Page 39 of Dream Girl Drama

Sig was really taking a huge chance driving his junker from Boston to Darien—and the ancient engine was making its grievances known. But Chloe wanted her good luck blouse for tomorrow, so she was going to get the goddamn blouse. As long as Sig had a single breath in his lungs, if she wanted something, he’d go get it for her.

No questions or debates.

Not even if she’d spit roasted his fucking heart tonight and left it out to bleed.

He needed to speak to his father. Immediately. There were only two months remaining until the wedding... and now he’d lost Chloe. Lost her in a capacity he’d never really had her, but reason didn’t make the gaping wound in his chest any smaller or less excruciating.

Sig blindly took the exit to Darien, his tires squealing as he took the left onto the service road that would take him toward the Sound—and the Clifford residence.

The worst part about tonight was he’d hurt Chloe.

Had she been the one to strip nearly naked and beg to be taken to bed? Yeah—and he’d be replaying every second of that adult game of peekaboo until he was old and gray. But the fact that Chloe started it didn’t matter. Sig was the one with the inside information. He was the one keeping his father’s past to himself,hoping it would derail the wedding. Even if that happened, Sig would still be so fucking worried about being able to provide for Chloe that he wouldn’t give himself the privilege of sleeping with her until he had a secure contract with the Bearcats. Money and security to offer her.

Chloe knew none of that.

She only knew she’d been denied.

That truth sat in his stomach like a dozen bricks. He could barely remember the three-hour drive, because he continued to replay not only what happened earlier, but over the course of the last six months since Chloe moved to Boston. God knew their relationship had never been easy. How could it be? There was enough sexual tension between them to fill every hockey arena in North America. But in the beginning, when he’d rented her the apartment and showed her around Boston, he’d kept his filthy hands to himself. Mostly. He’d left her place without watching her strip, at the very least.

He didn’t speak to her like he spoke to her tonight.

Press it where we both wish I could put my cock, Chloe.

Sig squealed to a stop at a red light and rolled down the window, letting cold air into the truck so he wouldn’t arrive sweating. Maybe he shouldn’t have made this impulsive trip to visit Harvey. Hell, he hadn’t even called first. But he kept hearing Chloe sayI can’t do this anymore. Kept hearing her suggestion they date other people. So, no, he couldn’t put this visit off. He was running out of time.

There was one disaster he could avert right this moment, however.

With the light still red, Sig picked up his phone and quickly pulled up the necessary contact, tapping dial. His agent, David, answered on the fourth ring, his voice groggy and disorientedfrom sleep. “No, Sig. I haven’t heard from the Bearcats about an offer yet.”

Sig ignored the grind in his stomach. “That’s not why I’m calling. I need you to do something for me and it’s urgent.”

“At one thirty in the morning? You don’t say.” A long-suffering sigh. “What is it?”

“I need you to get me off Boston’s Most Eligible Bachelor list. Like yesterday.”

“Why? That kind of thing only serves to raise your stock.”

“First of all, you obviously haven’t spent much time in a locker room with athletes. That kind of thing gets you absolutely crucified. But second...” Sig trailed off, knowing he couldn’t give David the real reason. “Look, you’ll have to take my word for it. I need tonotbe on that list.”

Chloe would hate it, no matter what she said to the contrary. In fact, Sig had a hunch that this stupid list was the real reason tonight had ended like it had. A dinner bell being rung over his head would make her jealous. It would drive her crazy. And he didn’t do that kind of shit to her. End of story. As far as Sig was concerned, there was nothing eligible about him.

He’d been locked down tighter than Fort Knox for six months.

“Do you have a girlfriend or something? What reason am I giving them?”

“I don’t know.” The light finally turned green and Sig hit the gas, sailing through the intersection. “Tell them I’m morally opposed to being objectified.”

David groaned. “What a waste of good looks.”

Sig rolled his eyes. “Just shut it down, will you?”

“I’ll do what I can.”

Minutes later, Sig pulled up to the mansion on the Sound and killed the engine, the bricks in his stomach growing heavier as helooked up at the reminder of what Chloe had given up by moving to Boston. By dropping everything and coming with him at a moment’s notice. Trusting him wholeheartedly.

He’d vowed to himself that he wouldn’t let her be sorry.

Tonight was the first time he’d felt on the verge of failing her.

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