Chapter 3
Chapter Three
Knox
“Knox? Wh-what are you doing here? I thought you left.” Daisy’s face turned as red as the sweet berries Eldon and Anson used in their wine.
I hadn’t meant to scare her. I honestly thought she was in trouble, calling for me, a cry of help. But it was something else, and far more dangerous.
“I drove the guys to the ranch. Then I circled back to check on you. I thought I might find you here…” My voice hit a gravely range. “But not like this. Definitely not moaning my name.”
My eyes roamed over her. Not that I got much of a view from this position at the door, what with her arms crossed over her chest and a few patches of bubbles hiding the rest.
“You called out my name, Daisy.” There was no teasing in this. I knew what I had heard. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
The silence was immense. Her mouth opened and closed, eyes blinking, processing this.
“N-no. Box. I said box,” she insisted.
“Huh?” I quirked an eyebrow.
“I-I was thinking about how many bushels we picked today and about how many boxes I should order because we clearly don’t have enough and I think I could sell a ton more in the region if we had more boxes, like to stores and farmers markets we’d never supplied before beyond the count.
Knox… sounds like box.” She ended on a weak note, one shoulder lifted.
And then she hit me with an exasperated grimace when I clearly didn’t believe her.
“I was tired and mumbling my to-do list to myself, okay?”
I crossed the room one careful step at a time, like getting too close might snap the tension between us. But I didn’t stop until I crouched down in front of the tub, my forearms on the edge, bringing us eye level. Her breath caught, and she shrank against the opposite side of the tub, eyes wide.
“Thinking of your to-do list? Well, don’t stop on my account.” I winked to lighten the mood.
She rolled her eyes. “Get out.”
“Do you really want me to leave? Or do you want me to stay and help you forget everything else for a while? You practically propositioned me last night.” I called her bluff here.
I had heard what I heard as I came upon the cottage tonight.
She was pleasing herself. The name she moaned was mine. Mine.
“That was the wine talking,” she insisted.
“And tonight? I don’t see any wine around.”
“Knox—”
“I told you last night, Daisy.” At the risk of her punching me, I reached out and fingered the strands of her red ponytail.
Goosebumps broke out across her chest. I couldn’t leave now.
“If you need anything, you call me. I heard you needed helping hands for the harvest, so I told Ash and we brought the guys. As I came upon the cottage just now, it sure sounded like you needed more help. From me, by the sound of it. And I’m right here, Daisy. For you.”
She swallowed hard. Her “no” was imminent; I could tell. Probably had a list of ten good reasons she couldn’t proceed.
“Between my job, this place, my sisters, putting food on the table, paying bills, I have nothing left to give to you or anyone. Barely to myself.” She shook her head. “Which is why stealing a few minutes in a bath for me is a freaking luxury. So if you don’t mind…”
I listened, and I didn’t move, didn’t argue. One look at her and I knew exactly what she needed—someone to take the weight off for a minute. A man’s touch now and then. I could provide it all.
“I see you, Daisy Wylde, how hard you work to take care of your family. But no one takes care of you. I could be that man for you. Giving you what you need whenever you need it—”
She snorted. “What I need is for my sisters to turn out okay after everything we lost. Until then, my needs just don’t matter.”
“They matter to me. If you let me, I’ll prove it.”
She chewed her cheek and searched my face, like the answers to everything would be there. “I don’t want a relationship, Knox. My sisters come first. All I can give anyone is friendship, okay? And even then, I’d probably not be a very good friend.”
Friendship. Then why did this attraction between us feel like anything but?
It hit me like a boot to the chest. The woman I’d been circling and teasing and fantasizing about for the better part of the past year, the one I’d rearrange my entire world around if she’d let me, was turning me down, or at least turning away from anything like a real relationship.
She sighed, and her shoulders fell. “If you’re going to insist on being here, please at least get the towel for me so I can get out and cover up?”
The room went quiet. I should walk away, but there was absolutely no fucking way I’d leave her now. Because I’d take anything she gave me. Even if it wasn’t enough.
Her legs shifted in the tub, and my eyes went right there, to her creamy thighs, squeezing together like a woman on the edge with an immediate, very specific need, right the fuck now.
My cock stood at stiff attention, but this wasn’t the time or place to let him out. Not when Daisy’s face had ‘we’re just friends’ written all over it.
To think I could have taken home several women over the past few months on those nights me and the boys went out to drink in town.
Or at the Cowboy Nights Ivy had arranged at the Sapphire Saloon for singles in the area to meet.
But I didn’t, because Daisy always factored into things for me, when she had no clue.
I unhooked her towel, and held it out for her to step into. She hesitated. “You weren’t so shy in a bikini this summer when we all went to the lake.”
She clicked her tongue. “Not the same.”
I turned my head, averting my eyes. She stood, her back to me. My hands gripped the towel a little harder at the sound of water sluicing down her body. Oh, to be a drop of it caressing down her skin… The idea did nothing to calm my cock.
She wrapped the towel around her, snug in it, and stifled a yawn. “Long and tiring day,” she breathed.
“I’ve got you, relax. Can you trust me?” I didn’t wait for an answer; I picked her up bridal-style and carried her to the couch.
“Knox! You did not just do that,” she laughed and yelped, and hung on with an arm around my neck.
“Yep, you’ll find out soon enough I’m a pretty attentive friend.” I laid her on the sofa. She quickly pulled a quilt around her and maneuvered out of the towel, yawning again as I took it.
I backtracked to the bathroom and hung the towel. Had to give my cock a stern warning with a whisper, “Patience, man.”
When I returned to her, she’d drifted off. To see her face one more time like this, sleeping like an angel, I couldn’t leave yet. I sat my ass on the floor and propped my elbow on the cushion at her feet, thinking way too much about the situation between us.
I must have fallen asleep myself, because when I woke up with a jerk my body was stiff from staying in that position too long. My head had rested on my bicep, numbing my right arm. The dawn cast enough early light to see as I forced my eyes to fully wake.
“Hi,” she whispered, nothing but eyes peering out at me from a lump under the quilt.
She was crouched against the opposite arm of the sofa in a little ball.
“Better get a move on, cowboy. The guys should be here soon for another day of picking apples. My sisters are probably waking up. Things could get awkward if we have to explain what you’re doing here with me. ”
“Right.” I stood and stretched, bones cracking the entire way. I’d pay for this backache all day, but it was worth every second to be in her presence. My cock bucked like a pissed-off bull. He’d love nothing more than morning sex, but I’d bet a wild ride was not at the top of her to do list today.
“So… still friends?” I checked.
“Of course.”
I headed to the door, trying as cool as fuck to keep things casual.
“Knox,” she called, and I turned back. “Thank you for yesterday. The guys, the biscuits—everything. It felt good to have help for once. So, thanks again.”
“Told you I’d be there for you. Maybe now you’ll believe me.”
“I believe you, I guess. I just…” She swallowed hard.
I moved to the couch and leaned my hands on the back of it, staring down at her. “What is it?”
“I think you want more than I’m able to give you.”
I cocked a brow. “The way you moaned my name last night might suggest you want me plenty.”
“I know there’s an attraction between us, but I’m not ready for anything serious.” She repeated about her sisters, and her responsibilities, arguing all her reasons like a lawyer. I listened and nodded.
Would this be life with Daisy? Take a step forward, and then two steps back?
I searched her face and witnessed the return of all the anxiety she usually held there: skin tight, worried eyes, a wrinkle in her brow.
Whatever it took, I knew I had to convince her to take a chance on me. On us. Someday.
“Hey, it’s fine. If you’re not ready, you’re not ready. We’re friends. Only do me a favor, sweetheart? Would you call me when you need someone? Because I’ll come running every single time.” Our eyes locked, I winked, and then I was out of there before any more talk could ruin this.
In the dawning light, I meandered through the orchard, barely registering the rows of apple trees on either side that still hung heavy.
In my head, there was only one woman who mattered now, but I needed to get real with myself.
Daisy would be a challenge. Most men would cut their losses and call it a lesson learned.
But I wasn’t most men. She wasn’t most women, and that was the whole damn problem.
I’d wait and be patient; I wasn’t walking away. I’d show her in whatever small ways she’d let me that I wasn’t going anywhere. When she was ready, I’d be the man standing right there beside her.