“Talk about what?” She felt a rush of unease. “If something else is wrong, then I want to talk about it now. Are you upset that they dug into your past?”
“I don’t care what they say about me, but I care what they say about you. Gabe, Mark, Fliss and Harry—they were here as your friends. I’m here because—” He paused, ran his hand across his unshaven jaw and muttered something under his breath.
She couldn’t make out the words.
Something about it being the wrong time? About him picking the worst possible moment? The worst possible moment for what?
She felt a rush of alarm.
“Daniel? Finish your sentence. You’re here because…?”
“I’m here because I care about you.” He let his hand drop and his gaze met hers. “I love you.”
It took a moment for the words to sink into her brain and even when they did her reaction was muted. Shock. “You don’t mean that.”
She won’t break his heart because he doesn’t have one.
“I mean it. I love you.”
She stared at him and then turned and paced to the window, her arms wrapped around her waist. “You feel that way because the sex is good.”
“The sex is good. But that isn’t the reason I feel this way.”
She turned to face him, pure panic rising up inside her. “I can’t believe you’re saying this, Daniel. Not now. I can’t handle it along with everything else.”
“I’m telling you how I feel, that’s all. You don’t need to handle anything.”
“But you don’t—you can’t—” She couldn’t get the words out. “You promised me. You told me you’d never been in love.”
“I never have been in love. But I’m in love now. With you.”
This couldn’t be happening.
She pressed her fingers to the base of her throat, trying to calm her breathing. “You need to leave. Right now.”
“Molly—”
“I’m serious. It’s for the best. You need to meet someone else. Get over me. Go and have rebound sex.” She was stammering, falling over her words in her panic.
“You want me to go and have sex with another woman?”
It was as if he’d driven a knife under her ribs. She had a fleeting image of him with someone else, smiling for someone else, tilting his head when he listened, eating pizza, walking in the park, laughing, talking— “Just go.” She grabbed his jacket from the sofa and thrust it at him. “Go.”
He didn’t budge. Instead he stood, rock-solid and calm. “You have no reason to panic.”
“You think you’re in love with me. That’s the best reason I know to panic! That’s more terrifying than anything that has happened here today. You know why? Because no matter what you say, the next thing will be you expecting me to fall in love with you. And I can’t. I’d try, I’d try really hard, and when nothing happens I’d feel crap about myself and—”
“Hush.” He covered her lips with his fingers to silence her. “Stop talking and open your laptop, Molly.” He let his hand drop.
“What? Why? I’ve seen all I need to see.”
“There’s something else you need to see, and if you still want me to leave after you’ve seen it, then I’ll leave.”
“But—”
“It has to do with Rupert.”
The name made her freeze. “Rupert?” What did any of this have to do with Rupert?