Page 52 of Chloé

Chloé giggled and shoved him away. “Same thing. Now stop trying to distract me.”

“Is that what I’m doing?”

“You know it is, and I have things to do today before we go into town.”

“Into town?” Zayne strolled over to where her and Ethan stood, the rest of Chloé’s garments in hand. They really were going to have to reenact this for him sometime when he wasn’t…incapacitated.

Not that he was complaining. He’d more than enjoyed what had come after Chloé skipped through the gardens naked. He just wished he could’ve been there to see it.

“Pasta night. Every Wednesday.”

“Oh shit, that’s right. I’ll remember that eventually.”

“It’s okay. It’s been part of my life since I was born—it’s been part of yours for a few weeks.”

Zayne took her hand in his as the three of them headed back toward the main house. “I’m not gonna lie. It’s a damn good part of it.”

“He’s not wrong,” Ethan said. “Having homemade pasta from the Priestley-Thorntons every week is like winning the jackpot.”

“Well, technically it’s from you too. No one gets a free meal on pasta night. You have to work for it.”

“Okay, but getting a cooking lesson from you is just as lucky.”

Chloé bumped into Ethan’s shoulder. “Aw, that’s sweet. But now that you mention it, I was going to spend the day working on some of my menu, if that’s okay.”

“Of course.”

“Aaaand I was hoping you two would be willing to taste-test for me?” She looked between them, and Zayne chuckled.

“Oh, please, twist my arm.”

She clapped her hands together. “Perfect. I’m so nervous and I want to get this right. But I think I’m close to narrowing it down.”

“Then why don’t we get inside so you can get some clothes on and get to work?”

The three of them headed up to the house, where Chloé took a quick shower and then told them she was heading down to get cooking. They were forbidden to sneak a look until she was done, and were told to maybe take a nap instead to rest their weary bodies.

Cheeky girl. But she wasn’t wrong. Maybe it was their age catching up with them, but after last night and this morning, they’d both been feeling the lack of sleep. So Zayne and Ethan did just that, crawled into bed and didn’t resurface until later that afternoon.

Shower complete, Zayne emerged from the en suite to the afternoon sun shining through the doors of their bedroom, and was surprised to see Ethan still up there, standing out on the balcony.

He pulled a hunter-green tee over his head and slicked his hand back through his hair as he walked outside to join Ethan.

“You didn’t have to wait,” Zayne said as he came to a stop at the rail.

Ethan turned and greeted him with a smile. He had his sunglasses on and, like Zayne’s, his hair was still damp from the shower. He leaned back against the balcony and slid his glasses up on top of his head.

“I know. But before we head down, I want to check in with you for a second.”

“Check in with me?” Zayne frowned. “About last night? I told you, I feel fine, and I more than enjoyed—”

“Not about last night. But I am happy to hear you enjoyed yourself.”

“Oh, okay. Then what’s up?”

“I wanted to check in with you about the senator.”

The senator? Jesus, talk about left field.

---