Lip Service (Private Relations 2)

After successfully removing it, she shot Chris a quick message and said, “You were right. She was not happy about the picture at all. Ended up taking it down. Hope you arrived safely!”

She was surprised when he responded immediately, saying, “Told you. :p.”

“What are you doing online? Shouldn’t you be out doing something interesting?” Chloe asked.

“No. I was up at five this morning, and I’m absolutely beat. It’s a room service and pay-per-view kind of night,” he responded.

Chloe quickly typed, “That’s not much fun. Well. I mean I guess it could be, depending on the nature of the pay-per-view.”

She could totally picture his raised eyebrows now and wasn’t surprised when he didn’t respond.

Continuing, she asked, “Any chance you’d be willing to take the boat out this weekend? I haven’t been on the water in ages. I’d really like to before the weather turns cold.”

After a lengthy pause, he replied, “That would be nice. We could go Saturday morning before the sun gets too crazy. Pack a lunch. I’ll call Deacon and Sara. See if they wanna go, too.”

Chloe quickly responded, “I can take care of lunch since I basically invited myself out on your boat.”

“Good of you. It’ll be fun. I haven?

??t been out in a while either,” he responded back.

“I’ll let you get back to your lounging and questionable pay-per-view movies. Have a good night.”

“Night.”

Immediately, Chloe picked up her phone and called Sara. She answered on the fourth ring. Without any preamble whatsoever, Chloe said, “You’re about to get invited out on Chris’s boat on Saturday. I talked him into going. Could you possibly be persuaded to have other plans?”

Sara laughed and said, “I have a gig on Saturday anyway. I doubt Deacon would go without me unless there was fishing involved. You’re not going to fish, are you?”

Chloe wrinkled her nose and said, “God no. I’m thinking more like we drive around and dolphin watch, then drop anchor somewhere for lunch or something. There will be absolutely no bait involved.”

“Have no fear. I’ll take care of it.”

“You’re the best, Sara. Thank you!”

“I know,” she said, magnanimously, “I am. Talk to you later!”

Laughing, Chloe said, “Bye!”

Chapter 4

Saturday morning at 9:00 a.m. sharp, he heard a knock on his front door. Opening the door, he saw Chloe standing on his doorstep. She was wearing a strappy hot pink tank top, cutoff jean shorts and flip-flops. Her hair had been pulled up into a clip. She wasn’t wearing any makeup.

He felt that familiar surge of lust, but kept it in check. Instead he gave her a quick hug and said, “Hey. Lemme grab my bag and we can go.”

Giving him a squeeze back, she said, “Hey you.”

Snagging his keys and bag, he moved out of the foyer onto the porch. Locking the door, he turned and almost bumped into her.

“Oh. Sorry,” she said, stepping back to let him pass. “I’ve got the cooler with lunch in my car. Lemme go grab that.”

She had street parked right in front of his house. He said, “Gimme your keys. I’ll go get it. Is it in the trunk?”

Passing the keys to him, she said, “Yeah.”

Moving to the curb, he disarmed the alarm, popped the trunk and grabbed the cooler out. Setting it down, he closed the trunk and rearmed the alarm.

“So what did you make me for lunch?”