“I wanted to talk to you before tonight, but I thought you needed time to get over your embarrassment,” he said softly. “But you don’t have to be embarrassed. It’s not a big deal.”

“Here’s the thing. I am embarrassed. Mortified. Humiliated. To death. But not for the reason you think.” She squinted at her nails, studying them with intense focus. “All I know is that I woke up next to you wearing nothing but a T-shirt.”

“What do you mean?” he asked warily.

“I don’t remember anything that happened after our toast to the dating dare.” She couldn’t look straight at him, so she peered at him through the corner of one eye. “Please don’t be offended, but I have to ask … did we have sex?”

“God, no.” His eyes widened and the corners of his mouth drooped in the most heart-wrenching, crestfallen expression. She felt like a complete jerk. “Of course, we didn’t have sex. How could you even think…”

“I’m so sorry. I knew there had to be another explanation for why I woke up naked in your bed.”

“There is,” he said stoically.

“I know, but doubt kept butting in to tell me I was grasping at straws to deny what really happened. You must understand why I needed to hear you say nothing happened?”

“I do understand,” he sighed, tilting back his head and squeezing the back of his neck. “But I wouldn’t say nothing happened.”

“Oh, no. What did I do?” She buried her face in her hands and groaned. “I kissed you. Didn’t I?”

“No, no. Nothing like that happened.” Tara peeked through her fingers at him. Seth nearly smiled. “You seriously don’t remember anything?”

“Nope.” She shook her head, letting her hands fall on her lap. “Nada.”

“Jesus. Okay. Let me start from after the toast then.” He leaned forward in his seat with his elbows on his knees. “I didn’t know how drunk you were until you started sliding off the stool at the brewery.”

“Which is irrelevant,” she said pertly. He wasn’t taking responsibility for how drunk she got. “I made the decision to drink however much I did. It was my choice and my responsibility.”

“It is relevant, because if you got incrementally inebriated like most people, I could’ve asked you for your address before you got completely wasted.” Seth ran a hand down his face as though just recounting the story was exhausting. “When I asked you where you lived, you said something about over yonder and onward ho. Do you have some kind of a pirate fetish or were you one in your past life?”

“I … uh…”

“And orange marmalade.”

“Orange marmalade?” Coffee and toast with orange marmalade was her idea of fancy teatime. But why would she bring up orange marmalade out of the blue?

“Never mind. That bit really isn’t relevant. The point is I couldn’t get your address out of you. Since I didn’t think it would do to leave you sleeping on the brewery floor, I had to improvise.” Seth dragged his fingers through his thick, wavy hair. His hair really was fantastic. Hello? Maybe she should focus on this nightmarish conversation, not his freaking hair. She had to rein in her attraction to him if she wanted to be in control. “I brought you to my hotel room, and that’s when you threw up on me.”