Chapter Seventeen
I was always his boy.
From the very beginning.
~ Zayne
THE VIEW FROM the apartment balcony was absolutely incredible as Chloé stared out over the glittering lights of Paris.
Today had been long, but amazing .
From seeing this apartment for the first time, to taking Ethan and Zayne to JULIEN and cooking for them, she was having the time of her life, and the buzz from the wine at dinner—and the two glasses of champagne she’d had since getting home—had left her feeling goood.
Never in a million years could she have imagined this was where she would end up after that first night she’d gone to The Office. But as she sipped on her champagne and kicked her feet up on the railing, there wasn’t one thing she would change.
This was everything she’d ever wanted. Well, not exactly this, because a beautiful French villa overlooking Paris hadn’t even been on her radar. But Ethan and Zayne, and the relationship they were all falling into? That was everything she’d ever wanted.
In the last couple of weeks, she’d felt cherished, desired, and protected by her men, and if there’d ever been questions as to whether she wanted this kind of dominant/submissive relationship, then they’d all been put to rest.
Ethan and Zayne had not only shown her a new sexual side of herself but had invited her into something that was real and true. This afternoon had shown her that.
She was an integral part of them, and she knew she was falling. She could feel it deep in her soul. She was falling hard and fast, and this trip was only amplifying it.
“Ah, so this is where you disappeared to.”
Chloé glanced over her shoulder to see Zayne stepping out onto the balcony, a bottle of Veuve in hand, and two more glasses.
“I didn’t disappear,” she said, relaxing back in her seat. “I just wanted to take advantage of this beautiful view.”
He placed the glasses on the table beside her and took up a seat on the other side of it. “Funny, that’s what I came out here for too.”
“Sweet talker.”
He peeled the foil off the bottle. “It’s strange seeing you drink.”
She chuckled, drained the rest of the bubbly liquid, and held her glass out to him.
“It’s weird to me when I don’t. I cook with it so often it feels odd not being able to order something to pair with a meal.
But I was lucky enough that my fathers would let us indulge a little with them once we turned eighteen. ”
“Indulge, huh?” Zayne pulled the cork free, then refilled her glass and poured two more. “Is that what you’re doing now?”
“Mhmm.” She waggled her brows. “I looove indulging myself.”
“We still talking about the wine, Red?”
She stroked a foot up her bare leg and sighed. “Hmm, maybe.”
He scoffed. “Ethan and I used to sneak beer into his dorm room.”
“Beer?” Chloé screwed her nose up. “I’m not much of a beer drinker.”
“Neither are we, now. But back then it was cheap and easy to get our hands on.” He laughed and added, “Then again, so was I when it came to Ethan.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Definitely.” Zayne relaxed back in his seat and crossed his ankles. “All he had to do was look at me, and I did whatever he asked.”
Chloé giggled, imagining the two of them getting up to all kinds of trouble. “Whatever?”
“Yep.” Zayne gave her wry grin. “Whatever.”
A delicious thrill zinged through her at the devilish gleam in his eyes, as all kinds of filthy scenarios flashed in her mind. She shifted on her seat, and Zayne chuckled.
“You okay over there, Red? Your cheeks are looking a little flushed.”
They were definitely flushed, and while part of that might’ve been from the alcohol, the other reason was imagining Ethan and Zayne all hot and heavy in their dorm room.
Then before she knew it, she blurted out, “What was it like?” Blame it on the alcohol, blame it on the night, blame it on the two men she wanted to know every single thing about.
But she wanted to know. “You know, back then? What was it like with the two of you? He was your first, I know he was. Were you his?”
Okay, her tongue was a little loose tonight. That was definitely the alcohol. But Zayne didn’t seem offended in any way—if anything, he seemed amused.
“His first what?”
Chloé rolled her eyes. “Oh, come on.”
“ You come on. Be. More. Specific.” He sat up and turned in her direction. “If you want to know something, Red, ask.”
Zayne was such a contradiction in moments like this. One minute he was easygoing, and the next that switch flipped and he was dishing out a lesson from dom to sub.
“Okaaay. Were you his first kiss?”
“Yeah, I was.”
Chloé sighed and placed a hand over her heart. “That’s so sweet.”
“Hmm, funny, I don’t remember it being…sweet.”
“No?” She lowered her feet from the rail and shifted so they were facing one another.
“Nope. Definitely not sweet.”
“Was there tongue?”
Zayne swiped his tongue along his lower lip. “Lots of it.”
“Hands?”
“Oh yeah.
She hadn’t realized it, but somewhere in her line of questioning she’d leaned in over the wrought-iron table, closer to Zayne. “Did it make you hard?”
“Hell, it’s making me hard right now, Red.”
She laughed and fell back into her lounger, the alcohol and night air making her feel free as a bird and bolder than ever.
“That’s not an answerrr.”
“What’s not an answer?”
Chloé and Zayne whipped their heads toward the door as if they’d been caught with their hand in the cookie jar. Something Ethan must’ve noticed, judging by the way his eyes narrowed.
“Okay, what’s going on out here?”
Zayne shrugged and picked up his glass. “Red’s got a few questions she’d like to ask, that’s all.”
“Questions?” Ethan grabbed his wine and moved around the two of them to lean back against the rail. “What kind of questions?”
That sneaky Zayne … He knew exactly what he was doing. With him, she could volley and kind of flirt her way around a situation, but with Ethan? If he asked a question, she felt the immediate need to respond.
“I was asking about your first kiss.”
“I see, and what did Zayne tell you?”
“That it wasn’t sweet.” She gave him a sassy wink.
“Just how much have you had to drink tonight, Chloé?”
“Umm… This is my— third …?—glass since we got home.”
“Maybe it’s time to head to bed, then? Hmm?”
“Nooo, not yet.” She batted her lashes, and the bright lights began to blur over Ethan’s head like a halo, which had her laughing all over again. Because there was no way he was an angel.
Maybe she should slow down.
“I want to hear about the kiss .” She took his hand and leaned forward, close to begging him now. “Please tell me, and then I’ll go to bed. Promise.”
Ethan looked at Zayne. “You started this.” He tugged Chloé to her feet and took her seat before pulling her down in his lap. “You can finish it.”
“Yeah.” She snuggled back into Ethan’s arms, her eyes locked on the sexy man now staring at the two of them. “Tell me a bedtime story, Zayne.”
* * *
ZAYNE STOOD OUTSIDE Ethan’s dorm room and counted back from twenty, trying to calm the sudden case of nerves that had taken hold of him.
This was stupid. He was stupid. He’d been to Ethan’s dorm so many times over the past couple of months that he almost knew it better than his own. But as he stood there now staring at the door, he had the sudden urge to run.
“Quit being such a pussy,” he told himself as he shrugged the strap of his backpack up his shoulder. “You’re just going to study. You do it every afternoon with Ethan.”
Well, not it , and that was the problem. The more time he spent with Ethan, the more he was thinking about it , and the fact it was with a guy instead of a girl was the least of his problems.
From the moment he’d set eyes on Ethan, he’d been drawn to the guy. But ever since he’d started spending actual time with him, he’d found that draw had turned to more of a crush, and the crush more of an…obsession.
He couldn’t stop thinking about him. Not in a creepy I want to carve your initials over my heart kind of way. More like he couldn’t stop thinking about his eyes, and the way they seemed to glow when he was concentrating on something—and lately, that something had been Zayne.
If that had been it, maybe he could forget about it, but that wasn’t it.
There was his mouth, and the way it was always so serious.
It took everything Zayne had to get Ethan to laugh.
But man, when he pulled an actual smile from the guy, he felt like he’d stumbled on gold.
It lit him up from the inside, and the way it made him feel had him locking his dorm room door to enjoy it in private—and he’d been enjoying it a hell of a lot lately.
When he was awake.
When he showered.
When he slept.
There was something so intense about Ethan, and he just couldn’t put his finger on what exactly it was—but it excited him.
The sound of the door opening snapped him out of his thoughts, and he came face to face with the boy he’d just been mooning over. Before he could think up a reason for lurking around his door, Ethan frowned.
“Did you just get here?”
Yeah, there you go, Zayne. Go with that.
“Yeah, was about to knock. Why?” He flashed his most charming grin. “You listening at the door waitin’ for me?”
Ethan cocked his head, probably wondering if he’d lost his mind, and Zayne shrugged, feigning nonchalance as he pushed by.
“It was a joke, E. Remember I told you what one of those were months ago?”
Ethan shut the door, and Zayne tried not to focus too hard on the fact that they were now alone in such a small space.
“I thought I told you not to call me that.”
“E?”
“Yes.”
Zayne tossed his bag on the single bed pushed up against the wall. “It’s just a nickname.”
“I hate it.”
Zayne laughed. “I know.”
Ethan took in a breath as though trying for patience, before he walked over to his desk and took a seat. “Then why do you do it?”
“Because it gets a response.”
Ethan’s eyes narrowed as Zayne kicked off his shoes and moved to his usual spot when they studied—the end of Ethan’s bed.
Yeah, that didn’t help with his current situation.