Chapter 11
It occurs to me I don’t have a life,” Chloe said as she unpacked a bottle of wine from a paper grocery bag onto Isa’s countertop. “You get to have sex with this completely glorious billionaire Marine, and I…” She lifted the bottle of cabernet. “Well, I have wine?”
“I appreciate that you have wine. It’s been a long day.” After working late, Isa invited Chloe up to her apartment for a drink. She needed a girlfriend and when she thought of who she had to talk to, the only friends who came to mind were work friends.
Plus, Isa liked Chloe. She trusted her, too.
Isa pulled open a cabinet and put the glasses on her breakfast bar.
Wordlessly, Chloe uncorked the bottle and poured two glasses. When Isa grabbed hers, her friend said, “Cheers to us getting laid.”
Isa lowered her glass away from her mouth. “Us?”
“I meant cheers to you because you’ve gotten laid, and cheers to me for getting laid in the future. I hope.” Chloe twisted a finger around one of her curls.
“It could happen.” Isa gave up and took a drink, letting the cabernet wash over her tongue in a fruity wave.
“Yeah, right. Do you think that hot blond from the Mexican restaurant swung in here and dropped off his number or something?”
“I do know him now. Sort of. I could introduce you.”
“Huh-uh, sister.” Chloe waggled a finger back and forth. “We’re not talking about that hunk of man.”
“His name’s Zach.” Isa batted her lashes.
“Elijah Crane.” Chloe pointed a finger. “Spill it.”
“All right, fine.” Isa pulled out a stool at the counter and sat.
Chloe clapped her hands together and eagerly followed suit.
“You can stop dancing like a loon now. Eli and I did the deed. A few times,” she added. Chloe had already busted her this afternoon and to be fair, Isa hadn’t bothered fixing what Eli called her “JBF” hair.
“JBF?” she’d asked, resting her chin on his bare chest as they lay in his bed.
“Just been fucked.”
She’d slapped his chest in reprimand, but it’d only earned her a dry, rough laugh that made her heart patter. She had such a thing for him.
“Please tell me some details—like what put that wistful twinkle in your eye. Let me live vicariously.” Chloe spread her fingers over her collarbone and did her best Scarlett O’Hara impression. “I’m but a poor assistant with no social life.”
“Hmm. This isn’t a ploy for a raise, is it?” Isa teased.
“Not…immediately.” Another grin from her friend.
“It happened on Monday—”
Chloe muzzled a sharp squeal with her hands covering her mouth. Then she reclaimed her composure and waved a “go on” motion.
“And Tuesday…” No interruption this time, so Isa told her more. “He’s…intense. There is a battle he’s fighting and I haven’t figured out who it’s with yet. His family? An ex who did a number on him?”
“His leg?” Chloe guessed, not totally wrong.
“Yes and no. Other than his hesitation over the stairs at the Vancouver, I’ve never seen him unsure. He walks, works out, drives…but when it came time for us to be intimate, he was uncomfortable.” She stabbed her lip with her teeth before she said too much. “I don’t want to share his secrets.”
“Oh, I know. I mean, I can imagine.”
But then she shared them anyway. “It’s like with me, he isn’t sure who to be. He’s trying to protect me from this physical side of him, the part that is different and doesn’t work the way it used to. But he’s opened up about his past and his injury. He’s a riddle.”