“I... I’m not interested, Finn.”
“No?” Her words knifed through him, but he tugged the charmer’s mask into place. “Not even a little?”
“I don’t care in small amounts.” The soberness in her tone encouraged more distance than he wanted. Resurrected a wall between them that he, evidently, had forgotten to keep in place.
He should thank her.
“This might be your typical fun, but I’m not a game player. Especially with guys like you.”
He flinched.
“Guys like me?” He forced a shrug, clinging to flippancy like a life raft. “You mean tall, dark, and handsome?”
She huffed a laugh, but there was sadness in her eyes now. The kind that lingered and he couldn’t—shouldn’t—try to reach. “I mean shortsighted and flirt heavy. I’m not into heart games.”
“Oh, no worries, luv.” He took a step back, the space between them now a canyon. “I only want your time, conversation, and attention. You can keep your heart.”
He hated himself the second the words left his mouth.
And judging by the flicker in her eyes, she hated them too. Because for the first time in a long time, he... didn’t mean them.
“I don’t trust myself to keep my heart where you—and your kiss—are concerned.” Caution and the tiniest hint of hurt weaved into her expression, dousing his internal temperature. “And I’m not willing to lose it on a bet.”
His chest ached.
He hadn’t meant to make her feel like a gamble. But maybe that’s exactly what he’d done—rolled the dice with something too fragile for casual stakes.
That wasn’t who he was.
At least... it hadn’t been. Before her.
Had she gotten too close? Tempted him to the point of fear? And had he lashed out the only way he knew how?
“Daphne—”
“I’m sure there are plenty of women in Wisteria who’d be happy to play your kind of games,” she continued. “But I’m not one of them.”
“My kind?” His throat tightened.
“You want the one-night stand.” Her eyes didn’t leave his. “I want the happily ever after.”
And that—that—hurt in a place he didn’t know still had nerve endings, but he covered the sting with a smirk. “Well, actually, we’ve already had the one-night stand, and happily ever afters are for fairy tales.”
Her eyes dimmed. “Too bad I still believe in them then.” She gave him a half smile—wistful, brave, beautiful. The kind he’d remember later. “Silly, I know. But I’ve never been good with half-hearted or short term.”
The need to make things right burst him forward a step. “Daphne, please—”
“Daddy?”
Lucy’s sleepy voice drifted from the other room.
They both froze.
Reality snapped back into place.
Daphne took another step back. He let her.
He needed the space. Needed to shove the emotion down.
