“But you do speak from professional experience, which is what people want. Anything else is just someone’s opinion.”
His comment lifted her mood.
After her life had exploded one of the hardest things to cope with was the feeling that she was a fraud. An impostor. Someone who shouldn’t be advising pe
ople on relationships.
“Tell me something.” Daniel pulled her toward him and took her face in his hands. “Do you believe in the advice you give?”
“Of course, but—”
“There is no but. As professionals, we give the advice we believe to be correct. If someone chooses not to take it, that doesn’t make us wrong. It’s crazy to say you shouldn’t be offering advice on relationships, and the fact that your book sold so many copies suggests that there were plenty of people who respect what you have to say and value your professional opinion.”
“But people buying that book wouldn’t know that I haven’t ever had a long-term relationship.”
“I’ve never been married and I spend my days advising people on divorce. I have no personal experience of either of those things. Brutus!” He called, and the dog hesitated and then came charging back to him, skidding to a halt at Daniel’s feet.
Molly stared at him, openmouthed. “Well—wow.”
“We’ve been working on it.”
She heard the pride in his voice and watched the way he made a fuss over Brutus before throwing the ball again. “He’s going to miss you.”
Daniel frowned, as if that possibility hadn’t occurred to him. “I should get to work. Will you be all right?”
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
“I opened wounds.” He lifted his hand and brushed a strand of hair away from her face. “Made you talk about things.”
“I think I managed that part by myself.”
“Do you regret it?”
“Telling you? No.” She hesitated. “I suppose if I’m honest I feel a little exposed.”
“Exposed?” He gave a slow smile, leaned forward and said something into her ear.
She felt heat pour into her cheeks. “Did you seriously just say that?”
“Yeah, I seriously did. I’ll see you at eight, Dr. Parker. Bring your whole bad self over to my place so I can expose parts of you I’ve never exposed before.”
* * *
Daniel hammered on the door of his sisters’ apartment. He should have felt tired, but instead he felt energized. The stress he’d felt, the anger, the hurt—it had all vanished when Molly had opened up to him. She’d told him everything. Trusted him with everything. And she was a person who didn’t trust easily. There were no more secrets between them.
He was seeing her later that night. Dinner, he thought. And then bed. No more deep conversations.
Maybe he’d text her and tell her to wear the same dress she’d worn the other night. And the lacy underwear he’d been in too much of a hurry to remove.
Harriet opened the door with three tiny kittens under her arm.
Brutus strained toward her and Daniel looked down at him sternly.
“Sit.”
Brutus sat and gave Daniel a dopey look.
Harriet’s jaw dropped. “You trained him?”