Page 54 of The Rogue and His Flower

“No, Daisy, I think hetrulycares for you.”

“If he does, it’sbecauseI’m Drix’s sister. Nothing more.”

“There’s something else I’ve never mentioned to you,” she continues, flicking her gaze my way.

“Oh no, what?”

“Do you remember that night Drix took me to Bandits Bar to see the band play.”

“The night when he tripped over his tongue because you looked so damn hot, you mean?” I respond playfully, remembering that moment well.

She grins. “Well, that night Dalton asked me to dance.”

“I bet he did.”

“It wasn’t like that. He was very respectful.”

“Okay, so you danced…” I let my voice trail off as I wait for her to continue.

“He asked for my advice about a woman he liked.”

“I’m not sure I want to know,” I admit. “It was bad enough that I found at our engagement party that he’d slept with my ex-friend Clarissa.”

Lia’s eyes widen. “That can’t have been fun.”

“It wasn’t, but the fact he told her to her face that he regretted sleeping with her made up for it.”

“Wait, when did that happen?” Lia asks, eyes wide with delight.

“At our engagement party. I overheard her talking about me unkindly, and I finally told her what I thought of her.”

Lia grins. “Good for you!”

“Then Dalton came along and backed me up. He was… kind.”

Lia grins, her eyes twinkling. “I knew it.”

“You’re reading into things,” I say, brushing her off with a wave of my hand. “So… this woman that he asked your advice about. Who was she?”

“He never said, but given the conversation I had with him at the restaurant after you argued, I believe that woman is you.”

“No way. Nope. Impossible,” I reply, shaking my head. “Up until very recently Dalton and I hated each other.”

“Look, I really don’t know Dalton all that well,” she says, grasping my hand, and squeezing it gently. "But I do believe there is a lot more to how he feels about you than he’s willing to acknowledge. The way he kissed you at the engagement party was not how a man kisses a woman who he sees as his little sister.”

“Dalton and I are just playing a part,” I argue, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable in my skin as my stomach does this weird flip-flop.

Lia tips her head to the side as she regards me. “But thereisan undeniable chemistry between you. Even when you supposedly hated each other, I could sense it. You can’t tell me you don’t feel it?”

“I honestly don’t know what I feel, or what’s even real. I’m a little out of my depth here,” I admit, recalling how it felt to have his hands on me that time in the spa, how it felt to have his lips on mine at Bandits Bar and then at our engagement party. But more than that, how he’d had my back when Clarissa had been cruel, and how he’d supported my choice to wear a dress of my choosing.

“Maybe you’re just too scared to admit the truth to yourself.”

“What truth?”

“That at the very least Dalton’s attracted to you, and that maybe you’re attracted to him too.”

I heave out a sigh, shaking my head. “Dalton is a sex addict, Lia, and right now he’s unable to indulge his desires. That kiss was a byproduct of all his pent up sexual tension. That’s all it was, and I was playing along for the sake of our contract.”

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