Page 40 of Make You Stay

Chloe bites her lip again, nodding absently. “Huh.”

“Come with me.” Actually, I’d love to show her off to the guys while also sending a message to good old Zeke to back off. I know him, and once he’s got his hooks in a woman, he hates to let go.

I heard through the grapevine that he’s very interested in another date with Chloe, and I’m intent on showing him how sorry he’ll be if he pursues that path.

“Like a date?”

“Date.” My mind tries on the word like a pair of leather pants—odd at first but strangely comfortable. “Uh, sure.”

Now she’s blushing, shaking her hands as if to clear away her question. “Why did I say that? I know it’s not a date. That wasn’t how I meant it.”

Her words say one thing, but her face assures me she meant her original question. Again, something that makes me strangely comfortable. “How about we’ll be two people going out together to have a drink and listen to some fantastic music courtesy of me?”

“Fantastic, huh?” she giggles.

“I have to work the self-promotion angle. Come on, Chloe. You might have fun.” And after I’m done playing, we’llbothhave fun.

She frowns at her leggings. “This involves putting on pants.”

“Generally, although I’ve seen some natives buck the trend. Besides, you wanted to go out to dinner. You’d have to put on pants then, too.”

She considers my statement. “I don’t know. It’s not that I don’t want to hear you play, but I’m not really an ‘up all night’ kind of girl anymore.”

“You won’t be. We finish early, and I’ll have you back in bed before midnight.”

I thought the sexual tension was bad before? My dick is throbbing at this point.

“You think you’re that good, huh?”

“I think I can be. I guess you have to see firsthand.”

“Or I could ask your long line of satisfied customers.”

“I much prefer my scenario.”

There’s that sex kitten smile again. The best part? It’s unintentional, but it still makes me want to bend her over the counter and show her how satisfied she can be. “Your way is far too dangerous, Aidan.”

“But far more fun.”

“True.” She grabs another cup of coffee, leaning against the doorframe as her eyes rove over my body. “Why not? I’ll put on pants like a normal human and meet you there. Deal?”

That would be the easiest way to handle the situation, mainly since there’s a good chance Barbara will show up tonight. But I want to arrive with Chloe on my arm, not as my buddy cheering me on from a bar stool. “I’ll drive you. That way, you can’t escape midway through the first song.”

“When you said fantastic, you actually mean ear-screeching!”

“Don’t you know those terms are interchangeable?”

“I don’t want to kill your flow with the ladies.”

The second she tosses out that idea, I rush to dead it. “Chloe, what kind of guy would I be if I hit on other women while I was out with you?”

“A single one.”

“A single one on a date. I’m not like that.”

“I thought it wasn’t a date.” Now those dark eyes bore holes into me, daring me to worm my way out, back away from the whole concept.

Not happening, Chloe, because, at that moment, I realize a date is the only thing I want it to be.

---