The Dating Plan(39)
DAISY: There was no MMA fighter. Max and I are watching Fight Club on Netflix.
LIAM: Will I get to meet Max?
DAISY: Yes. If Max doesn’t like you, it’s all over.
LIAM: I’ll bring treats.
DAISY: He can’t be bribed.
LIAM: Everyone has a weakness.
DAISY: What’s yours?
LIAM: You.
Friday, 11:30 P.M.
LIAM: You forgot to call me humraaz.
DAISY: I just said it for show. No one is around to hear it now.
LIAM: Say it anyway.
DAISY: Good night, humraaz.
* * *
? ? ?
“YOU haven’t touched your drink.”
Liam looked up from his phone, momentarily disoriented. He’d come to the Rose & Thorn after work with James and their three new staff hires for a little get-to-know-each-other drink, but now he was sitting at the end of the bar alone.
“Your drink.” Rainey pointed to the pint of Guinness in front of him. “You wasted a good head and it’s getting warm.”
Liam looked around and spotted James and their new employees on the dance floor, swinging each other around as the live band played a fifties jive.
“Who were you texting? Never seen you so focused.” She cleared away the empty glasses from the counter beside him.
“The woman I told you about. Daisy.”
Rainey froze. “Not the one you stood up for prom?”
On instinct, Liam threw up a hand in case Rainey decided to slap him again. “She agreed to be my fake fiancée.”
“Did she hit her head or something? Does her father need medical treatment and you agreed to pay the bills? Was the bank about to foreclose on the house that’s been in her family for generations and you talked to the bank manager who’s a friend of yours? Or did you just pay her a shitload of money?”
Liam half rose from his seat, Daisy’s own words on his lips. “She’s not a hooker, Rainey.”
“Well, you must have offered her something pretty amazing because last time you were here, you said she hated you, and now she’s agreed to be your wife.”
He settled back down, still wary of a sudden attack. “She gets her matchmaking relatives off her back, and I help her company get back on its feet. It’s purely a business arrangement.”
“Are you sure about that?” Rainey gestured to his phone. “You’ve been smiling at your phone for the last half hour. Your team hit the dance floor and you didn’t even know they’d gone. Maybe you’ve fallen for your fake fiancée.”
Liam took a breath to speak, then released it. Considered a dozen different explanations for why he’d been more focused on texting Daisy than getting to know his staff, then rejected them. “I’m sure.” He took a sip of the rich, thick Guinness, letting the malty sweetness and hoppy bitterness slide over his tongue. Usually he drank his Guinness as a whiskey chaser, but James had ordered the first round before he arrived. “We’re meeting my family tomorrow and she was just confirming the details.”
Nothing had changed in the last ten years. Daisy was still Sanjay’s little sister. She was still smart, beautiful, and funny, and her ability to bring order to chaos still made him feel like his world wasn’t spinning out of control. She’d taken his half-baked idea to save the distillery and made it real. She got his jokes, and nothing made him feel as good as when she smiled. He just hoped that the man who would one day win her heart would be both worthy and appreciative of what he had.
“How was the Death Race over the weekend?” he asked into the silence of her stare.
“You’re changing the subject, but I’ll tell you anyway.” She held up her arm and pointed to a fresh, white bandage. “I finished it in record time. Got my tattoo from the Bobby Tam. He doesn’t just do ink, he creates masterpieces. I’m keeping it hidden until it’s perfectly healed. I can hardly wait to show it off.”
“I look forward to the big reveal.”
Rainey poured two shots of whiskey and pushed one toward him. “How does she feel about you?”
Of course Rainey wouldn’t let it go. Once her curiosity was piqued, she’d keep at him until he told her the truth—if he even knew what that was. “I don’t know.”
Two weeks ago, he would have had a different answer. But two fake dates later, he wasn’t so sure. They’d laughed together, swapped stories about the past, and teased each other like they’d done before. And that kiss. So unexpected . . . so sweet . . . and so damn hot. He’d felt passion in her kiss, awakening a longing inside him that had never truly died. And from the flush in her cheeks when he’d finally let her go, he knew she’d felt it, too.
“Well, she obviously doesn’t hate you, or she wouldn’t have agreed to your crazy plan.” Rainey sipped from her glass and licked her lips. “And you very clearly don’t hate her. The question is: Are you doing this to appease your conscience, to save the distillery, or to get the girl?”
Liam tipped his head back and groaned. “It doesn’t matter. Even if I wanted something more than a fake relationship, at some point she’ll want an explanation for what happened between us in the past, and it will all be over. I made a promise to keep a secret, and the truth would tear her family apart.”