Chapter 1 #2
And if it took someone like Daisy to set him free, I’d choose that over a lifetime of having him at my side knowing he’d never truly be the man he could be.
“She’s used to dealing with people from the other side of a computer screen,” I reminded him. “It’s easy to pretend to be someone you’re not when anonymity is on your side.”
“Did you see the way she looked at me… us?” he asked dejectedly. “Like she thought we were going to hurt her or something.”
I had noticed. I’d also noticed that she’d stuck to Memphis and Mav like glue, which hadn’t surprised me, since she knew both men better than the rest of the team. I also hadn’t missed my need to reassure her that we were no threat to her. If anything, she was the threat.
“It wasn’t just us she looked at like that,” I observed, but I knew it wouldn’t satisfy Sage. He wasn’t used to people being afraid of him, at least not anyone who wasn’t on the receiving end of his gun.
Silence descended for several moments as I navigated the narrow road leading to the motel.
“Hey,” Sage murmured, and I took my eyes off the road long enough to cast him a glance. A moment later, I felt his fingers seeking mine out where they were resting on the gearshift. “You know it’s still only you, right?” he said softly. I let him link our hands.
I hated the insecurity that burrowed its way into my chest. I pulled his hand up to my lips and brushed my mouth over the back of his hand. “What was the one thing I promised you when you agreed to be mine?” I asked.
“That no matter what choices you made for us, the choice to be with you was always mine.”
“I’ll never keep you from being the man you’re supposed to be, Sage,” I said softly. “Even if you can’t be that man with me.”
Sage’s fingers flexed around mine. “Sometimes I wish you wouldn’t give me that freedom,” he murmured.
I didn’t ask him to expound on his statement because I already understood what he meant.
As strong and as dangerous as Sage could be when it came to our work and to protecting the people he cared about, he had no faith in himself and his ability to make decisions.
While there were many decisions I was willing to make for him, I would never force him to choose me as the person he wanted to be with.
It was a fine line that I refused to cross.
As much as I felt like Sage was mine, I didn’t own him and I refused to attach that label to him.
Because I knew, deep down, Sage didn’t want to be viewed as a piece of property.
He’d had that once and it had nearly killed him.
But it was also hard for him to be adrift.
If I hadn’t been able to read him as well as I could, I would have thought I was just some stand-in…
that I met that singular need to have someone give him the control he couldn’t find on his own.
But I was able to read him and I saw things in his eyes beyond sexual satisfaction and contentment.
He might not be able to acknowledge it, but he’d chosen me.
He continued to choose me every time we came together.
“And I wish you’d have more faith in yourself… like you have in me.”
Sage cast me a glance but remained silent.
The motel parking lot was almost completely empty when we pulled in.
Most of the wedding guests either lived in the immediate area and had gone home directly after the ceremony or had gone back to the city so they could fly out tonight or in the morning to be wherever it was they needed to be on Christmas.
Since it was just Sage and me, we’d decided to spend another night at the motel before heading back to our house in Arkansas.
I pulled the car around to the back side of the motel where our room was, but as soon as the headlights lined up with the building, my breath caught at the sight before me.
“Is that…”
“Daisy,” I said softly as I put the car in park.
The young woman was sitting in front of the door of the room next to ours wearing nothing more than an oversized white T-shirt. Her bare legs were tucked up against her chest and her long brown hair was loose around her body.
“Daisy?” Sage said, his voice full of concern as he climbed out of the car. I was just steps behind him. Fear trumpeted through me that maybe she was hurt, but luckily, when Sage put a hand on her shoulder, Daisy stirred and then slowly lifted her head.
“Daisy, honey, what are you doing out here?” Sage asked.
“Sage?” she said, her words slightly slurred. Relief went through me as I realized she wasn’t hurt, she was drunk.
“Yeah, honey, it’s me. And Cash,” he added as he motioned to me. Daisy’s pretty, but very red-rimmed, eyes lifted to mine. Besides being drunk, my guess was she’d been crying at some point too because her eyes looked puffy.
“Locked myself out,” Daisy whined. The girl seemed unaware at her lack of clothing or how much of her body she was showing with her position. With her knees raised, I could see a hint of hot pink underwear and plenty of lush, pale skin. “Wanted chocolate.”
I stifled a chuckle at how whiny she sounded. Like of all the shit she’d been through, the worst of it was that she hadn’t gotten the chocolate she’d wanted.
“Can you stand up?” Sage asked.
She nodded and accepted Sage’s help. She wobbled a bit, but otherwise she seemed okay. So maybe not totally drunk, just a little buzzed.
“Why didn’t you go to the hotel office?” I asked.
“Locked,” she said tiredly. “There’s a note that the manager had an emergency and he won’t be back till tomorrow. He left a number, but my phone’s in there,” she said as she motioned to the room behind her.
“How did you get back here?” Sage asked.
“Memphis gave me a ride. He’s with two guys,” she said with a shy laugh.
“Didya know that?” The smile that flitted across her mouth was adorable.
But it was the way she was leaning into Sage’s touch that held most of my attention.
I could tell that my lover was struggling with the contact.
For all the flirting he’d done with Daisy, I suspected he’d never considered how to handle such close contact with her, especially since alcohol had seemed to loosen some of her inhibitions.
“You think they’re all together at once or someone has to sit by and watch?” she asked.
I smiled at Sage’s look of surprise. She’d directed the question to him and seemed genuinely interested. Yeah, she was definitely still feeling the alcohol.
“It’s probably a little bit of both,” he finally answered.
“I bet they’re really hot together,” she said absently as she leaned back against the door.
Her lips parted slightly just before her tongue came out to wet them.
Sage practically groaned, and I had to shift my stance to try to make room in my already-tight pants.
Thank God she was too out of it to notice that between our anticipation of getting back to our room and finding her in such a state of undress, our bodies were more than ready to go.
“Never saw men kiss before,” Daisy whispered. She let out a little giggle before her eyes shifted between me and Sage. I didn’t need to hear her words to know what she was thinking.
And just like that, my desire exploded into something so intense that I was tempted to order Sage to his knees then and there. One look in his eyes and I knew he’d obey the order, without question.
“I liked watching them dance together,” Daisy whispered as her eyes settled on Sage. “The couples,” she added. “They… they all looked so beautiful together… so in love.”
The sadness that crept into her voice was heartbreaking.
“We didn’t see you dancing, Daisy,” I said as I moved closer to her.
“Don’t know how,” she murmured.
“But you wanted to?” I probed. Her eyes stayed with me as I leaned against the door next to her. I knew I was playing a dangerous game, but I couldn’t help myself.
She nodded.
“No one asked you?” I asked.
“Memphis asked. Mav, too…”
“But?” I prodded.
“Cash—” Sage warned, but I sent him a subtle shake of my head and he fell silent.
Daisy’s eyes held mine, her expression more serious. “They weren’t the ones I wanted to ask me.”
I let my fingers toy with the ends of her long hair as I asked, “And what would you have said if the right guys had asked?”
She swallowed hard and shifted her gaze to Sage before returning it to me. “I don’t know,” she admitted.
I saw her shiver, but I wasn’t certain if it was just from the cold or something else.
I forced myself to step back. As much as I wanted to feel her out a bit more, I’d already pushed the borders of decency by getting her to admit more than she probably would have if she hadn’t been still feeling the effects of the alcohol.
“Why don’t you come wait in our room while we try to call the manager to get him to come unlock your door?” I said.
“Can’t you pick the lock?” she asked.
“We don’t have the tools we’d need with us,” I said.
“Sage and I were traveling light and we didn’t really want to explain to TSA why we had the tools of our trade in our carry-on, if you know what I mean.
If we can’t reach the manager, we’ll see if someone’s still at the party and can bring some by. ”
Daisy seemed to hesitate for a moment before nodding. “Thank you.”
Her tension was a steep reminder that she was, in all likelihood, an innocent. I nodded and turned away from her so I could get our door open. Sage stayed by her side, but he kept his hands to himself when he saw that she wasn’t overly unsteady on her feet.
Once inside the room, I said, “Daisy, why don’t you go shower? It’ll help warm you up faster.”