2
E rin rolled over in bed and sat up slowly. It took her a minute to remember that she was at Chayse’s apartment. She’d been staying there for the past two days since the wedding but would fly back home tomorrow.
Stretching, Erin got out of bed and went into the bathroom. She emptied her bladder before washing her hands and then her face. She was brushing her teeth when she heard her phone ringing and returned to the bedroom to grab it. Looking at the screen, she saw that it was Chayse calling.
“Hey,” Erin greeted around the toothbrush.
“Hey, I was just calling to see if you were awake. You were up pretty late.”
That was an understatement. Erin had been up until about six that morning. She had an idea for a tattoo design and made the mistake of telling herself she would just sketch a little of it; she would outline it and then go to bed. Just the outline had turned into a little detailing, and before long, she was drawing the entire thing in depth. By the time she’d finished and showered, the sun was about to start rising.
“Yeah, I got into drawing, and time sort of flew past me,” Erin responded. “But I just got up.”
“Okay, well, my lunch break is in an hour and a half. Do you want to meet somewhere, and we can have lunch together?” Chayse questioned.
“Sure, just text me the place, and I’ll see you there.”
“Alright.”
They hung up, and Erin finished brushing her teeth before going to her suitcase and pulling out clothes for the day. She decided on dark-washed skinny jeans, a pale-yellow thin sweater, and the yellow and black Air Max she’d brought. Erin then pulled her hair into a bun on her head.
Grabbing her phone, she entered the living room and sat on the couch. She turned the television on but knew she would only use it for the background noise as she scrolled through her phone.
By the time a text came in from Chayse, Erin had bookmarked a few things that had interested her. She looked at the time and saw she had forty minutes before meeting Chayse for lunch. With the multiple times she’d been to Denver, she still wasn’t familiar with it unless she’d been to a place a couple of times before. She decided to head towards the restaurant now in case the GPS in her rental car led her astray.
Grabbing her purse and keys, she used the spare Chayse had given her to lock the door. Then, she texted Chayse and told her she’d left the house so that Chayse could engage the alarm.
Erin slid behind the wheel and keyed the restaurant name into the system once she’d started the car. According to the GPS, it was about twenty minutes away.
She exited the parking lot and followed the instructions to the restaurant, glad that she’d left a bit earlier than needed. The lunchtime traffic was thick, and it’d taken her an additional ten minutes to get there.
She pulled into a parking space that allowed her to see the front door and listened to the soft music playing over the radio while she waited for Chayse to arrive. She knew she wouldn’t have to wait long because the other woman was always a few minutes early to everything, and this time was no different.
A little over five minutes later, Erin saw her and exited her rental. She went to the front of the restaurant, where Chayse was scrolling through her phone.
“Hey,” Erin greeted, gaining Chayse’s attention.
“Hey, I was just about to call you.”
They went inside toward the hostess stand and were told it would be a ten-minute wait. Chayse and Erin sat down, and as they waited, Erin asked her how work was going so far. Chayse told her about a man calling Gorgeous , demanding to be featured in the magazine because he hadn’t been yet. Erin could only scoff and shake her head.
When seated with their drink orders placed, Erin looked over her menu, trying to decide what she wanted.
“So, Nik’s birthday is today, and we’re going out for dinner,” Chayse told her. “You should come.”
Erin looked up from her menu. “Don’t you want to celebrate alone?”
“Oh, trust me. We’re going to,” Chayse responded with a smirk. “We’re going away for a few days which is why I went into work today to schedule all of my appointments for the first week of April back a bit. Tonight, however, we’re just having dinner.”
Erin thought about it for a moment. She didn’t want to intrude on their plans or be a third wheel, though she didn’t mind the latter too much.
“Besides, you’re flying out in the morning, and I want to see you at least tonight before you go,” Chayse told her.
“Okay,” Erin responded because she knew if she said no, Chayse would feel bad for having to choose to spend Nik’s birthday with him or see Erin before she left. Erin didn’t believe in putting her friends in situations like that, though she did like to playfully embarrass them on occasion.
Their server came over with their drinks and took their orders. Once they were gone again, Erin decided to tell Chayse her news. She’d put it off for the past couple of days, not wanting to step on the high she knew her friend was feeling from Nik asking her to move in with him.
“So, I’ve decided to move,” she said before sipping her drink.
“What brought this on?” Chayse questioned.
Erin shrugged. “There’s nothing for me in Florida.”
There wasn’t—nothing other than her tattoo career, and Erin could do that anywhere once she got her name out there. Her father was in Washington, her grandmother had decided to spend her golden years on sandy beaches, and her closest friends had moved one after the other.
“Wait,” Chayse stated, a spark in her eyes. Erin saw the exact moment the other woman put it together. You’re moving here?!” she questioned excitedly as she bounced in her seat, and Erin laughed.
“That’s the plan.”
“When?” Chayse questioned.
“When I find a place here in town. My lease was up in January, and instead of renewing it, I decided to do month-to-month.”
“You can stay at my place,”Chayse told her, and Erin raised a brow. “I mean, if you want to. Think about it. My lease is up next month. I can renew it and add you to it, and the place will be yours since I’ll be moving out.”
Erin thought about it for a moment. Chayse’s apartment was lovely, and it had a second bedroom, which she could use to take clients in if needed. After the move, work would not be steady until she got her name out there. However, Erin had saved a bit of money, and she’d discovered several tattoo conventions hosted in and around Denver that she could attend to pull in income as well. She could live on those things for a few months.
It wasn’t a bad idea, and if she could get Chayse to renew it for six months, it would give her the option of moving to something smaller if business hadn’t picked up by then. Erin found herself nodding.
Chayse squealed with excitement, and a few people turned to look at them. Erin just laughed.
“Have you told Alijah?”
“Not yet,” Erin responded.
“She is going to freak.”
Erin was sure she’d have the same reaction as Chayse. They were all close, so the fact that they’d been separated had been hard on them, especially Erin. She didn’t do well with losing people she cared about, even if it was to distance. She honestly didn’t know what had kept her in Florida for so long after Chayse had left, but she’d gotten the push she needed.
“M r. Adair.”
Cruz looked up from his computer screen to the woman standing in his doorway. She shifted from one foot to another for a moment.
“Yes?”
“Your four-thirty just called and said they would be about an hour late.”
Cruz glanced down at the time on his computer. It was four thirty-five. “Call them back and reschedule for some time at the end of May,”he responded, returning to his computer screen. Cruz listened to Jane momentarily hesitate at the door before disappearing from his doorway.
Glancing over at his office phone Cruz made sure it wasn’t set to send his calls to voicemail. Though he already knew it wasn’t. His new assistant insisted on coming to his door whenever she needed to tell or ask him something. He wasn’t oblivious enough not to have realized why. The woman just wanted to look at him. Cruz was sure that somewhere down the line, that might pose a problem, but at the moment, she was doing a better job than the last two he’d had.
Cruz leaned back in his chair. This was the second time he’d pushed this meeting back, and each time, it was due to the client not respecting his time. Cruz thought the other man would have learned from the first time when he had rescheduled the meeting, pushing it back four weeks. He would see how he felt about eight. After all, it wasn’t as if Cruz needed him. It was the other way around.
Picking up his cell phone, Cruz sent Nik a text asking when they were supposed to meet for dinner. He was sure the other man told him when he asked if he and Paetyn would join him. However, Cruz also knew that Nik had an uncanny habit of changing times at the last minute if he got…occupied as of late.
When Nik confirmed seven thirty, Cruz decided to call it a day. His four thirty would have been his last appointment, and he could do the rest of the work for the day from home or tomorrow. Shutting his computer down and grabbing his things, Cruz stood and exited his office, closing and locking it behind him.
On his way out, he nodded at Jane. Since she was on the phone, he assumed she was rescheduling the meeting. Instead of the elevator, Cruz opted to take the stairs. It was only four flights down. The main building was smaller than his research building.
He entered the parking garage and tossed his things into the backseat before getting behind the wheel. Since he had a few hours to kill before Nik’s dinner, he decided to head home and maybe work out for a bit before getting ready.
It wasn’t time for most people to get off, so he didn’t have much after-work traffic, which was good because it would have made his drive a bit longer. They lived about ten minutes outside of the city in the suburb of Lakewood. His office was almost forty minutes from the city center, and the last thing he needed was traffic to make that drive longer. Though admittedly, he tended to speed once out of the center and made the drive in about half an hour.
When Cruz came up the long driveway, he pressed the button to open the second garage and pulled his car in.
Cruz placed his thumb on the reader beside the door and stepped inside once it unlocked. He went upstairs to his bedroom to change for his workout. First dropping his briefcase in the attached office. He was standing in his boxers, grabbing a pair of sweats, when Paetyn appeared in his doorway.
“Hey, did your meeting end early?”
Cruz looked over his shoulder at him. “No, I rescheduled it. They were late.”He pulled on the sweatpants before grabbing a pair of socks from one of his top drawers. “How did teaching the new chef go today?”
Paetyn sighed. “He’s a great chef. Very precise.”
Cruz sat on the bed and began to pull on his socks. “But?”
“His memory is terrible. I knew we’d have some issues with him keeping up with certain things because he’d never worked in a kitchen before, but this…”Paetyn trailed off, and Cruz remained quiet as he went to grab a pair of track shoes from his closet, knowing the other man would continue eventually. “I can’t put him in a kitchen if he’s going to have to look up the recipe every time an order comes in.”
When Cruz came out of his closet, he found Paetyn sitting on his bed rubbing his temples. Paetyn had gone to many expos to find a new chef, and he’d specifically wanted one that hadn’t been in anyone else’s kitchen. One that did not have old habits to break because none were formed. He’d found one a couple of weeks ago; every day, aside from Sunday, Paetyn had been training him on the menu he planned for the bistro he had put off opening last year.
“You have time to train him or find another chef,”Cruz told him. “You haven’t even decided on a location after the other one fell through or an opening date yet.”Cruz stretched. “Besides, everyone isn’t a culinary genius who can look at a recipe once, memorize it, and make it outstandingly.”He gave Paetyn a pointed look.
With a scoff, Paetyn stood. “Yeah, you’re right.”He went towards the door. “Don’t forget we need to leave by at least six forty-five.”
Cruz didn’t respond following Paetyn out, and the two went their separate ways. Him down the stairs, and Paetyn, he was sure to his room.
Cruz walked into their home gym and turned on the sound system. Using the remote, he set an alarm for six o’clock if he was still working out. He often lost track of time and could end up staying in the gym for hours until his muscles began to scream at him.
As he went through his workout, his mind shifted to Erin. He’d thought about texting her earlier that morning and doing so the night after the wedding. However, he wanted her to contact him first, to reach out to him first. She had his number. He’d given it to her at some point with some excuse. He didn’t peg her to be the type to run away from something, so he knew that she’d eventually question him on his actions.
He’d gone to bed that night with the sound of her moans playing on repeat in his ear, with the feel of her warm wetness around his fingers, and to say he’d woken up hard as steel would have been an understatement. He thought about those sweet sounds throughout the day if he let his mind sit too long.
Shaking his head, Cruz decided to focus back on his workout. He’d give her a couple more days, and then, if she hadn’t reached out, he’d call her.
P aetyn and Cruz had beat Nik to the restaurant, but Paetyn wasn’t surprised, knowing how fast Cruz liked to drive before they got into the city. They’d shown up ten minutes early. They were eating at a new Greek restaurant that had opened a few months ago. They hadn’t been yet, and Paetyn wanted to see how it would stack up. He always enjoyed other restaurants when they had good food. However, when they fell into the same category as one of his own, he liked to see how they compared. Though admittedly, he was a bit biased.
They’d given Nik’s name to the host and were seated at their friend’s reserved table. A couple of minutes before seven-thirty, Paetyn saw Nik approaching the table, but it was the woman with Nik who had his attention.
She was dressed in a beige two-piece outfit. The pants she wore were high-waisted, and the matching top stopped under her breast, leaving part of her midsection exposed. She wore a white jacket over her shoulders, and the outfit contrasted against her umber skin. She shouldn’t have looked as alluring as she did but damn it if Paetyn didn’t have to shift in his seat.
“Fuck me.”He heard Cruz mumble under his breath, and Paetyn couldn’t help but agree.
“Indeed.”
They stood as the three made it to their table, and greetings went around. They were sitting at a round table, and Paetyn pulled out the chair between him and Cruz for Erin. She smiled at him, shrugging her jacket off and placing it over the back before sitting, placing her clutch on the table.
Their server, whom Paetyn had told they would wait until the rest of their party showed up, came over and asked if they would like to try any of their wines.
“Birthday boy?” Cruz questioned.
“Choose a wine, Love,”Nik told Chayse, deferring the choice to her.
“Do you have a semi-sweet or a sweet red?”Chayse questioned.
“Yes, ma’am. We have both,”the server responded.
“We’ll take a bottle of sweet red, and white. Whatever is most popular,”Chayse requested with a smile.
“Yes, ma’am and I’ll also bring water for the table.”With that, the young woman walked off.
The table broke out into conversation, and a part of Paetyn had wondered if Erin would ignore Cruz after their meeting on the balcony at the wedding. However, she did not. Instead, she turned to him and asked if he’d be willing to give her a rematch at the shooting range the next time she came down.
“I’ll take you tomorrow if you want,”Cruz responded.
“Tempting. But my flight leaves in the morning.”
“Leaving so soon?”Paetyn listened to Cruz’s question.
“She is, but she’s coming back!”Chayse excitedly spoke, and Paetyn looked over to find her smiling at Erin, who laughed.
“She comes back pretty often,”Paetyn replied because, in the time that Kieran had started dating Alijah, he’d seen Erin several times over the last two years. She was in Denver at least three to four times a year.
“I do,”Erin responded. “That’s why I’ve decided to move here.”
Paetyn glanced at Cruz as the other man did the same. They had not been expecting that. Being closer to them would make courting her much easier, but they had been prepared to do it while she was in Florida. It wasn’t a long flight, and having a private plane at their disposal made it far less complicated. Her being in town would be much easier.
“Do you know when you’re moving?”Nik asked, and Paetyn was glad he had because he knew Cruz would have, but he wasn’t sure if his friend would have been able to keep the question passive.
“In about a week, I have to pack, rent a U-Haul, and all that good stuff, but I’m ready to leave Florida.”
“That’s a long drive, Erin. It’s over twenty-four hours. I can fly out and help you drive back,” Chayse volunteered.
“You don’t have to do that; you’re already pushing work back to celebrate with Nik. I’ll be fine.”
“You could use my plane and fly in,”Cruz spoke.
“I don’t think it would be safe to load down a private jet, and I couldn’t ask you to do that.”
“You didn’t ask, I offered,”Cruz responded.
“And it’s an actual commercial plane,” Nik added. “He’s had it remodeled on the inside, but it should hold your furniture and things fine.”
“I’d still have to get my car,” Erin tried.
“We can have it transported,”Cruz told her. “Paetyn and I will even fly out a day or two early to help you pack if you want,”he added on, and Paetyn didn’t miss the look Cruz gave her.
“You guys are the best. That’s so nice,” Chayse said as their server returned to the table with the wine and water.
Erin let the conversation drop, but Paetyn could tell from the look in her eyes that she would bring it up again. He wouldn’t put it past her to pack, load everything, and start driving without telling anyone.
This time, when the server left and told them she’d be back in a few minutes, they looked at their menus. Once they had their food order, the table broke out into conversation again. Chayse was talking to Erin about her birthday, which was in a couple of months, and Nik was telling Paetyn he wanted him to look at a building with him when he got a chance.
Paetyn volleyed between listening to the two conversations, but his attention was drawn to Erin’s hand. She was using her middle finger to trace the logo on the clutch she’d sat on the table while talking to Chayse, and he couldn’t help but think about how her hands would look secured to his headboard. He tried to shake the thought from his head. Knowing it was only there because he’d gone so long without someone in his bed.
Before he could stop himself, he reached out and took her hand, his thumb running over the back of it. Erin stopped her conversation with Chayse and turned to look at him.
“Sorry,”Paetyn started, releasing her hand. “It’s just…that’s new, isn’t it?”he questioned, pointing to the tattoo on her thumb as a cover-up.
“It is,” she told him, smiling, holding her hand up for him to better see the tattoo on the side of her thumb. “I got bored waiting on a client who was running late, so I did a little doodling.”
“You call that doodling?”Paetyn asked. The tattoo was composed of intricate lines that seemed precise.
“I do.”Erin’s hand slid up his forearm to his shoulder. “You should let me give you another one.”She slid her hand from where she’d given him the tattoo several months ago to his right pectoral. “Or let me expand it.”
“I’m not opposed to it,”Paetyn responded as she removed her hand.
He watched her turn her attention to Cruz. “You should let me give you one, too, and maybe freshen up that one on your back.”Of the four of them, Cruz had been the only one with a tattoo before Paetyn got his.
“And where do you propose we put it?”Cruz questioned. “Here?”He ran his finger down the side of her neck. “Here?”He then ran it across her exposed midsection.“Or,” he started, looking her over.
Paetyn didn’t need to know where Cruz was thinking of touching her, and it seemed Erin didn’t need to know either because she turned her attention to Chayse.
“Come to the bathroom with me.” She stood up. Chayse nodded as she pulled her attention from Nik, and they walked off.
“Stop it,”Paetyn spoke as soon as the women were out of earshot.
“Stop what?”Cruz questioned with a smirk.“Besides, even you, mister, calm and controlled, are over there having an issue. I know you the same way you know me.”
Nik began to chuckle, and both men turned their heads toward him. “She is giving the two of you hell, and she’s not even doing anything.”
Paetyn wasn’t so sure that she wasn’t doing anything. He’d be willing to bet that her touching him moments ago was not innocent. Honestly, he knew she wouldn’t have to do anything. It was a simple fact that she was her. Paetyn had gotten to know her a bit over the past couple of years and then even better over the past five months and knew they were both just as attracted to her —looks, personality, all of it.
“You’re not one to talk. Chayse gave you hell, too,” Cruz responded, not denying Nik’s claim.
“I do recall you needing some advice,” Paetyn threw in with a smirk.
“And yet, you’re having difficulty taking your own,” Nik countered.
Paetyn rolled his eyes. There was some truth to that. However, when he’d been patient for over a year and started working on being her friend months ago, he couldn’t be held at fault.
The women returned to the table, and no sooner had they sat down than a man approached the table.
“Mr. Silva,” he greeted before smiling at the rest of the table.
“Yes?” Paetyn questioned.
“I’m Vernon. I’m the owner of this establishment, and it’s an honor to have you dining with us tonight.”
“It’snice to meet you, Vernon,”Paetyn responded, holding out his hand. “You have a nice place.”
“Thank you. I hope the food is to your liking as well.”
“I’m sure it will be,”Paetyn responded, and the other man nodded at the table again, lingering a moment before walking off.
“I think he was going to ask for your autograph,”Cruz stated, and Paetyn knew he was teasing him. He ignored him, instead focusing on Erin as she tapped his hand.
“Will you pass me that wine bottle?”
Paetyn picked up the bottle and turned back to Erin, who held her cup up for him and poured her some. She smiled at him, and Paetyn knew that smile would cause him trouble while getting her out of it.