Ethan
We walked back to my place. “Hey, I forgot to tell you about your phone.”
“Do you have it?” Claire looked up at me.
I laughed. “Yes, it was in your purse.”
She looked at me slyly. “You went in my purse?”
“Only because your phone was ringing off the hook.” Jeez, I’m being framed for embezzlement and I just told her I went through her purse.
“I was only teasing you.”
“Anyways…Liv and Meg were going a bit crazy between the calls and text messages, so I sent them a quick text. I wasn’t sure if you would want them to know what happened, so I texted you were busy and would call later.”
“Thanks. I’m sure I’ll tell them at some point…” She trailed off.
Will she tell them about us, too?
“You really should put a code on your phone, though. I didn’t look at anything. I swear I only texted them, but if you lost it or it got stolen, all your info would be out there,” I told her.
She laughed. “But look how convenient it is when I get drugged!”
I stopped walking.
“What?” she asked.
“Claire, that’s not funny.”
“I was only joking. You don’t have to be so uptight about it.” She rolled her eyes at me.
“Hey, I was really worried about you. You were seriously sick. I debated over and over about taking you to the emergency room. If you hadn’t started puking immediately outside the bar, I would have. The only reason I didn’t was that I figured they wouldn’t be pumping your stomach if you were already puking.”
Claire looked at me in horror. “I puked outside the bar?”
“You don’t remember anything, do you?”
She shook her head. “No. What else should I know?”
I kissed the top of her head. “Nothing. You were just really sick.”
She looked at me like she didn’t believe me.
We started walking again, got back to my apartment shortly, and I took her phone off the charger.
“You even charged it for me! Thanks,” she gushed, like I’d done something extraordinary.
I handed her purse to her. “You can look through it. I didn’t take anything.”
Her head snapped up. “Ethan! Why would you say that to me?”
I shrugged. “Only your typical embezzlement-guy joke.”
“That’s not funny. Don’t say shit like that to me ever again.”
Clearly I’d hit a nerve.
“I’ll make you a deal. You don’t joke about getting drugged, and I won’t joke about embezzlement.”
“Deal.” She pulled my head to hers and kissed me.
She was so delicious. Her tongue tasted like butter and syrup. She pulled me into her with so much desire that I felt like the most wanted man on Earth. I was slightly breathless when she pulled back.
My hands were on her perfectly round ass, her body was flush against mine, and I started getting an erection.
My doorbell buzzed. I groaned.
“Expecting company?” She scanned my eyes curiously.
“It’s my driver.” It was already past one o’clock. “I have to go to the office and grab employee files. Collin is going to review everything with me again tonight. I’m supposed to be at his house at five.”
She looked at me, slightly disappointed. I felt the same way. She had been with me since Friday night, but I wasn’t ready for her to go.
“I’d much rather take you back to bed.” I kissed her again as my cock burned up in my pants.
“That sounds like more fun.” She sucked on my earlobe.
I groaned. I was already pushing it with time.
Okay. Here comes the moment of truth. Does she want her friends to know about us or not? Is there an actual ‘us,’ or is this only going to be a private thing?
“What are you doing tonight?”
“Washing my hair,” she shot back.
“Okay, have fun!” I slapped her ass playfully and started walking into another room.
She grabbed my hand. “You want to come over to my place after Collin’s?”
“Yes. But I think you should go to dinner with me at Collin’s first.” I looked at her and expected her to shoot me down.
A small smile played on her lips. “So…you want our friends to know about us?”
I licked my lips at her, tried to play it cool, but didn't do a very good job. “I would claim you as mine to the world if it didn’t screw up your reputation. But our friends won’t hold it against you.”
She cocked her head to the side, not able to hold back a grin. “Are you asking me to go steady here? Like, will I be your girlfriend?”
I started laughing. “If it stops you from seeing anyone else, then you can call me whatever you want.”
Her smile fell off her face. “I don’t sleep around. So if we’re sleeping together, you’re it.”
I grinned at her. “Good.”
“What about you? Do I need to worry about walking in on you and another woman?” She raised her eyebrow at me.
I shook my head. Like any other woman could pique my interest when I had her? “You don’t need to ever worry about that.”
She nodded. “Okay, then. I need to go home and put on some makeup and do my hair before dinner.”
“You don’t need any of that. You’re perfect like you are.”
She wrapped her arms around my waist. “I think I’m going to need to give you an extra treat later on tonight for saying that…and saying it so convincingly.”
“I’ll take the treat, but I mean it.”
She laughed. “Okay. Well, I’m still going to need to go home and get ready. Drop me off on the way to your work, and you can pick me up on your way back through?”
I kissed her. “Sounds like a plan.”
I was buzzing with happiness. Did we really have that conversation? So much of my life was in a total state of limbo, but did I really have Claire Whitfield as mine?
The thought once again ran through my mind that I needed to figure this out quickly. Jail would be ten times worse now that I’d had a taste of Claire.