Page 76 of Dream Girl Drama

Wrong. I want you more.

If getting it means staying away from me, that’s what you have to do.

Absolutely not.

A sharp twist started in her throat and rose higher, causing pain behind her eyes. “Sig—”

“Hey, sorry. I was distracted earlier by... you.” That roguish grin on his mouth only grew. How could his face appear so content when they had monumental decisions in front of them? Didn’t he sense what was on the horizon? “I’m always distracted by you, Chlo.”

Her fingers curled into the pillow. “Same,” she whispered.

Affection warmed his features. “But I should have asked...” He tucked hair behind her ear, his amusement dimming slowly. “How did you find out about the article? Did someone send it to you?”

Chloe kept her expression mild. Why she chose this exact moment to start lying to her best friend? She couldn’t say. Only that there was an instinct inside of her—one she didn’t have before moving to Boston and living on her own—and it was informing her that Sig wouldnotreact well to finding out their relationship had caused Grace to excuse her as a mentee. He’d raise hell. And he’d take it upon himself to fix the issue...

But she needed to fix her own problem this time.

She’d been dropped by Grace because of her own decisions. She’d allowed her relationship with Sig to become something indefinable and vague and questionable, at least to the outside world. Not to mention, she’d blabbed to the reporter. Now? Handing off the situation to someone else wasn’t an option. Sig had his own mess to deal with—she’d handle her own side of it like a big girl.

“Tallulah sent it to me,” Chloe said, tuning out the memory of the conversation she’d had with Grace. Refusing to let the truth show on her face. “I think she has a Google alert foranything Bearcats-related. I don’t even know how to set one of those.”

“Me either,” he murmured, his expression turning serious. “I have to tell you something, Chlo.” He opened his mouth, snapped it shut. “Damn, I know it must seem like I’ve been keeping a lot of important shit from you, but I swear... I was planning on telling you this when the time was right. Or if I managed to find a solution.”

“A solution to what?” she managed, her throat thick. What was this?

“Us. A way for... us.”

Afraid to hear the explanation, afraid not to hear it, too, she wet her lips. “Tell me.”

Sig wrapped an arm around her waist and drew her closer, both of them sighing over the soft collision of bare muscle and flesh, the new lack of barriers between them. “Feels so good to hold you.”

“I can’t believe we made it so long without this,” she said honestly, nuzzling his jaw.

He kissed her forehead hard. Lingered there. “I haven’t really talked a lot about how I grew up. Haven’t really talked about it with anyone. But, uh,...” He shifted against her. “Like I told you before, Harvey left us when I was young. After that, my mom... she wanted nothing to do with her family. The way she explained it to me, they didn’t approve of Harvey. Thought he was after my mother’s wealth. Called him a grifter—and they were right. Hell, he did exactly what her family said he would. Took off with my mother’s money and never looked back. After that, my mother’s pride wouldn’t let her take another cent from her parents and we ended up struggling. Bad. My whole childhood.”

This must be what love truly felt like.

Feeling a burning ache in her chest for everything Sig had experienced in the past.

Pain and frustration and sympathy and helplessness.

A fierce desire to go back and take his place.

“But he’s changed since then, right?” Chloe asked. “Is that why you got back in touch with him?”

“That’s the thing, Chloe, I don’t know if he’s changed. He was married to two other women after my mother and he climbed higher on the social ladder with each relationship. That’s how it looks from the outside, I’ve just never been able to... be objective. I can’t tell if I’m seeing the real Harvey or if I’m looking through the lens my mother created. Does that make sense?”

“Yes.” Alarm prickled in her scalp, fingertips. “Should I be worried about my mother?”

He tipped her chin up to meet his eyes. “Your mother knows I’m suspicious of Harvey, Chlo. She knows what those suspicions are, too. I never would have let her fly blind.”

She took that in, let it settle. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

His throat worked with a swallow. “I was embarrassed. And that’s a new feeling for me. I taught myself how to overcome shame out of necessity a long time ago, but suddenly... there you were and...” He traced her jawline with his thumb. “I was suddenly a lot more aware that I didn’t have the kind of background I’d need to marry you. Or the kind of money. I guess I didn’t want to draw attention to that.”

“So... the same reason you didn’t tell me about selling the memorabilia?”

“Yeah.” He nodded for a moment, then rolled Chloe over onto her back, burying his face in her neck. Rubbing it there in such a raw and loving way, she could only anchor her fingers in his hair and survive it. “I just wanted to be good for you. I just wanted to give you everything.”

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