When they’d met, Daniel had just woken up and decided to pee over the edge of the boat. Harper looked up at just the wrong time and got a full of view of his nether region.

“That was an awful first impression,” Harper said. “I will agree to that. But I’ve never … Okay, I haven’t thought you were a loser for a long time. You’ve been so great with me and Gemma and everything that’s been happening. I know that you are not a dick at all. You are kind and patient and brave and funny and so nice…”

She trailed off and stared down at her lap, because that wasn’t what she wanted to say at all. And it actually embarrassed her that she’d admitted so much.

“You did it again, you know,” Daniel said. “You just made a whole string of compliments sound terrible.”

“Well, I’m sorry!” She threw her hands up in exasperation. “I meant them, but I don’t know how else to say it.”

“I believe you meant them. But you didn’t come here today to tell me any of that.” He paused, and Harper looked at him. He appeared to be in the middle of a very serious thought. “You came here to tell me to leave you alone.”

Harper was silent for a moment, then lowered her eyes. “I wasn’t going to tell you to leave me alone.”

“So you’d say it differently. More gently, then, but the sentiment remains the same.”

She didn’t say anything to that, and Daniel sat down next to her. Not too close, but close enough, and neither of them said anything for a minute. The silence felt a little awkward, but Harper didn’t know how to fill it.

“What’s the deal with us?” Daniel asked finally.

“What do you mean?” Harper lifted her head cautiously. “There is no deal with us. There’s nothing. We’re just friends—”

“Harper,” Daniel groaned. “Stop.”

“No, Daniel, I won’t stop. There’s really dangerous stuff going on right now, and I really do need to focus on that. And I don’t want you getting hurt. That’s what’s going on. That’s the deal with us. I don’t have time to like you, and I don’t want you to get hurt.”

He met her eyes evenly and simply said, “Bullshit.”

“What?” She blinked. “Those are all perfectly valid reasons. Things are crazy and—”

“Bullshit,” Daniel repeated, more emphatically.

“You can’t just keep saying that,” Harper said. “That’s not an argument.”

“You want an argument?” Daniel asked. “You want me to present a valid argument?”

“I want you to say something more than bullshit,” Harper allowed.