Page 91 of The Au Pair Affair

“Such as?”

“Well.” Chloe pursed her lips, thinking for a few beats. “I didn’t know how to clean when he rented me this apartment. I’d never cleaned anything before, so he gave me cleaning lessons. He even created a homemade formula for hard water stains. He’s agenius.”

“Hold on, I’m trying to picture this professional hockey player giving cleaning lessons.”

“I picture it a lot.” Twin red stains bloomed on her cheeks. “Because it’s funny, I mean.”

“Uh-huh.” Tallulah watched Chloe’s reaction closely. “When did you say your mother was marrying his father?”

“I don’t know. Next year sometime.” The words came out in a rush and sitting forward, she quickly set down her mug on the coffee table. “But back to the problem at hand...don’t you think you should give Burgess a call? He’s probably worried.”

“He knows I’m here.”

“I mean, he’s probably worried you’re going to end things.”

“I don’t know if I have any other choice. I don’t want to be the person who Lissa believes is preventing her parents from remarrying. The things she said to me...” A pang struck Tallulah in the chest. “How do we come back from that?”

“Maybe... you don’t. Maybe you go somewhere different.” Chloe pointed at her own mouth, looking very pleased with herself. “That was pretty good.”

“It was. Foot high five?”

They tapped feet beneath the blanket.

Mostly in the interest of distracting herself, Tallulah was just preparing to launch into a speech in defense of the Home Shopping Network when someone knocked on the door.

“Chlo?” came a deep male voice from the other side. “You home?”

Chloe’s mouth formed an O. “That’s Sig,” she whispered.

“What?” Tallulah whispered back. “Did you know he was coming?”

“No!” Her eyes widened. “But he has a key.”

Both women tensed, their heads turning slowly at the sound of a key turning in the lock of the door. Simultaneously, they got the idea to hide underneath the blanket, both of them yanking it over their heads, just as the apartment door creaked open...

And not one, but two sets of footsteps thudded in.

Oh lord. Tallulah knew those footfalls anywhere. Burgess.

He’d gotten sick of calling and now he was there.

Why hadn’t she expected this?

And why were her toes curling up in anticipation?

Sig chuckled. Sighed. “Do you think the blanket makes you invisible, Chlo?”

“Maybe.”

“It doesn’t.”

The blanket was torn away, revealing two very large, very annoyed hockey players.

Tallulah’s gaze swung to Burgess, absorbing him like a houseplant that hadn’t been watered in a week. Had it really been less than twenty-four hours since the last time she’d seen him? How had he managed to look so terrible in such a short space of time? Black circles hugged the bottom rims of his eyes, his worry and exhaustion evident in a way that made her want to lie down beside him and kiss him better. Guilt over not answering his calls drilled her in the stomach like a line drive from Pedro Martinez.

And the fact that she was casually making sports references made her want to cry even harder.

“Can we talk?” Burgess asked Tallulah, hoarsely.

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