Page 19 of Control Freak

“I’ll show you to the bathroom,” he said. “Then we can get you something to eat.”

“Breakfast is still on the table,” Emory said.

I nodded, keeping my tone bright even as my insides quivered with nerves. “Sounds great. Thanks.” I glanced toward the brothers, trying to read the looks they all kept exchanging. “Go easy on Holden, all right? He was worried about me.”

Bailey’s eyebrows shot up, and Axel’s gaze narrowed, as if he didn’t care for my two cents. But Gray just chuckled. “Looks like things just got a little more interesting around here.”

CHAPTER 5

Holden

I ledShiloh to my bedroom. “I’ve got a private bathroom you can use. No one will disturb you. Take as long as you like.”

He smiled, looking tired despite his car nap. Of course, he couldn’t have slept well with his neck craned to the side and every bump in the road jolting him awake for a few seconds.

“Thank you, Holden.”

He paused in the bathroom doorway and gazed around my room. A king-size bed stood under the ceiling fan, a tall chest of drawers against one wall. My Chromebook sat on the desk.

Shiloh’s lips twitched. “You never let me see you on video. This is where all our cam sessions happened?”

I cleared my throat. “Uh, yeah.”

He nodded toward my laptop. “You watched me on that screen?”

“Mostly.” I shifted. “My phone once or twice, but I liked a, um, bigger view.”

Shiloh chuckled. “And now you get a life-sized view.”

“Oh, no, I don’t expect?—”

My words cut off, strangled, as Shiloh peeled off his shirt in front of me. He was lean, a little pale, but as toned and sexy as always. Without the camera lighting washing him out, I could see more details: a scattering of freckles across his shoulders, a silvery scar near his hip, a red mark along his neck that the seat belt left behind.

“What?” he said playfully. “It’s nothing you haven’t seen.”

I swallowed hard. “I-I know, but you said before… This isn’t that kind of arrangement.”

“It’s not,” he agreed. “If we fuck, it’ll be because we both want to.”

He stepped into the bathroom and closed the door behind him.

Belatedly, I found my voice. “I can’t do that.” I stepped up to the door. “Shiloh, I can’t.”

His voice came softly from the other side. “I know, Holden. I’m just teasing you.”

I huffed a breath. Shilohwasalways a terrible brat on cam.

“You don’t have to perform here,” I told him. “Be yourself.”

No answer came. I waited until I heard the shower turn on, then headed down the hall. My brothers would have questions, and I wanted to handle the grilling while Shiloh was out of the room.

They were waiting in the kitchen, though Dalton must have left for work. Axel sat at the table with Gray. Bailey was making a fresh pot of coffee, and Emory worked the waffle iron.

“What thehell, Holden?” Axel asked.

And there it was. I winced. “I know this is sudden. I’m sorry I sprang a houseguest on you, but it was an emergency.”

“We don’t care about that,” Gray said. “If you’re bringing Shiloh here, it’s important. And we all saw his face.”