Chapter 12
Cash
“Pretend what?” I asked, barely managing to hang onto my temper.
She wanted to leave.
What the ever-loving fuck?
Why now? After all this time? Sage and I were finally making progress with her and she wanted to walk away?
“That it’s enough,” she whispered, her eyes still downcast.
I moved until I was standing in front of her, then tipped her head up. Some of my anger died when I saw the pain in her eyes.
Yes, she was really doing this, but it wasn’t easy for her.
I could work with that.
“What?” I asked. “What’s not enough? This?
” I leaned down and kissed her gently at first, then deepened the kiss.
As expected, she went pliant beneath me and kissed me back.
But I didn’t take advantage of the situation.
We needed to hash this shit out so she’d finally see that she was right where she belonged.
Sage and I had tried our damndest to show her that these past few weeks, but she’d held back.
If she hadn’t continued to get into bed with us night after night, I would have thought her feelings for us had started to cool or they’d never really been there to begin with.
So I could only figure that there was one thing that was holding her back.
And it was my own damn fault.
Because I’d planted the seed in her head ages ago and I hadn’t considered that despite my reassurances to the contrary, she still might only think we’d kept her with us for one reason.
“Do you really think everything we’ve done, everything we’ve said to you has been about getting you in our bed?
” I asked. “Because, sweetheart, you’re already there every night.
” I kissed her again, then slid my hand down her side.
She put her arms around my neck as I used my hands under her ass to lift her so she was sitting on the table.
She automatically widened her legs so I could fit between them.
“If all Sage and I wanted from you was a quick fuck, we’ve had plenty of opportunities.
” I skimmed my thumb across her cheek. “Do you know how many times Sage and I have listened to you in your bed alone, night after night, as you’ve made yourself come and cursed the fact that it was your own hand bringing you pleasure instead of ours? ”
Her eyes went wide and color suffused her cheeks. I stuck my nose against her neck and growled, “We could fucking smell your release on you when you got into bed with us, and still, we didn’t touch you.”
Daisy let out a little gasp.
“Now tell me again that we’re just biding our time so we can fuck you.”
Daisy’s eyes were wide as I pulled back enough so she could look me in the eye. “Then wh… what do you want?”
I looked at Sage, who was watching Daisy with a mix of fear and want that mirrored my own. I set her on her feet. “Sage, tell Daisy what we want,” I said as I pulled her flush against my body.
Sage cleared the distance between us in a few big steps and pressed up against her back. He used his hand to pull her hair back and skimmed a kiss over her neck before settling his mouth against her ear.
“Don’t you know, Daisy? Haven’t we been clear enough?” he asked, a tinge of hurt in his voice.
She shook her head, but I wasn’t sure if it was because she truly didn’t know or she was trying to deny what was so clear in Sage’s voice.
“We want to love you, Daisy. We do love you.”
She shook her head again. “No,” she said. “No, you don’t. You can’t.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“Because what you have is already perfect. How can I bring anything to that? How could you ever love me like you love each other?” She shook her head violently.
“I can’t settle. I won’t! My mother did that – I watched her turn into someone I didn’t even know anymore because she was so desperate for someone to love her.
I’d rather not have it at all,” she bit out as she tried to break free of our hold.
“Do you want to know what you bring to us, Daisy?” Sage asked, his voice gentle.
He turned her so she was facing him. She’d stopped struggling, but she was drawn up tight like a rubber band that had been stretched too far.
If we said even one wrong thing to her, she’d snap and we’d never get her back.
“For me, you’re like the sun. You warm everything up and you add enough light so I can finally see things more clearly.
Cash is like the earth under me – solid and strong and always there, whether I’m taking steps forward, looking over my shoulder at the past, or dropping to my knees in surrender.
I’d survive without all those things, but all those steps forward, getting up off my knees, not looking behind me…
you and Cash together are what make it bearable. But if that isn’t enough for you—”
“No, it is,” she said with a shake of her head.
Sage kissed her softly. “You said I bring light to Cash’s darkness… that I share it with him, do you remember?”
Daisy nodded. She was fisting Sage’s shirt, like she was afraid to let go and afraid to pull him closer at the same time.
“You’re the soft place that he sometimes needs to land, Daisy,” Sage said softly as his eyes met mine over Daisy’s lowered head.
“He’s the ground beneath my feet, but you’re the rain that feeds him, lets him grow, helps him to always be strong for me.
” He held my gaze for a beat, then dropped his eyes to Daisy and forced her to look at him by tipping her chin up.
“The question isn’t whether we love you enough, Daisy. It’s whether you love us enough… whether you want to be so many things to each of us. We’re not the easy choice. But we’ll spend the rest of our lives making sure you know you didn’t settle.”
I wrapped my arm around Daisy’s upper body so it was resting right above her heart. “Are we enough for you, sweetheart?”
She let out a sob and nodded her head. “You’re everything,” she croaked. She dropped her forehead to Sage’s chest and lifted her hand to reach behind her so she could sift her fingers through my hair and draw me forward so we were completely surrounding her. “I love you both so much.”
“Love you,” I whispered in her ear. She began to cry as soon as Sage said the same thing. We held her for the longest time and kissed the parts of her we could reach. We kissed each other too. When she’d calmed, I eased her around and wiped at her tears.
“Why don’t we eat this dinner you’ve made for us and then we can talk some more,” I suggested.
I took a step toward the stove to get it going again, but she grabbed my wrist. “Nuh-uh,” she said with a shake of her head.
“You guys have been teasing me for weeks. It’s time to pay up,” she added, then she pulled my head down for a kiss that left me vibrating with need.
She did the same to Sage. By the time they came up for air, I was practically humping Daisy’s backside.
“Bedroom,” Sage snarled.
I snagged his arm before he could steal her away. “Right here is fine,” I bit out as I lifted Daisy and carried her to the table. “For starters,” I added, then I closed my mouth over hers.