Page 52 of Chasing the Sun

She wriggled in his hold, but her eyes had taken on a different hue, and she didn’t look quite as angry as she had a minute ago.

“Not until you listen to me.”

“That’s all we do is talk!”

“That’s all we can do.”

“Why? Why do you insist on denying what we both feel?”

She stopped wriggling and licked her lips, making him long to do the same.

“I see the way you look at me sometimes even when you’re pretending not to.”

She was goading him, and he swallowed hard.

“You weren’t the only one feeling something today. Women just have an easier time hiding it, that’s all.”

He allowed his gaze to sweep downward, and he saw the distinct points of her nipples pressing against her blouse.

Her hands were clamped on his forearms, but now she slowly slid them up to his biceps and then to his shoulders before twining them around his neck.

He sucked in a breath. “We can’t. This isn’t right.”

“For whom?”

“For everybody involved.”

“It’s good of you to be concerned, but I’m not a child, Bryce. I know the score.”

“The score?”

She caressed the back of his neck with her fingertips, and he suppressed a moan. It felt so decadent and dangerous to have her arms around him and to be this close. He knew he should back away, but he couldn’t.

“I know this would only be temporary because my life is in Michigan and yours is here. But what would be so wrong if we gave into this for the summer? Nobody would even have to know.”

“I’d know,” he insisted while skimming his hands up and down her back. If they kept it to this, he’d be okay. He would just think of it as hugging a close friend, though his penis was sending his brain a different message.

“You and all your rules,” she teased. She removed her hands from around his neck and slid them down the front of his shirt, resting them on his pecs.

“I don’t want anybody to get hurt, Chloe, least of all you.”

“You can’t hurt me if I don’t let you.”

He growled. “You’re making this extremely hard for me.”

“I noticed,” she said and glanced down at the bulge in his shorts.

Now that they’d acknowledged their attraction, some of his inhibitions were fading away, but he wasn’t ready to tumble into bed with her.

“Maybe we should go to our rooms and cool off for a bit,” he suggested, though he was loath to let her go.

“Are you giving us a time out?” Her eyes twinkled with humor, and he was grateful she wasn’t pissed at him.

“It’s probably for the best.”

She sighed. “Fine, but I have a favor to ask before I go.”

“Name it.”