5. Daisy
Chapter 5
Daisy
D aisy didn’t know exactly where she went wrong, but it probably started with the liquor on an empty stomach. After finishing their second glass of whiskey, she and Jensen closed their shared tab, walking back to their suite in silence.
She had noticed the loaded stares throughout their exchange, but those happened often. She and Jensen got into staring contests and shouting matches with such regular frequency at work that one might assume they were part of her job description. Yet, Daisy slipped up somewhere in the amber haze of Sunset Vermouth.
The next thing she knew, she was kissing Jensen’s stupid face in the hallway outside their room.
Daisy's back collided with the nearest wall, panting hard when Jensen's hands gripped her waist. His body pinned hers, trapping her between the cold exterior of the building and the delicious heat lapping off his skin.
Jensen’s eyes darkened like midnight waters when tracing over her body, drinking in every inch of her. His tongue swiped over his lips, taking a moment to breathe.
Daisy chewed on her inner cheek when his thumbs traced a loose shape over her stomach. Whenever his fingers touched, heat followed in the wake of his path. Her thoughts swam through whiskey, ignoring the last shred of her rationality screaming above the dull thudding between her legs.
Jensen leaned in, pausing when his lips hovered over hers as he murmured, “You started this.”
"You continued it," Daisy replied, and her cheeky tone caused Jensen's mouth to crash back to hers.
Her hands slid up his buttoned shirt, fingering at the second button. A moan escaped her when Jensen’s tongue slid along her lower lip, brushing against hers while he mapped out her mouth.
Ugh, him being a good kisser sucked. Daisy would be annoyed about it later. For now, she chose to enjoy Jensen’s attention.
Jensen’s mouth trailed away to skim her jaw, peppering heated kisses to her skin until she pawed at his back. When Daisy’s nails dug in and pushed him closer, he chuckled.
“It’s not funny!” Daisy gasped, betrayed by how her hips arched upward at Jensen’s wandering mouth.
“It kind of is,” Jensen’s hot breath caressed the column of her neck seconds before his mouth returned to its ministrations. He sucked against her neck, and Daisy's breath held in her throat, leaving her lightheaded. He’d leave a mark for the morning if he kept kissing that hard. “Never pegged you for the needy type.”
"I'm not needy! My vibrator and I haven't gotten enough alone time lately," Daisy grumbled, trying her best to ignore Jensen as he added to the growing constellation of hickeys.
When Easton blamed her for the dry spell in their sex life, he hadn't been entirely wrong. But he shouldered half the blame for when he acted coldly mid-sex. It didn't matter anymore, not when she could have whoever she wanted.
Right then, she saw an opportunity in Jensen.
Daisy braced further against the wall as she tipped her head to the side, offering him more of her neck. Jensen hummed in appreciation right before he traced over one of the hickeys with his tongue. Fucker.
“If you keep this up, we’re going to get caught in an indecent position. The two potential CEOs fraternizing during the company’s retreat wouldn’t be good for our reputations. And I don’t even want to think about HR,” Daisy hissed, yet her warning fell flat on its face when Jensen laughed.
"Maybe," Jensen's voice muffled against the skin of her neck, but its warmth sent a wave of goosebumps across her body. Daisy shivered quietly, squeezing her eyes shut. "What would people think seeing me pressing you against the wall? You wouldn't be able to hold onto that ice princess act if they witnessed you moaning and writhing for me, hmm?”
"Shut up!" Daisy’s eyes met Jensen’s when he pulled his face from the crook of her neck, losing herself in those stormy eyes. So transfixed, she barely registered the sensation of his fingers sliding up to cradle the back of her neck. When his mouth returned to hers, she sank into him.
Daisy always gave as good as she got; her lips chased pleasure, and she found a gold mine in Jensen's sharp inhales when she pushed against him.
She dragged her fingers down his back while her head buzzed with the growing chant to take Jensen to her bed. He got on her nerves, under her skin, and maybe into her pants if she didn’t stop there.
The metal clattering of a belt startled her eyes open, bringing Daisy’s gaze down to his waistband. Jensen still had one hand tucked behind her neck, but his other hand unbuckled his belt without breaking the kiss.
Oh. God.
Daisy’s breath strangled as Jensen pulled back, eyes opening. But he followed her gaze to his newly unbuckled belt, smirking, "Like my party trick?"
“You're a slut,” Daisy teased, but her voice faded when Jensen's face lit up. His smugness radiated off him, and she swallowed the urge to throttle him with her bare hands.
The whiskey inside her, however, disagreed. Keep going, Jensen.
As if he heard the little voice inside her head beg, Jensen grabbed one of her thighs. Daisy stilled while his fingers caressed her skin, gliding toward her ass. She couldn’t think, not when their hips flushed together, and she felt the firm bulge through his slacks.
Jensen’s eyes bore into hers, demanding her attention. “Is that a complaint, Your Highness?” he whispered against her lips, still holding her gaze hostage between half-lidded eyes.
"No," Daisy replied, folding too quickly. Apparently, she left her common sense at the bar, circling the bottom of her whiskey glass.
Her admission was the correct answer because Jensen wrapped her thigh around his hip. Space became nonexistent between them, sucking all the air from the hallway into the dry heat of a California night.
Jensen opened his mouth to say more, maybe to tease her for her loss of words, but the nearby clatter of feet against metal stairs broke the immersion.
His eyes dropped from hers, shaking his head. “C’mon.”
Daisy buried a yelp in Jensen's neck when he, without warning, scooped up her other thigh. She molded her body against his, and her legs tightened around his hips.
One of Jensen’s hands gripped under her ass while he raced for their room several doors down. As he rifled for a room key, Daisy swore the hem of her dress inched higher. She posed a serious risk of flashing the empty hallway an eyeful of the dark, lace thong underneath her skirt.
Jensen quickly swiped them in, and the two tumbled into the darkened room. Daisy heard the door click shut, but Jensen didn't wait to carry her to the nearest bedroom. Her bedroom.
Moonlight filtered through the open curtains, but no one could see them from outside. Daisy heard Jensen’s knees bump into the mattress at the foot of her bed before he gently lowered her into the sheets—not the rough toss and manhandling she expected from him.
Jensen’s silhouette raced to the bedside table. Within seconds, the room filled with the sickly yellow light from a lamp, washing over the walls. Grimacing until her eyes adjusted to the brightness, Daisy peered over her shoulder, watching Jensen turn to find her staring.
Daisy raked her eyes over him. “I might be too much for you to handle. You should head back to your room.”
“Is that right?” Jensen yanked the loose tie from around his neck, tossing it toward the door. He stalked closer. “And what if you’re the one who can’t handle me?”
“Trust me. I can handle you easily. All that in the hallway was foreplay.”
“You talk a big game, Riggs.”
“No ‘Your Highness’? Now, I know it’s getting serious. . . I won’t hold it against you if you can’t live up to expectations.” Daisy smirked, taking in Jensen’s darkened eyes while he inched closer. The tension pulled her taut like a bowstring someone twisted too tight, helping little to calm the friction sparking between her thighs.
If things continued to heat up, the Ridge might burn down around them from the tension.
Jensen leaned forward to rest his knuckles on the edge of the bed. His posture boxed her in. Their eyes connected somewhere in the middle as the rest of the world went to hell.
Daisy’s hands held his face as Jensen bridged the gap between their mouths to shut her up. He kissed her until she saw stars, tumbling helplessly into his gravity. The aroma of cedar, sandalwood, and whiskey on his skin threatened to rewire her brain, immersing her in all of him while aimless hands explored over pesky clothes.
When they broke for breath, their hands raced to strip. Daisy’s hands slipped behind her head for the clasp of her dress, stuck right out of reach. While she fought to free herself, Jensen shed the layers of his suit.
The quiet click at the nape of her neck preceded the slump of her dress down her shoulders, but Daisy didn't wait around or brag. Her fingers tucked into the hem and yanked the dress clear over her head, taking her strapless bra with it.
The cool sting of the room’s air against her hardened nipples quelled the fever enveloping Daisy’s body. She panted, reaching up to yank the bobby pins from her hair.
Jensen stilled. Daisy caught his eyes running up her exposed skin, dousing her ego in gasoline and striking the match. He stood there with his suit jacket crumpled on the floor and his belt undone from earlier, but his shirt was still on.
“You should close your mouth before the drool drips down your chin.” Daisy stretched across the bed, rolled onto her stomach, and kicked her feet up like a classic pin-up girl. She propped herself onto elbows, running a finger up Jensen’s still-buttoned shirt. “I told you I might be too much for you.”
“Hilarious,” Jensen tried to scoff, but the heaviness of his breathing wasn’t lost on Daisy. His chest heaved while his fingers fumbled down each button. He missed the hole a few times, but Daisy silently counted each miss while hiding a smirk. “Don’t laugh at me.”
His exasperation pulled at the last of Daisy’s resolve. She finally let the smirk out fully. “How’d you know I was laughing at you in my head?”
“You’re the worst.”
Jensen nearly tore the last button off, but he peeled off his undershirt in the same move. Daisy stared at her rival's sculpted abs and broad, defined chest, glistening in the light. Okay, Giselle wasn’t too far off in her assessment, but Daisy knew better than to tell Jensen he looked like an Adonis.
She stared at him through her lashes, smirking when she wrapped her arms around his hips. Jensen's brow raised, but he moaned when Daisy yanked him toward the bed by the belt loops. Her mouth brushed against his lower abdomen, running along the sparse hairs of his happy trail.
Daisy’s lipstick left behind smudged red stains as she moved closer to the waistband. Her eyes held Jensen's, taking in his breathless expression and how his cheeks reduced to a delicious shade of pink.
Daisy pressed her lips against his naval until the rumple of fabric filled the room. She pulled back enough to see Jensen's pants discarded, his cock in his hand.
For all the times Daisy sneered that Jensen’s obnoxious attitude overcompensated for other shortcomings , the sight of his dick tossed all of those assumptions out of the window. A few notable veins ran down the length of his cock, on the longer side of average, but it was the girth that awakened something feral in her.
Jensen stroked a hand up his length, panting a little when he smirked. “Now who’s drooling?”
Maybe she was, but Daisy would deny it until the day she died. She rolled her eyes. “You’re so full of yourself.”
“But you like it. Now, if you’re still sure you can take me, tongue out,” Jensen demanded. Looming over her with such a cocky glint in his eyes infuriated Daisy, but the whiskey in her veins softened it.
Despite her glare, she stuck her tongue out. A noise of approval left Jensen’s lips as he tipped her chin upward.
He tapped the head of his cock against her tongue. Daisy hated how her thighs clenched at the sloppy echo when Jensen repeated the motion.
Jensen groaned loudly, uninhibited in the safety of their suite. “If you keep looking at me like that. . .”
“What? You’ll finish too fast?” Daisy laughed at the blush spreading down Jensen’s neck, running her tongue along the underside of his cock. She swirled it around the head, licking pre-cum off his slit.
Jensen grimaced, jaw clenched. “Yeah, right. I’m not in high school anymore. I have self-control.”
“That self-control’s about to go out the window. You’ll be begging me to keep going,” Daisy whispered as she wrapped her lips around the tip, suckling a little. Her hands guided his hips, taking his cock fully into her mouth.
Jensen moaned, breath shuddering when Daisy bobbed her head slowly. His hair fell into his eyes while he struggled to keep them open.
The sight of Jensen thoroughly debased because of her filled Daisy’s chest with pride. She took more of his cock, but its weight made her head go empty. Pleasure buzzed hollowly, drowning out any thoughts of anything but the man in front of her.
“Shit.” Jensen panted hard, breathing interrupted by the occasional moan whenever Daisy’s tongue brushed the underside of his cock. Each time, his hips weakly bucked, and he pushed himself further down her throat. "I can almost stand you when you're behaving yourself instead of pushing all my buttons."
With her fingers curled into the belt loops, Daisy eased Jensen’s cock from her mouth. She admired the lipstick marks littered along his length in her signature red. The urge to send a picture to Delaney and Easton sounded almost too good to ignore.
Daisy licked her lips as her hand wrapped around his rock-hard length, smirking when Jensen’s scowl morphed into a lip bite. Still holding his gaze, she dropped a bead of spit against the tip before she ran her hand up his shaft.
"Mmm, it's cute that you think you're in control here. If you assume you’re going to boss me around, you have another thing coming,” Daisy chided, albeit more playful than bitchy. “You’re enjoying this, or else you wouldn’t be bucking your hips down my throat.”
“Okay, I’m enjoying it.” Jensen’s hands slid from her face and threaded into her waves. Before she knew it, one of his hands gathered her hair into a ponytail, wrapping it around his palm. He angled her face so the tip of his cock smeared against her lips. “But you like it just as much.”
Daisy blinked up at him wordlessly. She opened her mouth for Jensen's cock to slide back in. That time, Jensen controlled the pace, using his grip on her ponytail and slow yet deep thrusts.
Daisy shifted on the bed until her knees bent and her thighs parted wider, pressing her hips flush to the mattress. Each shudder of his hips teased the friction between her legs. The low, dull throbbing of her clit screamed to be touched, but she’d rather die than beg Jensen for some attention. She wasn’t that desperate.
She started to rock her hips into the duvet, matching Jensen’s pace. Yet, his eyes lazily traced down her arched back and hummed, “Keep your eyes on me. I’ll take care of you.”
Daisy's eyes narrowed, downright indignant, until Jensen's fingers walked down her back. He traced around the lace of her panties and over the supple curve of her ass.
She cried out when two of his fingers slid underneath the thin string to rub at her clit, muffled by his cock. Jensen’s lips twisted into a smirk, rubbing two fingers between her clit to the slick entrance of her pussy.
Jensen repeated the motion but paused long enough to time his hips thrusting as his fingers pushed inside her. Daisy moaned hard, and her eyes fluttered heavily.
Jensen let out a low groan at the sloppy sound his fingers made sliding in and out of her pussy. “You’re clenching so hard, Your Highness. Are you that eager for me to touch you?”
Daisy couldn’t speak, not with her mouth full. Her eyes narrowed further, hoping to convey that he should stop talking. Her glare elicited a chuckle from Jensen, who slowed his hips.
He stepped back, but his eyes widened when seeing the saliva trail strung between Daisy’s mouth and his cock. He swallowed hard, lips parted open and blushing. “Oh.”
Daisy wiped her mouth, careful not to smudge her lipstick more than blowing Jensen already had. She admired the glistening of her slick of his fingers, sighing.
“What now, hotshot? Too much?” Daisy teased, rolling to sit upright at the foot of the bed. Her heels clattered on the ground harmlessly.
She didn’t expect Jensen to hold her gaze while he sucked her slick off his fingers, nice and slow. Jensen hummed, “Nope. You’re going to lose that pathetic excuse for panties.”
Daisy raised a brow, smirking as she hooked her fingers through the thin elastic of her thong. “You mean this?”
“If you worried about panty lines, you should’ve gone commando.”
“I never like to make things easy for you.”
Daisy slid the panties down her legs, tossing them toward the bathroom. She gestured to his slacks and boxers puddled around his ankles. Those needed to go.
Jensen never moved faster than to ditch them in a puddle of fabric. He glanced toward the living room. “I need a condom. I might have one in my suitcase-”
“I brought some.” Daisy stretched toward the bedside table to grab the small makeup bag tucked underneath it. She found a foil and tossed it to Jensen, hearing the rumpling of the packaging. “Don’t ask.”
"Wasn't going to," Jensen mumbled.
After a moment, Jensen climbed onto the bed while Daisy met him in the middle. She opened her mouth, but only a moan came out when Jensen slid her onto his lap. His stiff cock rubbed against her pussy, throbbing from the slightest contact.
Jensen flashed her a wolfish grin when rutting his hips against hers, eliciting a small gasp out of her. “Feels good?”
"Maybe." Daisy sniffed, but her body trembled traitorously when Jensen's hand dipped between her thighs, straddling his hips. He guided himself to rest shy of her entrance. "Stop teasing me."
“I will. . . but you need to ask me to fuck you.”
“Fine. Please, Jensen . . . fuck me?”
Jensen's eyes widened, but he pushed up, sinking Daisy onto his cock with his hands at her hips. With each inch of him she took, the knot of arousal tightened in her abdomen until her body quivered all over.
“There we go," Jensen's voice shook when Daisy's hips based, flushed to his. His stormy eyes glazed over until Daisy's hand threaded into his hair. He panted, "Rock those hips for me."
Daisy’s head tipped back after the first bounce of her hips, grabbing Jensen’s shoulders like an anchor. “Fuck.”
“For someone who hates me so much, you're loving every inch of me inside of you," Jensen whispered, broken up by shaky breaths and the slapping of skin while Daisy rode him.
“I still hate you.”
“Feeling’s mutual.”
Neither said another word. Not when Jensen's hips matched Daisy's pace or his hands helped her ride, causing her thighs to shake. Jensen’s face buried into the crook of her neck while Daisy faced the ceiling.
Sensations blurred together for Daisy, embarrassingly close to orgasm. She sped up her rocking when Jensen’s breathing grew heavier, mirroring her pants.
Jensen’s arms coiled around her waist, holding her still while he bucked his hips a few more times. He came with a weak moan. The drip of some cum from the condom slid down Daisy’s thigh, coaxing her to finish.
She stilled in Jensen’s lap while she embraced the high. Jensen’s arms hadn’t relinquished their hold on her, but his voice cut through the moment, “Oh, fuck.”
“Huh?” Daisy leaned back enough to see Jensen’s face, which flushed red with embarrassment.
“Daisy, we hooked up.”
“I know. You’re still inside me.”
"We're still reeling from Delaney and Easton, but it would be wrong to stoop to their level. Not to mention, we’re in competition for the same promotion. This was a mistake, one that can’t happen again," Jensen said.
“I’m not a mistake. This wasn’t a mistake either,” Daisy remarked, shushing him with a finger to his lips. “As for Delaney and Easton, those idiots decided to ruin our vacation. When you were pushing me against the wall or with your hands on me, did you even think about either of them? Admit it, I had your full attention and not your ex-girlfriend dating my ex.”
“You. . . aren’t wrong.” Jensen frowned. Daisy dropped her hand to her side, squirming in his lap.
"Look, Easton and I were never going to be long-term. I’m well aware I’m not the dream girl who comes home to meet the family. You, on the other hand? Have you been with anyone outside of Delaney?"
Jensen said nothing, eyes averted to the side in shame. Daisy reached out, tipping his face back to hers.
“You’re trying to be loyal to her and your commitment to the happy life you dreamed up. She cheated on you.” Daisy shook her head. “Maybe you were going to marry this girl, but she threw it away because of her insecurity. She created a self-fulfilling prophecy that led to tonight .”
“You knew about my proposal?” Jensen’s brows knit together.
"Jensen, I think everyone knew you planned to propose with how often you checked your pocket. But that doesn't matter."
“Then, what does matter?”
“You and I might be at odds on everything else, but we have good sex. We had an itch needing to be scratched, so we found a mutual solution. We're still rivals, but I’m smart enough to know that closeness doesn’t help tension. I won’t say never to becoming rivals with a little something more involved,” Daisy reasoned, studying the pensiveness slipping over Jensen’s face.
“So, if we hypothetically became rivals. . . with benefits, then we’d need some ground rules,” Jensen said, finally meeting her eyes. “That or it can never happen again.”
Daisy wrinkled her nose. “I won’t argue about ground rules. Starting with that no one else can know.”
“Fine.” Jensen nodded. “If we do this, we shouldn't cross a certain line with aftercare. No spending the night, no cuddles, no pillow talk."
"Okay. Neither of us expects a relationship as a benefit, and it should probably resolve before we return to work. What happens in paradise should stay there.”
“Fine. Neither of us can sleep with anyone else without letting the other person know first, out of courtesy.”
“Last thing, we’ll have to sit down and talk about things that are acceptable and hard limits in the bedroom tomorrow morning. . . or when we're fully sober."
"Fine," Jensen remarked.
“Fine.” With the last word, Daisy climbed off Jensen’s lap. She slid to the edge of the bed, glancing over her shoulder at Jensen, who slumped back into the pillows. “I’m going to shower. You should probably do the same. . . in your room.”