Page 58 of Fierce-Dane

“Because of the Fierces?” she asked.

“Ahhh, Dane told you about that.”

“He didn’t have to. You know they come here too,” she said, grinning.

“Which is why I’m going to tell you what he said to me,” Chloe said.

“Would he want me to know?” she asked. The last thing she wanted was there to be some private conversations going on behind Dane’s back.

She’d never been keen on those things and didn’t want to start now.

“He has no problem with it,” Chloe said. “Dane and I are pretty open with each other. He told me to go gentle on you.”

She laughed. “I’m pretty tough.”

“Which he needs in his life. I always thought Melanie was fragile or he felt that way and treated her as such.”

“Which explains why he might have given in so much?” she asked.

She was moving down Chloe’s body and working on herarms now. She was a pro at talking and working, but this conversation had more importance than all the others she’d had with clients.

“I think so,” Chloe said. “My mother does too. We liked Melanie, don’t get me wrong, but I never felt she was good for him. Or right for him. You know he’s adopted, right?”

“I do. He told me on the first date. I’m sure he told you some of my background. Or he told me he told you.”

She didn’t have a problem with it. No secrets in her mind.

Not if she was going to consider this a serious relationship and her mind had been going down that route for a long time now.

“He did tell me a little,” she said. “I think there is a connection there on a level he’d never experienced. You know when you meet that person. I felt the same way with Royce.” Chloe grimaced. “Sorry. Not trying to put pressure on you at all. Just saying that sometimes it’s hard to find someone that understands things you can’t control in your life.”

“Trust me,” she said. “If anyone understands that in life it’s me.”

“I figured as much,” Chloe said. “Which is why I’m not too concerned about having this conversation with you.”

“So what did you tell the Fierce women?”

“I told them that Dane was dating you and that they could back off, he didn’t need their help. He could find someone on his own. That is what he wanted me to tell them.”

She smiled. “It’s true. He did ask me out first. What was their reaction to that?”

“They were shocked,” Chloe said. “Which tells me that they might not have seen it coming.”

“Oh,” she said. “Don’t let them fool you. They saw it coming.”

“What?” Chloe asked shifting her head. “How do you know?”

“Before I even met your brother, they’d thrown his name around with a few others. You know how they are.”

“I do,” Chloe said. “It’s like dropping bait in the water by the fistful and seeing what comes up first. But it wasn’t targeted right on Dane?”

“Not the first few times it came up. The last time seemed to be more because, in a roundabout way, I was thanking them for their recommendations to my spa and said you’d been here with Tiffani and your mother. I gently had them aim their arrows in another direction after his name came up. Then a few weeks later your brother showed up with his gift card from his kids. I’m pretty sure those women didn’t tell his daughter to put a good word in for the gift. Nor did I realize who it was until halfway through the massage when we were chatting.”

“No,” Chloe said, shaking her head. “I was talking about how much I enjoy these massages and I’m so relaxed afterward. Tiffani said her father needed to relax some. I think the two of them are at that phase where Tiffani is trying to pull things over on her parents and Dane is catching on, but at the same time she wants her father’s attention any way she can get it.”

“Good for him,” she said. “But I’m willing to bet he catches on faster than his children will ever imagine.”

“I think so,” Chloe said. “I found it sweet that Tiffani wanted to give him that gift. I hadn’t known she was doing it. She didn’t ask while we were here, but she kept asking me questions about it. It wasn’t until his birthday when heopened it up that my mother said she’d come back to buy it.”

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