All of them lies, because they weren’t why he couldn’t have her.
He couldn’t have her because he would hurt her.
His junk didn’t seem to care.
He’d have to find a way to show her that he wasn’t to be trusted as a man. Tricky when he wanted her to trust him on every other level. Even—maybe especially—as a friend.
He liked her too damn much to let his attraction muddy the waters. And she needed him to be someone she could depend on, not someone she needed to worry about.
At least she didn’t seem to be worrying yet. Her text message was breezy and had two smiley faces attached to it.Have you had breakfast? Just ordered room service. Jackie and the boys are here.
He sent back a quickbe right theremessage and got dressed.
But when he arrived in her room, she wasn’t as breezy in person as her text had suggested. She was short with West and snappy about the breakfast options. And in the next breath, she was apologetic and sweet, even flirty. But it was confusing for her band—Dean got the impression this was out of character behaviour—and he was pretty sure it was his fault.
When they finished eating and everyone scattered back to their rooms, he stayed behind.
Liana moved around her room, restlessly packing up.
Not looking at him.
Damn. He cleared his throat, getting her attention. “I should apologize for yesterday.”
Surprise rippled across her face as her cheeks turned pink. “No reason for that. Last night was fine. I did the visualizing thing.”
“Good.”
They’d moved towards each other as they spoke, and now she was right in front of him.Take a step back, he told himself, but he couldn’t move.
“It’s just a performance day, that’s all.”
“That’s all?”
“Of course,” she said, her voice shifting, lightening as she gave him a small smile.
“Your band usually that skittish around you?”
“You think you can read us all that well?”
“Reading people is my job.”
She gave him a small smile. “Right.”
“I don’t want things to get complicated between us.”
“Nothing complicated about flirting.”
“You say potato, I say—”
“I know,potato,” she said in an exaggerated Canadian accent. “Point taken. We have different ways of dealing. Just ignore me if you don’t like my flirting, okay?”
“I didn’t say I didn’t like it.” Jesus, why did he say that?Because it was the truth.
She looked at him, silence pounding between them, then she stepped back. “Well, I don’t mean anything by it, it’s no big deal.” She mock-sighed and pressed her hand to her chest. “And here I had such high hopes for a torrid love affair with someone that sayspotato. But I assure you, the offer has definitely expired.”
“Noted.” He gave her a rueful half-grin. “Torrid?”
“I’d have shocked all of your polite Canadian sensibilities.”
