Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
The dresses stayed in their garment bags overnight.
Daisy didn’t know what to do with them. She lined them up along the wall of her bedroom, pale blues and creams and soft fabrics that looked nothing like her own clothes.
The delivery men had left without another word after she’d tried them all on despite the fact they were all in her size, and she stood there for a long time afterward with her arms folded around her middle, heart slamming in the back of her ribs.
She didn’t sleep much.
The next morning, Daisy chose her usual sweater and skirt again. It was familiar. Safe. She told herself the dresses meant nothing. Probably a mistake. Meant for someone else.
At work, she didn’t even have a chance to login to her computer when her phone began jangling. Before she even picked it up, she knew who it would be.
“Inside.”
Daisy sucked in her lower lip between her teeth, a rush of nervous energy crackling through her veins. His voice was hard with just that single word. She didn’t know what to do with it.
Smoothing her sweater though it didn’t need it, Daisy made the short trek to his office door that was cracked open. With a timid knock, she poked her head around the edge of it.
Mr. Blackwell faced the floor to ceiling window, the grey light of morning caressing the hard planes of his body. He didn’t turn around, so Daisy shuffled her way inside to stand before his desk.
“You received a delivery last night.”
“Y-yes, sir.”
Pivoting slowly, he turned to face Daisy. The breathtaking blue of his gaze worked over her from head to toe. Slow. Deliberate. Taking in every detail. There was no warmth on his face, nothing but darkness in his eyes.
“You didn’t wear one.”
Heat rushed to her face as she began twisting her fingers together. “I wasn’t sure if—”
“I’m disappointed,” he said in a calm, cold voice. Not loud, not biting. Just empty. “Not angry.”
Daisy felt it like a blow to her chest, crumpling in the delicate cage of bone. Smashing into her frozen lungs and tearing at her heart.
“They weren’t a suggestion,” he continued.
“I didn’t want to assume.”
“That is not your role.”
Nodding, Daisy sniffled back her tears, but one slipped free anyway. At once Mr. Blackwell gathered her to him, pressing her cheek against his chest as more of the salty misery spilled free. He held her as she muffled her quiet sobs against the fine weave of his shirt.
Smoothing a palm over her crown when she’d faded into hiccups, Mr. Blackwell dried her cheeks with his own hands.
“You’ll wear one tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You may go. Don’t make me repeat myself.”
Daisy gave a quick nod before she returned to her desk. She was trembling, fingers barely able to type out her password on the keyboard, but something within her felt settled.
Things took an even stranger turn as she logged in and saw her email.
It was empty. Not cleared out but emptied. Even old correspondence had been removed. A notice sat above her calendar for everyone to see saying that all requests for her will be going through Mr. Blackwell.
Flabbergasted at the turn of events, Daisy sat with trembling fingers hovering over the keyboard. There was nothing for her to do, and she didn’t know what to do with herself.
The answer came later that morning.
A department head approached her desk, files in his hands. His lips were a taut line, no polite smile to be found as he slapped the folders down on Daisy’s desk. “You need to—”
“No,” Mr. Blackwell said from his doorway. Cold, calm, and resolute, his tone left no room for argument. “She’s busy. If you need her, you come through me.”
The man gave a slow blink before he nodded. Picking up his papers, he turned on his heel and left.
Left staring at her screen, Daisy’s pulse roared in her ears, throbbing behind her eyes. Her breaths were fast, shallow. Unable to draw in the air her body needed.
“Come here, princess.”
Daisy stood. Followed Mr. Blackwell to his office.
“You let people take advantage of your nature,” Mr. Blackwell said as he took up position in front of his desk. Pointing, he directed Daisy to the chair in front of him.
When seated, she realized how close they were. His heat flowed into her, a physical thing that soothed and disturbed in equal measures.
“That ends now.”
“Yes, sir.”
“You don’t belong to everyone.”
That word, belong, sat heavy in her chest. It writhed and stretched within her, warming her through. The word didn’t frighten her as it usually did. It felt like being chosen, and Daisy had never been that person.
If belonging to him meant stepping into that person, shaping herself within it, she would do it. With utter joy.
“You belong here,” he added.
The flood of relief that washed through her was dizzying. Leaving her lightheaded as she looked up at Mr. Blackwell through the fringe of her lashes.
“Yes, sir,” Daisy whispered.
From then on, her day was no longer broken into mundane and menial tasks. The long hours were only interrupted with his summons.
Coffee. Water. Then standing silent beside him while he reviewed documents she didn’t touch. Mr. Blackwell didn’t even have her take notes when he received a call from a client.
By late afternoon, Daisy realized she hadn’t once decided what to do next. The realization brought a strange calm that left her joints loose and easy.
At five-thirty on the dot, she opened the lowest drawer on her desk to retrieve her purse.
“Princess.”
Daisy stopped cold, craning her neck back to see Mr. Blackwell standing close behind her. His presence filled the too close space between desk and wall, towering over her until she was caught in his shadow. At once, Daisy looked away, not knowing what to do with the dark gleam in his eyes.
“You’re not leaving.”
“But… My hours…”
“You don’t leave early anymore.”
Leaning over her, his chest brushed against her back. The warm wash of his breaths feathered over her ear, tickling along her neck.
“Look at me.”
She did.
“Princess.” A warning couched in soft tones that did not soften that sharpness of it. “You acknowledge me when I tell you something.”
Daisy gave a slow nod, sucking her lower lip between her teeth to hide its tremble. Mumbling around the caught flesh, she said, “Yes, sir.”
One long stride gave her a breath of space, but still Daisy couldn’t fill her lungs. The scent of his cologne infected her, drowning her in the musky spice of it.
Left lost and adrift when he returned to his office, Daisy sat in quiet contemplation of her situation as the minutes continued to tick by.
She watched the rest of the floor leave, ignored their hard stares and whispers.
Mr. Blackwell had told her to stay, and she wouldn’t give anything for him not to be disappointed in her again.
Hours later. Mr. Blackwell appeared beside her desk, a faint smile curling his lips as he looked down at her. Tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear, the warm caress sent sensation sparking just beneath her skin.
“Go home,” he said. “Tomorrow will be longer.”
At home, Daisy walked around in a daze. She could barely eat, couldn’t focus on her favorite shows. Her gaze kept returning to the long lines of dresses parading around her apartment. She knew she’d wear one tomorrow, just like he’d told her to.
When she found her bed and closed her eyes that night, all she could think was how steady everything felt when he decided for her.
How terrifying it would be if he stopped.