his hands under. Her breasts press against the top every time she breathes. Her hair is down and a little tousled from her hands. I lean back against the door and rest my thumbs in my duty belt. “Damn, girl, you look gorgeous.”
“Stop it.” She paces to the end of the room and faces me, looking a little unhinged. “This is a big deal. People here know who I am. They know who Bodhi is. Most probably know we were together at one time. You just kissed me in front of my friends and clients and potential clients, not to mention people who live in town.”
“You’re welcome—”
“This isn’t funny.” Her frustration slips toward panic.
“—for getting that fucker’s hands off you,” I finish. “How do you think that would look to your friends and others in the industry?”
She stalks toward me, and the look in her eyes tells me she’s about to break. “You had no right.”
“To what? Step in to take care of a friend? You certainly weren’t doing it yourself. At least now he’ll think twice before he touches you again.” I tilt my head. “Or is that what you’re really angry about? That he’ll back off because you kissed me.”
“I— What— That’s not—” She huffs. “I did not kiss you.”
I laugh, just a little bubble that pops, then disappears. “Whatever you say.”
She covers her face with her hands, and her shoulders slump. I sigh and take a step to close the distance between us, then wrap her in my arms. I expect her to push me away or bite me or something. Instead, she leans into me, presses her forehead to my chest, and curls my uniform shirt into her hands. Then stays there.
This isn’t anything like the occasional hug we share as friends. This is Chloe needing me, and it creates a fundamental shift somewhere deep inside.
I kiss her head, then murmur, “Want me to arrest him?”
She laughs and lifts her head. “Would it be wrong of me to say yes?”
Now I laugh too, and I find myself looking down at her, her blue eyes bright and wet. A split second before I lower my head to kiss her for real, someone knocks on the door.
“Chloe?” It’s KT.
With a sigh, I step away from the door and pull it open.
KT looks at me, then Chloe. A quiet moment expands before KT presses her hands against the jamb. “It’s about fucking time you two got together.”
“We’re not together.” The words are out of Chloe’s mouth before KT can finish the sentence.
Then Laiyla is here, and Levi’s behind her. He offers me a fist bump over the girls’ heads. “About fucking time, you two.”
“There’s nothing happening here.” Chloe releases all her air and gives me a see-what-you’ve-done look.
“All right, boys, out,” KT orders. “We need some girl time.”
5
Chloe
I can’t stop pacing.
While I shake out the tingling in my hands—something that comes with intense stress—Laiyla pulls a case of water from the bottom shelf and sits. KT leans her shoulder against the wall and crosses her arms.
“What’s going on?” Laiyla asks. “Who is that guy?”
“I can’t believe this,” I say. “I can’t fucking believe this.”
“That’s Bodhi, isn’t it?” KT says.
“What?” Laiyla says to KT. “How did you know that?”
“How did you not know that?” KT quips back.
I tent my fingers over my nose and mouth and close my eyes. The pain in my torso deepens, threatening to double me over. “Jesus Christ.”
“Talk to us,” KT says.
I heave a sigh and drop my hands. “He booked the retreat under a new company name and his given name. God, I feel so stupid. I didn’t even know his given name. Xavier did. I checked out the website and, yeah, maybe I thought it was a little weird there was no picture of this Shannon person, but everything looked like it was in order, so I let them book. There’s a big fat lesson in all of this—dig deeper.”
The shock and anger are starting to wear off, and the pain is sinking even deeper.
“Shit,” Laiyla says.
KT looks at us both, “We’ll pull the plug.”
After a beat, Laiyla says, “Definitely.” She takes a deep breath as if it’s hard to pull air, then confirms with a nod. “We’ll cancel the whole thing, return everyone’s money. I’ll start making calls tonight.”
“Stop, stop, stop.” I pull out another case of water and drop to a seat, resting my elbows on my thighs and my head in my hands. I know how hard those words were for