Chapter 1 #3
“Just about. It’s much easier to pack one room as opposed to a whole house.”
“I imagine so.” Zayne lowered his head and took her sweet lips in a quick kiss, more than aware they were standing in her fathers’ living room. “Are you ready for us to start taking it downstairs?”
“Yep.” She took his hand, guiding him up the hall into her childhood bedroom.
This wasn’t the first time he’d been to her fathers’ home. He and Ethan had been invited to family pasta night a couple of times now. Apparently, it was a tradition that happened every week. But so far, there’d been one person suspiciously missing each time—Justin, Chloé’s brother.
She told them not to take it personally, but they’d noticed the hurt in her eyes every time he was a no-show, and they couldn’t help but wonder if Chloé’s brother was going to be the biggest hurdle of all.
“The muscle has returned,” Chloé singsonged as she all but skipped into her room, and when Zayne stepped in behind her, his eyes widened.
The place looked like a bomb had hit it. There were clothes everywhere, shoes thrown all over the place, and in amongst all of that, Chloé’s cousin Shayla sat cross-legged on the ground, her eyes running up his denim-clad legs and black t-shirt.
“And what a lot of muscle there is.”
Zayne knew Shayla from the club. She was flirty, gorgeous, and a whole lot of trouble. A trait that apparently ran strong in this family.
“Hey.” He greeted her with a wave, and Shayla grinned.
“Hi. Don’t look so worried over there. There’s a method to her madness… I think.”
“There is.” Chloé tossed a couple more shirts over her shoulder, then spun around and started pointing. “Keep. Keep. Donate. Toss. Unsure.”
“And these are all just…clothes?”
“Yeah.” Chloé aimed a wide smile his way. “Why?”
“There’s just a lot of them.”
Shayla started to laugh. “Oh, this is just her closet. There’s also another one down the hall we haven’t even started on yet.”
Zayne’s eyes bugged. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” Shayla cleared a spot next to her and winked. “You can come sit next to me, handsome.”
“Hey!” Chloé whirled around and pinned her cousin with a fierce stare. “He’s taken—twice over. Keep your invitations to yourself.”
Damn. Okay. That’s fucking hot. He couldn’t remember the last time someone had staked such a claim. But Ethan would’ve been proud.
Shayla held her palms up. “I was just offering a seat.”
“Uh huh.” Chloé arched a brow. “Make sure that’s all you’re offering.”
Chloé glanced back at Zayne and ran her eyes down over him. “And you, can you try to be a little less sexy? I have too many people in this house that could find you appealing. I don’t want to have to fight them all off.”
Zayne smirked as he stepped over several piles of clothes. “I’ll do my very best.”
“Good. Then let’s get this packed so we can put all those muscles to work.”
* * *
ETHAN LOOKED AT the clock on his office wall and shut down his computer for the afternoon. Zayne had texted a little earlier to let him know they’d be on their way soon, and he wanted to get upstairs in time to greet them.
He still couldn’t believe that Chloé was finally moving in with them.
If he hadn’t been there when she’d told her fathers, he might not have believed it had happened.
But sure enough, the first time they were all together—pasta night—their brave little wildcat had announced they were in love and wanted to move in together.
Luckily, there’d been a lot of wine on hand that night, and considering every other shock they’d been dealt, the three men handled this one fairly well. If he didn’t count the disapproving frown on Priest’s face. But then again, that seemed standard whenever he looked in Ethan’s direction.
Zayne, however, had somehow managed to win Priest over. Ethan shouldn’t be all that surprised, he supposed—Zayne had a way about him. He knew how to handle the difficult ones. Hell, he handled Ethan like a pro.
But seeing the easy way Zayne slipped into conversation with the gruff lawyer made Ethan wonder what it would be like to finally make it past that tough exterior.
For now, though, he was happy to navigate his way through each meeting by charming the gorgeous Julien and sassy Robbie, who seemed to share the same affinity for difficult men that Zayne did.
Ethan headed out of his office and made his way up through the club, and just as he was stepping into the foyer, the front door opened and Chloé stepped inside.
Her eyes brightened the second they landed on him, and as she hurried across the room, her ponytail swished from side to side, making him smile.
“Well, hello. I was wondering when you would show up.”
Chloé grinned as she threw her arms around his neck and Ethan pressed a hard kiss across her lips.
“I told you by the afternoon.” She ran her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck. “I hardly had anything at all.”
Zayne stepped inside then, a massive box in his arms as he looked at the two of them. “Other than clothes, that is.”
She turned to look at Zayne, one arm still hooked around Ethan’s neck. “Well, I can’t walk around naked all the time.”
“Says who?” Ethan nuzzled in under her ear then swatted her denim-covered ass. Just as they parted, Shayla stepped inside.
“Huh.” She looked around the empty foyer before her eyes came to land on Chloé. “This place looks different during the light of day, almost…homey.”
Her eyes then shifted to the sensual artwork hanging behind the front desk.
“Almost.”
Zayne moved over to the artwork that hid the doorway to their apartment and pressed the button. It slid open, and Shayla’s jaw hit the ground.
“Wow…”
Chloé laughed and laced her fingers through his, and Ethan gestured to the hallway. “Please, let us show you around. I imagine you’ll be by to visit Chloé more often than not.”
“Um…” With eyes wide as saucers, Shayla nodded and followed them inside. “Sure.”
They made their way down the hall and stopped at the elevator. Shayla looked around and then stared at the three of them.
“I didn’t even know this place was back here.”
“Uh, you better not know it’s back here,” Chloé joked. “Or that would be a very awkward conversation at this point.”
Shayla shook her head. “What I mean is, I didn’t realize there was an apartment upstairs.”
“No one does,” Zayne said as the elevator dinged. They all stepped inside, and when he put the box on the floor and hit the button, he winked at Chloé. “Unless they’re personally invited.”
Shayla sighed. “I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: lucky bitch.”
Chloé laughed as the elevator ascended. When they reached their floor and walked into the main living space, Shayla’s disbelief continued.
Chloé led her cousin over to the windows that overlooked downtown, and Zayne put the box off to one side and moved in to steal a kiss from him.
“Hmm,” he said as he nipped at Ethan’s lower lip. “How was your day?”
Ethan smoothed his hand into the back pocket of Zayne’s jeans and pulled him in. “Productive. I got the books done. But I have to admit, I missed you two while you were gone.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Mhmm.” His eyes lowered to Zayne’s mouth. “It seemed like days, not hours.”
“Aww. Well, we’re back now.”
“So you are, and I assume everything went well with packing and Priest?”
“Yeah.” Zayne nodded and looked over to where Chloé was pointing at something out the window.
“Like she said, there wasn’t too much—a set of drawers I think will go well in the closet for her, and a whole lotta boxes Priest helped us load up.
But he figured this part was something we might want to do on our own, and honestly, I don’t think he really wanted to move his daughter into an apartment above a sex club. ”
Ethan smirked. “I figured. I’m surprised he let her move here at all.”
“I don’t think there’s much letting when it comes to Red.”
“I think you might be right. Plus, she’s just across town. It’s not like she’s moved across an ocean.”
Zayne nodded. “Agreed, and he did make me promise pasta night next week.”
“That I think we can do. Well, we better go get the rest of her things. I cleared out half of the walk-in for her. Do you think that’ll be enough?”
Zayne winced and looked to the box on the ground. “Um…well, that’s one of twelve.”
“Twelve?”
“Uh huh, and that doesn’t include shoes.”
Ethan was about to say something when he heard, “Okay, this coffee table is gorgeous.”
He and Zayne looked over to where Shayla was admiring the centerpiece of the living room. Chloé mischievously grinned and winked at them. “It’s my favorite piece in the whole house.”
Oh yes, life was about to change for the three of them. And as Zayne’s chuckle joined his own, Ethan knew he couldn’t wait to see where it took them next.