Chapter Twenty-five

Chapter Twenty-five

Sam

“You’re going to miss your flight.” I run my fingers up and down Chloe’s back.

“Would that be a bad thing?” she mumbles.

“Not for me.” I lift my head off the pillow and kiss her forehead. “You can stay as long as you want. It’s quiet here during the day, so you’d probably get a lot of writing done.”

“Well, when you put it that way, it would be irresponsible if I didn’t stay.”

I sweep my hand down her back to her thigh. We’re both naked in bed, and Chloe is supposed to be leaving for the airport to take a red-eye back to LA. She has a meeting with her agent about the deal the network is offering her. She told me she’s not sure if she wants to take it, even though it’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. It would take time away from her usual writing, and would tie her to LA. Selfishly, I want her to myself, and her ability to travel easily right now makes being together easier.

The weekend is already over, and it went by so fucking fast. We’re both already counting down the days until we can see each other again. Being with Chloe feels so damn natural, and where she says things happen for a reason and everything worked in the end, I’m still kicking myself for missing out on the years we could have spent together.

She’s changed yet is still the same quirky girl I fell in love with all those years ago. Despite her wild success, she’s still humble and makes me want to be a better person, just like she did when were kids.

“You did say being with me was inspiring.” I run my fingers through her dark auburn hair, having no intention of letting her go.

“You are. Though I run the risk of turning my books from romance to erotica.”

I chuckle and pull her into me. We’re both naked from having sex not that long ago and having her lying here like this makes it even harder for her to get up, I know. Is it really that selfish of me to want her to stay when I know she wants it too?

“That wouldn’t be a bad thing, would it?”

“As long as I can work in a little plot, not too many people would complain.” She hooks her leg over mine. “I’ll change my flight to another in the morning.”

I groan, wanting her to change it too. “You have a meeting with your agent tomorrow,” I remind her. It was finalized last night, hence her taking the late-night flight back today.

“I’ll ask her to postpone it.”

“I know I should be a good influence on your here, but I really want you to stay.” I run my hand up and down her thigh. “But if you want to come back after your meeting, I’ll give you a key.”

She lifts her head off my chest and looks at me, brows going up. Fuck. I didn’t mean it in that sense…only…I did.

“So you can let yourself in while I’m at work,” I say in a level voice. “I can’t get away or even promise I’ll get out when I’m supposed to.”

“Oh, right. Makes sense. I think I could get a lot of writing done sitting in the living room with that amazing view of the city.” She bites her lip and wiggles her eyebrows. “And then when you come home from work you can strip me down and fuck me against the glass again. Ya know, for inspiration.”

“Fuck,” I groan, cock hardening again. I’m going to miss her so damn much.

*

I close the apartment door behind me, feeling emptiness tugging at my heart. I just got back from dropping Chloe off at the airport. She got emotional when we said our goodbyes, and dammit, it was hard for me to keep it together too. We’ll see each in less than a week’s time, but it’s going to be a long fucking week.

My heart aches for Chloe, and the apartment seems dimmer without her, even though she was only here for a few days. We haven’t quite figured out what we’re doing next. If she gets her work done early, she’ll come back here. If not, I’ll fly out and stay with her for three days. It fucking blows that the flight is as long as it is, taking up most of the day. I might have three days off, but really only one is spent with Chloe.

I should go to bed, getting some sleep before having to work tomorrow. I don’t have to be there at seven at least since I’m coming off a night of being on-call. The thought of getting into bed without Chloe depresses me, so I sit down in the living room and play video games instead.

Finally, at nearly three in the morning, I drag my tired ass to bed, collapsing onto the mattress. The pillows smell like Chloe, and I pull one to me, wishing I’ll roll over and see her next to me. I drift off to sleep pretty quickly and dream of her, only to be rudely interrupted by someone knocking on my door.

I blink my eyes open, not sure if I actually heard knocking or if it was in my dream. My eyelids are heavy, and I fall back into bed only to hear the knocking again. Maybe if I ignore them, they’ll go away.

It doesn’t work, and whoever is outside my door knocks more persistently. Annoyed, I throw the blankets off and pad my way through the apartment. The knocker raps against the door again, quick and frantic.

“I’m coming,” I mutter, rubbing my eyes. How the hell did someone get up past security? If it’s a neighbor again, I’m going to lose it. I’m running on a few hours of sleep and have to work later today.

Yawning, I unlock the door, too tired and crabby to bother looking through the peephole to see who it is. It doesn’t matter, because I’m going to tell whoever is outside my door to fuck off and not to bother me again unless the building is on fire.

I twist the doorknob and throw open the door, harsh words on the tip of my tongue. “The fuck?” I mutter instead when I see Stacey standing outside my door and not an annoying neighbor.

“Hi, Sam,” she says and rests her hand on her stomach. “We need to talk.”