, anything ever. You got him to parasail, for god’s sake.”
Sara waved her hand and said, “I only use my powers for good now.”
The conversation paused for a moment when the waiter came to take their orders. Chloe got the fettucine puttanesca, crossing her fingers. It was incredibly difficult to find a good red sauce in a restaurant. They tended to sit for a while and end up watery. She’d stopped eating Italian food out and decided to make her own a couple of years back.
After everyone else had ordered, they settled back into mostly separate conversations at this point. The men continued to discuss fishing, while Sara and Chloe talked about San Diego. Sara gave her a laundry list of places to eat and things she needed to see.
This dinner was just like any other that they’d shared over the time they’d all known each other. There was laughter and a constant flow of conversation. The only real notable exception to the norm was that Chris had his hand on her thigh and was idly rubbing it with his thumb as he talked to Deacon.
The conversation died when the meal arrived. Her food was pretty decent, which shouldn’t have surprised her since Sara owned her own catering business and basically lived and breathed food.
Pausing to take a sip of her water, she said, “Sara. This place is freaking awesome.”
Grinning, she said, “I know.”
Chris swallowed the food in his mouth and said, “Yeah. This is great,” gesturing to the Alfredo he had ordered.
Spearing a shrimp, he held his fork out to Chloe and said, “Babe, you’ve gotta try this. The sauce is amazing.”
Opening her mouth, she accepted the bite, chewing thoughtfully. After swallowing, she said, “Oh, wow. That’s really good. I’d totally come back here.”
Chris nodded and said, “Right?”
“Mine is pretty awesome too. Wanna try it?” she asked.
He eyed the plate skeptically and said, “Yours doesn’t even have any meat in it.”
Rolling her eyes at him, she said, “Didn’t mean to offend your manly palate. I’ll just enjoy this myself then,” as she speared a sliver of portobello mushroom and popped it into her mouth.
When he moved his fork toward her plate, she shooed him away with her hand and said, “No. No. I won’t force you to try it.”
After a moment, she heard him sigh deeply then ask, “Please can I have a bite of your awesome pasta, Chloe?” in the most dry tone he could manage.
Chloe twisted a bite of fettuccine on her fork and stabbed another mushroom, then held it up for him. After he’d taken the bite, she heard Deacon snort across the table.
Flipping him off without even breaking eye contact with Chris, she said, “Good, right?”
Chris chewed and said, “That’s really good. What is that again?”
Chloe smirked and said, “Puttanesca.”
The rest of the meal continued without incident. Excusing themselves, she and Sara made a pit stop in the ladies’ room as they were on the way out of the restaurant. Chloe fixed her lip gloss in the mirror, and ran a brush through her hair.
Sara stood at the sink next to her and said, “I don’t even have to pee. I just had to get you alone for a second. Things seem to be going really well with you guys. You’re really cute together!”
Smiling, Chloe admitted, “They are going really well. It’s strange how much I’m learning about him even though I’ve known him for so long.”
“You guys are adorable. I can’t wait to hear what Deacon has to say about all this!”
Rolling her eyes, Chloe dryly said, “I can probably do without it. Feel free to not share.”
Both of them laughing now, they left the bathroom.
After agreeing to meet at the entrance to the promenade, the two couples split up and went back to their respective vehicles. The drive was relatively short, but took a few minutes so Chloe had time to think about the conversation they’d had in the car before dinner.
She’d only been kidding with him about the lip gloss, but his response had been incredibly sweet. Mostly, because she knew it was completely sincere. She smiled when she thought about it. They had been pretty casual about things so far, but Chloe was beginning to suspect that maybe Deacon was right. Chris seemed to have some hidden depths. It would be interesting to explore them.
Chapter 16
By the time they pulled into the hotel on Thursday night, it was just after midnight. Traffic had been a nightmare, so the drive had taken twice the time it should have. After he had parked the car, he looked over at Chloe in the seat next to him. She was sound asleep.
Smiling, he reached out and touched her shoulder gently. She stirred immediately and asked, “We’re here? What time is it?”
“Midnight?” he said, not entirely sure.
“Oh god. Really? You should have woken me up.”
“No. You looked so peaceful, I couldn’t. Let’s go inside though. I want to stretch my knee,” he said, grimacing.
Chloe’s eyes widened and she said, “Crap. I didn’t even think about that. I would have driven.”
An alarmed look must have passed over his face because she gave him a dirty look and said, “I haven’t been in an accident since I was seventeen, jerk.”
His lips twitching, he turned the car off, and popped the trunk. Opening his door, he sighed deeply and said, “You can drive on the way home. You know how to drive stick?”
Grinning, she said, “Yep,” as she opened her door and exited the car.
Walking around to the trunk, she reached in to grab her suitcase. When he’d taken his out and they wheeled them to the exit of the parking structure, he heard her say, “It feels so nice to be out of the car. How long does it normally take to drive to San Diego?”
Turning, he looked at her and said, “Like half that time. There was a huge accident about halfway there. They were still cleaning it up when we made it past.”
As they walked into the lobby, she said, “Uh. This is much fancier than I was expecting. I figured we’d stay at a Holiday Inn or something.”
Chris made a face and said, “No way. This was a condition of my agreeing to travel so much for work. I got to pick the hotel. Normally I pick something a bit more modest, but under the circumstances…”
Giving her one last unrepentant grin, he approached the desk to check them in. After retrieving their room key, he turned around to look for her. Finally he spotted her at the back edge of the lobby.
She was staring out the huge picture window at the ocean. It was pretty dark, but you could still make out the very edge of the water in the moonlight.
Wrapping his arm around her, he said, “Let’s put our stuff in the room and we can go out there for a bit if you want.”
Turning from the window, she shook her head and said, “Nah. It’s 12:30 a.m. and you’ve got an early meeting. Let’s just go to sleep. We’ve got all weekend.”
Wheeling their respective suitcases, they moved to the bank of elevators and pressed the button. On
ce inside, he swiped the key card and pressed the button for the fourth floor.
She looked at him, and asked, “How’s your knee?”
“Not too bad now. If it wasn’t so late, I’d go use the hot tub, though,” he said.
“Would a massage help?” she asked, wiggling her fingers.
Giving her a speculative glance now, he grinned and said, “I can think of a couple of things it might help.”
Returning his grin, she said, “I bet you can.”
When the elevator doors slid open, she looked at him curiously, not sure which way to go.
Handing her one of the key cards, he said, “Oh. Sorry. We’re in 4014,” as he turned to walk toward the room.
Taking it, she slid it into her purse and followed him.
Once they had reached the room, he slid the key into the door, and opened it. Holding the door, he allowed her to pass, along with her suitcase.
Moving to the sliding glass door, she said, “Wow. This is a great view! This hotel is really nice. Are you sure you don’t want me to split the cost with you?”
She turned to face him now, with a look of concern on her face.
Walking toward her, he wrapped his arms around her and kissed the top of her head.
Smiling, he said, “I’m sure. It was my idea to do this. It’d be kind of a dick move to make you pay for it. Besides, JDC is paying for the room. After Phoenix, I feel I earned this.”
“You should probably hang your suit. It’s going to get all wrinkly like that,” she said, gesturing to the garment bag that was looped across the top of his suitcase.
“Good call,” he said, releasing her to move toward his suitcase. He hung up the suit and a few other items. As he turned back around, he saw her move past him to pluck two hangers from the closet.
Moving to the side, he watched her hang a couple sun dresses. When she’d finished with that, she moved to the suitcase and snagged her toiletry kit out and said, “Be right back.”
Chris changed into a pair of gym shorts, and set the alarm for 7:15. He stretched out on top of the covers, and must have dozed off, because Chloe was walking toward her suitcase before he realized she was back in the room. She must have seen him stir.
“Go back to sleep. You’re exhausted. I’m coming to bed in a second,” she said, grabbing a shirt out of her suitcase.
He watched her now and said, “Excuse me, but I believe I was promised a massage. You’re not reneging on your offer, are you?”
Stripping out of her shirt, she turned to him and said, “You seemed to be asleep when I came out. I assumed that meant you weren’t interested.”
Unclasping her bra and taking it off, she continued. “So I was just going to come to bed.” She pulled on the T-shirt now.
Flashing her a somewhat lascivious smile, he said, “I’m always interested.”
Chloe slid her jeans off, then set her dirty clothes aside. Zipping the suitcase, she moved over to the bed and crawled under the covers next to him.
He slid under the covers and stretched out next to her.
She looked at him and asked, “How’s your knee? Still hurting?”
Snuggling her up against his side, he said, “It’s a little bit better now that I’m all stretched out.”
Sitting up, she pushed back the covers and reached her hand down to his knee, and rubbed the muscles above his knee cap.
“Here?” she asked.
Groaning, he said, “Yeah. That’s nice.”
After a few minutes, he asked, “A little higher?”
She scooted her hand up a little bit and he said, “No. A little higher.”
Scooting her hand up slightly again, she looked up and caught his grin.
She slid her hand all the way up his thigh, until she brushed against his groin.
“Here?” she asked as she began to stroke his cock through the shorts.
His voice clipped now, he said, “Yeah. Right there.”
“Ya know,” she said conversationally as she continued to lightly massage him, “this would be so much easier without these shorts on.”
He said, “Agreed. You should probably take off your clothes, too. They might hinder your range of motion.”
Laughing now, she said, “If you insist.”
Once they had undressed, the pretense of massage completely over now, they lay down on the bed on their sides, facing each other. Mouths pressed together, tongues mating, she continued stroking her hand along his rigid length.
Placing his hand on her wrist, he stopped her motion, then rolled her on her back. Breaking the kiss, he nibbled his way to her neck. Sliding his hand up to cup her breast, he used his thumb to lightly tease her nipple.
Feeling her arch against him in response to his touch, he worked his way down her body to draw the tight peak into his mouth. When he heard the moan of pleasure at the back of her throat, he grazed it with his teeth.
Moving his mouth to the other breast, he moved his hand between her thighs and found her ready for him. Groaning against her breast, he slid two fingers into her tight channel. Curling them slightly, he began to work them in and out of her pussy.
Chloe was panting now and rolling her hips against his hand. Moaning, she said, “Fuck. I need your cock inside me, Chris. I don’t want to come without you.”
He released her nipple from between his teeth and situated himself between her thighs. Lining himself up at her entrance, he slowly slid forward until he was buried inside her. He felt himself slide even deeper when Chloe wrapped her legs around his waist.
He rested on his forearms now, just a breath away from her lips and stared into her eyes as he rocked against her. Seeing her eyes flutter closed as she arched her back, he pressed his mouth to hers. She immediately opened her mouth beneath his, moaning into his mouth.
After a few moments, she began to whimper each time he pressed into her and he could feel fingernails curl into his back. He knew she was close to the edge now, so he increased his pace slightly until he felt her flutter around him. She broke her mouth away from his to cry out, so he watched her openly now.
Arching her back, she worked her hips feverishly against his, scraping her nails down his back. He could both see and feel the moment she came apart beneath him. Her head tilting back, the tension left her face as she moaned out his name. Feeling her tighten around him, he finally let himself go, exploding inside her. He leaned his head down and he groaned her name against her shoulder. He stopped moving, now panting heavily, and felt her unwrap her legs from his waist.
He moved onto his back and pulled her to lie against his side. They both lay panting now, until he finally said, “You are so fucking sexy when you come.”
Smiling, she said, “Why, thank you,” then asked, “Is it my imagination or does that just get better every time we do it?”
“Not your imagination. I don’t know what it is.”
Glancing at the clock, she said, “Holy shit. It’s almost two.”
Chris said, “That sucks. It was so worth it though,” as he got up to move to the minifridge to look for water. Grabbing one for both of them, he moved back to the bed and handed one to her.
She had flopped onto her back now, then sat up slightly to take a drink. Setting the water on the nightstand, she snuggled back down under the covers next to him and said, “You should sleep now. I feel kinda bad it’s so late. I’ve got eye drops in my toiletry bag in the bathroom. Feel free to use them if you need to tomorrow.”
Wrapping his arm around her waist and pulling her close again, he yawned and said, “Don’t worry about it. The meeting isn’t that big of a deal. We’re working on a new project and they thought it would be better to deal in person. I should be out by two or three.”
Placing a kiss on the part of his chest that was closest to her mouth, she said, “Kay. Good,” as she dropped off to sleep.
Smiling now, Chris let himself drift off to sleep.
What seemed like about ten minutes later, he heard the blaring o
f the alarm clock. Slamming his hand down, he looked for it in vain. Chloe grumbled and rolled away from him. She slammed the pillow back over her head as he sat up and turned the bedside lamp on.
Grabbing his toiletry kit out of his suitcase, he stumbled into the bathroom to take a shower. When he came out of the bathroom twenty minutes later wrapped in a towel, Chloe was sitting up in bed now, playing with her phone.
Grabbing a clean pair of boxer briefs from his suitcase, he said, “Wow. Didn’t expect you to be awake.”
Narrowing her eyes, she said, “You didn’t turn the alarm off. You just hit snooze.”
“Shit. I’m sorry,” he said, wincing.
Waving her hand, she said, “Whatever. I’m on vacation. I don’t care. Oh. And I made you a cup of coffee. They didn’t have any creamer, just that powdered shit. Wasn’t sure if you’d want it.”
He walked over to her and leaned down. Placing a kiss on top of her head, he said, “Thank you. And good call skipping the creamer.”
As he walked back over to the closet and took out his suit, Chloe slipped into the bathroom. By the time he was tying his tie, she appeared again and said, “Mmm. You look nice,” as she appraised him.
He smiled and pressed a kiss to her lips, then said, “I’ll be back around three at the latest. Any idea what you’ll do with the morning?”
“Debating going back to bed right now, but I may go adventuring later. Text me if I’m not in the room,” she said.
When he began to straighten back up, she grabbed the end of his tie and tugged him back down. After giving him a long, slow kiss she released it, and said, “Have a good day at work, dear.”
Smirking, he grabbed his wallet, phone, and hotel key. Sliding on his shoes, he said, “See you later.”
Chapter 17
Chloe lay in bed for a few minutes after Chris left, then got up and got ready to do some exploring. She had read up on the hotel a little bit on her phone this morning. Apparently, there were a ton of little shops downstairs to explore.
Deciding she was hungry, she grabbed her purse and phone, then headed downstairs. After poking her head into the main dining room and realizing she was incredibly under dressed for it, she ended up at a bagel shop across the street from the hotel. Sitting down, she enjoyed a leisurely cup of coffee and a bagel while she read more about the hotel.
Lip Service [Private Relations 2] (Siren Publishing Classic) Page 12