Page 14 of My Playboy Neighbor

This wasn't like him.He didn't turn down gorgeous women throwing themselves at him.He was the man who'd had supermodels and actresses competing for his attention, who'd never met a woman he couldn't charm into his bed.His reputation as a playboy wasn't just marketing—it was who he was.

Or who he had been, until Maya had looked at him through her camera lens and seen something that made him want to be real instead of perfect.He should keep that relationship professional for the sake of his plummeting career. But he just didn’t want to.

Dom poured himself another drink and walked out onto his balcony.The night air was crisp with the scent of pine and autumn leaves, and he heard the distant rustle of wind through the forest.Usually, the peaceful Connecticut woods had a calming effect on him.Tonight, they just reminded him how isolated he was from the life he'd built.

Movement on the neighboring balcony caught his eye.Maya stood there in silk pajamas that the moonlight rendered nearly transparent, her dark hair loose around her shoulders.She was holding a glass of wine and staring out at the forest, lost in thought.

Even from this distance, Dom saw the tension in her shoulders, the way she held herself like she was trying to solve some impossible puzzle.Probably figuring out how to maintain professional boundaries after what had happened between them in the darkroom.

Good luck with that, he thought grimly.Professional boundaries were the last thing on his mind when it came to her.

The sight of her stirred something deep in his chest, something that had nothing to do with simple lust and everything to do with the way she'd responded to his him, the way she'd surrendered to him so completely.He'd had countless women submit to him over the years, but none of them had affected him the way Maya did.None of them had made him want to possess them so completely.

"Couldn't sleep either?"he called softly.

Maya startled, turning toward his voice.When she spotted him on his balcony, her cheeks flushed pink even in the moonlight, and his body responded to that innocent reaction.

"Too much on my mind," she admitted.

"Want to talk about it?"

Dom watched her hesitate, could practically see her internal debate.The professional photographer who should keep her distance warring with the woman who'd come apart in his hands just hours ago.The woman who'd admitted she needed him to be in control.

"I could ask you the same question," she said finally."You look like you've had better days."

Dom laughed, but there was no humor in it.The understatement of the century.His career was imploding, brands were dropping him left and right, and he'd just turned down the kind of no-strings encounter that used to be his specialty because he couldn't stop thinking about the woman standing twenty feet away.

"That's one way to put it."He raised his glass in a mock toast."To career suicide and the beautiful women who witness it."

"Dom..."Maya's voice was soft, concerned in a way that made his chest tighten with unfamiliar emotion.

"Don't give me your pity.I get enough of that from my agent."

He watched Maya's spine straighten, saw the flash of temper in her eyes that reminded him of her strength beneath the submission."I wasn't offering pity.I was offering to listen."

"Why?Because we fucked around?"

The crude words hung between them, and Dom immediately regretted them.He was lashing out, trying to push her away.It was a defensive mechanism he'd perfected over the years, but using it on Maya felt wrong.She deserved better than his damage.

"Because," Maya said quietly, "I know the difference between the man you pretend to be and the man you actually are."

"And which man am I tonight?"

"The one who's scared," Maya said simply."The one who's fighting so hard to maintain control that he's pushing away anyone who might actually give a damn about him."

The words hit closer to home than Dom wanted to admit.He drained his whiskey and set the glass aside, gripping the balcony railing until his knuckles went white.She was right, and that terrified him.He was used to people wanting the image, the reputation, the fantasy of being with a supermodel.

"I just turned down a gorgeous woman who was practically throwing herself at me.A week ago, I would have had her bent over my couch within ten minutes.But tonight?"He laughed bitterly."Tonight, I couldn't even summon the interest."

"Why?"The moonlight caught the vulnerability in her expression.The same vulnerability he'd seen when she'd trusted him enough to surrender control.

"Because all I could think about was you.The way you taste, the way you feel.The way you look at me."

Maya's lips parted and her grip tightened on her wine glass.The confession hung between them, more honest than he'd intended to be.

"I'm thirty-two years old, Maya.I've been sleeping with women since I was seventeen, and I've never once had trouble moving from one to the next.It's part of who I am—the playboy who doesn't get attached, who takes what he wants and moves on."Dom's voice dropped."So tell me, what the fuck have you done to me?"

The question came out bleaker than he'd intended, loaded with accusations and confessions in equal measure.Dom watched Maya process his words, saw her understanding their implications.He was admitting weakness, admitting that she'd gotten under his skin in a way no woman ever had.