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“You don’t know him,” I said. “He’s really closed off. Every time I think we’re making progress, he shuts down.”
“Hence the nudity.” Daphne spread her arms out wide. “Guaranteed success.”
I groaned, sinking my face into my hands. The thought of trying to be some sultry temptress made me want to hide under my blanket for life. “I don’t think I can do this.”
“What scares you, honey?” Richard asked.
Everything.
The possible rejection.
Months of awkwardness that would ensue as a result.
Even worse—the thing I didn’t want to say out loud—was the thought of eventually walking away from someone important. He was a risk, no matter how I sliced it.
And I’d avoided that particular risk very well.
My heart remained unbroken, which was no small feat, considering I was closer to thirty than twenty-five.
But he was only as dangerous to my heart as I’d allow him to be. And I was self-aware enough to make sure that didn’t happen.
“It’s fine if you don’t want to answer,” Daphne said.
“It’s also fine to ignore her naked approach,” Richard chided. “Just decide in a way that makes you feel comfortable.”
My head lifted slowly. “What do you mean?”
“Make a list of why you’d want to do this. Why you think it’s a good idea. You always feel better when you see things in black and white.”
I blinked.
Then I smiled.
“Oh shit,” Daphne said with a sigh. “Don’t tell her that.”
“Ofcourse,” I breathed. “I can make a PowerPoint.”
Chapter Seventeen
BURKE
“Whatcha looking at?”
I made room as Felicia clambered up onto my chair. It was almost too hot to be out by the pool, but sitting inside an air-conditioned house somehow seemed even worse.
“Pictures.”
“Can I see?”
I gave her a brief look. “You and your brother have this strange obsession with wanting to know what we’re looking at all the time.”
She shrugged, scrolling adeptly through the pictures I’d received from Charlotte the last couple of weeks. “Probably because we’re not allowed to have phones, so everything you look at is exciting to us.”
Fair enough.
“These are boring pictures, though.” She turned the screen toward me. “What is that?”
I tilted it so I could see which one she was looking at.
