Page 46 of Best Summer Ever

I had no idea if he had accepted what I had said, but he sounded less abrupt. I resolutely kept my eyes focused on his face rather than the beautiful body I would most likely no longer be wrapping mine around.

‘Not quite,’ I carried on. ‘After you left, Sam told me that you’d decided to play in the pub again as a result of having talked to me and I’m really flattered about that. If talking to me has helped you pick up something you’ve always loved, I’m honoured.’

‘I see,’ he said with a nod.

Was he softening? I hoped so.

‘Even if this is it for us now,’ I sighed, ‘I’m still pleased we had that talk.’

‘So am I,’ he agreed, a faint smile playing about his lovely lips.

‘You are?’ I asked, hope bubbling in my chest.

‘I am,’ he nodded again, then added, ‘and I don’t think this is it for us, Daisy.’

‘You don’t?’ I croaked, the hope starting to bloom.

He shook his head.

‘I feel a connection to you,’ he said huskily. ‘I can’t explain it, but I feel like I’ve known you for far longer than I have. There’s something…’

‘Me too,’ I rushed to say, inadvertently reaching for his hand, which he didn’t snatch away. ‘I feel that too.’

‘You do?’

‘Yes,’ I said, stepping closer to him. ‘Yes.’

He looked down at me. His long eyelashes were still wet and they framed his eyes even more perfectly than usual.

‘Do you forgive me?’ I dared to ask.

He took a breath and I thought my heart was going to beat out of my chest.

‘I do,’ he eventually said and I felt myself wilt, ‘but you have to promise that you’ll never, ever put me in that dickhead pigeonhole again. Do you promise?’

‘I do,’ I laughed.

‘You’re sure?’ He frowned. ‘I know your ex treated you badly, Daisy, but not every guy is like that. I’m not like that. I could never mess a woman around. That’s not the sort of man I am.’

‘I know. I’ve known that since Sunday night.’

The look on his face when he walked out of the pub, the pained expression that had furrowed his brow and clouded his usually bright eyes, had been confirmation of that. Josh wasn’t capable of hurting me, of that I was certain.

‘Good,’ he said. ‘That’s all right then. I might still have some stuff to sort out.’ I guessed he was alluding to his family situation, his father in particular. ‘But where relationships are concerned, I’m straight down the line.’

‘Okay.’ I nodded. ‘And so am I. However long this thing between us lasts, I won’t think badly of you again.’

‘All right,’ he said, squeezing my hand. ‘And thank you for going some way to confirming my prowess in the bedroom when you were spilling the beans to Sam.’ I had to laugh at that. ‘Though you could have been a bit more enthusiastic.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, you said we’d had agreat nightand that you hadno complaints,’ he recited, letting go of my hand to put air quotes around the words.

He’d clearly memorised every syllable.

‘And what was wrong with that?’ I asked.

‘Well, it hardly suggests we set the bed on fire, does it? Or the sofa!’

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