Page 41 of A Lot Like Love
He stood and looked out at the view, the city buzzing even this early in the morning. Right now, knowing Chloe was naked in the bathroom wasn’t enough to take his mind off what he’d done, and even if she did win the deeds back as easily as she thought she could, he needed to man up and confess to his brothers. He’d outright lied to Chase the day before. All the things he’d done in his life, the trouble he’d gotten into and the fun he’d had, he’d never lied to Nate or Chase. They’d stolen one another’s girls, gotten into fights that’d left them with black eyes and worse, but they’d never lied. He loved his brothers and he’d do anything for them, no questions asked.
The more he thought about it, the more he wanted to just come clean over the phone now, while he wasn’t in Texas. And while they didn’t have a plane at their disposal so they could come and hunt him down.
“You ready to go?”
Ryder turned to find Chloe, standing with her hands in her pockets and looking sexy as hell, even though she’d made a big deal about dressing down.
“I thought you wanted to slip under the radar.”
She looked confused as she glanced down. “What do you mean?”
It was even more amusing that she had no idea what he was talking about. “You might be wearing jeans and a tank, but there’s nothing understated about how you look.” She had her blond hair loose, tumbling halfway down her back, and that alone would make any man turn to take a second look. “I hope you’re not wanting to go unnoticed.”
Chloe laughed at him. “You do realize you’ve already had me in your bed, right? That means you can lay off the flattery.”
Ryder crossed the room, stopping a few feet away and looking her up and down. “You’re a goddamn knockout, Chloe.”
She didn’t move when he ran a hand down her arm, catching her hand and linking their fingers, but she did lean in when he bent to kiss her.
“Ryder…”
“Don’t argue, just take the compliment,” he murmured against her mouth.
She didn’t reply so he kissed her again, shoving his body up against hers and wrapping his arms around her waist. Even if he had her in his bed for a week he doubted he’d get enough of her—the closer she was to him the better, and preferably naked.
Chloe eventually pushed him back, hands on his face as she stared into his eyes. “We’ve had our fun,” she muttered. “Now it’s time to go play.”
“We never did talk about where this was going,” Ryder said, rubbing her lower back. “Was it just a one-night thing or can we keep having fun a while longer. Since we’re going to be pretend dating and all.”
She stood on tiptoe and pressed a kiss to his chin before escaping his hold and heading back to the bathroom. “I’m not done with you yet, Ryder. So yeah,” she said glancing over her shoulder and grinning at him. “We can keep having fun. Until this whole thing is over.”
Ryder laughed as he watched her go, then he checked his phone for the hundredth time. He hadn’t missed any more calls from his brothers, and by the end of the day he wasn’t going to sweat it out any longer. He owed it to them to tell them, and after he’d watched Chloe play poker for the day, he needed to seriously consider confessing.
“Let’s grab some breakfast on our way down, then we can head to the Orleans. Spend a few hours there then decide if we need to find another room to play in,” Chloe called out from the bathroom.
Ryder shrugged on his leather jacket and grabbed his phone and wallet. It was time to see Chloe in action, and he couldn’t wait. Being in bed with her was one thing, but seeing her take money from a bunch of guys completely unaware? Now that was something he was dying to see.
