She dropped his hand.How long had it been since she’d slept with someone?Just slept, their bodies side by side, touching and trusting?Her brain was fuzzy as she watched him move around her room.She’d broken up with her last steady boyfriend a while ago, and they’d never stayed overnight here, not with her grandmother in the house.
Butterflies fluttered in her stomach.Light from the hallway slanted across the bed, emphasizing how big and plush it was.
She flinched when Zac turned on the lamp on the bedside table.It brought everything out into the glaring open.
A muscle in his jaw flexed.“King-sized?”
“I flop around a lot in my sleep,” she said weakly.Always had.
He blew out a heavy breath and dragged a hand through his hair.“I can sleep downstairs on the sofa.We don’t have to continue this if you don’t want to.”
She stiffened.“We can’t tell them the truth now.”
Not after they’d made this big production of going out to dinner and inviting the sisters back to the house.They’d seen the way the two of them had behaved together.She’d gotten naked in front of the man.What would Roxie and Lexie think if they found out they’d been lied to all day?
But what about him?
Her thoughts stopped short.She’d assumed… “Unless you want to stop.”
She’d been so wrapped up, she hadn’t considered how all this affected him.She’d carried him along on her little deception, never asking if he wanted to join her or if he cared what anyone thought.He’d just blended into her life so seamlessly.
He must have been really good at his old job.He’d taken on the role of her boyfriend without a hitch, but he had a life too.He had to be missing more than a workout by tagging along with her all day.
And then there was his reputation.Her fingernails bit into her palms.The people at the restaurant.They’d talk about more than her dinner guests.“If you want to back out, you can.I didn’t mean to tie up your whole day or get you so deeply involved.If you want to leave—”
“Leave?” He looked at her like she’d grown two heads.“Let’s get one thing straight.I’m not going anywhere.That option isn’t even on the table.You just need to make the call whether I stay in your room or not.I’m fine with sleeping on the couch downstairs, but I’m not leaving you in a house full of strangers, especially when one has a nickname of Hatchet.”
“They’re not strangers,” Maxie blurted.She blinked.That wasn’t the bourbon talking.
“He is.I don’t know anything about this Cameron Rowe guy.When I did the background checks, I only took a cursory look at him.”
“Oh.”She really hadn’t given much thought to Lexie’s boyfriend.
But Zac obviously had.
He planted his hands on his hips, his pectoral muscles flexing.“So, what’s it going to be?Here or the couch?”
There was a long pause as Maxie stared at him.She didn’t want to sleep in that bed with him.Her willpower was at an all-time low, and he was standing there looking so big and male and touchable.But he was thinking like a cop.He was doing the job she’d asked him to do.He’d kissed her, yes, and touched her, but was that all part of the act?
She heard movement downstairs.She didn’t want to ruin what had happened with Lexie and Roxie.Not tonight.
And she didn’t think she could bear to send him away.
“Stay.It’s a big bed.”
His gaze darkened as it raked over the mattress.“Not that big.”
That surge of need returned, slamming into Maxie’s belly.All she wanted to do was slide her hands over that amazing chest of his, grab him by the belt and pull him to the bed.But she wasn’t feeling so brave alone with him.She’d given in to too many impulses for one day and doing anything like that was still beyond her.Probably always would be.
“I…I’m going to take a shower,” she improvised.She’d taken two steps towards it before she felt her wet panties clinging suggestively.She didn’t have any clothes in there, and as easily as she’d jumped into the pool half-naked, this wasn’t the same.
Easing by him, she opened a dresser drawer far enough to stick her hand inside.“I need to get the chlorine out of my hair.”
He lifted one of his eyebrows.He didn’t look as if he bought the excuse.
Grabbing what she needed, she scooted off to the bathroom.She shut the door with a click and sagged back against it.
She’d invited Zac Ford into her bed.
