CHAPTER THREE
Jack
Tallon waited until he heard the door close to the bathroom. “What the fuck,” he had a huge grin on his face, “was that?”
I ran a hand through my hair, forgetting it was drenched in tomato soup. “I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I just… like her.”
“Well, yeah. I picked up on that. I’ve never seen you like that before, man. What’s going on?”
“I don’t know,” I said honestly. “I want to be around her, though.” I suddenly panicked. Once Daisy came out of the bathroom, she wouldn’t have a reason to stay. “Quick. What do I do?”
Tallon frowned a little, a disturbed look on his face. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t let her leave without knowing when I’ll see her again.”
His eyes widened. “She’s a delivery girl at the deli you’ve literally ordered the same lunch from for the past ten years. Or more,” he said, shaking his head. “Just call Old Man Dinardo and request her as your delivery person from now on.”
I heaved a sigh of relief, putting my hand on my chest as the feeling of tightness that had appeared there when I thought I’d have to watch her walk away from me started to ease. “God, you’re fucking brilliant,” I said, reaching for the phone on Grandma’s desk.
He gave me a strange look. “That’s one of the least brilliant things I’ve ever said. It was pretty obvious, man. What the hell is wrong with you?”
I heard a door closing and then footsteps headed our way. I started to dial the number Grandma had taped to her desk beside the phone. It was on a note, titled ‘Frequently Dialed Numbers’.
“Dude! Don’t do it where she can hear you,” he hissed.
I dropped the phone back on the receiver like it was made of lava. He was right. I couldn’t let her hear me request her. That was kind of pathetic.
What was wrong with me? Whatever had come over me as I’d looked down into her pretty green eyes wasn’t going away. If anything, the feeling that I needed to be around her, keep her with me, learn everything about her—it was growing stronger.
I shot a look at Tallon. “What does it feel like when you like a girl? I mean really like a girl.”
Tallon’s eyebrows shot up, then a slow grin crossed his face. “Well, Jack, when two people like each other very much, they sometimes touch each other in ways that could confuse you at first…”
“Shut the fuck up.” I rolled my eyes. “You know what I meant. I want to do more than fuck her. That’s all I’m saying.”
He blinked. “You never want to do more than fuck a girl.”
I turned and practically yelled at him. “I know!” I rubbed the back of my neck as I sat on the corner of Grandma’s desk. Then I realized I was messing it up. I was soggy with soup and left a butt print where I’d been sitting.
“I’d better change clothes.”
“You think?”
“Quit giving me crap and help me,” I hissed as the footsteps grew louder, and Daisy appeared once again.
She was wearing a CaveSphere shirt in the big and tall size Grandma ordered for me. It… did not fit her well.
“Oh,” I said. “That doesn’t really fit.”
Grandma snorted. “Did you think it would?”
“I didn’t think about it.” I stared at Daisy. She stood there, wearing a T-shirt that looked like some kind of weird muumuu dress. “You, um, probably don’t want to go out in that, huh?”
She laughed, and the sound delighted me. I found myself grinning at her like an idiot, and I could feel the stares of Grandma and Tallon practically burning holes in me.
This was… so different. I just stared at her.
It wasn’t until she stopped laughing and bit her lip, cheeks turning a pretty shade of pink that I realized I was making her uncomfortable. I pulled my eyes off her and looked between Tallon and Grandma, silently pleading with them to help me.
It took them a moment, as if they were characters from one of my video games that hadn’t been programmed for the situation they’d found themselves in.
Then they started talking at once.
“You two should go to lunch,” Tallon said.
“Jack, you should take Daisy home. I’m sure she needs a shower and a better change of clothes than… this.” Grandma gestured to the muumuu T-shirt.
They talked over each other, and Daisy and I both looked back and forth between them. “Yes,” I said desperately. “Let’s do that.”
Daisy pulled the collar of the T-shirt back on her shoulder.
It immediately slid off again, and I could see her bra strap.
I could tell it was lacy and had probably been ivory or white before the tomato soup had turned it a weird, pinkish red color.
I swallowed. The sight of it made me grow hard.
My God. What was wrong with me? I’d dated famous lingerie and swimsuit models before and hadn’t been even close to this turned on watching them at their fashion show.
With Daisy all it took was the sight of her bra strap.
“I really need to get back to work,” Daisy said, and my stomach dropped. I was going to have to let her go.
“But you can’t go like that,” I protested.
She looked down at herself. “Yeah, you’re probably right.” Tomato soup was still dripping from her hair.
“Let me take you home. I’ll wait for you to take a shower or whatever, and then I’ll drive you back to Dinardo’s,” I offered. “I could pick up lunch then.” I would love to take her to lunch. In fact, I would love to take her to my house in the Bahamas.
And never let her leave.
“Really?” she asked, her eyes roving over me in doubt. Oh yeah. I was also covered in tomato soup.
“Give me five minutes,” I said, already jogging down the hall that led to the bedroom and bathroom attached to my office. When we’d built the building, I’d insisted the architect put them in the plans for nights I worked at the office.
I heard Grandma assuring her it was all okay as she called Dinardo’s Deli and asked to speak to Old Man Dinardo.
I hurried through my shower, trying to ignore my hard cock.
I really didn’t have time to take care of it right now, but it was throbbing, aching with need.
I couldn’t be expected not to stare at tits like hers in a wet T-shirt and not have this reaction.
I looked down. It was basically a steel rod.
I groaned. And it was going to be obvious if anyone looked down once I got dressed.
At least that’s what I told myself. I leaned against the tiled shower and moaned with relief as I grabbed the base and squeezed then started jacking myself furiously.
“Fuuuck,” I moaned out as I pictured her on her knees in front of me, her pretty, full lips wrapped around my dick, green eyes staring up at me. And I exploded, coming with a ferocity that left me weak in the knees and gasping for breath.
“My God,” I gasped out. That had taken all of thirty seconds.
What was this? I’d heard of insta-love. My sister, Laura, read romance novels constantly.
But this felt different from the way she’d described that.
I thought about that television series You.
It wasn’t quite like that, either, thank goodness.
Maybe it was somewhere in the middle of those two things?
Like maybe I had stalker-like feelings similar to the guy in that series, but I would never want to hurt her. Maybe I was a ‘nice’ stalker.
Although I wanted to do some decidedly not nice things with her. To her.
Shit. I had to quit thinking about that or I’d make myself hard again.
I hurried and washed, taking extra care to make sure all the tomato soup was gone. I scrubbed my hair, neck, and fingernails. That had taken the brunt of mess. “Glad I closed my eyes,” I said to myself, wondering if anyone had ever been blinded by soup.
I got dressed faster than I think I ever had before and started down the hall to get back to her.
The closer I got to her the more nervous I became.
What did I say to a girl I actually liked?
Most of the women I went out with were a one-and-done kind of thing.
I was out with them to fuck them, and that was it.
I never had any trouble talking to them, even the small talk I hated so much, because I didn’t really care if they liked me.
I cared whether or not Daisy liked me.
I already knew I wanted more from her. I stopped walking and took a deep breath. I looked down at what I was wearing, suddenly worried for the first time that I didn’t look presentable. I was wearing some comfy jeans and a faded T-shirt with Nikes. What if she was used to guys in suits?
I felt shaky.
Man. Was this what guys felt like all the time when they were into somebody? I fucking hated it. And loved it all at the same time.
I forced myself to walk slowly and try to act casual as I entered the lobby area. “Are you ready?” I asked.
Daisy nodded. “I don’t want to put you out, Mr. Lancaster, I know you’re very busy.”
“I’m not that busy,” I lied, ignoring the sounds of disbelief Tallon and Grandma made. I turned to them. “I’ll see y’all later.”
I also ignored the way my dick twitched when she called me Mr. Lancaster in that sweet voice of hers. Fuck, I wanted her badly. I turned back to Daisy. “Call me Jack.”
“Oh… okay.”
Someone had magically cleaned up the elevator, and I knew Grandma had probably been behind it. She made everything work that way. She thought about things I wouldn’t before I even knew I needed them.
It was awkward in the elevator. I didn’t know exactly what to say to her, and I could tell she felt the same way. Plus, all I wanted to do was stare at her.
But I didn’t want to be fucking creepy.
“Grandma called Dinardo’s?”
She nodded. “Yeah. Old Man Dinardo was pretty mad until she said you weren’t upset.” She looked at me nervously. “You really aren’t upset?”
“Not at all.”
“I hope you’ll let me pay for dry cleaning. Or your clothes if the soup won’t come out.”
I shook my head and tried to make myself stare at the closed elevator doors instead of at her. “That’s not at all necessary.” I tried to imagine how much she made working at Dinardo’s Deli. It would take her a while to pay for those stupid golf clothes, and there was no way I’d ever expect that.