15. Daisy
DAISY
On Saturday morning, I jumped out of bed at nine o’clock on the dot even though my alarm hadn’t gone off yet.
I was too excited to sleep. Anthony was picking me up at eleven, so I had plenty of time to get ready.
I started my morning with a coffee and decided to FaceTime my parents.
They were very early risers. Typically at this time of the day, they were done feeding the animals and were taking a break. Mom answered right away.
“Hi, Mom,” I greeted as I held the phone so I could shield my eyes from the sun. I was determined to sit on this balcony every morning until it was too cold to do so. “How are you?”
“I’m taking a break now, having a coffee too,” Mom said, holding up her cup.
“Where’s Dad?”
“Still out and about. You know how he gets.” They had a few farmhands working with them, although I always told them they needed more employees. The farm was small but busy. My parents had chickens and sold free range eggs, raised alpacas for wool, and also had horses for riding lessons.
“It’s Saturday. ”
“As we like to say here, animals don’t know what day of the week it is.”
I chuckled. “That’s true.”
“How are you spending your weekend?” Mom inquired.
Oh, why hadn’t I come up with a story? I didn’t like to keep things from my parents, but I wasn’t sure how to tell them about Anthony. So I chose not to.
“I’ll just relax,” I said, which was completely true.
“That’s great. By the way, I’m getting so many compliments on the perfume you got me. It’s very unique.”
“I know, right? It’s from this shop in the French Quarter run by—” I stopped myself just in time. No, I couldn’t say “my boss’s grandmothers.” She’d be suspicious that I knew his family. “By two amazing ladies,” I finished.
We caught up with each other’s week. Dad didn’t make it to the phone at all during our conversation, but that was quite all right. I’d talk to him another time. After hanging up, I sipped the rest of my coffee, closing my eyes and enjoying the sun on my face.
The second I finished my cup, I headed to the shower.
Typically, I didn’t put too much effort into styling my hair.
I had beach waves naturally, but today I styled it with a huge roller brush and hair dryer.
I chose a light color palette for my makeup, since I planned to wear a sunflower-yellow dress.
The weather was unseasonably warm today, and I was determined to prolong the summer as much as possible.
It was my favorite season, and I prized every warm day.
Even though I’d started getting ready early enough, it was already 10:55 a.m. Once I was ready, I went out onto the balcony again, smiling into the sun. Oh, the day was just to my liking.
“You look stunning.” The familiar voice came from below.
Opening my eyes, I glanced down. Anthony stood there, hands in his pockets and a huge smile on his face. I was instantly on pins and needles.
“When did you arrive? I didn’t see you. ”
“Just now.”
“Come on up. Or better yet, wait for me and I’ll come downstairs.”
“Mom taught me you never pick up a girl for a date without walking to her door.”
I smiled. “Oh, I do like your mom.”
I was surprised that there was no weird tension between us anymore. Perhaps Anthony was right. Things would be different away from the office.
“I’ll wait for you here, then,” I said. “Unless you have more specific instructions.”
His eyes flashed. “I have very precise instructions, Daisy, but I’ll keep them for later.”
Holy shit. Heat coiled through me at his words. I had no doubt that he was talking about sexy instructions. Was that where today was heading?
I smiled for no reason. After going inside and closing the balcony’s sliding door, I grabbed my bag and jacket.
“Hello again,” Anthony said when I opened the front door.
“Hi.”
Will you look at that? Now that he was this close, I was starting to get nervous again. But it was a good kind of nervous.
“Ready to go?”
I nodded, and he gestured for me to step outside. I felt him right behind me as I locked the door.
“You smell amazing.”
“My lilac perfume is at work again,” I whispered.
“I love it, and I love how it smells on you.”
He was so close that I was expecting him to kiss me. Instead, he pulled back, and I suddenly felt his absence. I looked at him questioningly, but he didn’t offer any explanation, so we just went downstairs.
Once we were in the car, he asked, “What do you think about a stroll through Audubon Park?”
“I’d love that. Haven’t been there yet. ”
“I kept thinking about what we could do that you would enjoy and haven’t done before.”
“Hmm, what are the other options?”
“I’ll keep them for other dates.” He pointed to his temple as if he was committing them to memory.
My stomach fluttered. He wanted to take me out again? I liked the sound of that a little too much.
As he drove, I took a good look at him. He was wearing a dark green shirt and jeans with aviator sunglasses. Anthony LeBlanc was such a gorgeous man.
I settled in the leather seat, contemplating the mysterious ways in which life worked.
It didn’t take us long to reach the park. Since I knew virtually nothing about it, I followed Anthony’s lead. He took my hand and led me down an alley that was lined with huge trees.
“I feel like I’m in a fairy tale. I love old trees.”
Anthony looked at me strangely. “What?”
“Yes, I’m a tree person. In college, I even found my favorite one on the campus and went there to read. I sometimes spent hours there.”
“You had your own tree.” He smiled in a fond way.
“Yes, I did. Does it make me odd?” I teased.
“No, just unique.”
The park was full, but it was large enough that it didn’t feel crowded at all.
“Do you want to take a certain path?” I asked him.
“No. There are several picnic spots deeper in the park.”
“I love picnics. What are we having?”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “Whatever we can hunt down from the food carts.”
I grinned. “That sounds right up my alley.”
“I figured it would.”
That caught me off guard. How would he know?
“How was the gallery last night?” I asked.
“Fantastic. Mom did a great job as usual. ”
“What was the reason for the event?”
“She found a few new local artists and wanted to spread the word.”
“Like mother, like son, hmm?”
“Apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” Anthony confirmed.
“You often attend events at the gallery?”
“Nah, only when Mom specifically asks us. Otherwise, we’d just be in her way. She’s very busy taking care of things during the events, so it’s better if we’re not there.”
“I see.” A gust of wind blew. The air smelled like autumn, but it was very warm. “This is such a great day.”
“And it’s about to get better.” He was looking at a food cart to the left of us.
“Our first stop to forage?” I asked.
“Exactly.”
They were selling an assortment of goodies, but none looked too appealing. Most were prepackaged. Anthony and I exchanged a glance and wordlessly decided to move on.
The next cart was much better, and our haul was sizable. We bought two po’ boys, two donuts, and one beignet because Anthony refused to get one for himself.
“I insist that you shouldn’t have beignets from any vendor,” he said. “It’ll spoil your experience.”
“Don’t be such an elitist. I’m not a New Orleans native. They’re all the same to me.”
He growled. “You better not let Bella hear you say that. I don’t think she’ll like you as much.”
I looked up from the bag to Anthony. “Bella likes me?”
“She does. And to her credit, I managed to convince her last night not to spill the beans to the grandmothers.”
“You convinced her to switch sides and spy for you?”
“Not exactly, just not report anything.”
“You have mad negotiation skills.”
“I certainly do.” We laughed at that, but I had to wonder if he was talking about convincing people to do his bidding or something else entirely.
Wait a second. His eyes were… Oh yeah, they were dark. Clearly he was having sexy thoughts, just as I was.
He kissed the side of my temple as we moved into a narrow side alley, which opened up into a huge picnic area. Even though there were already plenty of people here, we easily found an empty table. We sat down side by side and put our bag of goodies on the table.
“I’m starving,” Anthony said.
“So am I. I only had coffee this morning. I was going to eat something but ended up spending all my time just getting ready. I swear it never takes me so long.”
“You look stunning,” Anthony said.
He put a hand at the small of my back, tilting his mouth toward me. Was he going to kiss me now? I honestly needed one.
“Then again, you always do. That’s the problem.”
I licked my lips. “Why is that bad?”
“It makes things at the office difficult.”
“Oh no!” I put a strand of hair behind my ear, glancing at my feet. The last thing I wanted was to complicate things at work.
“Right. My mistake.”
“Hmm? What do you mean?”
“You just withdrew into yourself. Let’s not mention the office at all today.”
I nodded. “Great idea.”
He tilted his head again, and I was certain he was going for my mouth this time, but nope. He kissed my cheek, then my earlobe before straightening up. I pouted. He started to laugh, glancing at my lips.
“What gives?” I asked. “I thought you were going to kiss me the second you showed up at my door.”
His eyes flashed, and he cleared his throat. “I will only kiss you under special circumstances, Daisy.”
“Such as? ”
“One, we’ll be indoors. Two, we’ll be alone. I want to have my fill of you, and I can’t possibly do that in public.”
Oh, this man didn’t beat around the bush.
“Okay, then. No kissing,” I whispered.
He moved a bit farther away from me on the bench, as if he needed the distance. I was tempted to slide right back next to him and touch him, but why poke the bear?
As we took out all the goodies and spread them across the table, he asked, “What did you do this morning?”
“I caught up with Mom. Dad was out and about as usual. I swear, the man doesn’t know how to relax. Then again, there’s always something going on at the farm, or someone visiting.”
“Family?”
“Nah, friends. Village life is never lonely. I’m grateful for that because I think it’s been helping my parents, too, since I left home. Annelise visits them often. I used to pretend she was my sister growing up, though I was quite content being an only child.”
“I can’t even imagine how that is.”
“My parents are like my best friends. Although…”
“What?” he asked when I hesitated.
“I don’t know. I feel like lately, we’re not as close anymore. Whenever there’s an issue at the farm or they need help financially, I find out from Annelise before I find out from them.”
“That’s parent pride,” Anthony said.
“But they used to openly tell me things.” I thought about it for a moment. “No, wait, you’re right. They never outright told me when they had money issues, but other things they would.”
“See? That’s how parents are.”
“I suppose so.”
We each ate a po’ boy. Anthony finished his quickly, but I took my time savoring it.
“I don’t know why this isn’t more popular throughout the whole country,” I said after my last mouthful. “It’s much better than a normal club sandwich, let alone a hot dog. ”
“We like to keep our delicacies in New Orleans.”
“Clearly. The hot chocolate from last night should be world-famous too. Bella has excellent taste.”
“I know.”
“You spend a lot of time with her?” It was so easy to talk to him out here.
It made the separation from work all the easier.
I really liked Anthony on a personal level.
The way he was so close to his family was endearing.
He was an easy person to gravitate toward, and I was ready to throw caution to the wind.
“I try. I truly enjoy it, and she does too.”
“Do you like kids in general, or just Bella?”
“I haven’t been around other kids much. Though I don’t dislike them.”
I started to laugh. “Oh, that enthusiasm is downright catchy.”
“It’s the truth.”
And I was grateful for that. I knew Anthony would never pretend to be someone he wasn’t.
After I finished my po’ boy, we ate the donuts, leaving the beignet for last.
“Want to split it?” I asked as I took it out of the paper bag.
“I guess I can try it.”
After cutting it in half, I ate mine in one go. “It’s really good.”
Anthony put his half down after one tiny bite. “This in no way qualifies as a beignet.”
I rolled my eyes and pulled the carton with his half to me. “More for me, then.”
He shook his head. “Daisy, Daisy, Daisy. So many beignet places in New Orleans, and you think this is a decent one.”
I shrugged as I swallowed the last bite. “What can I say? When it comes to sugar, I don’t discriminate.”
Anthony was grinning, which made me smile too. Yeah, I could fall for him—no question.
“What?” I asked.
“Speaking of sugar, you’ve got it everywhere. ”
I looked down at my chest and gasped. Yep, there was powdered sugar all over my dress. I began to brush it away.
“You got it all over your face too,” he said between chuckles. Then his fingers were on my cheeks and at the corner of my mouth. When he pressed two fingers to my lips, I let out an unexpected moan.
Anthony stopped moving. In an attempt to clean them, I licked my lips and somehow managed to touch his fingers with my tongue.
Then he moaned. Before I knew it, he was kissing me hot and dirty like I’d hoped for.
His tongue was exploring me shamelessly.
I was kissing him back with no restraints—just pure desire. I was on fire by the time we separated.
“Fucking hell, Daisy, I can’t keep kissing you like that here.”
“I disagree,” I murmured.
He took my hand, which I thought was a sweet gesture… until he put it over his pants.
“We need to leave,” Anthony said in a commanding way.
He was hard. He’d only kissed me, and he was hard. Heat gripped my entire body, and I knew it wouldn’t let go until he sank deep inside me. I just needed him too much.
I was ready. It had been a long time since I’d been with someone, and I wanted to be with Anthony. We had a chemistry that was palpable from the start, and I wasn’t going to hold back.
“We could go back to my place. Or is yours closer?”
He smirked. “I live two blocks away from the park.”
Now it was my turn to smirk. He’d planned this, I was sure. “How convenient. You brought me to the park with sexy thoughts in mind, didn’t you?”
“Crossed my mind once or twice.”
“Mm-hmm. Your plan is starting to make more sense now.”
“Daisy,” Anthony said, sounding far more serious than I’d expected. “We can stay here. Just say the word. We don’t have to?—”
“No. I want to. I want you.”
His eyes flashed. “Your wish is my command.”