She swims over to his spot by the pool wall, and since he sits out of the water, he towers above her and hunches slightly to look down at Daisy. He holds the taco out to her.
She sets her empty cup beside the sopping magazine. “I thought you said I could only have a taco if I went with you.”
“I’m making an exception.”
Her eyes flicker between the taco and Ryke, and I don’t like where this is headed. It reminds me of the time where he tempted her with a piece of chocolate cake. She ate it, but only after a string of inappropriate events. Lo didn’t see that. And he’s too focused on his phone to look up and watch Daisy and Ryke.
But maybe…maybe it’s all in my head. I mean, my thoughts circumnavigate to sex all the time. Maybe these past three months without Lo, their time together has been innocent and not as bad as I believed. And I do want Daisy to eat that taco.
“What will you do for me if I eat that?” Daisy asks, a scheming smile lifting her lips.
“We’re bargaining now?”
She swims a little closer to him, her shoulders the same height as his knees. “It’s only fair. You want me to do something. So I think I should get something in return.”
“You get the nutrients of this fucking taco,” he tells her. “That’s a win-win.”
She tries hard not to smile and just shakes her head. Oh, she’s learned how to play his games since the last time. I should break this up, I think. But I’m hypnotized by their easy banter.
“What do you want?” he asks.
I nudge Lo with my foot. He needs to see this! They’re about to strike some deal that is not going to be pretty. I try to find Rose and Connor too, but they’ve drifted over to the pool-side bar.
Lo reluctantly tears away from his phone and follows my gaze, watching my sister and his brother.
And then Daisy’s sly smile falters. “I don’t know what I want,” she realizes.
“Well that’s a problem.”
Lo gives me a stare like that’s what you’re freaking out over? Really? It’s all in my head, isn’t it?
“And I don’t have time for you to figure it out,” Ryke tells her. “The taco will be cold by then.” He peels the aluminum foil back and holds out the end to her. “Come on, just one bite.” His tone isn’t kind or soft. It’s rough and forceful, something that Daisy is not used to, I think. Her curiosity twinkles in her eyes.
Daisy stares at Ryke for a long moment. “Why do you want me to eat this so badly?”
“Because your body needs something more than fucking rum, ice and pi?a colada mix.”
“My agency would disagree.”
“Your agency fucking sucks,” he says.
“You would try to make every model eat cake, wouldn’t you?”
He doesn’t deny it.
She smiles. “You know they’d just throw up afterwards.”
“You better not—”
“I’m not bulimic,” she says. “I’m not even anorexic. I just know what I should and should not eat. And trust me, when I’m not counting down the days to a photo shoot, I’ll pig out. But I have a runway in three weeks. Everyone will be pinching my fat, and you won’t be there to see their disappointed, disgruntled looks. I will.”
“I think,” Ryke says slowly, trying to process the words, “you need to realize that this taco isn’t going to add an inch on your waistline. If you have as great willpower as you say, then eating this won’t cause you to binge tomorrow.”
I kind of want to clap. He actually makes complete sense, and Daisy contemplates his whole statement with high regard. And then she nods in acceptance.
“Okay,” she says. “But just one bite.”
“Unless you love it.”
“Like I said—”
“You like many things, that doesn’t mean you should eat them,” he finishes. “I heard you.”
“You listen,” she says mockingly. “What kind of guy are you?”
“The rare kind.”
My shoulders tense. Are they flirting? Does Lo see this? He is watching, but I can’t read his expression at all. His muscles, however, pull tight.
“Okay,” Daisy says, eyeing the taco. “I’ll eat it.”
“Stop talking about it and do it,” he says.
She sets a hand on his leg and the other on his wrist as he holds out the taco. She leans forward to take a bite, and I swear, her eyes connect with his the entire time. There’s something incredibly dirty about this—I see it, does anyone else?