He shrugged, aware of the way her hair shifted against his shoulder. “Haven’t you ever kept part of yourself hidden from a boyfriend?”
Silence filled the room, and Max was thankful for it. He’d been in several long-term relationships, but he couldn’t say any of them had been meaningful, not on his part. He’d spent every month with each of those women watching for a sign that he was free to leave gracefully. Luckily, with women who lived for drama, there was always an obvious ending point. Usually the point at which Max became boring and another man promised scandal and excitement.
He should feel lucky that he’d never been invested enough to have his heart broken, but instead, each breakup had left him emptier. Taking care of a woman wasn’t the same thing as loving her. It was draining, and it was a lie.
“Yes,” Chloe finally said. “I’ve hidden things from people before.”
Max nodded. “Sometimes you just get caught up in it.”
She inhaled so deeply that Max frowned at the ceiling. “Can you really love someone if you keep so many things hidden from them?”
He thought he’d answer no, but something in the tone of her words stopped him. Max didn’t think she was talking about him now. “I don’t know,” he answered carefully. “I keep part of myself separate from my brother, and I obviously love him.”
“Yeah,” she answered hesitantly.
Max felt fear spiral inside his chest. He liked her, and even though he told himself it didn’t matter, he couldn’t stand the thought that she might look at him and see an awful, twisted person.
But while he was still deciding what he could say to distract her, Chloe turned toward him and slipped an arm around his chest. “You’ve got to find a girl who doesn’t mind that you’re a control freak.”
“I’m not a control freak.”
“You totally are. Embrace it.”
“I just want people to be careful. That’s all.”
“Uh-huh. Also, you’re a control freak.”
“I’m n—”
Her hand left trails of shimmery stars against his skin when she edged it beneath the blanket and slid down his stomach. “You’re a control freak,” she whispered as she wrapped her hand around his half-hard dick. “Admit it.”
Max frowned, meaning to deny it as he had his whole life, but she was stroking him, making a faintly sympathetic humming sound in her throat.
“Admit it.”
He shook his head, concentrating on the wonderful pressure of her squeezing fingers. “I take care of people,” he murmured. “They need me.”
But this was a new conversation for him, and his adamance couldn’t be sustained, not when Chloe straddled his thighs and continued her persuasive techniques. And she was so damn naked.
“Say it, Max. You’ll feel better.”
He watched her hand flex and tighten and knew she was right. Look how much better he was already feeling.
“You’re right,” he admitted. “I am a control freak.”
“Good boy. That wasn’t so hard, was it?”
No, it hadn’t been that hard. On the other hand, as she scooted down and leaned over his dick, Max was pretty sure it had never been so very hard before.
“I really like being honest with you, Chloe Turner.”
JENN LEANED OVER to slip her sandal off and shake out yet another rock. “I’m sorry,” she murmured to Elliott as she grasped the arm he offered for balance.
Elliott looked down the long, straight stretch of road and frowned. “How about we just take off our shoes and walk on the beach instead? It would be cooler.”
She was so aware of the largeness of his forearm beneath her fingers that it took her far too long to get her sandal back on her foot. By the time she let go of him, she was babbling. “Oh, sure. The beach. And more appropriate on a date, I suppose…even though it’s not really a date.”
His jaw tensed just as it had when she’d said that over dinner.