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“You are such a bad influence,” she muttered grumpily and reached into the box before pulling out a slice for herself.
When she took a bite, I grinned and watched her haul her legs up over the side of the chair’s armrest to get more comfortable where she was. Once settled how she wanted to be, she took a big bite from the end of her pizza and distractedly kicked off her shoes before swinging her feet happily and turning her attention to the movie.
“Oh God.” She grimaced as her gaze focused on the screen. “Please don’t tell me you’re actually watching this.”
“I wastryingto,” I said as I picked out a new slice for myself. “Can’t seem to get into it, though. Why? Have you seen it?”
“Unfortunately, yes.”
I sighed because that probably meant she was going to get up and leave soon, and I kind of liked her there, kicking back in my lap.
My fingers tightened fractionally on her knee, loath to let her go.
“Don’t tell me,” I said. “Let me guess. That guy there that she’s on the date with is actually the murderer who’s been stalking her, butshe’sgoing to end up killing him in the end.”
Chloe rolled her eyes. “Like that was even hard to figure out.”
“Whatever,” I said, blowing her off because my movie plot-twisting skills were spot on, and they were entertaining as fuck, no matter how much she wanted to pretend they weren’t. “I bet she…” But my voice trailed off when they cut to another scene of the heroine relaxing in one of those classic, claw-footed old-timey bathtubs. “Hey, she’s got your bathtub.”
“Yeah.” Chloe sighed wistfully. “That tub is the very reason I bought this place, you know.”
I made a face. “Because it was like the one in this weird-ass, boring movie?”
“No.” She rolled her eyes and nudged my arm. “Because I wanted to take a bubble bath in it just like she is. You know, put on some soft music, light a few candles, pour a glass of wine, and just…soak all my problems away.”
“Huh,” I murmured, nodding my head. “Yeah, I could totally see you doing that. But wait...” I nudged her arm right back. “You haven’t done that since you came back from your parents’,” I realized. “Not that I’ve noticed, anyway. I bet you’re about due for a nice, long soak.”
She sniffed and shook her head. “Actually, I’ve never gotten around to using it for a bath yet.”
“What?” I gaped at her. “You gotta be fucking kidding me. Haven’t you lived here for, like, three or four years already?”
“Four and a half,” she answered. “But I…”
When her eyes went sad, I softly said, “You what?”
She rolled her eyes and flushed. “Nothing. It’s stupid.”
“Oh. Well, now you have to tell me.”
She hissed out an aggravated breath. “I don’t know. I just always pictured myself in therewithsomeone, you know. It seems too lonely to take one by myself.”
My brow furrowed. “And you never tried it out with one of those guys you dated?”
Chloe scowled at me. “You make it sound as if there were hordes. I haven’t datedthatmany men.”
“Of course not,” I agreed easily. “And it wouldn’t matter if you had. But regardless… You should get to take your dream bubble bath.” I took the pizza box off her lap and set it on the side table before lowering the footrest. “So up you go,” I announced. “We’re breaking in that bathtub. Tonight.”
Chloe snorted. “Yeah, right. I amnotgetting naked with you.”
With a shrug, I said, “I mean, you’d be missing out on that count. I look damn fine naked. But if you insist; fine. Whatever. We can keep our underwear on. Or you could put on a bathing suit. Fuck… Wear that. I don’t care.”
“I’m not taking a bath with clothes on, either,” she cried, aghast.
“We’re not going to take a bath at all,” I argued with a grin. “We’resoaking.And relaxing. It’ll be like sitting in a hot tub. So come on… Save me from this movie already.”
* * *
And that’show I talked Chloe into taking a bath with me.
