Page 21 of The Problem with Playboys

“Chloe, look at this photo. You’re freaking out because you know it’s us. But no one else will be able to figure that out. Anyone else is going to think it’s just two hot people getting it on.”

“This is such a mess. It’s a disaster.”

“Life is messy. If anyone should know that, it’s you. Just look at our parents. Look at our jobs. Ups and downs, victories and losses and everything in between. Life is a mess.”

Chloe understood the point he was trying to make, but that didn’t make her any more ready to accept it. She hated it when things were so far out of her control and she was prepared to do anything to restore some sense of order. “I’ll fly back with you, but that’s the end of the road for us, okay?”

“As long as you’ll cut it out with the travel analogies, I’ll do whatever you want. I don’t have the energy to argue.”

Parker turned and quickly ducked back into his room, clutching his towel at his waist.Dammit.He was the reason Chloe had gotten that text. He was the one digging. Was he really supposed to call it off now? He didn’t want to. Little Black Book served no good in the world. They only wreaked havoc. He didn’t want Chloe to get hurt, but he also knew that the best way to get back at Little Black Book was to tear off the mask.

He swiped his phone from the top of the dresser in his room and fired off a text to Jessica.Any update?

Since yesterday? No. Sorry.

He tapped the side of his phone with his finger. She’d said yesterday that she was close to knowing the origin of the diary. In his experience, that meant she wasveryclose. Jessica was perfect for her vocation—sneaky and smart. He’d let her get this far, and he trusted her completely. He had to give her the chance to finish the job.Nobody knows?

Nobody.

Great. Thanks.

He blew out a long breath, mulling over the facts he was currently facing. Chloe would kill him if she knew what he was up to. But his fun with Chloe was also over. She was freaked out, and as much as he liked her, he didn’t want to battle that. Whatever her hang-ups, he wasn’t about to help her work through them. She was determined and she’d been clear about what she wanted from here on out—a return to their former dynamic. If she was okay with one hot night, he should simply accept that, just as he’d done with plenty of other women.

He got dressed, packed up his suitcase and headed to the main house, where he had coffee with Marcus and caught up until Chloe arrived a half hour later. When she walked into the room, the look on her face was a perfect reminder of the state of things. She might be beautiful and beguiling, but she was also all business, and she was done with him.

The next several hours were consumed by Marcus’s final interview. He did an exceptional job answering the probing questions, but Parker also knew it was because Chloe had done a flawless job preparing him. As he stood in the background watching, Parker taped a short segment on his phone, then sent it to Oscar Bratt.Your star quarterback is a natural in front of the camera.Hopefully that would reassure Oscar that Marcus was just as wonderful as originally billed. They’d merely had a little hiccup.

When Parker and Chloe boarded the plane back to New York that afternoon, there should have been a sense of accomplishment in the air. Parker had every reason to be feeling up. Chloe had done an extraordinary job. Marcus had done everything necessary to be back in the good graces of the Bratt family. And when these interviews and magazine spreads were out in the world, things would only improve. Parker’s life had regained its equilibrium—the one where he worked hard, played when he had the chance and made piles and piles of money, waiting for the day when it would finally feel like enough.

But as he sat across from Chloe, he couldn’t escape the doubts swirling in his head. Their connection last night had been electric, and he’d had a chance this morning to make it into more than a one-night stand. When Chloe woke up and it was clear she was conflicted that they’d had sex, he hadnotseized the opportunity to start a real conversation. He could have sat on the edge of the bed and said that he understood why she was feeling that way. He knew the internal panic that would set in the morning after, when you recognize you’d just shared something incredibly intimate with this other person, but that was as close as you could get. He could have tried to see if there was a way for them to move past it. Instead, he’d taken the easy route, the one that was so entrenched it was like a river carved through a canyon. He’d told her to not make a big deal about it. He’d said it was just sex. It had worked perfectly every other time. Now it just felt off.

Which left him wondering if Chloe truly agreed or if she’d taken the easy way out, too.

“Everything good?” he asked, tossing aside the business magazine he’d flipped through but hadn’t actually read.

Chloe looked up from her laptop. “Just getting some work done.”

“Busy schedule next week?”

“Yes. How about you?”

“Same.” He cleared his throat, confounded by the fact that straying from their professional relationship had managed to make their dynamicmorebusinesslike. “Seeing your mom when you get back? You said something about Sunday brunch?”

“I am. This is something we’ve done for years. My mom goes all-out.”

Parker wished he had fun traditions like that with his father. Their get-togethers always revolved around work talk. Or money. Or both. To say that Parker felt detached from his family was an understatement. He was the only child from his dad’s first marriage. His mom passed away when he was a teenager. He had no bond with his two siblings who came along in his father’s later marriages. In fact, Chloe was as close as he’d gotten to anyone associated with his dad in a long time. Or possibly ever.

He sighed, struggling for conversation. He wished he knew what came next with Chloe. It felt as though the door was closing and he wanted to jam his foot in it. But how? “Worried about the photo you got on your phone?”

“Yes.” She shut her laptop and set it aside, sitting back in her seat and crossing her legs. “I mean, you made a good point. It was grainy. We knew it was us, but would anyone else? Probably not. So I don’t think it lands much of a punch, and I’m guessing Little Black Book knows that. But the whole spying thing and taking photos? They’re actively gathering blackmail material. But why?”

Parker swallowed hard. “They obviously know we were in Miami. And they probably know he was doing those interviews. So maybe they’re mad that we’re trying to counteract the bad publicity?”

She shrugged. “I guess. I still don’t like the idea that anyone spied on us. That feels creepy and wrong.” She wrapped her arms around her waist and her shoulders shuddered.

“You must encounter situations like this all the time.”

“For my clients. Not me. I’m a total homebody. Ninety percent of my life is spent between the office and my apartment. I don’t allow myself to get into situations like what happened last night.”