Page 19 of The Problem with Playboys

Six

As the uncommonly bright morning sun streamed into the room and Chloe slowly rose into consciousness, she tried not to panic. She was a bit frightened to open her eyes, but she hoped for the best as she prepared to do it. Maybe she was in her own bed. Maybe she wasn’t naked. Maybe she hadn’t done those things with Parker last night.

Lying on her side, she slowly rolled to her back. The silky sheets glided over her bare skin.Definitely naked.With extreme caution, she peeled open one eye, and the vision before her put the rest of the puzzle together. There Parker was, standing at the foot of the bed in his boxer briefs, drinking coffee and looking like a damn underwear model.

“Good morning,” he said in that same seductive voice that had made her want him so badly last night. He wielded it as if it was of little consequence, when in reality it was practically a lethal weapon.

“Morning,” she croaked in return, still unable to open her eyes all the way. Or perhaps that was her trying to save herself. If she spent too much time looking at him, he was going to be naked, too, and it wouldn’t take a master detective to figure out what would happen next. She’d be arching into him, kissing him with complete abandon and letting him in as deep as she could take him. The thought of it made her shudder with anticipation, but she didn’t like what last night had done to her. It had made her weak. She’d lost control. “What time is it?”

“Just after seven. Three hours until Marcus’s final interview.”

There was a stark reminder of what was wrong—she and Parker were working together. They should not wake up next to each other. “Okay.”

“Can I get you some coffee?”

“I’ll get it. You don’t have to wait on me.” Although could she gracefully exit this room right now? She would have to take the entire set of sheets with her if she wanted to be classy about it.

“Suit yourself. I was just trying to be nice.”

She sat up in bed, silently willing him to look away or maybe evengoaway. He was nothing short of pure temptation with his sculpted shoulders and long torso. And long legs. And who was she kidding, longeverything. Memories of last night chased away every other thought. His face burrowed in her neck. His lips skimming over her breasts. The muscles of his ass flexing against the back of her calves as he rolled his hips and brought her closer to her peak.

“Can I have a bit of privacy, please?” she asked.

“I thought we’d moved beyond that phase of our relationship.”

“You’re my client.” Clutching the bedclothes to her chest, she slid her legs to the side, lowered her feet to the floor, stood and tugged the sheet until it was free. “Last night was a one-time thing. It was a stop on a trip, not a destination. It’s time to go back to where we were before. I think we should start by not seeing each other naked anymore.”

Parker sipped his coffee nonchalantly. “You act like I expect something from you right now. I can assure you that I expect nothing. We had sex. It’s not the end of the world. It’s also not the beginning of anything, a sign that we need to establish better rules or anything else that you seem to be constructing in your head, Chloe.”

She stared at him. Amazing he could be so nonchalant about it. Like father, like son? Perhaps.

“It was sex,” he said yet again. “Nothing else.”

She drew a deep breath in through her nose. On the surface, she agreed. And it all made sense, especially coming out of the mouth of Parker Sullivan. He was a playboy. He didn’t get attached. And neither did she, which meant everything should have been made good by his assessment of where they were. So why was she taking so little reassurance from his words? Something about it wasn’t sitting right with her, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. “Of course. I know that. I’m just saying that I don’t want it to happen again. And the best way to stay on that track is to stop with the nakedness.”

“Again with the travel metaphors.”

“It works, okay? Time to go home.”

“So you don’t want to stay one more night? We could have a lot of fun here, just the two of us.” He cocked an uncannily expressive eyebrow.

A ripple of heat ran through her so fast she almost passed out. “I really need to get back to the city.”Although that would be incredibly hot and sounds far more tempting than most of the things I have waiting for me back at home.

“Okay, then. No more fun for us.”

“Don’t make me into the bad guy here.”

He held up his hands in surrender. “Nobody’s good or bad. I’m merely stating the obvious.”

She took a step toward the door and caught the edge of the sheet with her foot. She bent over and gathered the fabric in her hands, pulling it up until it hit her mid-thigh. Not her most demure look, but it would have to do. “Fine.” She breezed past him, but there was something inside her trying to tug her back and make her stay. She ignored it, whatever it was, some poorly timed reflex or a weak impulse. “Marcus’s interview is at ten o’clock. He should be done by one. Two at the latest.”

“We’ll leave for the airport as soon as you want after that. I’ll get packed up now,” he said when she’d reached the door.

Chloe walked across the breezeway to her room and hopped straight in the shower, trying not to think about the fact that Parker was in the other room. Or the fact that she had so deeply enjoyed having his hands all over her last night. It was a mistake. And she did everything she could to not make mistakes, especially when it came to work. But Parker had made her weak. He had made her want to give in.

She drew in a deep breath, willing the warm spray of the water to wash away her inner conflict. This wasn’t the end of the world. No one would ever know that they had slept together. Not Marcus, or her mom, or the world at large. It was a secret. And she had to be thankful for that and simply move on. Back in New York, she could forget about Parker and the brief chapter he’d occupied in her life. She could move on. Like she always did.

Wrapped up in a towel, she padded back into her room and got dressed as quickly as she could, putting on a simple black sheath dress. She was halfway through packing up her things when her phone beeped with a text. She glanced at the screen, mostly to make sure it wasn’t anything to do with that morning’s interview, but she was nothing but confused by what she saw. It was an image with an odd greenish cast to it, almost like it was taken with night vision technology. It was a woman and a man in a compromising position.Oh, no.The woman in that photo was Chloe. And that was not just any man. That was Parker. Someone had been watching them last night?No, no, no.