Dorothea felt her cheeks flush the moment the live stream ended. Maybe it was the sunlight streaming in through the office windows, maybe it was something Latham had said. Either way, the warmth crept all the way up to her ears, turning her pale earlobes a deep, telling red.
Just then, Carmen called. “Dorothea, did you watch it?”
Dorothea bit her lip, her voice barely above a whisper. “Yeah. I watched.”
“Are you seriously still convinced Latham’s gay? Because honestly, it looked like he was into you. I mean, why else would he have called that press conference? He was practically desperate to clear things up about Carola. Wasn’t that just for you? He wanted you to know there’s nothing between him and Carola. And didn’t he even get into a fight with Albert over you? Come on, Dorothea, he’s totally into you.”
Two grown men fighting over her. Even Carmen was getting flustered thinking about it, so Dorothea’s own heart was a tangled mess.
But Dorothea just shook her head, stubborn as ever. “Carmen, you’re reading too much into it. People have been gossiping about Latham liking men for years. Maybe the press conference was just his way of explaining things to the guy he actually likes.”
“Or maybe he was just trying to tell his crush that he’s only ever liked men.”
There was one thing she didn’t say, though. She and Latham were married, and that night they accidentally spent together… Maybe that made Latham feel guilty toward the person he really liked. Maybe this whole press conference was more of an apology to that person than anything else.
Carmen rolled her eyes so hard Dorothea could practically hear it through the phone. “Please, Dorothea. You were the school beauty back then. Can you give yourself some credit for once? I bet there’s never been another boyfriend because Latham’s had his eye on you all along.”
Dorothea’s heart skipped, just for a second. No way. That couldn’t be possible.
After everything with Albert, she was terrified to even imagine something like that. Her heart was still bruised and guarded, prickly like a hedgehog ready to protect itself from anyone who got too close. Latham, anyone else—it didn’t matter. She just couldn’t trust anyone completely right now.

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