She stared at him, shocked at his outburst but even more surprised that he’d revealed that much about his childhood to her. When they were younger, she’d pried, tried to get him to open up about his life with the infamous Stephanie, but he’d never so much as mentioned his mother and what his life was like before he came to live at The Silver C. From the pain she saw in his eyes, Alex knew that it was way worse than she’d ever imagined.
“I’m sorry—”
Daniel immediately cut her off. “Forget it. Ignore what I said. My point is that I like to plan. I always will.”
Because it made him feel secure, like he was in control. Alex understood that now. She picked up a handful of fine sand and allowed it to trickle through her fingers. Knowing that Daniel had said everything he intended to for now, she contemplated whether to stay on the island or to leave. She could call for a plane and within hours they’d be winging their way back to Royal and nothing, not one damn thing, would be settled between them.
But on the other hand... With a couple of emails, she could clear her schedule, take this time they both desperately needed. Didn’t she owe it to herself, to Daniel and her child, to stop, to breathe? To think?
To plan? Dammit.
Alex made herself meet his eyes and reluctantly nodded. “Okay, we can stay here.”
His eyes turned smoky and Alex immediately recognized that look. She held up her hand. “Hold on, cowboy. If we do this, then there are going to be some ground rules.”
Daniel released a low curse, and a frown pulled those black brows together. It wasn’t a surprise to see that Clayton didn’t like anyone else calling the shots. Tough—it was something he was going to have to deal with. She wasn’t eighteen anymore and so desperately eager to please.
“I’ll only do this if we can start fresh.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Daniel demanded, grumpy again.
“I am not hopping back into bed with you.” Alex drew a heart in the sand and quickly erased it, hoping he hadn’t noticed. “As I said, I want us to do something different, be different!”
“Lex...” Daniel muttered.
“Dan, we’re having a baby together! We’re not going to get married, or even live together, but if we are going to be in each other’s lives, see each other every weekend, then there has got be something more between us than some hot sex.”
“I’m not good at talking, Lex.”
Neither was she. But they had to make an effort. “I know, Dan, and neither am I. We’re not good at opening up, at sharing, but, God, the next eighteen years are going to be sheer misery if we don’t start to communicate.”
Daniel stared past her shoulder and Alex picked up the tension in his body, saw his hard jaw, his thin lips. She needed this, she suddenly realized. She needed to dig beneath the surface to find out what made this amazing man tick, and not only for her baby. She needed to know him. Because even if they couldn’t be lovers, they could be friends, and being friends with Dan was infinitely better than being lovers and casual acquaintances. He had fabulous mattress skills but between that gruff exterior was, she suspected, a lonely guy who needed a friend. And to be honest, so did she.
Daniel’s cheeks puffed and then he expelled the breath he’d been holding. When he turned to look at her, his expression turned rueful. “I can’t promise you anything, but I can try, Lex. That’s all I can give you.”
“I still want to sleep with you, though,” Dan added, being brutally honest.
“I know.” Alex picked up her water bottle from the sand and dusted it off. “But we can either have one or the other, not both.”
“I vote for sex.”
She rolled her eyes. “You’re a guy—I wouldn’t expect anything else. But no, that’s not going to happen. I think we need to be friends.”
“Not half as much fun,” Daniel grumbled.
Alex smiled at his sulky face. “Man up, Clayton.”
Although his expression remained sober, she caught the amusement in his eyes. He leaned toward her, his amazing eyes on her mouth and his mouth hovered over hers. She should pull back—she would pull back...but how much could one little kiss hurt?