Deep Surrendering: Episode Six by Chelsea M. Cameron Page B

place,” I said.
    “Not at all. I love the idea of you in my bed. Would you sleep naked for me?”
    I giggled and slowly got to my feet. “Sure, Fin. I can do that for you.” It was hot anyway. “I’ll just be naked, between those silky sheets, thinking of you caressing my heated skin,” I said in a low voice.
    I heard what sounded like a groaning.
    “Go to bed, Mari Cherry. Dream of me.”
    “Always.”
     

     
    Sloane texted me the next morning asking if I wanted to come over and have dinner with her and Chloe. It was like she’d read my mind. I needed to see my friends and have a nice normal evening with them.
    “Mari!” Sloane crowed when she opened the door to her apartment and let me in. “I feel like I haven’t seen you in years.” She gave me a huge hug from her towering heights. She was one of the only people I knew that wore fancy shoes at home. But fashion before comfort, I guess.
    “Where’s Chlo?” I asked as Sloane handed me a glass of wine. In addition to her fabulous taste in fashion and her mad sewing skills, Sloane was a fantastic cook and hostess. Not to mention gorgeous and tall. I know, I hate her too.
    “Should be on her way.” Just as she said it, Chloe walked through the door.
    “Dear God, someone give me a drink,” she said, her shoulders slumped over. She was still wearing her work clothes and had an exhausted expression.
    “At your service,” Sloane said, presenting her with a glass of wine and a flourish. Chloe knocked it back and held the empty glass out.
    “Hit me again,” she said.
    It was going to be one of those nights.
     

     
    I tried to help Sloane with dinner, but she was a bit of a control freak in the kitchen, so I abandoned my quest and sat with Chloe in the living room. She had the remote in her hand and was furiously flipping through channels.
    “Hey,” I said, touching her shoulder and hoping she wouldn’t whack me with the clicker.
    “Oh, hey.”
    “What’s wrong?” I sipped my wine. Chloe was on her third glass. She was going to feel that in the morning.
    “Nothing,” she snapped like a snotty teenager. I looked at her with raised eyebrows.
    “Sorry for asking,” I said, sliding away from her. She kept flipping and then put the remote down.
    “I’m sorry. That was a bitchy thing to say. I’m just stressed and depressed at the same time. If that’s a thing. Can that be a thing?”
    I nodded. I knew exactly what she was talking about. There needed to be a word for it. Stresspressed didn’t really work.
    “Anything you want to talk about?” I asked.
    She shook her head, her jaw tight and stubborn. “No, I’m just … in my head too much. And I’ve been thinking about her.” That meant her ex. It was going to take Chlo a long damn time to get past that relationship. I wasn’t even sure if a rebound was going to do the trick. Before Harmony, Chloe hadn’t really been monogamous. Maybe she needed to go back to playing the field, at least for a little while. I wished there was something I could do to help.
    “I’m sorry, hun. Let me know if you want to talk it out.”
    She gave me a forced smile and finished her third glass of wine. “Thanks. I’m good. Right now I’m going to put it out of my head and drink too much wine and hope I’m not hung over tomorrow.” Yeah, she was going to be doing a lot of hoping. She was definitely going to be hung over tomorrow. Oh well, she’d done it before and she’d probably do it again.
    I wanted to say something else, but Chloe yelled to Sloane, “What’s up with Rory and that guy she’s working with?” Sloane’s eyes lit up and she dashed over to give us all the details. Apparently, the two had started as a one-night kind of thing but had recently decided to change definitions. Sloane had even made them dinner, and they’d been going out in public, holding hands, the whole thing.
    “She’s so freaking happy that I want to punch her in the face. For real,” Sloane said. “But she