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"You're not leaving," Decker murmured, his lips brushing the top of her head.
She lifted her head to look at his handsome face, his sexy mouth. She drew in a helpless breath of desire. She felt sated, but also eager for more. "I wish I didn't have to leave."
"Me, too. That was…something."
"Something. More than I thought it could be." As a shadow moved through his eyes, she frowned. "Hold on," she said. "No thinking about anything that drives the smile off your face."
"Sorry."
"Are you having regrets?"
"No. I just think… I probably should have talked to Joel before this happened."
"Our breakup was mutual, Decker. If I hadn't done it, Joel would have. He told me he won't be able to stay in Whisper Lake, that he has to move back to New York for his business."
"I believe that the breakup was mutual. But he's my friend, and I should have said something to him."
She respected his loyalty and was sorry that she hadn't given their friendship much thought when she'd come to the apartment. She'd just really wanted to see Decker. And she hadn't wanted to wait another minute. "I'm sorry. Maybe I shouldn't have come tonight. I just had to see you."
"And I wanted to see you, too, Chloe. I loved being with you. It's not a big deal. I just don’t like to feel like I'm going behind someone's back."
"I know. That's why you told me to leave last night, and it's why I went. I needed to break up with Joel before this could happen. And I needed to tell him before I told you. It seemed like the right thing to do."
He wrapped his fingers around a strand of her hair. "You are amazing, Chloe."
"We are amazing together," she said.
"How soon do you have to leave?"
She looked at her watch. "Forty-five minutes."
He smiled. "A lot can happen in forty-five minutes."
She grinned. "Why don't you show me what you've got?"
He abruptly flipped her on to her back and she fell against the pillows with a delighted laugh. "I think I like where this is going."
"Oh, you're definitely going to like it."
She closed her eyes and sighed as he made good on his promise.
ChapterTwenty-One
Chloe was still smilingon Monday. Not only was it a beautiful and unseasonably warm day, she felt giddy, excited about being with Decker, and she went through most of the day in a happy haze, so much so that Marian gave her more than a few questioning looks, but she didn't address any of them. She didn't want to talk about what happened. She just wanted to remember every second of her time with Decker in intimate detail.
Being with Decker had been hot, sexy, and fun. She had felt completely in sync with him, completely herself. She wasn't pretending. She wasn't trying to be someone she wasn't. And it had been mind-blowing.
Risky, too, a little voice inside her head reminded her. But she didn't want to listen to that voice. She'd been playing it safe for a long time. If she ended up getting burned down the road, she'd deal with it, but right now, she was going to enjoy it.
Decker had texted her last night after she got home, telling her some pretty sweet and hot things, which had made her dreams incredibly good. But his text this morning had been a little more tense. He'd said he was going to knock off work at noon to go on a bike ride with Joel.
She hoped there wouldn't be a problem, that Joel wouldn't react with anger, that their friendship wouldn't be in peril because of last night, but there was nothing she could do about it, and she couldn't regret being with Decker. She'd called it off with Joel beforehand. She didn't have anything to feel guilty about.
She picked up Leo from school at two and had just given him a snack when Hannah called.
"Hi, Hannah," she said. "What's up?"
"Adam wants to take the boat out this afternoon and then we're going to barbecue on the beach."
