***
“Did you ever wish you weren’t an only child?” Chloe traced circles with the tip of her fingers over my chest and arms.
We’d been laying on the hammock, hanging in the enclosed back porch beneath a big soft blanket talking for the last hour or maybe more. It was nice, just the two of us enjoying one another.
“I used to wish for a brother, but then it was kind of nice not to share, too.”
“That’s right, you don’t like to share.” I felt her lips tip up into a smile when she buried her face to my shoulder.
“Not you.” I kissed the top of her head. Silence settled over us, the sounds of the leaves being rustled by the wind outside, the creaking sound of the wood cabin, the soft echo of the television just inside playing in the background. I could stay just like that with her and be perfectly happy.
“Growing up with Maddison and Grace always felt like I had sisters. And the guys, they’ve been like big brothers. So yeah, I was an only child, but never alone.”
“I have cousins, but none of them I’m close to, not like you all are. I’ll admit that I’m a bit jealous of your family.” Chloe turned her head so she could look up and see me fully. “I know it drives you all crazy how everyone seems to know everyone else’s business, but I speak from experience when I say having no one to lean on is much worse. I have my parents, yes, they’ve always been on my side, but what you and the others have, it’s pretty great, too.”
“You have Mike and Rhett.” Rising up on her elbow, she stared at me. “You are all close.”
“Yeah, we are.” Pushing back the hair from her face, I wanted nothing to obstruct my view of her. I adored Chloe, more and more each day. “But you’ve had that your entire life. You’re lucky is all. I know you girls get irritated with the guys, but they’re just protective.”
“And nosy,” she added, and I chuckled. “Poor Grace will never have a boyfriend. Not with her father and Rhett watching her every single move.”
“She has a thing for Torrance, doesn’t she?” Quickly, Chloe looked down to avoid my eyes. “You don’t have to answer that. I already know. I’m pretty sure all the guys have picked up on it, too, which could be one of the reasons why Rhett is so adamant about watching her. No guy ever wants to imagine a friend of his messing around with his younger sister.”
“Yet here we are.” She laughed, and I pulled her body up and over mine. She lay flush to my own, her hair hanging down around us, providing a shield. “You’re beautiful.” So damn beautiful. “I know in the beginning you thought I wasn’t interested in you, that I couldn’t be. But you should know not once did I ever think of you as anything less than an achingly beautiful woman. It was more the fear of never being enough for you—in the eyes of your father and the guys. They’re a hard group to please.”
“And now?”
“Now the only person I want to please is you.”
“How about we work on that right now?” Her lips hovered over mine, grazing ever so lightly before moving away. I lifted my hand to cup the back of her head, pulling her close, and she laughed. There was something about her, something magnificent and hypnotizing. Her smile, her laugh, those damn eyes, it was all so compelling. Like a drug, one that consumed me and left me at her mercy.
I preferred control; I needed control. But with Chloe, I was weak. She led me. It was frightening—terrifying, honestly—but I had no hope of stopping it. I was falling for Chloe Rigdon. I knew this. She was the one I never believed in, the one, the person out there that made everything make sense. She gave me clarity, purpose; she was the one person I wanted to turn to when things fell apart and the one I’d wanted to share the news with when everything aligned.
I was falling for Chloe, and I was falling fast.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chloe
“Are you gonna fill us in on your weekend away with Landon?” I knew it was coming; it was only a matter of time. The very second we pulled back into Brooklet, my phone started chirping with incoming messages from the girls. Even my own mother asked me where I’d been. It was almost like they had a tracking device attached to my ass and knew exactly what I had been up to for the previous forty-eight hours.
Nonchalant, that was what I had attempted in regard to their pushy behavior. Even during the following week when I dodged them all, wanting to keep Landon’s and my weekend all to myself, they grew pushier.
Yet here I was, now trapped in an SUV with AJ, Maddison, Raven, and Grace, unable to escape the questions. Each one of them stared at me, and I had no way out.
“Before you try to deny it, you should know that Mike already confirmed that the two of you were, in fact, together.” Maddison gave me a pointed stare from over the back of the passenger seat. “What we all are dying to know is one, where did he take you, and two…” She looked at Raven and wagged her brows before looking back at me. “What exactly did you spend your time doing, and how good was it?”
“I wanna know if what they say about big hands is true,” Grace mumbled, and I wasn’t sure she meant for all of us to hear, but we did. “Please,” she scoffed, “I know I’m not the only one wondering what Landon is packing.”
“Who are you?”
