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That made him feel like a spider on the floor that his sister was going to step on any minute. “No one is using anyone else. She has her reasons and I have mine. It’s working for us. I don’t want to be pushed into something any more than you do and neither does Chloe. So keep it quiet or I’ll throw your name in the hat every time I see Grant and Garrett.”
“You wouldn’t dare,” Elise said.
“Try me,” he said.
He held her stare. “This is worse than when you had the controller to my video games and were going to take it all apart on me knowing I would never be able to put it back together.”
“That’s right. You know I’m serious.”
“Fine,” Elise said. “I’ll have your back on this. But if I think you’re lying to me about Dad, then all bets are off.”
“I’m not,” he said. “Trust me. I’ll prove it right now.”
“What are you going to do?”
He called his father to his office and told Elise to open the door.
His father walked in. “How did it go with Chloe?”
“It went well,” he said. “She is going to start working on it next week and we’ll get it done and then she can be free of me for a while.”
His father frowned and he saw his sister make the same move as if it was catching her notice that there would be no reason for their father to react that way. “That’s too bad,” his father said. “She’s such a nice young woman. She’d be a good catch for someone. Not you though. Too bad you two aren’t right for each other.”
“How would you know if they were right for each other?” Elise asked their father.
“What?” his father said. “I don’t know. Just guessing. You know that Royce spends way too much time at work and a woman like Chloe probably needs someone around more.”
“If you say so, Dad,” Elise said. The minute their father was out of the office he looked at his sister. “This sucks. I better not be next.”
“You’ve been warned so you better keep your mouth shut if you know what’s good for you. Now I’ve got to let Chloe know you are aware.”
“So I can talk to her about it?” Elise asked.
“No. Just because you know doesn’t give you free license to talk about this. I don’t want anyone getting wind of it.”
“It didn’t take long for me to, so you better keep that in mind.”
He didn’t need the reminder.
19
A Massive Mistake
“What do you mean your sister knows about our arrangement?” Chloe all but shouted when he’d broken the news to her an hour later.
She’d been shocked that Royce had texted her he was home so early and figured that he was just eager to see her again. She knew she was eager herself and was shocked it’d been almost three weeks since she’d been here.
But neither one of them seemed to be making the step and this lunch meeting today was as good of an excuse for them to dance around the bush again and work it out.
Now she was positive it was a massive mistake.
“It’s not my fault,” he said. “Elise recognized your car.”
Chloe dropped the pizza box on the counter in the kitchen and swirled around and put her hands on her hips. “How was she able to do that?”
He shrugged. “She drove by my house on New Year’s Day. She was lonely and was going to come visit and saw your car there. I didn’t tell her who was here. I said I had a friend over and watched football and had sandwiches and beer.”
“Which wasn’t a lie,” she said slowly.
