‘I know.’
‘You don’t have to be sorry about anything.’
‘Okay.’ He nodded and she came to stand between his thighs, the way she had last night. But now his mind wasn’t hazy from the wine and his hands were sure. He gripped her hips and tugged her closer. ‘How did you imagine the night would end?’ he asked and Daisy smirked.
‘In the traditional Beltane way.’
Elliot swallowed hard, his hands tracing from her hips to her waist and back again. Time for honesty. Time to tell her what he should have told her yesterday.
‘But I’m glad it didn’t,’ she added, beating him to it.
Elliot’s heart dropped with a devastating splash into his still wine-filled stomach.
‘You are?’
‘Yeah, I mean, better to not confuse things between us. Better to keep this… platonic.’
‘Platonic?’ Elliot echoed, his newly patched heart breaking all over again. Even though it shouldn’t be. Even though none of this should be a surprise.
‘Yes, platonic. We’re friends, right?’
She looked down at him, studying his face, her fingers raking through his hair again like she’d done last night, and Elliot could cry at the feel of it, of Daisy touching him, of Daisy telling him this was all they would ever be.
He swallowed hard. He couldn’t sleep with Daisy and pretend it didn’t mean anything, not when he knew it would. He’d told her that and she clearly didn’t want it, didn’t want him to fall in love with her.
So, friends it was.
Daisy didn’t need to know that it was already far too late for him.
‘Yeah, of course, friends.’
‘We can stop fake-dating if you want,’ she said. ‘If it would be too weird now.’
‘Have you booked any weddings yet?’
She shook her head.
‘And what happens if we break up now?’ he asked, already knowing the answer. Their break-up would just be more evidence of Daisy’s bad luck in love, and all of this would have been for nothing.
Daisy shrugged like it didn’t matter to her, when he knew it did. It meant everything to her.
‘Okay, so we keep going,’ he said, signing himself up for more pain. ‘At least until you book a wedding for next year. How about that?’
She bit her bottom lip, thinking, like she wasn’t sure this was a good idea.
‘And we still have research to do on these lookalike ancestors of ours. So, we might as well let the town think we’re together while we do it.’
‘True…’ She still didn’t sound convinced.
‘Afraid you won’t be able to keep your hands off of me?’ he joked.
‘I think I can manage,’ she said with a smirk, even as her hands moved from his hair to his shoulders. He hadn’t let go of her hips. She was stillrightthere.
Wouldn’t it be easy to tug her forward? To tip back onto the bed and give in?
As easy as running his hand over the tip of a knife and wondering why it hurt.
Daisy shook her head, finally letting her hands fall from his body. ‘Okay, so still fake-dating, but maybe with less… touching.’
