Chloe closed her eyes in mortification, but she clearly heard her friend’s loud swallow.
“I’m sorry!” Jenn said.
Chloe shook her head. “No, it’s fine, we were just…um…”
“Your mom called, and it sounded important, and Elliott had a flashlight, so…”
Opening one eye, she saw the dark shape of a man next to Jenn. “Oh, hi, Elliott.”
Max’s muffled curse reminded her that while this was embarrassing, it was also a little bit funny. “Maybe,” she whispered, “we should get up.”
“I was hoping for a minute,” he muttered back.
“A full minute?”
“Ideally, yes.”
She was still laughing when he pushed himself to his knees.
Elliott cleared his throat. “Maybe we should just—”
Chloe shook her head and took the hand Max offered once he got to his feet. “What did my mom want?” Walking toward Jenn, she swiped sand off the backs of her legs, then looked up to find two sets of eyes focused low on her body.
Still no pants. Right. “Uh… We were swimming.” Jenn’s gaze rose to Chloe’s shirt, which was clearly not wet. “I, um, found my shirt, but… So about the phone call?”
“Oh.” Jenn cleared her throat and cut her eyes toward Max. “She was calling about something to do with your cousin Tiffany.”
“Is she okay?” Chloe asked, even as Jenn’s reluctant tone finally registered in Chloe’s brain. Reluctant, because she obviously didn’t want to discuss it in front of the men. Which meant it had something to do with Thomas and the scandal.
The scandal Chloe had completely forgotten about during her walk with Max. Wow. “I’ll call when we get back to the cabin,” she blurted out, trying to cover up Jenn’s awkward silence.
“Yes!” Jenn said.
Max’s hand touched her back. “I hope everything’s all right.”
“I’m sure it’s fine.” She forced a smile at his doubtful look. “My cousin is always up to something.”
“Oh, I see. I hope it’s nothing then.”
Elliott cleared his throat for the third time. “We’ll head back.” When his hand touched Jenn’s arm, she jumped and he jerked away.
“Sorry. Yes, let’s head back.” The two of them took off as if they’d just accidentally stepped into an extraordinarily uncomfortable situation.
“Uh, okay,” Chloe called. “I’ll be there in a minute!” Her friend disappeared into the darkness, and Chloe quietly added, “after I find my pants.”
CHAPTER SEVEN
OKAY, SO THE CELIBACY THING wasn’t working out so well.
Max’s heart was still pounding and didn’t seem interested in slowing its pace, overwhelmed as it was with three strong emotions. Lust, for a good start, and shock at having been discovered rolling around in the sand, and then there was the anxiety of having his secrets revealed.
He watched Chloe’s dark profile as she stared in the direction of the bobbing flashlight, and his pulse didn’t slow at all. “We’d better go,” he said. “You need to call your mom back.”
Crossing her arms, she turned toward him. “We didn’t finish talking about your problem.”
“I thought we wrapped it up pretty well.”
“No, we just made out instead.”