Page 8 of Fake Dating My Best Friend

"But then there’s you," she cut me off, her voice trembling. "You see all of me. You don’t just see hot, glamorous Chloe, you see confused, sick, terrified Chloe too. I took it for granted for years.” She exhales. “Maybe the reason I felt seen wasn’t because of those boys, but because you were always by my side, witnessing everything I did, everything I became.” Her raw words make my heart squeeze. “I don’t feel alone when I’m with you. I don't feel like I'm playing a role. You don’t run away when I stop being exciting. In your eyes, I always look special. You’re the only person who actually looks at me and sees... me. The real me."

I held my breath, the world narrowing down to the space between our lips. "What are you saying?"

"What if the fake dating isn't all fake?" she whispered, her eyes a midnight blue in the glare of the dim night lamp.

The air left my lungs. "What do you mean, Chloe?"

Chloe didn't answer with words. Instead, she leaned in, her hand sliding up to cup my jaw, her thumb brushing my lower lip. I looked into her eyes, knowing what she was going to do, yet not resisting it. I let her do it, even though I knew it would kill me.

Chloe’s lips met mine, and the moment her soft mouth touched mine, everything dissolved. The raging storm of emotions inside me broke. Chloe was kissing me. My best friend and crush was kissing me, and I could no longer pretend that I didn’t like her.

I groaned, my hands flying up to cradle her neck, pulling her slim frame flush against mine. She moaned into my mouth as our mouths clashed in a violent, passionate dance that made me breathless. Her lips were hot against mine, claiming, needy, branding me with her desire. My body reacted, takin charge, kissing her harder. She felt so good against me, our bodies pressed together, her leg hooked to mine as she drank me in. My tongue traced the seam of her lips until she opened for me, and suddenly, the room was gone. I pushed in, our tongues tangling in a sensual dance that was the culmination of every emotion I’d held back for the last few years. I don’t know when I fell for her, but it felt like I’d been in love with her forever That night in my bed, there was only the heat of her, the way she arched into me, her fingers tangling in my dark hair, my skin pressed to hers as she devoured me.

Her lips were soft, desperate, and tasted like the truth. In that kiss was an acknowledgment of everything we’d shared—every silent snack I’d bought, every camping trip I’d stayed for, every smile she gave me, every heartbeat I’d spent on wanting her. She was soft and solid in my arms, her breath hitching as I pressed her back into the pillows, my mouth never leaving hers.

I was so doomed.

CHAPTER 4

Chloe

I was drowning, and for the first time in my life, I didn't want anyone to save me.

Sloane’s mouth was a revelation. For years, I’d sought out the high-octane drama of boys who looked good on paper, thinking that the louder the relationship, the more it would fill the hollow space in my chest. But as Sloane’s tongue tangled with mine, a slow-burning heat spreading from my toes to my core, I realized I’d been trying to fill a canyon with pebbles.

The void wasn't just gone. It was being incinerated. All I had needed was her.

God, she tastes so good, I thought, my mind fracturing into a thousand pieces of pure sensation. I broke the kiss for a frantic second just to breathe, gazing into my best friend’s eyes, the eyes of the woman who had turned my world upside down.

"I never knew you kissed so well," I whispered, my voice sounding like it belonged to someone else—someone raw and unmasked. “If I’d known, I wouldn’t have waited for so many years.”

I didn't wait for her to answer before I dived back in, my hands framing her face, my thumbs sweeping over her high cheekbones, our lips clashing together. We were both needy for each other, dying to feel, to love, to live.

Sloane was everything my heart needed, and everyone had seen it but me. Our parents, the random jocks at the party, the people on campus, and the neighbors who called us a 'package deal.' They weren't just seeing a friendship; they were seeing a soulmate-bond I’d been too foolish to ignore. I’d been so busy looking for a landing strip in the distance that I hadn't realized I was already home.

"At the party," I gasped between kisses, my lips grazing the corner of her mouth, "when I saw you in that light... I thought you were the sexiest woman I’d ever seen. I was jealous of a girl I didn't even know, just because she was looking at you. I thought I was just being a protective friend, but I was just... I was just a fool."

Sloane’s hands were shaking as they clutched the fabric of my dress, pulling me down until there wasn't a molecular gap between us. "Chloe," she breathed, her dark eyes swimming with a decade’s worth of unspoken things. "I’ve been in love with you since we were fifteen. Maybe longer."

I froze, my heart stopping for a beat. "Really? That long?"

"Yeah," she whispered, a tear escaping and tracing a path to her temple. "I only realized I liked women because I liked you.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I was afraid of losing you,” she whispered, her lips wet and swollen with my kisses. “You’re the only friend I have, in case you haven’t noticed. When you asked me to fake date you, I almost said no. I was terrified. I knew that having you this close, pretending to be yours, would break my heart into pieces when you finally found the next Tyler."

The guilt was a sharp, cold jab, but I chased it away by kissing her again—deeper this time, an apology and a promise all in one. I felt her petite frame arch into mine, her strength surprising me as she rolled us over, pinning me to the mattress.

"I'm not looking for another Tyler," I said against her lips, my fingers tangling in her dark hair. I felt a surge of possessiveness, of rightness. "I only want you now.”

We kissed harder, her hand pushing my top up, mine finding the button of her jeans and popping it open. I needed to feel her skin against mine.

“What if we didn't have to pretend?” I asked, feeling her hand over my stomach, her mouth kissing my jaw. “What if we could have this? For real?"

Sloane’s breath hitched, her eyes searching mine for any hint of a lie. When she found only the truth, she let out a broken little sound and buried her face in my neck, her lips kissing me where I’d kissed her two weeks ago.

"I don't want to lose you, Chloe," she whispered into my skin. "If this doesn't work, I don't have anyone else."