Page 51 of Dream Girl Drama

“And you’ll get a contract renewal for yourself. A big one—or else the Bearcats front office don’t know how lucky they are.Third round?” Anger speared upward from her stomach into her throat, so fiercely she had to grab him by the collar of his T-shirt. “How dare they take this long to make up for that oversight? I’d like to kick down the GM’s door and shove my foot up his ass. Three times. Once for each round they ignored your talent. You’re only the best playerin the league. Tell me one other player who—”

“You really meant it, didn’t you?” His expression was an oddmixture of humility and adoration. “You’re with me. No exceptions.”

Chloe frowned at him. “I told you. I’ll get the shovel.”

He stared down at her. “Whatever you think I’ve done for you by bringing you to Boston, I want you to know you’ve done the same for me. I’ve never been the best, I’ve always been the assist guy. I have the speed to create openings in the defense. But I believe I’m the best when you say it. I believe that when I look at you.”

“Good.” She threw her arms around his neck, letting out a watery laugh into his shoulder. “It’s true.”

He lifted Chloe onto her toes and crushed her close. “I thought you finding this out would change everything.”

“No.”

“So all that bullshit about seeing other people...”

She pulled away wiping her eyes, mustering a sweet as honey smile. “No, that still stands. I meant that.”

His eyeballs came close to popping out of his head. “What?”

If anything, she was now more determined than ever to have clear boundaries in her life. Look what had been going on behind the scenes without her knowledge! Going forward, she was going to have her eyes wide open. Goals would be reached, professionally and personally—and as much as it hurt, she couldn’t continue to wallow in a romantic gray area with Sig. It only caused hurt and confusion... and in two months, it would lead to full heartbreak. Today was the day to make big moves. Big, necessary moves.

Even if she really wanted to be kissed and stroked and told more wonderful things by this man she loved more than breathing. More than the harp and every color in the rainbow.

“I really need to go, Sig,” she forced herself to say. “I need to buy kibble for Pierre before the deli closes.” Many things wereoccurring to her at once. “And I can’t wait to call Grace and let her know I’m ready to lock in. You know, it’s crazy! Now that I’ve made the decision to reach for the top, I’m excited. Not nearly as nervous as I thought I would be.”

“Great. But Chloe. You’renotdating. Period.”

“You’re right, I probably won’t have a lot of time, now that I’ll be practicing so hard. But you never know, Sig. You never know.”

He boomed a humorless laugh. “You really want some poor chump to die, don’t you?”

She admonished him with a frown. “Don’t be violent in front of Pierre.”

It was obvious from his double take that he’d forgotten about the dog who was currently napping in front of the door. “While we’re on the subject, what time are you planning to walk Pierre in the morning? Not before sunrise. Right, Chloe?”

“Grace said he’ll need to be walked at five thirty a.m.”

“Oh, okay.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “Sure.”

She mimicked his flippant body language. “What does that mean?”

“It means I’ll see you at five thirty a.m.,” he growled. “Did you think I was going to let you walk around in the dark alone?”

“Sig?”

“Yes.”

“You seem irritated.”

He visibly gathered himself. “I’m not irritated with you. I’m irritated with every man in Boston for existing.”

She tried to appear nonchalant while something sharp was pulverizing her chest. “Well.Ifwe hadn’t agreed to date other people—”

“Nah, we didn’t agree to that.”

“—If we hadn’t made that mature and necessary decision, I probably wouldn’t feel wonderful about every straight woman inBoston flipping open their newspaper and finding you under the word ‘eligible.’”

“They’re not going to see me on any list. I already squashed it.”

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