Free Meant For Me by Erin McCarthy Page B

in and sat down and feel that same pit in my gut I had for the longest time. I didn’t want to grab her and shake her until she acknowledged that we should have been together. Nor did I want to kiss her or have sex with her. There was no attraction really. I felt… neutral.
    “How’s Heath?” I asked, just to get that out in the open. I didn’t want her to feel like she couldn’t talk about her boyfriend. “Aubrey says he has a fishing boat. That sounds cool.”
    “He’s great, thanks. The wedding planning is just so ridiculously out of control but it will all be over in two weeks. I think I’ve figured out weddings aren’t my thing.” She laughed. Then she caught herself, her cheeks turning red.
    Awesome enough, I didn’t feel anything at that news. That brought me a huge sense of relief. It was like suddenly realizing the prison door is actually unlocked and you’re free. “Two weeks? Congrats. Hey, is Chloe your pianist for the ceremony then?”
    My thoughts drifted back to the videos she had sent me. She had a gift. Watching her play was mesmerizing.
    Caitlyn looked surprised. “Yes, she is. How did you know?”
    “She told me.”
    “She was babysitting for me yesterday,” Aubrey said.
    There was a knock on the front door. My sister stood up and passed the baby to Caitlyn. “Here, hold her.” When she pulled open the door, she said, “Speak of the devil. Hi, Chloe.”
    I sat up straighter and ran my fingers through my hair. Like that was going to do anything to it. It was a shaggy mess, but maybe Chloe was into scruffy guys. Not that it should matter. As Chloe came into the room, her gaze drifted over to me and she gave me a shy smile and a small wave.
    A smile played over my lips. Bigger than it should be under the circumstances. “Hey, Chloe. You’re early or did I get the time wrong? I do that.” I stood up because I felt like I wanted to greet her in a way that wasn’t lazy ass on the couch.
    She shook her head and pointed to Caitlyn.
    “Oh, you’re here to see Caitlyn?”
    Nod.
    Well, that was disappointing. “And here I thought you wanted to see my ugly face.”
    Chloe blushed.
    The satisfaction I felt at that color staining her cheeks was way inappropriate. Not surprising though. I was lying when I told Aubrey my interest in Chloe was entirely cerebral. I was attracted to her. That was pretty fucking obvious.
    Chloe typed on her phone and she passed it to me.
    You give good face.
    I laughed.
    “Should we leave you two alone?” Aubrey asked.
    The bitch was back. Motherhood hadn’t robbed my sister of her need to take random jabs at people. I turned to her, irritated. “Yeah, could you? Thanks.” Then I rolled my eyes. “Chill out. She said she’s here to talk to Caitlyn, but then we’re going out to lunch.”
    Caitlyn was watching us with an open mouth. She looked shocked. “How do you two even know each other?”
    “We met on the ferry here.” I wondered if she was going to voice an opinion about us spending time together. She had no right to an opinion as far as I was concerned, but that didn’t stop Aubrey so maybe it wouldn’t stop Caitlyn either.
    But Caitlyn didn’t seem to know what to say. She just gave an “Oh,” and that was the end of that.
    There was a time when it would have made me maliciously gleeful to have her aware that a chick was into me. But it wasn’t even a thought. I was more focused on getting Chloe to myself. I wanted to talk to her. And yeah, stupid as it was, I wanted to hold her hand again. Crazy. But she was wearing a strapless dress and it looked like she had a bikini top on under it, given the straps that came up around her neck. I was distracted as hell by the idea of her in nothing but a bikini. I wanted to reach over and tug that dress straight on down to her ankles.
    I wasn’t exactly sure when I had started thinking of Chloe as someone I wanted to kiss and touch and see naked but now that those thoughts were hanging around, I