“With all the guys? Sure.” I smile at the thought of being invited to one of their outings.

“Actually…” He lifts his eyes to mine. “I meant, just you and me.”

“Oh.” Oh.

“I mean, it’s cool if you don’t want to—”

“No, it’s fine.” It is? “I mean, sure. Yes.” Daisy…what are you doing?

“Yes?” His eyes light up, his lips lifting into a big smile.

Shit, what am I doing? I like Cooper…but Kas…and I’ve already said yes.

“Yes,” I repeat with a smile.

His grin deepens. “Cool. Well, how about you give me your number, and I can text you to arrange it?”

“Sure. But, first, let me get you the milk and biscuits.” And bang my head against the wall while I’m at it.

I usher him to go inside first. Watching him round the corner, I let out a low groan.

Jesus Christ, Daisy, what the hell are you playing at?

Get kissed by Kas, and then get asked out on a date by Cooper—all in the space of twenty minutes.

Great going, Daisy. Really, well done.

I think I hear movement on Kas’s balcony. My head snaps up. I move back to get a clear view, but no one is there, and the sliding door to his bedroom is shut.

Must have been a bird or the breeze or something.

“Daisy? You coming or what?” Cooper’s high voice comes from the back of the house, snapping me back to the now.

On a sigh, I say, “Yeah, I’m coming.”

Twenty-One

“Sit still, will you? Honestly, Daisy, you’re worse than some of the kids whose hair I have to cut.”

“I’m sorry. I just don’t know if it’s a good idea to make such an effort with my hair when I’m not really sure that I should be going out with Cooper. I don’t want to get all dressed up and give him the wrong idea.”

Cece lowers the curling iron from my hair, and she pins me with a stare in the mirror. “One, it’s your first date since getting out of”—she hesitates—“that place.”

Cece doesn’t refer to it as prison. I think she thinks that it will upset me if she brings prison up, but it doesn’t. Honestly, I think it upsets her more—the fact that I was in there and she couldn’t do anything to help me.

“It’s not a date, Ce. We’re just two friends and work colleagues who are going out for a drink.”

She gives me a look. “He asked you out. It’s a date. And why do you think you shouldn’t be going out with him?”

I blow out a breath. “Because he asked me literally minutes after I had my tongue down my boss’s throat, and I wasn’t exactly thinking straight.”

My stomach twists in pleasure and pain at the memory.

I haven’t seen Kas since he walked away from me yesterday.

After I came in the house with Cooper, after disastrously accepting his offer to go for a drink, we were in the kitchen, and I heard the front door slam loudly. Then, Kas’s car revved loudly before pulling away.

He didn’t come home for the rest of the day. And he wasn’t at the house at all yesterday or today.

I don’t know where he’s been. But I do know for sure that he’s avoiding me.

I know this because his bed was clearly slept in for both nights. I had the pleasure of making them both mornings.

Obviously, he got up early and left before I arrived for work, and he stayed out until I was gone.

At first, I was relieved because it saved me from an awkward conversation. But, once the relief was gone, absence started to hurt. And all it served to do was remind me of why he’d stopped kissing me in the first place.

And this going out for drinks with Cooper is stupid. I’ve got enough problems with one guy at work without mixing myself up with another.

“I’m going to cancel on Cooper,” I say decisively, making a grab for my phone, which is sitting on the dressing table where I’m seated.

“Don’t you bloody dare, Daisy May Smith.”

My hand stops over the phone, my fingers curled around it.

“Hand off the phone, Mayday.” There’s a no-brokering tone to her voice.

Giving her the stink eye, I slowly lift my hand off the phone.

“No, you listen to me. Above anyone, you deserve a night out. After everything you’ve been through, you’re owed a night out with a good guy who’s also hot. And Australian. So, you know, accent.” She grins.

“Granted, I’ll give you the accent. But I said good-looking. Not hot.”

“Same thing.”

“Jason was hot.”

She frowns at me.

“And I thought he was a good guy,” I continue. “Look where that got me.”

Her scowl quickly softens. “Jason is a plague on society. A waste of perfectly good air. I hate that scum and will wish him well in hell when I send him there. But he’s not all men, babe. I don’t want what happened with that wankstain to sour you on all men. And I’m not suggesting that you have to have a relationship with Cooper or even trust him right away. But I just want you to go out and have some fun. Let someone wine and dine you—or, in this case, just wine you. You deserve it, Dais.”

“I know.” I sigh. “But it just feels wrong.”

“Because of Kas?”

Cece knows everything that has happened between Kas and me. I’ve kept her up to speed on all current events in my life. I mean, she’s my best friend. I tell her everything.