Page 30 of Dream Girl Drama

“Timing-wise, it is. There is a list being published this week naming Boston’s most eligible bachelors and Gauthier is right on top.”

Flames erupted in Chloe’s throat. The man who rubbed her back until she fell asleep some nights, the man who was slowly teaching her how to drive, the man who’d taken her to her first food truck festival and coached her through the process of frying an egg... was being announced as single and ready to mingle. “You’re kidding. That’s amazing.” Irving was regarding herclosely, so she forced herself to laugh, wincing inwardly when it fell flatter than a pancake. “I’m so thrilled for him.”

Irving hummed. “Well. It has been nice meeting you both. Remember, if you want to expand on anything you’ve told me, my line is always open.”

“Great,” Chloe said, tucking the card into her clutch bag. “Thank you.”

“No, thankyou.”

Chloe watched the reporter walk away with an increasing sense of queasiness. “This isn’t going to be good, is it?”

“Probably not,” Tallulah said without missing a beat.

The dread in her belly thickened. “Sig will know what to do. He always does.”

Tallulah was quiet as the game clock ran out and the players cleared the ice, preparing for extra time. But the third time the Zamboni passed, she broke her silence. “Chloe, we’ve cried into mugs of hot chocolate together. I crashed in your guest room when me and Burgess were going through our own drama. We’ve witnessed each other in various states of angst and thus, I consider us close friends...”

“We are. You’re my closest friend, besides—”

“Sig. I know.”

Chloe’s face warmed. Friends didn’t stare into each other’s eyes like it was their final moments on earth, the way she did with her future stepbrother, but what else could she call him? “I sense a ‘but’ coming.”

“You sense correctly.” After a brief glance over her shoulder, Tallulah leaned in. “Look, I’ve told myself this is none of my business over and over again. Maybe part of me was even afraid to ask. But the more time you and I spend together, the more I notice your relationship with Sig is very... unusual. And I hope you don’t mind me saying that this upcoming wedding seemsto be stressing you out. Which is normal! Your parent is getting married. But I guess what I’m trying to say is... are you stressed for a different reason?” The volume of her voice fell another degree. “Bluntly put, is there something romantic between you and Sig?”

“No!” Chloe said on a burst of air, out of pure reflex, because while she lived for what felt like stolen moments with Sig, she couldn’t help but be ashamed of them, too.

Ashamed of herself.

Her mother was so in love. So gloriously happy. Sure, Chloe and Sofia’s relationship had a whopping share of tension, her mother demanding details about Chloe’s life in Boston before she’d deposit money into Chloe’s bank account. Their Paris trip had been ruthlessly overscheduled with fittings, personal shopping excursions, and meetings with “friends” Sofia had collected on vacations over the years, but during their one-on-one moments, her mother had managed to land numerous subtle digs about Chloe’s lack of survival skills, hinting that it was only a matter of time before Chloe returned to Darien. Coaxing her to come home.

Frankly, Chloe was a little nervous that Sofia hadn’t done something more drastic to manipulate Chloe into moving back to Darien. She’d expected fireworks by now.

Or a bomb.

Maybe love had softened Sofia? Was that too much to hope for? Chloe had never, ever seen her mother this close to content. She’d called Chloe that very afternoon on cloud nine, thanks to Harvey signing them up for surprise salsa dancing lessons.

Yet here was Chloe, down in Boston, fantasizing about Harvey’s son. Nightly.

Sometimes hourly.

Wishing and praying and obsessing over the possibility that Sig would give in one of these nights and kiss her again, like he had that night on the golf course. Just maul her to death. Honestly, she would leave the earth willingly at this point, if she could just feel his tongue in her mouth again, his grip in her hair. To have him unrestrained around her.

Sig was so controlled.

A good thing. Anecessarything.

On top of their parents being in love and getting married, Chloe was killing it at the conservatory. Opportunities were already beginning to open up for her, but those doors would slam closed if word got around that she was in a foggy, undefined relationship with someone related to her by marriage. Sig’s profession put him in the spotlight as well, as evidenced by a reporter approaching her from theGlobe. What if she hurt his standing with the team?

Obviously, what happened the night they met couldn’t happen again. They were best friends. Some might say they werewaytoo friendly. They probably needed to back off a little. And they would!

Eventually.

Chloe had kept her feelings to herself somewhat out of shame, somewhat from denial that they were doing anything wrong. Everyone had a different definition of wrong. Right? At the moment, however, with possessiveness gluing her to the plastic seat, the words “Boston’s Most Eligible Bachelor” ringing in her ears, she couldn’t keep the truth inside. Not entirely.

“Okay, here’s the truth.” She picked at an invisible string on her leggings. “We, um. We met two hours before we found out we were going to be stepsiblings. Let’s say it was a very interesting meeting. One that is really hard to forget.” Her throat squeezedat the memory of them running across the golf course, laughing, as if the world was wide open to them. As if they could go anywhere together without consequence. “Impossible, actually.”

“You... kissed him.”

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