Page 60 of Picking Daisies on Sundays

He pulled his arm away. “Isabella, I’m so tired of this. You know I’m with Dani. I’m not doing this with you. I don’t care if it jeopardizes the job or not.”

My heart began beating faster than the trains that flew through the subway. Had Bella been hitting on him this entire time that we’ve been “together”? Had he been returning her feelings?

Did he just say he doesn’t care if the job was jeopardized?

“Fine. I’ll see you in the dining room.” I watched as Bella walked away and as Levi walked towards—shit, shit, shit.

“Dani?” Levi asked, taken aback. Seeing him for the first time since we kissed was more conflicting than I had expected. Looking at his lips and knowing what they felt like against mine was a new form of torture to endure. I only wondered if it had crossed his mind.

His words in between our kisses were lust and desire, that was all.But why did those kisses have to be so hard to forget?

“Hi sorry, I didn’t—I wasn’t,” snooping?Well, that would be a lie, because yes you were, a voice said in the back of my head. I gave up trying to come up with an explanation and said, “The girls and I were baking, so we were washing dishes and then they were asking me questions and I wasn’t answering quick enough so they—it doesn’t matter. My shirt got wet, so I came to dry it off,” I huffed.

He looked down at my shirt. “I can get you a new one—”

“No, no, no, I’m fine, it’s fine.” The last thing I needed was a shirt that smelled like his cologne.

A blush slowly appeared on his cheekbones. He scratched the back of his neck and asked, “Can we talk?”

“Yeah, of course,” I responded. This was what I got for snooping on a private conversation

“I wanted to talk about last night.” Oh,no. I assumed that our texts from earlier were an unspoken agreement to pretend like last night didn’t happen. “About what happened when we—”

“Oh,oh, don’t worry.” No, this wasn’t happening. I couldn’t have him telling me that last night was a mistake. Those were

words I wouldn’t come back from.

Confusion clouded his face. “Don’t worry?”

I couldn’t let him think last night meant something to me when it evidently didn’t mean anything to him. He had to think this was mutual. I formulated the quickest lie I could think of.

“Yeah, it was no big deal. You just caught me off guard. I hadn’t kissed anyone in a while,”why did I just admit that?“We were just pretending, I know,” I shrugged with a smile. But I felt like I was crumbling away on the inside, my stomach clenching at the lie and forced forged smile on my face. The same smile I wore when Ethan told me my papers were poor and when guys on dates told me that I wasn’t usually their type. Those rejections hurt, but to be rejected by him again? To have him tell me that last night’s kiss meant nothing?

“Pretending,” he repeated stoically.

“Did you think I would be upset?”

“I just wasn’t aware that it was…” He stared at me for a moment with confusion, but then laughed quietly to himself. “I’m an idiot, sorry, ignore me. Let’s go have dinner.”

Dinner was on the table, with two seats left for us, the girls sandwiching us in. Sarah and her bridesmaids all discussed the wedding; from seating arrangements to dresses to how the weather would be since the wedding would be on the beach.

He was silent for the entirety of the conversation, only lifting his head when Rhea spoke. He was sitting beside me, but his mind was somewhere else.

“Dani, are you driving with us?” Sarah asked, catching me off guard. I must not have been listening to their conversation enough.

“I’m sorry, I missed that. Driving with you…where?” I asked.

“To the beach house!”

I looked at her with a tilted head.

“Where the wedding is happening! The wedding party is going up the day before. I know that you’re not a bridesmaid but you’re family and I want you there, and I know Levi wants you there too.”

As fun as a weekend wedding in the Hamptons sounded, all I could think about was how staying the night would go. Who would I talk to when Levi wasn’t in the room? Where would I sleep? How many showers were there? What would be acceptable to wear to bed that would look cool but not overdressed?

My worry must’ve been obvious to at least him because he intervened.

“There’s no pressure. I could easily run back to the city and grab you in the morning before the wedding.” That lost mask of thought no longer appeared on his face.