Page 54 of Surprisingly Us

I blink. “Really? I didn’t know that.”

Chloe smiles, like she’s recalling a fond memory. “Oh yeah, Barrett and I did not like each other.”

“That’s oversimplifying it. Barrett liked you but didn’t know how to express his feelings so he was grumpy and that made you think he hated you, so you hated him back. Then you fell in love.”

“Now who’s oversimplifying it?” Chloe teases, turning from Emma back to me and Sophie. “She’s skipping the part where Barrett walked in on me throwing an unauthorized bachelorette party in his mother’s penthouse apartment and blackmailed me to fake date him if I didn’t want him to tell his mom.”

“Wow. Then what happened?” I ask.

Chloe laughs. “I was so annoyed with Barrett because he didn’t tell me all the information before we met Fred Hinkle, the businessman he was trying to win over to land a deal. I didn’t know our backstory and I was caught off guard.”

Her comments have me thinking about the situation with Rhys.

“Did you and Barrett have to touch and kiss to make it believable?” I ask, wondering if I should be taking notes.

“Yes, which I was annoyed by at first because I thought he was a cold-hearted asshole. But then when I got to know him, he wasn’t like that at all.” Chloe pauses for a moment and her cheeks start to pinken. “And that’s when things started to heat up between us.”

Chloe points her fork at Emma. “I think Emma would agree that pretending to be in a relationship definitely ratchets up the sexual tension.”

Emma smiles. “It’s true. I wanted Griffin the moment I saw him, but getting drunkenly married in Vegas didn’t seal the deal. It was much later, after we fell for each other, that made sex even more intense because we had waited so long.”

These ladies are a wealth of information. And I had no idea that’s how Chloe and Emma’s relationships started.

“How did I not know this?” I ask, looking between them.

Emma shrugs. “We’re all happy and settled now. I guess how our relationships started is only a fraction of the story.”

Sophie laughs. “While I don’t really want to talk about your and Griffin’s sex life, I will admit, I wish I had been here to witness both of you ladies falling in love with your husbands.”

“You were still in Las Vegas?”

“Yeah, Griffin came to New York with Emma for a few weeks while I was at a senior conference for my event planning degree.”

I nod, remembering that Hannah had told me Sophie moved here after she graduated from UNLV. That Sophie and Hunter had hooked up in Las Vegas when he was there for work and she was out celebrating her graduation, and had been shocked when they were reconnected through Hannah’s wedding planner and because Griffin was working with Hunter.

“Chloe, how did you and Barrett get to know each other when you were fake dating?” I ask, intrigued that I have a friend who has been in a similar situation that I am with Rhys, minus the blackmail part.

“We didn’t. At least not at first. I thought we were going on one dinner date, but he blindsided me by telling Fred that we had been dating for six months and were in love. I was frazzled to say the least.”

My heart rate ticks up a notch. While I’m fully aware of the board member dinner next week and the stakes our fake relationship holds for Rhys, Chloe’s story has me again questioning if I can pull off our fake relationship in such an important setting.

“After that, it was a crash course. Sometimes I wonder if I should have made flash cards. You know, for background on each other, likes and dislikes, hobbies, and favorite things. So I would have been more prepared. But I’m a nerd like that.”

Emma laughs, affectionately patting Chloe’s arm. “Griffin and I played games and did a bunch of personality tests toprepare for the interview I had with Kandi Kline atThe Dressmagazine. Oh, and the Target date night scavenger hunt ended up being one of the favorite things we’ve ever done.”

I’m mentally cataloging all this valuable information.

Emma sets her fork down and wipes at her mouth with her napkin. “But ultimately, we got to know each other by spending time together.”

With my busy schedule, I don’t have a lot of time, so flash cards might be the way to go. I discreetly pull my phone out and add index cards onto my list of things to pick up before I go over to Rhys’s place tonight.

“Speaking of romance, I’m starting a book club.”

Emma giggles. “I’m surprised it took you this long.”

“I’ve been busy, but now that Barrett and I have been married for a year and our two pups are trained,” across the table, Sophie snickers, and Chloe shoots her a look, before continuing, “well, for the most part. Anyways, this is something I’ve been wanting to do.”

Chloe opens her e-reader and extends it out for the rest of us to see.

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