“Yes—well, but I didn’t mean for you to be quite so specific. The university theater is not exactly convenient right now. However…” He opened the cupboard behind him, reached up, and pulled something off the highest shelf. He turned back to her with a huge grin and presented a DVD case. The faded cover had a picture of a beautiful woman in a red dress and a dark, wide-brimmed hat.
“Ta-da!” he said.
“Where on earth did you get that?”
His smile got a little smaller. “Second store I went to. Thrift store. I got very lucky. This is actually a great movie.” He assessed her face. “I can read your thoughts. You’re thinking, Is there any place this idiot didn’t go? We’ll be dead by sunrise.”
“Not in so many words. And we’d be disappearing into the night in Arnie’s stolen truck right now if I thought it was that bad.”
“Still, while I’m very, very sorry for my rash behavior, I’m also quite happy I was able to find this gem. You’ll love it.”
She shook her head—not disagreeing, just wondering how things had gotten so odd in her life. One wrong move and suddenly she was committed to reading subtitles with the most kind and… uncorrupted person she’d ever met.
He stepped toward her. “You can’t say no. You made a bargain and I intend to hold you to it.”
“I’ll do it, I’ll do it. You just have to explain why exactly it is that you still like me,” she said, finishing more glumly than she’d begun.
“I think I can do that.”
He took another step forward, backing her against the island. He put his hands on the edge of the counter behind her, one on either side, and as he leaned forward, she could smell the clean, citrusy scent of his hair. He was so close, she could see that he must have shaved recently—his jaw was smooth and there was the hint of razor burn just under his chin.
Daniel’s proximity confused her, but it didn’t frighten her the way it would have with just about any other person on the planet. He wasn’t dangerous to her, she knew that. She didn’t understand what he was doing, though, even when he slowly lowered his face toward hers, his eyes starting to close. It never occurred to her that he was about to kiss her until his half-open lips were just a breath away from hers.
That realization startled her. It startled her a lot. And when she was startled, she had ingrained reactions that manifested without her conscious approval.
She ducked under his arm, spinning free. She dashed several feet away, then spun back to face the source of the alarm, sliding into a half crouch. Her hands were automatically at her waist, looking for the belt she wasn’t wearing.
As she took in Daniel’s horrified expression, Alex realized that her reaction would have fit better if he’d pulled a knife and held it to her throat. She straightened up and dropped her hands, her face burning.
“Uh, sorry. Sorry! You, um, caught me off guard.”
Daniel’s horror shifted into disbelief. “Wow. I didn’t think I was moving that fast, but maybe I should reevaluate.”
“I just… I’m sorry, what was that?”
A shade of impatience crossed his expression. “Well, I was about to kiss you.”
“That’s what it looked like, but… why? I mean, kiss me? I don’t… I don’t understand.”
He shook his head and turned to lean back against the island. “Huh. I really thought we were on the same page, but now I kind of feel like I’m speaking English as a second language. What did you think was going on here? With the dinner date? And the sad little candle?” He gestured to the table.
He walked toward her then, and she forced herself not to back away. Confusion aside, she knew her wild overreaction had been rude. She didn’t want to hurt his feelings. Even if he was a crazy person.
“Surely…” He sighed. “Surely you’ve been aware of how often I just… touch you.” He was close enough at that point to reach out one hand and brush his knuckles along her arm in demonstration. “On the planet I come from, that kind of thing signifies romantic interest.” He leaned toward her again, his eyes narrowed. “Please tell me, what does it mean on yours?”
She took a deep breath. “Daniel, what you’re processing now is a kind of sensory deprivation reaction,” she explained. “It’s something I’ve seen before, in the lab…”
His eyes widened; he backed out of her space. His expression was totally flummoxed.
“This is a valid response to what you’ve experienced, and it’s actually a very mild response, under the circumstances,” she continued. “You’re doing remarkably well. Many people would have had a complete nervous breakdown by this point. This emotional reaction might seem similar to something you’ve experienced before, but I can assure you that what you’re feeling right now is not romantic interest.”
He regained his composure as she explained, but he didn’t seem enlightened or reassured by her diagnosis. His eyebrows lowered and his lips tucked in at the corners like he was annoyed.
“And you’re sure you know my feelings better than I do because…”