“No. I’m not. I date plenty of women.”
“You date too many women. And I’m using ‘date’—” She actually made air quotes around the word—“extremely generously.” She stopped abruptly and shook her head. “You trust me and mom, but ever since Kendra, you’ve been squirrely about getting involved with a woman unless it involves the rotation in and out of your bed every week.”
It wasn’t every week. “I’m busy…”
“Yeah. Exactly. You’re busy, and you need to get this score done. I saw the way you looked when you heard that music. This is what you’re looking for. Minh is what you’re looking for. But for some reason you’re scared of her.”
“I’m not scared!” Except, for some reason, it felt like he was. Hadn’t he felt that from the very beginning with Minh? Too exposed.
“Then what’s the problem with offering her the job?”
Fuck. From the way Daria was smiling, all satisfied-like, she had to have known exactly how he’d react. And he’d walked right into that trap. He tried brazening it out. “Whatever. I don’t have anything to prove.”
He held her gaze, willing her not to push him any further. He didn’t like the way her words were getting to him. After too long a time, she blew out a breath and crossed her arms over her chest. “God! You are so frustrating. I want this apartment, Chris.”
Oh thank God she’d dropped it. Of course, it bothered him that she’d given up so easily, but he’d take that up with her some other time. He reached out to rub her shoulder. “Hey. It’s okay. There will be other apartments.”
“No, there won’t!” Her voice wavered a bit, and he realized with a start that there were tears in her eyes. Shit. Daria never cried. But ever since Mark had dumped her for an undergrad and told her to move out, she’d been crying a lot.
“Daria…” He moved to hug her, but she pulled away.
“I’ve been looking for two weeks, camping out on your stupid couch…” She shook her head. “No offense or anything.”
“None taken.”
“But I can’t keep doing this. I love this apartment, and they seem like nice girls. This has been the best place by far, and I need it. I need to move on and stop feeling so alone.”
“Hey! What about me?”
She turned her head away and spoke to the countertop. “It’s different. You’re my brother.”
And then the real meaning behind what she’d said sunk in, and he looked at her in concern. “You’ve been feeling alone?”
She waved her hand in the air as if to say It’s not important, even though the truth is that it was. It clearly was, and it killed him to see her dismissing it. Fucking Mark. He really, really wanted to kick that guy’s ass.
Daria faced him again, her eyes bright and pleading. “Look. When I called earlier this week, they said I was the only person coming today. And now she’s saying that there are others. Don’t pretend it’s not because of the weird whatever that’s going on between you and Minh. She wants to get into films but doesn’t have any actual experience. And you’re running out of money. This might be the answer. Gali told me that she composed that song you heard before we walked in. I saw how much you loved it.”
God damn it.
It was true, he was getting low on funds, but he’d been trying to find an investor. So far, though, no one had stepped up, and they were almost out of time. “Look, I get it. You think that if I offer her the job, they’ll offer you the apartment. It’s not that I don’t want to do this for you. I would if I could. But I can’t.”
“Why not? You own Phantom Studios. You invested all your savings into that place, and you’re the boss. You can make a decision like this.”
“A decision that could make or break my company before it even gets off the ground. That would go over the heads of my team—all three of them—and destroy whatever working relationship we’ve got. Those guys have been my friends for years, Daria. Besides, when I asked her about that song she’d been playing, she told me she didn’t know who’d written it.”
Daria frowned. “What? Why would she say that?”
“I don’t know. But something weird is going on here, and I can’t have that affecting the single biggest project of my life. And there’s no guarantee that they’ll give you the apartment even if I offer Minh the job. Think about what you’re asking me.”
Her shoulders slumped, and she looked down at the ground. “You’re right. I’m sorry. That was a big thing for me to ask. I-I’m not myself these days. I feel like such a loser.”