Page 41 of One Wild Wedding Weekend

Tristan didn’t know where this was going, but he could hear the tension in her voice, as if even now, the telling wasn’t easy.

“Were they gone long?”

“No. Maybe forty-five minutes. I had just parked my car in the driveway and gone inside when the doorbell rang. I peeked out. It was our neighbor, Mr. Spalding. He and his wife have lived next door since Tabby and I were little. I thought maybe he needed to borrow something. I opened the door. He said my father had promised to loan him a book—a novel Daddy had just finished reading. It was in the office, probably. All he wanted to do was get it and he’d be on his way. I honestly never thought a thing about it. It was an ordinary day, and he was an ordinary man I’d known my whole life.”

Tristan’s stomach cramped with dread. “What then?”

“I saw the book immediately. My father was very organized with his library. I had to reach up to the top shelf. When I did, Mr. Spalding came up behind me and slid both hands under my shirt. He pushed my bra aside and hurt my breasts, pinched them hard. I was so shocked it took me a moment to react.”

“God, Daley.”

She curled into a ball in her chair. Tristan wondered if she realized how defensive her posture was...

There was silence for a moment. Then she grimaced. “I understood later when I had time to think it through. He saw my parents drive away. And he saw me arrive. He must have made a split-second decision. A crime of opportunity.”

“Did he...”

“Rape me? No. I took a self-defense course in college. When I caught my breath and managed to react, I whirled around, kneed him in the balls and shoved the heel of my hand up into his nose. I may have broken it. I don’t know. But it bled a lot.”

“I’m glad. The bastard deserved much worse.”

“I told him if he didn’t get his sleazy ass out of the house in thirty seconds, I was calling the police.” She smiled for the first time. “He ran like a scared little boy being chased by rabid dogs.”

Tristan exhaled sharply. “I’m so sorry that happened to you.”

She played with a strand of her hair, not looking at him. “Nothing happened. Not really. I was lucky. I realize that.”

“You’re wrong,” Tristan said flatly. “Something did happen. You were sexually assaulted. Did you tell your parents?”

“No.” She shot him a look. “I know you think that’s stupid. But Mr. Spalding and my father were friends. And to be honest, Tabby and I didn’t have the greatest relationship with our dad. He was distant. Hard to know. All the hugs came from our mom.”

Tristan tried to come to terms with the story Daley had told him. Clearly, it had marked her. Surely any woman would have been affected.

Did she have trouble with intimacy after that? He couldn’t bring himself to ask that very personal question. Something she had said to him at the wedding made him think her sexual experience wasn’t extensive.

It made sense. She might have had a hard time putting herself in physically vulnerable situations. “Thank you for telling me,” he said quietly.

“It’s no big deal.” Daley stood and hitched her pants. “I’ll go now,” she said. “Thanks for dinner.” She gave him an impudent smile for the little joke she made.

He didn’t try to stop her. They had reached uncertain ground. “You have a kind heart, Daley Martin. I appreciate the food and the company.” He followed her as she walked back to the foyer and collected her wet clothes.

She slid her feet into soggy sandals and clutched the rest of her belongings to her chest. “And don’t forget the sex,” she said. “Are you going to thank me for that?”

“No,” he said bluntly. “That was for us. Equally. It was mutual at the wedding, and it was today. We may not be the perfect couple—or a couple at all—but we sure as hell have chemistry.”

She nodded slowly. “You’re not wrong. But to be honest, I almost flunked chemistry in college, so I wouldn’t put too much stock in that.”

He chuckled. “I stand fair-warned.”

Daley ducked in close to give him a quick kiss. Her lips were warm and sweet. He could have put an arm around her. Held her tight. But he sensed she wasn’t comfortable with the situation, so he let her go. She smiled as she stepped outside. “See you at work when you’re better. Good night, Tristan.”

At home, Daley stripped off Tristan’s clothes and took a hot shower. After the storm, the heat had returned, but it didn’t matter. She was cold to the bone.

She needed to go straight to bed so she could get a solid eight hours of sleep. This week at Lieberman and Dunn was turning out to be stressful in multiple ways. Tomorrow morning would come early. Unfortunately, she was keyed up, and the knot of worry in the pit of her stomach wasn’t conducive to peaceful sleep.

Tonight, she had stepped over an invisible line. It was fine to pretend she took food to Tristan out of altruistic motives. But the truth was hard to avoid. At least on some subconscious level, she must have assumed they might end up in bed.

If Tristan was not boyfriend material, why did she go to his house?

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