Page 32 of The Problem with Playboys

“Chloe, come here.” Parker waved her closer. “I want you to meet Jillian.” He turned to the woman. “Jillian, this is Chloe. Chloe is my date this evening.”

Date? That made Chloe’s ears perk up, but she wasn’t going to ask for clarification in front of Jillian. Instead, she reached out for a handshake. “Nice to meet you. How do you two know each other?”

“Parker’s the hospital’s star volunteer. We work together all the time,” Jillian said.

“Really?” Chloe asked, hoping she didn’t sound too horribly astonished, even though she was.

“Did he not tell you about that?” Jillian asked.

Chloe shook her head. “No. He did not.”

Jillian patted him on the shoulder. “So modest. He’s the absolute best. He not only raises millions of dollars for us every year, he gets his clients involved, too. They attend fundraising events like tonight, and Parker also arranges for his star athletes to visit our patients, in their homes and at the hospital. It’s a huge hit with everyone, even the staff. It’s such a hard situation for everyone, but the visits make it so much better. It really boosts morale.”

Chloe felt her jaw drop, but she quickly rectified the situation by speaking. “Amazing.”As in truly.What the hell? This was not the Parker she thought she knew—Mr. Playboy was not the guy who went the extra mile for charity. Even more perplexing, that guy would at least brag about it. But not Parker.

“I should get going. It was nice to meet you, Chloe.” Jillian waved, then turned to Parker. “Thank you for everything. I hope you have an excellent time this evening. Dinner should be great and the band’s not half bad either.” Off she went, disappearing into the crowd.

Chloe took his hand. “Okay. What the hell is this?”

His eyes grew impossibly large, but he also had that adorable look of bemusement on his face. Chloe wanted to kiss it away, but she also kind of hoped it would still be there when she was done. “You’re going to have to be more specific.”

“You invite me to this event, but you don’t tell me a thing about your involvement with it. It’s kind of a date, but not really a date, but then you tell Jillian that I am, in fact, your date.”

He grinned and tugged her closer until they were standing toe-to-toe. “You look good enough to eat in that dress.”

She fought a smile, and that was futile, but none of it changed the fact that he was ignoring what she’d said. “That’s not much of an explanation.”

He turned and started for the darker recesses of the room, bringing Chloe along with him. Once they were in a quiet corner, he reached out and took a tendril of her hair between his fingers, tugging it down and draping it across the pale skin of her cleavage. His knuckles grazed the sensitive area, bringing her to life in a way she hadn’t been mere moments ago. “Be my date, Chloe.”

She nearly went weak in the knees. “I thought we decided this was a bad idea. You. Me. Our parents.”

He shook his head, looking deeply into her eyes. “We didn’t decide that. You did. And I’m tired of thinking of our parents. Or anyone else, for that matter. Everyone else can go away as far as I’m concerned.”

“For the sake of argument, let’s say that we’re ignoring everyone else. What does that mean? What do you want?”

He arched both eyebrows at her and dropped his chin. It made his lower lip pop out in a way that only made Chloe want to bite it. “I think you already know the answer to that question.”

“Sex. You want sex.”

He shook his head, taking her by surprise. “I wantyou.”

She swallowed hard. “You do?”

“Don’t you feel like we have unfinished business? We barely got started in Miami.”

A white-hot thrill raced through her. She wasn’t sure she could take more of Parker, but she wanted to take the risk. She hadn’t wanted a man like this in so long. Possibly ever. “Are you asking me to come to your place?”

“Not sure I can wait that long.” His eyes scanned the room.

“What are you saying?”

“Let me show you.”

“In here?”

“I might be dumb, but I’m not stupid.”

Chloe bit down on her lower lip. Were they on the same page? Did he know that she wanted to tear into him the way he apparently wanted to tear into her? “Then where?”