Chapter Nine #3
wouldn’t take her calls,” Nate explained. “So, yeah, he wasn’t there when I was
born. He didn’t know I existed until he walked into the McKay-Taggart building
and I was in the daycare. Adam Miles still complains about his back because my
tough old dad fainted dead away at the sight of me.”
A chuckle came from her. “Oh, now I understand what Uncle
Adam means when he says Australia fell on him. I always thought it was some
weird metaphor. So let me guess. They decided to stash your mom here.”
“Bingo.”
She leaned over, looking down into his eyes. “Did they fall
in love all over again right here?”
“I don’t think so. I don’t think it was easy. My mum… You
know her history, right?”
Daisy’s expression fell. “Yes. I know. I know your mom was
in an accident with mine when they were young, and that’s how my sister died
along with Mom’s first husband.”
“And your mum found a way to forgive her and saved her life.
I’m here today because of Avery O’Donnell’s boundless love. But her love
couldn’t fix my mum’s guilt. It took something else to do that. She was ready
to reject my father’s love because she didn’t think she was worthy of it. She
was ready to let me go live with him. And then your da got stung by a bee.”
At the mention of her father, her hand retreated, and she
went slightly stiff. “My da is very allergic to bees. Everyone jokes with him,
but Mom saw it once and still shudders when she thinks about it.”
He was glad she didn’t remember that day. “My mom saved him,
and what she realized was she wouldn’t have been there to save him if she
hadn’t been on the road that night. She wouldn’t have learned what she needed
to know, wouldn’t have had the skills to save him. Daisy, do you know why I’m
telling you this?”
She shook her head.
He sat up. This was a conversation where they had to be face
to face. “Because I’m not my dad. I need you to understand I don’t question
fate. I don’t sit around and wonder if I’m good enough. I will make myself good
enough for you.”
“Nate,” she began.
“No, don’t Nate me. I told you. You made your choice. If I
thought for a second you pulling away from me had anything to do with your
heart, I would step back. But this isn’t about your heart. You were perfectly
happy before your father made an arse of himself. This is about you being
worried he’s going to see you differently. He will, and it’s about bloody time,
Dais.”
She sniffled. “You don’t understand.”
His heart ached, but he wasn’t going to let her continue
down this road. “Don’t understand what? Being the kid in the family who doesn’t
seem to have some awesome destiny? Who isn’t clearly talented? I do understand
that. Since the day Elodie started to dance, I knew she was more talented, more
driven than me, and therefore had a whole lot of our parents’ attention. That’s
what it’s like to be the sibling who isn’t gifted.”
“I don’t resent my brother,” she replied quietly. “Not even
after what I learned today. I’m happy for him.”
He believed her. “And I’m thrilled for my sister. I love
watching her dance. She’s happy and she makes other people happy. They have
their path, and we have ours.”
“Ours is apparently getting stuck in this club.”
He shrugged. “Maybe that’s fate, too. Maybe it wouldn’t work
if you had too much time to think. If there was space between us, your father
might decide I’m not worthy of his sweet daughter and he would get a chance to
convince you. But that’s not what happened, and we’re here for a while. I meant
what I said. I’m not leaving you. If you’re stuck here, then so am I. If it
gets to be too much, we can go to Australia. My parents’ station hasn’t sold
yet. We can stay there for a bit and then move to The Garden. Traveling might
be good for us.”
Daisy sighed. “Somehow I don’t see Uncle Ian paying you to
go on vacation with me.”
“I think you’ll find everyone wants you safe. They might
fight me on travel, but it’s a fight I can win. If for some crazy reason he
fires me, well, I’ve got a bit of cash saved. I can take care of us until
you’re safe. I’ll find another job, and we’ll figure out where we want to be.”
Tears filled her eyes. “You are too good to be true.”
“I assure you, love, I’m not.”
“I want to believe you,” Daisy whispered. “I want to believe
in this. You don’t even understand how weird this is for me.”
“I do,” he argued. He knew her better than she thought he
did. “You’re the girl who throws herself into everything. When you decide to do
something, you give it one hundred percent of yourself. You take it with both
hands and try everything you can to make it work.”
“Nothing works, Nate.”
She’d had the roughest of days, and he needed to find a way
to bring back her natural resiliency. “Sure it does. You have friends who adore
you, a family who does everything they can to protect you.”
“Yeah, up to and including ruining any chance I had at
finding a boyfriend.”
He was upset for her about what her father had done, but he
rather thought it had proved a point. “Baby, if a man is too afraid to date you
because your father and brother threaten him, he doesn’t want you enough. I
need you to understand absolutely no one in this world can keep me away from
you except you. If you don’t want me, I’ll walk away, but you’re the only one
who can make me. There’s no threat, no incentive, nothing can control me with
the exception of you.”
“How can you know you want me?”
“Do you want me?”
Tears dripped from her eyes. “So much it hurts.”
He pulled her close. “And how can you know?”
“Because I always have,” she whispered. “Because I knew what
I was doing when I put on Kenzie’s mask. I was going to steal a night from
you.”
He chuckled, a warm feeling invading his bones. This was so
much more than lust. This was the reason his dad lit up when his mum walked in
a room. He couldn’t imagine the demons his father must have fought, the ones
that made him walk away from this feeling. He wasn’t making the same mistake.
He cuddled her against his chest. “Sorry, love. Your plan is not going to work
out.”
She seemed to give in, relaxing against him. “You better be
sure, Carter, because you’re right. When I’m in, I’m in. And when the whole
stupid assassins are after me thing is over, I’m going to find a job I love and
you can move into my house and… I still don’t know what to do about my da.”
“Your da is being an idiot.” Of this he had zero worries.
Liam O’Donnell was scared of losing his daughter. He would figure this out.
“And he’ll come around. He’s a smart man. Your mum is already cool with this.”
“My mum loves you,” she said quietly.
“I know it doesn’t seem like it, but your da does, too. Liam
has been a solid figure in my life since I was a baby. His world is getting
rocked right now, but he’ll see this is for the best in the end.” He breathed
her in. There was such peace here. Daisy was a storm, but like a storm she was
necessary, and the world felt fresh and new. “I promise you, this won’t last.
He adores you, but change is hard. Aidan’s already on board. There’s no way
your father doesn’t see this relationship is good for both of us. Until then,
we should enjoy being alone. How many new couples get this kind of time
together?”
She turned her head up, her lips curling in a sexy smile.
“So what you’re saying is me getting on an assassin’s hit list is actually a
good thing.”
His girl could turn a frown upside down. “My dick thinks
so.”
That smile turned brilliant. “So you’re all in?”
In the end it was the easiest decision he’d ever made. “I’m
all in, love.”
“And you’re okay with what it means for me to be all in.”
Oh, she could bring it on. Being with Daisy would mean
danger at every corner. Or at least mischief. But then he’d complained about
life being boring. “I told you. I love your winds, Typhoon. I guess I should
call you a hurricane since I’m here now.”
She sat up, throwing a leg over his waist and sliding her
core right over his cock. “Then you should know, I have some making up to do.
Saint Daisy needs to get a little dirty, baby.”
He held on as the storm started all over again.