She sighed again, twisting her hands into the sleeves of her sweater.
‘Look, I know you don’t want a relationship and that you’re not over Leigh.’ He wasn’t sure that was true anymore, but he let Daisy keep talking. ‘And I’m definitely not interested in anything serious for obvious reasons.’
‘Wait, what obvious reasons?’
She looked at him like he was being purposefully obtuse.
‘Elliot, I told you, I can’t do this again. Relationships are not for me.’
‘At all?’
‘Right.’
‘Ever again?’
‘Elliot, I didn’t date for two years after my divorce from Matthew. I didn’t get out of bed for a month after David broke up with me. I am barely hanging on here. I have a sinking business to run. I do not have the energy or the strength to try this again.’
He swallowed hard. Well, that settled that.
He just thought…
They’d been having so much fun together.
And sometimes the way Daisy looked at him, it just seemed like…
‘Anyway, that’s why this is perfect and makes so much sense,’ Daisy went on. ‘Neither of us wants anything emotionally real so we can just, you know, be fuck buddies.’
Elliot nearly choked on his own tongue.
‘I can’t do that.’
Daisy’s face fell. ‘Oh.’
Shit.
‘Okay.’ She tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and tried to push past him to get to the door. ‘That’s fine. It was just an idea. Forget I ever said anything.’
She looked so damn hurt.
Shit, shit, shit.
‘That’s not what I meant.’
‘It’s really fine, Elliot. Let’s just go.’ She tried again to get past him, but he grabbed her arm and held her still.
‘Daisy, look at me.’
When she looked up, her expression was so devastated, so embarrassed, that Elliot couldn’t stand it.
‘You are beyond sexy.’
She rolled her eyes. ‘Okay, Elliot. I don’t need your pity compliments.’
‘It’s not pity. I want you, Daisy.’
‘You just said you didn’t. It’s fine. Let’s just go, please.’
He almost let her go. He should have, for his own good. He knew if things got physical between him and Daisy, he’d be lost. He’d be all-in. And after what Daisy just told him, he knew he’d be the only one.
