Page 11 of Affinity

“Seriously, Linnea, stop doing this to yourself.”

Linnea was such a fantastic friend that Chloe thought of her more like the sister she never had. She deserved the world, but rarely ventured into it. Linnea made little mention of her life before—that’s how she always phrased it. Before she moved to the city. Before school. Before Charley’s. She’d only told her that she grew up in a shithole town and she had no family. Her mother died when she was just a baby and her grandmother right after she finished high school. Linnea was on guard, even with her, but Chloe knew something or someone had fucked with her head. It was time for a little bit of tough love, the kind only a best friend could give.

And she gave it.

“Let life happen, Linnie.”

Linnea and Kyan. Jesse. Just a little push.

Because the way Chloe saw it, sometimes you had to make life happen too.

Bolts of lightning ripped through the inky sky overhead. It smelled like rain. It was just as well. His riosin emptied the last of drops of champagne from the bottle into her glass. Chloe was past the point of being tipsy, in fact, Jesse was certain she was more than slightly drunk. He’d spent enough time behind a bar to know.

She leaned into his side and his arm instinctively wrapped around her, pulling her tighter against him. Chloe drained her glass and her head fell back onto his shoulder. Her hair smelled like coconuts. Jesse nuzzled into it, closed his eyes, and breathed in the scent of her. He was intoxicated by her, and for a moment he forgot about everything he needed to tell her. Everything he had to tell her if they were to have a chance to have anything real at all.

Not tonight.

They should have done this sooner. He’d really enjoyed himself on Linnea’s patio. The laughter. Good conversation. Great food. Even better company. Chloe. All of them together. Why hadn’t he thought of it?

Jesse’s fingers softly massaged her scalp through her silky hair. A soft contented sigh escaped her mouth and he imagined what other sounds he might elicit from her. He gazed at Chloe’s face and smiled. Her eyes were closed and her lips were slightly parted as she dozed against him. It was time to take his girl home.

His girl.

That’s how he thought of her. His.

The wind picked up as the storm got closer. The candle flames flickered in a wild dance then blew out. With the rain imminent, Linnea and his cousins gathered everything to take their little get-together inside. Jesse gathered Chloe in his arms and carried her into the house.

Linnea brushed tendrils of hair from her sleeping friend’s face, and smiling, she glanced up at him. She spoke softly, “You can take her up to the guest room. At the top of the stairs to the right.”

“Thanks, Linn, but I’m just gonna take her home.”

She nodded and kissed Chloe on the forehead. “Okay, then.”

Chloe didn’t wake until he parked his Rover in front of her greystone apartment building, when she was startled by a booming crack of thunder that followed a flash of white heat that lit up the night. She let out a loud gasp as she opened her eyes. He wasn’t sure if it was because she was afraid of thunderstorms or if she was surprised to find herself in his car.

“Hey, Sleeping Beauty.” He flashed her a smile and unlatched her seat belt. “Let’s get you inside before it starts coming down, okay?”

She turned her head to look at him and appeared somewhat disoriented, but nodded. “Okay.”

Jesse grabbed her bag from the back and ran around to the other side to scoop her out of the passenger seat. She wrapped her slender arms around his neck and laid her head on his shoulder as he easily carried her up the three flights of stairs to her small apartment on the top floor. He rifled through her bag for her keys, unlocked the door, and carried her to the bedroom where he set her down upon the queen-sized bed.

He bent over and kissed her on her forehead. “Goodnight, Riosin.”

Bright light flashed through the window, illuminating the dark bedroom. In that split second he could see the fear flash in her gemstone eyes. Chloe leapt into his arms with the tremulous boom that immediately followed.

She said only one word, “Stay.”

That was all he needed to hear.

Jesse pulled off his shirt and scooted back against Chloe’s white, tufted-velvet headboard. “C’mere.” He patted the empty space between his legs and she crawled across the bed to sit between his muscular thighs. Her back rested against his bare chest with her head on his shoulder. He took her hair down from its messy bun and combed through it with his fingers, splaying the long tresses across his chest. He liked the feel of it on his skin. “Now close your eyes.”

Chloe shook her head from side to side against his shoulder.

“I don’t want to sleep.” She turned her face toward his but she couldn’t quite reach his mouth to kiss him. She grabbed his hands that were rubbing her arms and placed them on her breasts.

He squeezed them through the cotton fabric and swept his thumbs across her nipples. His cock surged in his jeans. He couldn’t resist her. Wouldn’t resist her. He’d resisted for far too long.

Jesse pulled the black tank over her head and tossed it from the bed. Chloe shimmied out of her short denim skirt, leaving her in just a black lace bra and matching thong. He wouldn’t fuck her in the state she was in. He wanted her sober. To tell him she wanted him. He wanted her to remember the first time she felt his cock inside her.

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