“Okay.Okay, then.”Gwen beamed.“I want the orange.”
“Orange it is,” Jesse agreed, dimple winking again.
“And I’ll go with white out here, but I really want some color in the bedroom.”
“I pulled those samples you picked, painted some swatches on the wall.”Jesse jerked his head toward the bedroom.“Want to take a look?”
“Absolutely.”
“If you don’t need me anymore, I’m going to get going,” Chloe blurted out, and had three pairs of eyes turning her way again.“I’ve got some work to get done, so…”
Gwen nodded.“Ah, sure.I’ll stop by before I leave, okay?”
“Yeah.”Sucking in a deep breath, because she had to walk between Jesse and Knox to get to the door, Chloe worked up what she hoped was a cheerful smile.“Um, see you later Jesse, Knox.”
“Later,” Jesse echoed, a faint frown on his face.
“Good to see you, Chloe,” Knox said as she passed him.
“Samesies!”she said cheerfully, then she was out the door and darting into her apartment, slamming the door shut behind her.
“Samesies?Smooth, Chloe.Very smooth,” she muttered and went to see if there was any vodka.
She was digging the bottle out of the freezer when Gwen came back in.“What color did you pick for your bedroom?”
“Teal Temptation.”Peeling off her coat, Gwen tossed it over the couch.“For the bathroom, we’re going to match the kitchen cabinet color.”
“Of course, you are.”Chloe tried to twist the top off the vodka bottle.“This thing is stuck.”
“Vodka?”Gwen raised her eyebrows.“I thought that was for emergencies only.”
“This is an emergency,” Chloe said, giving the bottle another twist.It didn’t budge.
“Which is?”
Chloe put some muscle into it.“Toolbelt.Suit.”
“So, horniness.”
“Yes.Dammit, open!”
“Here, give me that.”Gwen took the bottle.“Get three glasses, Bailey’s on her way over.”
Chloe frowned.“Why?”
“Toolbelt.Suit.Andvoilà,” Gwen announced, spinning the cap off the bottle.“Cocktails, or are we drinking this straight?”
Chloe plunked three shot glasses on the counter.“It’s an emergency, not happy hour.”
“Right.”Shaking her head, Gwen poured with a generous hand, then capped the bottle and set it aside.“Are we waiting for—okay, I guess not.”
Chloe tossed back the shot, shuddering as the vodka burned a path down her throat to her empty stomach, then set the glass down and wheezed, “Again.”
“Two is your limit,” Gwen warned her.
Rather than answer, Chloe picked up one of the other glasses and tossed it back.
“Okay, we’re making bad choices then,” Gwen decided and snatched up the third shot when Chloe made a grab.“Forget it.”
