“It’s so impressive that you guys just kind of knew what you wanted to do. I still don’t know what I want to do and I finished four years of college.”
“What did you go to school for?” Enzo asks.
“Accounting. Boring, right?”
I smile at her. I can see it. Pencil in her hair, tight little suit. Damn, there goes my dick again, getting all sorts of ideas about taking her on a desk.
“It’s also a stable job, and that’s what drew me to it in the first place. I don’t have a family to fall back on. Whatever I do, I knew I’d be doing it alone. So, I wanted a job I could count on. One that if I focused on and took my time with it, I could never mess up.”
“So, the exact opposite of what we do?” I say. “Hell, we never know if a video is gonna be a bust, or if our sponsor will drop us, or if our brand will become stale.”
“It can feel like that for sure,” Ethan says. “But we are lucky in that we weren’t in it alone. Even though our families are really different and we all have unique backgrounds, we all got better at our sport by training together.”
Chloe twists her lip, sitting at the kitchen table with everyone else and eating another bite of eggs. “Yeah, maybe that’s what I was missing. I’ve always been kind of a Lone Ranger. Never really taking risks, because I wouldn’t have anyone else to help me up if I fell. “
“Why’s that?” I ask, honestly surprised. “You seemed so open minded last night. I’d say that was pretty risky.”
“Yeah, but maybe that’s just it. Maybe I needed a whole gang of men to help me take a sexual risk. Does that make sense? Like, even with Jordan, I never did anything more with him than kiss. I was scared. Scared of doing it wrong and him thinking I was stupid. But it was less scary with all of us together, if that makes sense. Like, it was less pressure because it wasn’t one-on-one.”
Ethan nods, looking at his knuckle tattoo. “I know what you mean. Last night the timing was right. You being with us felt right.”
“Yeah,” she says smiling. “When you’re not flying solo it’s less scary. It’s just good.”
“So,” Noah starts. “You slept on it, does that mean you’ve decided...?”
“I decided.” Chloe grins, setting down her fork and looking around the table at us. “Yes. Yes, I want to stay here and see what happens. I feel a connection with each of you, and maybe I’m just horny...” She shakes her head, blushing. “But I also don’t have anything waiting for me back home. So, why am I in a rush to leave something that could potentially be so good?”
“What do you mean, bella, that you don’t have anything back home?” Enzo asks.
“I grew up in foster care, and I always lived in college campus housing since I aged out of the system. But I just graduated. So, I don’t have a place to live or even a job lined up.” She runs her hands through her hair. I see the stress on her face as she starts talking about this.
“Hey, amore, don’t get upset. If you don’t want to talk about it, you don’t have to,” Enzo says gently, resting his hand over hers.
“No, I want to be honest with you guys. I do have money, not that I can access it right now considering Jordan took my cash and credit cards. But I don’t have to leech off you. I could go back to the States and start my life. It’s just, maybe I don’t need to be in a rush.”
“Well we’re here for a few more weeks, and I think spending that time with you is a pretty good use of it,” Noah says.
“I couldn’t agree more,” I confirm.
“I guess there’s only one thing I’m kind of nervous about,” Chloe says. “I don’t want you guys to think I’m easy. I don’t want you to judge me for what I did last night. Or what we might do today or tomorrow or whenever.”
“I think we should just keep taking it nice and slow,” I tell her. “I think the fact that you’ve waited 22 years before sleeping with someone means something. I don’t think you should rush it. It would be a lot to take in all at once. Maybe you should get more comfortable with us before we put sex back on the table.”
She bites her bottom lip and her brows knit together. “You still do want it on the table though, right?”
“Of course, we do. Hell, I could push all these breakfast plates onto the floor and devour you here and now,” Noah says. “But we also know it will be all that much better if you feel 100% comfortable with each of us first.”