Page 38 of Dream Girl Drama

His words did nothing to diminish the hopeless feeling inside of her. For the last six months, she’d had this secret belief that Sig would find a way for them to be together. That everything in her life would work itself out, like it always had. However, along with her new and expanding awareness that life outside of Darien wasn’t designed for her enjoyment came the realization that... lifedidn’talways work itself out.

She was in love with Sig.

And they might not end up together.

That was reality.

Every day, she fell deeper, too. Maybe... maybe she needed to find a way to put the brakes on before she went careening over the side of a cliff.

Maybe it was time to start thinking about dating?

Why did the very idea make her stomach shrink to the size of a pea?

Holding on to the last thread of her courage, Chloe pressed her tongue to his neck and licked up that thick cord of muscle that caused her so many sleepless nights. “We could give in just once,” she whispered. “No one would know.”

Sig pulled back just enough to meet her eyes, letting her see the agony, the regret, the lust. All of it. “Feel me, dream girl.” He jerked her right leg up around his hips and tilted his lower body, grinding upward and lifting her higher, to the very tip of her big toe, until her vision went totally black. “You think I couldstop atonce? I’dneverbe able to stop. I’d be hiking up your skirt at their wedding reception. I’m already an addict and I’ve never even gotten a hit.”

“Taste me.” Liquid heat pooled between her thighs. Preparing. Every underused muscle below her belly button cinched up and twisted. “Everyone already suspects us.”

“Yeah, butIknow I’m doing right by you, Chloe.” He dropped his mouth over hers, his frustrated breath heating her lips. “I’m not giving in unless it’s right. Unless I know that I’m not dragging you into something wrong. Something that could hurt you. Your future.”

“Drag me.Please.”

He interlocked their lips and moaned.

Chloe’s heart went wild. She held her breath. This was it. This was it. Damn the consequences. They would burn alive now and figure out a plan tomorrow. Sig would know what to do. He’d know how to turn what they were into something socially acceptable, so it wouldn’t bring shame to her family name or hurt any possible advances in their careers. So they wouldn’t have to be judged by everyone in their lives and everyone they ever met in the future. How could something that inspired this much love inside of her be so bad?

“Sig, please. Just take me to bed.”

“Jesus Christ. Don’t you think I want to? Feels like I’ve spent my whole life wanting to get inside you. I fuckingbelongthere.” Avoiding her eyes, he set her down and backed off, raking five unsteady fingers through his hair. Pacing out of the closet and into her bedroom. Stopping. “I have to go before I let us do something we can’t take back, Chloe.”

With that, he took one final agonized look at her, his gaze blazing a path down to her naked thighs, before he turned on a booted heel and strode for the door.

Still stunned, she stared at the space he’d occupied, the sound of the front door opening finally forcing her into motion. Leaving? He was just going toleaveafter she’d made herself completely vulnerable? “When I said I can’t do this anymore, I meant it,” she called, speed walking after him.Stop talking. You’re keyed up. You’re going to say something you’ll regret.But the voice of reason was a lot quieter than her sexual frustration at that very moment. “Having you and not having you at the same time... I can’t live like this anymore. It’s torture.”

Just outside the apartment door now, he spun around, regarding her with guarded shock. Dawning panic. “Chloe—”

“I think we should both start dating other people,” she blurted, watching his left eyebrow hoist very slowly, and very dramatically. “Not thatwewere ever dating, but you know what I mean. Maybe it’ll be easier to be best friends if we have separate, healthy romantic lives, you know?” A scalding hot iron branded the insides of her throat. “There won’t be so much... of an expectation for us to be everything to each other when we simplycan’tbe everything to each other. We can’t keep pretending the way we are is normal.”

He stared back at her like he couldn’t comprehend anything coming out of her mouth.

“You know, you made the list of Boston’s Most Eligible Bachelors.” The words scraped the walls of her throat like hot sandpaper. “It’s perfect timing.”

More confusion lit his eyes. “I... what? How do you know that?”

“It doesn’t matter.”

“What a coincidence. Neither does some ridiculous list.” He tunneled frustrated fingers through his hair. “I’m coming back in so we can straighten this out.”

He started forward, but she shook her head adamantly. “Thereis nothing to discuss and... listen, I just want to be alone. Good night, Sig.”

Closing the door on his stricken expression was one of the hardest things she’d ever done in her life. But despite the tears burning in her eyes and the hormonal wreckage that was her overwrought body, Chloe couldn’t help but feel proud of herself. At least she’d tried. At least she’d been brave in calling out the problem by name, in detail, even if the effort didn’t pay off.

It was comforting to know she’d gotten stronger.

If only she could stop being weak for a man who obviously wasn’t meant for her.

Chapter Nine

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