He reads more in my head. “You mean, let them believe their manipulation is working. You feed them what I tell you, and I control the flow of information?”
“Exactly. Then I won’t have to be the liar, you will. At the very least it would buy us time to come up with another plan, right?”
His expression lifts slightly for the first time. Is that a flicker of hope? Maybe I’ve finally given him evidence that I’m not totally useless. He smiles. “You’re not useless. Anyway, it can’t hurt to try. We already know the alternative won’t work.” He sighs at my next thought. “You need to stop.”
“But how can I help you if I don’t know everything. I feel like you’re hiding so much from me.”
“I am. You have to trust me.”
“Are they going to come for you again?”
“I don’t know. I couldn’t discern their intent this morning. Clausen can block me when he wants to. They’re careful.”
I swallow the sudden emotion at the memory of his morning. “Why did you come to lunch today?”
Our eyes meet, and my lungs burn.
“You want me to say it was because of you.”
“Was it?”
“Partly.”
“Why else?” He doesn’t respond, and I accept the losing battle. Suddenly, he shakes his head in exasperation.
“Really? Again with the fantasies?”
I roll my eyes. “It’s not like it’s a secret. You know how much I want to kiss you.”
His playful grin only makes it worse. “You should go. You’re going to be late.”
“Ha, I knew it. You think I’m a bad kisser.”
He laughs. “You don’t have much experience. You’ll get the hang of it,” he teases, and I swat his arm.
“So help me practice. I’m kind of a perfectionist.”
“I know.” He leans in and sends my heart racing with the slightest brush on the cheek. “We’ll practice another time. I promise.”
My mood shatters at the brief vision, and he sighs. “You do realize that’s a big part of the problem.”
I nod and look away. “I wish I could turn it off. It’s why I don’t have much experience.” I study his response and grunt. “But you didn’t take that approach to relationships, I see.”
“No. I just kept things superficial so when it got too weird to ignore, neither of us got hurt.”
“Does that really work?”
“Not at all,” he says with smirk. “But it sounds good, doesn’t it?”
“No. You probably left a trail of broken hearts.”
“Look for the ones who hate me the most.” My eyes widen, and he grins. “Laura, yes; Ben, no.”
“But is that why Ben hates you so much?”
Daniel leans back with a self-satisfied smile. “Partly. Also because I never worshipped him like he wanted. For whatever reason, I’m immune to his manipulation.”
“Like he wanted?” Oh, no. “He told me his gift was a curse that he can’t control.”
