But I’m too late. She backs away and rises to her feet, leaving me struggling to catch my breath. And the sight of my rumpled shirt in her hands makes the last of the blood drain from my head and gather in a more central region.
“What else is dirty?”
“Wha-what?” I sputter.
“Anything else you want me to wash now?” she asks, smirking and reminding me that she still has the upper hand. Because she’s not anyone’s little sister. She’s a grown woman, and she’s not going to let me forget it.
“Um, I might have gotten some of that soda on my pants,” I mumble without thinking. Then I stop and squeeze my eyes shut. “I mean, no—NO. Just the shirt, thanks.”
“Landry? Are you okay?”
“Mm-hmm,” I intone, grabbing the nearest throw pillow and clutching it tightly in front of my middle.
“Well, I guess I’m not the only one who’s ticklish,” she declares, and I wait for the sounds of her snickering to fade before I open my eyes and grin.
CHAPTER 35
landry
“So we’re stickingto the game plan, right?” Daisy asks when we drive up to her parents’ house. “No mistletoe today.”
“Right. Because we’re roommates and platonic friends,” I agree with a resolute nod.
“Friends who just happen to be married,” she mumbles under her breath.
“Right,” I say again, less confidently. “But no one needs to know that last part.”
“You do realize they’re going to ask us a million times if there’s anything else going on between us, don’t you?” she poses with another hint of sarcasm. “Especially once they see us interacting and looking so comfortable with one another.”
I shrug. “I figured as much. But we’ll just explain to them how we get along well, and that’s all.”
“Yeah, that’s all,” she whispers, and I can’t tell if she looks more angry, disappointed, or hurt.
“Daisy?” I call out before she reaches for her door. “Is everything okay?”
“Mm-hmm,” she murmurs unconvincingly and forces a fake smile, but I still see something in her expression that makes me suspect she’s got more on her mind than she’s letting on. Then again, after the last few weeks, I should probably be wary of asking her to divulge the rest.
Dammit.
I sigh and reach out for her arm, unable to ignore the compulsive need to know more. “You’re not being completely honest with me right now, are you?”
She twists her lips to the side before she answers. “Maybe not. But neither are you.” I straighten up in my seat and frown at her as she continues. “And I guess I’m feeling guilty about lying to my family. Withholding the truth about something this important feels an awful lot like a big, fat lie of omission, especially when I know we’re not just platonic roommates or friends who got legally married for the insurance benefits. We don’t just ‘get along well, and that’s all,’ do we?”
“No,” I choke out after a while. “But that’s all that was supposed to happen.”
“I’m so sorry to have inconvenienced you, then,” she mutters, and I hate the way I’ve been rubbing off on her.
“Daisy,” I say on another exhale. “That’s not what I meant. You … you know I care about you, right?”
She turns and stares out the window. “Yeah, I know.”
I look down and realize I’m softly stroking the back of her hand with my thumb. I’m not even sure when I took her hand in mine, but it seems like it’s become involuntary lately. She curls her fingers in and squeezes, and I like the way it feels so much that I pretend not to notice so we can continue the contact.
“Then you understand why it has to be this way, especially since I’m not sure your brother would ever forgive me for taking advantage of you. I can’t be responsible for driving a wedge between you and your family over Christmas dinner.”
“That sounds like the kind of cop out the old Landry would use,” she says quietly. “And you know Rowan would be supportive if you told him the truth. The problem is that you don’t want to face it yourself.”
“Look, I’m sorry,” I begin, my voice cracking again. “I don’t know how to be better. I’ve been trying, I swear, and you are the absolute last person I want to hurt.”
