Chapter Twenty-eight
West
“Daisy’s looking freaking hot tonight,” Lemon says from the booth beside me at Earl’s.
It took a hell of a lot of convincing to get Dais out tonight without Waylon, but Lemon had plans and—where my sister is concerned—I learned long ago not to interfere.
Lemon Winchester could talk a dog off a meat wagon.
I follow my sister’s gaze, as if I haven’t been ogling Daisy all fucking night.
She’s across the room, tearing up the dance floor with Wyatt and Zadie.
I smile as I watch Daisy laugh louder than I’ve seen in days.
My sister’s not wrong. Daisy’s always been a small-town smoke show, but now, with her voluptuous curves and her lush tits spilling over that pink dress that’s just a little too tight, looking at her, I think I’ve died and gone to heaven.
Her eyes are smokey and rimmed with makeup and her full lips are painted a nude pink that I can’t stop looking at.
Absolute fucking smoke show. When I realize Lemon, Colt, Cash and Wade are all staring at me, waiting for a response, I sip my beer and clear my throat.
“Lemon, you wouldn’t be tryin’ to meddle in my affairs, would you?”
My sister frowns, but it’s her voice pitched three decibels higher than usual that lets me know I’m in deep trouble. “Who said anything about meddling? And what affairs? You’re not stupid enough to still be screwing Alexis, right?”
“Of course not, but you do realize Daisy-Mae just had a baby?”
“A baby whom you adore.”
She’s not wrong on that front either. “A baby belonging to her ex-husband.”
“West William Winchester, are you saying you couldn’t parent Waylon because he’s not yours? Mama would be ashamed of you talking like that.”
“Mama has no qualms about telling me when she’s ashamed of me, and don’t you use my full name. I’m older than you.”
“Then start acting like it.”
“All I’m sayin’ is, he left the two of them vulnerable. I’m not sure my feelings on the subject really matter here. I’m her friend, and that’s the end of it.”
My sister narrows her eyes on me. “You’re not friends, and a woman like Daisy-Mae won’t stay single for long.”
“Lemon, I love you, but you need to drop this.” I shake my head, tearing my eyes away from Daisy.
I glance around the room and lock eyes with several different women looking at me the way Wade looks at a juicy ribeye.
I could ask any one of them to dance, but I know all of these women here, and none of them hold a candle to the gorgeous blonde across the room.
I down the rest of my beer and peel the label from the bottle, not realizing I’m making one hell of a mess before my sister smacks me upside the head.
“Ow!” I rub my ear and glare at her. “What the hell was that for?”
“Because you’re sitting here moping when you got somewhere else to be.”
“You got a case of baby brain already?”
“No.” She nudges her husband who’s watching Wade and Wyatt make idiots out of themselves on the dancefloor. “Colt, back me up. Tell West he’s being an idiot and he should just tell Daisy-Mae how he feels.”
Colt picks up his beer and takes a long sip, and then he looks between me and his wife with a stupid half-grin. “Oh, no. I’m not touching this one with a ten-foot pole.”
“Fine,” Lemon says. “No sex for a month.”
“Jesus, Lemon.” I screw up my nose in distaste.
Colt’s features turn pouty. “Come on, Lemonade.”
“One. Whole. Month.”
Colt glares at me. “Your sister’s right.”
“I usually am.” She nods.
“Piss or get off the pot, brother. Tell her how you feel,” Colt says.
“Or back off and let her be happy with someone else,” Cash adds. He’s been pretty miserable since he and Carla broke up, and I don’t like the way he’s looking at Dais. He meets my scowl head on and immediately looks away. “I think I’ll shut up now.”
“Good idea,” I deadpan.
“You know, Cash has a point,” Lemon says, sipping her ginger ale. “Why are you dragging your heels on this?”
“I just wanna point out here that none of you are poster children for healthy communication.” I toy with the ripped-up remnants of my label. “Cash didn’t realize Carla had left him until three weeks later, and don’t even get me started on the two of you.”
“Hey,” Colt says, “Slid a ring on her finger and put a baby in her belly, didn’t I?”
“Yeah, twelve years late.”
“Better late than never,” Lemon says with a crooked smile. Goddamn it. My best friend has rubbed off on her a little too much. Jesus. Disgust churns my gut. I don’t need to think about Colt and my baby sister rubbing on anything. I shake my head to rid it of those stomach-turning thoughts. “West?”
I roll my eyes. “What?”
She smiles, wide and genuine, and not for the first time since she came home from New York, I’m truly glad she’s back where she belongs. “Go get your girl.”
I screw up my features and stand. “She’s not my girl. She’s not my anything.”
“Bullshit,” Colt says as he feigns a coughing fit.
“Come to think of it, maybe I’ll ask Daisy to dance,” Cash says.
“If you wanna father children someday, you’ll stay seated right where you are,” I say menacingly, and then I cross the room.
I signal Alexis for another and angle my body so I’m leaning up against the bar with a view of the dance floor while I wait.
Alexis serves a few more customers and then pulls a cold one from the fridge, pops off the cap, her tits bouncing as she does.
I avert my eyes, because my mama raised me right, but sometimes I wish she hadn’t.
She places the beer down in front of me with a cheeky smile.
“Well, if it ain’t my favorite Winchester. ”
I nod and pick up the beer, but her hand encircles mine and she glides our joined fingers up the outside of the cold bottle, condensation sliding over my skin.
“Alexis,” I warn.
Her smile is bright and full of mischief. “It’s been a while since you and I have had any time to visit, West.”
“Yep, I reckon it has.”
“I get off at midnight.”
“That’s nice, but you won’t be getting off with me.”
She pouts and I wrestle the beer free of her grasp and bring it to my lips, taking a long pull.
Cold amber slides down my throat and I glance across the room, seeking out the only woman I want to get off with.
Daisy’s gaze locks with mine. She was watching that exchange.
Her lips flatten into a tight line, and her cheeks are pink with heat.
Is she jealous? I chuckle to myself. If this woman only knew how I’d give up everything just to hold her and never let go.
For a heartbeat, I just watch her, milky skin and flowing blonde hair, and those pretty brown eyes staring back at me with something akin to hurt in them.
I set my unfinished beer back on the bar and storm across the room. “You about ready to get out of here?”
“You haven’t danced with me yet, cowboy.”
“Don’t dance,” I say gruffly, because I’m fighting like hell not to just kiss her in front of everyone. “Especially don’t dance in front of the whole town.”
She swallows hard, and her cheeks pink up even more, but she nods and lowers her gaze.
Was that hurt in her eyes? Well, shit. I didn’t mean that I was embarrassed to dance with her, just that if I touch her, I won’t be able to keep from kissing her, and I don’t want the town gossips to have a front row seat.
Daisy gives me a tight smile. “I should probably get home anyway and relieve your mama. God knows Waylon has probably worn her out by now.”
“Come on, I’ll run you.”
“Just give me a minute to say goodnight to everyone.”
“Sure.” I slip back to the bar and pay our tab, and then I head back to the group and lean down to whisper in Daisy’s ear, “You ready for me?”
Fuck. I don’t even know why I worded it that way.
I don’t know what the hell is wrong with me.
It’s not like I haven’t spent months fantasizing about Daisy-Mae beneath me, but it’s like Lemon got right inside my brain and cleaved it open for the world to see, and now I can’t hide how I feel any more.
Not that I was really doing a bang up job of it anyway.
“Yeah,” she says—and, is it just me, or was that reply breathier than usual?
Daisy turns on her heel and squeezes through the throng of people, but I’m busy glaring at my baby sister who’s waggling her eyebrows up and down and making lewd gestures with her hands like a fucking teenager.
Colt whispers in her ear, and her jaw drops as he nuzzles in against her neck, and it seems I’m all but forgotten. Gross.
Daisy-Mae is already edging her way through the throng of dancing bodies. I fall into step behind her and press my palm to the small of her back as I lead her outside to my truck.
I open the door for her, and she climbs in, offering up that sweet smile as thanks. Once she has fastened her belt, I shut the door and move around the truck, discretely adjusting my cock which is thickening in my Wranglers.
We don’t say much on the way home and when I pull up to my house, I find I want to keep her in my truck just a little longer. I shut off the engine and listen to the sharp tick of it cooling, as the cicadas’ shrill cries drown out the silence.
“Did you have fun tonight?”
“I did. I mean, I spent almost every second checking my phone and texting Mama, until Lemon took it off me, that is.” She smacks her forehead. “Oh shoot. I forgot to get it back.”
Hearing her call my mother “mama” makes my chest ache.
A few months ago, I never thought it was possible to love two people this much, but I want her at my family table, I want her calling my mama that not because she insisted, but because it’s true.
I want Daisy and Waylon to stay, I want them in my home forever like I’ve never wanted anything.
“I’ll go get it once they’re back.”
“Oh, no. That’s okay. I’m sure I’ll see her tomorrow at breakfast. I don’t want you to have to make a trip over there just for me.”
“I don’t mind.”
“Honestly, I don’t want it. The only person who calls that phone is sitting right next to me.” She grins and it about blows my goddamn socks off. “I appreciate you taking a lonely spinster out.” She clears her throat and says, “I’m sorry if I hindered your regular Friday night hookups.”
I’m no saint. I’ve been known to spend a little time with the single ladies in this town in the past, but I don’t go to Earl’s for them.
I do it to blow off steam after a long week of work.
I do it to have a friendly beer with my brothers after riding their asses all week as their boss, but none of that compares to spending a night on Daisy’s couch, watching shitty reality TV or the way she curls into my chest when I pull her close in my bed.
I frown. “What hookups?”
Her delicate shoulders rise and fall in a shrug. “I saw you and Alexis getting close.”
This woman has no idea. No idea how fucking gorgeous she is, how special, or how taken I am with her. I bet that scumbag ex of hers never told her a day in her life how beautiful she was. “Alexis gets close to anyone she thinks will give her a big, fat tip.”
“I know I’m blonde, West, but don’t mistake me for stupid. I know you’re Red River Canyon’s most eligible bachelor. You could snap your fingers and have any woman in that bar.”
“Not any woman,” I say before I can shut my big, fat trap. Still, I turn and meet her gaze, willing her to hear me, praying she’ll see how much I want her without having to say it. Because, apparently, I’m a fucking pussy. “Daisy—”
“West,” she says at the same time. And then chuckles. “Sorry. You go.”
“I just ... I gotta get this out.” I smooth my sweaty palms over my jeans. Then I turn in my seat and lean in as I take a deep breath. “I don’t want any woman. I want y—”
A broken-hearted cry comes from inside my house.
“Waylon,” Daisy says, unbuckling her belt and grabbing her purse. “Sorry. Can we talk about this later?”
I give her a tight smile and nod. “Sure.” It’s not like I was trying to confess my undying love or anything.
“Thanks for tonight.” She leans over and kisses my cheek. Like an asshole, I long to turn my head, meet her lips and keep her with me, but I’m not the only guy who needs her tonight.
“Any time, darlin’.”
She grabs her purse, opens the door, and bounds up my front porch.
I stay in the truck long after she’s made it inside, staring at her, Mama, and Waylon through the living room window.
Warm light bathes the front porch, and Daisy rocks her baby in her arms. Longing and guilt war within me.
Daisy and Waylon are a family. They’re everything I never knew I wanted.
But I’m just an outsider looking in, too gutless to step up for fear of ruining everything we have, too afraid to claim them publicly as my own, even if I already have in my heart.