Page 42 of Duke, Actually

“No. I mean, what do you like todo?” He waved his hand between them and raised his eyebrows.

“Oh.” She wasn’t sure why the question was so shocking. She’d been up front about the fact that she was not looking for a relationship. In a way, she appreciated the direct approach. “Uh, well... I guess I like to go with the flow?”

He shrugged like that was an acceptable if not optimal answer and turned to his final side dish, which was some kind of pulled pork concoction. “Yeah, okay, I was just wondering what turned you on.”

Not you.

Ugh. That was terrible. Asking her that question was more than most guys would do. In her experience before Vince, which was admittedly quite a few years ago now, men usually had to be directed fairly explicitly if she wanted to have any fun herself. So she gave Logan’s question serious consideration. She’d been turned on a lot lately. In fact, the sudden return of desire to her life was what had prompted this exercise to begin with. That accidental hug with Max in Central Park had started it, but then it had . . . not gone away, like a faucet left on.

Except now. It had gone away now. Someone had turned off the tap. She just kept thinking of all that meat being shoveled into the mouth that would, if all went according to plan, soon be on her. She wasn’t a vegetarian, but—yuck. She tried to focus on Logan’s unnaturally good looks, but she kept thinking about the meat mouth. So she transferred her attention to his biceps. Still nothing. She was back to being dead inside.

She huffed a frustrated sigh. “Logan, I am really sorry about this, but I think I’m going to have to bail.”

“Really?” He looked a little disappointed, which she supposed was flattering.

“Yeah, I...” None of this was his fault, meat mouth aside, so she lied. “I’m coming off a breakup, and I thought I was ready, but...”

Shewasready, was the thing. Or she had been, a day ago.

Logan was surprisingly good-natured about her abrupt about-face, especially when she insisted on picking up the tab—all that meat did not come cheap.

On the way to the subway, she checked her phone, which she’d silenced for brunch.

Max:I heard you’re on a date.

Max:Or should I say “date”?

Max:Let me know how it goes.

Max:And also that you didn’t get axe-murdered.

She pulled over to the edge of the sidewalk.

Dani:How do you know I was on a date?

Max:It’s over already? Wow. Slam, bam...

Dani:I couldn’t go through with it.

Her phone rang. “How did you know I was on a date?” she asked when she picked it up.

“I thought you were going to meet in public first,” he said, ignoring her question again. He sounded peeved.

“How did you know I was on a date?” she repeated.

“I’m at the palace. Leo and Marie and I were at the pub in the village while you were talking to Leo.”

She harrumphed. She’d never told Leo it was a secret, but still.

“Dani, you can’t just go home with someone without—”

“I didn’t. I bailed frombrunch,” she said, answering his question now that he’d finally answered hers, though his relentless focus on the logistics of her date was getting annoying.

“Oh,” he said. “I misunderstood.”

“All right, then.” She let her irritation evaporate. He meant well.

“Why did you change your mind?”