Page 75 of Fierce- Royce

Royce left and made his way to his truck, Chloe sitting there on her phone, her toe tapping that he could see. “Sorry about that,” he said.

“You better not have told him to bill you,” she said.

“And have to deal with your wrath?” he asked.

“That’s right. I’m fully capable of taking care of this on my own. I appreciate you putting me in contact with your friend and all, but I can deal with my own life.”

“I know you can,” he said, sighing. “You’ve told me plenty of times. In this case, he asked about my father. I told you we go way back. Then he wanted to know about some space in the commercial building for an office. I told him we were friends when I set this up. He didn’t know what to say in front of you.”

“Oh,” she said. “That place was pretty depressing.”

“I told him I’d find out what was available. He doesn’t need much space. It’s possible we might have something on one of the floors that no one else wants or didn’t need. My father will have a better idea or I’ll have him reach out to the Olsons. I just don’t have time to do it personally.” It was nice to be able to hand something off to someone else.

“How close were you two in school?” she asked.

“Close enough and considering his profession he was fast to ask if we were more than friends. I wasn’t lying but told him to keep it quiet and didn’t say much more. You can trust him.”

She let out a sigh. “It’s fine. I think we are getting into a situation where this isn’t going to be as easy as we thought to keep up the charade.”

“No,” he said. “And I’m hungry. I don’t suppose we can go to eat out in public or would you rather just get some subs or something and go back to your place?”

She didn’t hesitate long before she said, “We can go eat somewhere. It’s fine. I’m hungry too and it’s not much faster than to get something and drive back anyway.”

“Do you care where we go?” he asked. He was happy that she was willing to be seen out with him.

“Nope. Wherever you want to go is fine with me.”

He decided to head toward her place. There were plenty of restaurants on the way and he found one and pulled in. A Monday night at six thirty wasn’t that busy and they got right in.

An hour later they were driving back to her place. “Do you want me to come in?” he asked. “You’ve been quiet.”

“I’m okay,” she said. “I guess I’m still trying to figure out what is going on in my head. I didn’t think I’d ever be in this place wanting to know these details and yet here I am.”

“I know,” he said. “But it could all be fine. You are in control even if it doesn’t feel that way.”

“Easier said than done,” she said. “I know there are worse things in life for other people too. Yes, I’ll be fine. I really do appreciate you going with me. I could have done it alone.”

“You can do anything, I know that,” he said. “But I wanted to be there with you.”

She reached her hand over and picked his up that was on the seat next to him. She threaded their fingers together. “We should have planned for you to come and stay the night. Or me to stay the night with you. I guess I was distracted. You can come in if you want though.”

“Only if you want me to,” he said.

“I always want you to,” she said, laughing. “I feel like I’m a slut saying that. I’m not sure I ever wanted sex as much as I do with you. Unless it’s because it’s this secret private thing that makes it sexier.”

He laughed and shut the truck off. The two of them got out. “For me it’s all about you, nothing more.”

“For someone who said he didn’t know how to be around women or what to say, you do a pretty good job of it,” she said.

“Must be you are bringing it out of me,” he said.

They got to her apartment and barely got in the door before she had his back against the wall and was tugging his shirt out of his pants. Yeah, he’d never grow tired of this.

27

Turned To Something Else

“You’ve got some explaining to do.”

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