Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Elliot was somewhere between asleep and awake, drunk and sober, when Daisy inched her way to his side of the bed.
He draped his arm over her waist and she snuggled in closer, the haze of sleep making it safe.
She was a dream in his arms. There was nothing to overthink when she sighed, her breath skimming over his neck.
Conscious thought was not an issue when she pressed her lips to his throat.
She whimpered when he ran his hands over the curve of her hip, daring to run his fingers under the hem of her sleep shirt, over the soft, warm skin of her belly, over her ribs.
She pressed tighter against him, and he was so hard, he ached even in his sleep.
If it hadn’t been for the jeans he’d fallen asleep in, he was sure he would have come, just from the feel of her next to him, just from the sound of her sleepily whispering his name.
‘I’m here,’ he murmured back and Daisy settled again, her head tucked right below his chin, her breathing levelling out as she fell deeper asleep.
He kept her close for the rest of the night, his hands on her skin, his lips on hers when she wanted him there, when her needy voice broke through the fog of sleep.
She was the most realistic dream he’d ever had.
He didn’t want to wake up.
* * *
Someone was humming a familiar song. Elliot cracked open one eye and confirmed what he already knew.
This was not his bed. This was not his house.
And the person humming was the beautiful and perfect Daisy as she made tea in her tiny kitchen.
The woman he’d made a complete ass of himself in front of last night.
It hadn’t been a dream. Shit.
Elliot really had had too much to drink (like the lightweight that he was) and then sang on the streets of Dream Harbor (dear God, kill him now) and then passed out in Daisy’s bed (like an absolute loser).
He wouldn’t be surprised if she never wanted to see him again.
At this point, he wasn’t really wild about having to see himself.
While he was horrified by the memories of last night, a small part of him was vindicated.
See, he really was bad at dating! He was right to stay in his home and never leave it and to die alone someday.
All perfectly reasonable after last night’s antics.
His therapist would say these were not productive thoughts, but Dr. Bill wasn’t here, now was he?
‘And you’ll look sweet upon the seat…’ Daisy sang quietly before fading back to humming. She was singing the song he had last night, the one that always sprang to mind whenever he said her name. She sounded … happy? Maybe all was not lost.
Time to bite the bullet and face his mistakes.
He opened his eyes and stretched a little before sitting up and facing Daisy, who was now sipping her tea at the kitchen table. The one that was only about a foot from the bed.
‘Good morning,’ she said with a shy smile. ‘Sorry if I woke you.’
‘You should have shoved me out of your bed first thing this morning.’
Daisy laughed, and the sound, while usually his favorite, split through his head. He must have winced.
‘Hungover?’ she asked.
‘Very.’
‘Whatever Mac was serving, it was definitely stronger than wine.’
Elliot shook his head and then immediately stopped when the room spun. ‘Regardless,’ he said, squeezing his eyes shut again. ‘I’m a grown man. This whole thing is on me. Passing out in your bed? Ranks in my top five most embarrassing moments.’
‘Ooh … now I really want to know the other four.’
He opened his eyes, and Daisy was smiling at him again, teasing like she was willing to forget the whole drunken night. But Elliot wasn’t ready to. Not yet, anyway. Not before clearing the air.
‘Well, serenading you also ranks pretty high.’
‘I feel so honored to take up two spots.’
‘You’re being far too nice about this.’ He found his glasses on the table and put them on, running his fingers through his hair to put it back in some sort of order.
‘It’s not that big of a deal, Elliot,’ Daisy said, taking another sip of her tea. ‘I’m sure half the town is hungover this morning.’
‘But how many of them woke up in someone else’s bed?’
‘I would bet a pretty high percentage, actually. Beltane, remember?’
‘Right. Beltane.’ Elliot felt his cheeks flush hot at the reminder of why he’d had so much to drink in the first place.
He was nervous. He’d wanted the evening to go well for Daisy.
He’d wanted to be fun and charming and to give Daisy the boyfriend she deserved.
After running into her exes, he’d wanted to prove he was different from them, better than them, because at some point he’d started trying to convince Daisy this could be real between them, without even realizing it.
Without even meaning to. Probably right around the time he’d had his hand down her pants and his lips on her neck.
Damn it. He was screwing this all up. His feelings had become too much, and he didn’t know what to do so he’d gone hard on fairy wine.
Like an idiot.
‘Do you want some tea? You’ll have to pop down to the café if you want coffee.’
‘Tea is fine, thank you.’
Daisy prepared him a mug and handed it to him where he was still perched on the edge of the bed. He just needed to make this right…
‘I’m sorry, Daisy.’
‘For what?’
Elliot sighed. ‘For ruining your night.’
‘You didn’t ruin it.’
‘I drank far too much, inflicted my singing voice on you and then took up three quarters of your bed.’
Daisy rolled her eyes like he was being overdramatic.
‘We had a great time at the festival. We ate and drank and danced. It was a perfect evening. Tell me you remember that much.’
‘I remember it all.’
‘Good.’ Daisy crossed her arms over her chest, like she was angry with him now for ruining her memories of their night.
‘And then you sang a song that is near and dear to my heart as we walked home together under the stars, and while we didn’t end the night in quite the way I had imagined, you kept me warm all night long. ’
At her mention of it, more memories flooded in. Memories of him holding Daisy in the night, her soft little body tucked against his, of her sweet sighs brushing across his neck, of the way his hands had roamed over the delicious curves of her—
‘You’re pink again,’ she teased.
‘I know.’
‘You don’t have to be sorry about anything.’
‘Okay.’ He nodded and she came to stand between his thighs, the way she had last night. But now his mind wasn’t hazy from the wine and his hands were sure. He gripped her hips and tugged her closer. ‘How did you imagine the night would end?’ he asked and Daisy smirked.
‘In the traditional Beltane way.’
Elliot swallowed hard, his hands tracing from her hips to her waist and back again. Time for honesty. Time to tell her what he should have told her yesterday.
‘But I’m glad it didn’t,’ she added, beating him to it.
Elliot’s heart dropped with a devastating splash into his still wine-filled stomach.
‘You are?’
‘Yeah, I mean, better to not confuse things between us. Better to keep this … platonic.’
‘Platonic?’ Elliot echoed, his newly patched heart breaking all over again. Even though it shouldn’t be. Even though none of this should be a surprise.
‘Yes, platonic. We’re friends, right?’
She looked down at him, studying his face, her fingers raking through his hair again like she’d done last night, and Elliot could cry at the feel of it, of Daisy touching him, of Daisy telling him this was all they would ever be.
He swallowed hard. He couldn’t sleep with Daisy and pretend it didn’t mean anything, not when he knew it would. He’d told her that and she clearly didn’t want it, didn’t want him to fall in love with her.
So, friends it was.
Daisy didn’t need to know that it was already far too late for him.
‘Yeah, of course, friends.’
‘We can stop fake-dating if you want,’ she said. ‘If it would be too weird now.’
‘Have you booked any weddings yet?’
She shook her head.
‘And what happens if we break up now?’ he asked, already knowing the answer. Their break-up would just be more evidence of Daisy’s bad luck in love, and all of this would have been for nothing.
Daisy shrugged like it didn’t matter to her, when he knew it did. It meant everything to her.
‘Okay, so we keep going,’ he said, signing himself up for more pain. ‘At least until you book a wedding for next year. How about that?’
She bit her bottom lip, thinking, like she wasn’t sure this was a good idea.
‘And we still have research to do on these lookalike ancestors of ours. So, we might as well let the town think we’re together while we do it.’
‘True…’ She still didn’t sound convinced.
‘Afraid you won’t be able to keep your hands off of me?’ he joked.
‘I think I can manage,’ she said with a smirk, even as her hands moved from his hair to his shoulders. He hadn’t let go of her hips. She was still right there.
Wouldn’t it be easy to tug her forward? To tip back onto the bed and give in?
As easy as running his hand over the tip of a knife and wondering why it hurt.
Daisy shook her head, finally letting her hands fall from his body. ‘Okay, so still fake-dating, but maybe with less … touching.’
Elliot gave her hips one last squeeze before dropping his hands to the bed.
‘Sure.’
‘Thanks, Elliot.’
‘Of course, yeah. I should get going, though. I’m supposed to be at the inn in half an hour.’ He glanced down at his rumpled clothes. ‘And I clearly need to shower and change.’
‘You definitely shouldn’t go to work looking like that.’
‘I’ll text you later?’
‘I’d like that.’
The urge to kiss her goodbye was strong enough that he knew he’d just signed on for something that would amount to torture, but he wouldn’t change any of it.