I look down at my drink, then back at him.
“This is a terrible idea,” I say and I’m not sure if I’m trying to convince him or me.
“Probably.”
“I mean it.”
“I know.”
“And you’re still suggesting it.”
“Yeah.”
I shake my head again, but there’s no real conviction in it.
Because the truth is—
I haven’t said no.
And that’s the part that unsettles me most.
Chapter 4
Mark
Ishouldn’t have asked.
That thought comes a beat too late to be useful.
I don’t do this. I don’t put things on the table without knowing what comes next. I don’t hand control of a situation to someone I met less than an hour ago and then sit back and wait to see what they do with it.
That’s not how I work.
And yet—
He’s still here.
Still sitting opposite me, turning the idea over like he’s trying to find the version of it that makes sense.
There isn’t one.
I knew that when I asked.
“This is a terrible idea,” he says.
“Yeah.”
“And you’re very comfortable with that.”
“I’m not fighting it.”
He exhales, rubbing a hand over his mouth.
“I don’t do thingslike this.”
“I know.”
“You don’t know me.”
