“Because we have places to go. And because we’re not supposed to be lying around in our underwear.” She turns her eyes to the coffee pot and walks past me.
“Daisy, do you not find me attractive anymore?”
Well, shit. Way to be subtle, man.
She freezes for a second and clears her throat before she goes back to pouring her coffee. “What difference would it make?”
I frown down at my mug. “You know I hate it when I misinterpret a situation, and everything about this is confusing the hell out of me.”
Her expression softens as she comes around to sit beside me. “I’m feeling pretty weird about everything, too. But I’m not sure honesty can fix it this time.”
I groan. “My head hurts too much to keep beating around the bush.”
“You’re not going to let this go, are you?” she asks, taking a sip of her coffee and sighing. I’m momentarily distracted by her reaction, but I can’t stop to acknowledge how cute she looks when she does that.
“I can’t,” is all I say.
She puts her mug down and stares at me. “Fine. If you really want to know, yes, I still think you’re attractive. Even more so now that I’ve gotten to know you. But we agreed that those feelings don’t have a place in our relationship. And even though most of what you said last night implies the opposite, I knew you didn’t mean it. So taking you up on one of Drunk Landry’s numerous offers would have been a betrayal of your trust.”
“I made offers?” I ask, purposefully ignoring the first part of her confession.
“Oh yeah.” She nods.
I gulp. “Sorry about that, then.”
“Don’t be,” she says plainly. “I was actually relieved to hear that some part of you finds me attractive, too, even if it’s only while you’re wearing champagne goggles.”
“Relieved?” I furrow my brow and study her reaction. It’s not the same version of relief I felt before.
“It’s not like it matters, but yeah. I liked hearing you don’t find me completely appalling and that you at least have the capacity to think of me as a woman and not just as Rowan’s little sister.”
“Oh.” Our previous conversations run through my mind again. “I’m sorry if I’ve been making you feel bad, but I had to establish those boundaries from the start. I … I couldn’t see any other way to make sure I’d never end up in a position to take advantage of you.”
She smirks. “From the start? You mean, the first time you walked in on me in my underwear?”
I clear my throat and attempt to ignore the image she calls to mind. “Maybe.”
“Hey, I thought we weren’t allowed to give cryptic answers like that?”
“I’m not trying to be cryptic. I honestly don’t know the answer because I forced myself to compartmentalize half-naked Daisy within the part of my brain reserved for examining patients,” I reply defensively.
“Hmm. You tried, anyway,” she remarks, taking another sip.
“Now that’s a cryptic answer,” I say, narrowing my eyes at her.
“Let’s just say last night’s pickup lines implied otherwise. You weren’t terribly crude or anything, but … you did use the wordsexy.”
I cringe. “I did?”
“You did.” She looks amused.
I open my mouth to speak again, but she cuts me off.
“Look, I’m only teasing you. Please don’t make me repeat the rest. If you don’t remember saying it, then you probably didn’t mean it, anyway. And I’d rather not have to admit to spending the last eight hours thinking you did.”
“See, now that’s confusing,” I point out. “I can’t understand why you wouldn’t want to know the truth, one way or the other. It’s always the guessing that bothers me most.”
“I know exactly how you feel after you freaked out about waking up in bed with me this morning,” she mumbles, staring down at her cup. “Then again, none of that coincides with you telling me that you like my shiny hair and then asking me to put my hand down your pants, so …”
