25. Daisy #2
“I’ve got a big family,” I explain, sitting beside him. “And I’ve always loved the old dining table at home. When it’s this big, it’s always covered with stuff. Books and crafts and random bits and pieces. I don’t know. It feels cozier than an empty four-seater in a counterintuitive kind of way.”
“Makes sense,” he says. “And at the risk of making this the clumsiest segue ever, speaking of your family, we need to talk about what happened last night.”
“You know families go through stuff like this, right?” I assure him. “They fight and they make up. They say things they wish they hadn’t, then find a way to apologize. Things always fix themselves in the end.”
He moves his noodles around the bowl. “Where I come from, life doesn’t work like that.”
I turn in my seat so I’m facing him, then reach for his hand.
“We hurt each other last year.”
Beau’s callused fingers tighten around mine and his mouth flattens.
“But we weren’t being honest about what we wanted.
I’ll admit, it’s still hard for me to separate all the different threads in my head.
Part of me still wants that life we planned—moving and working and traveling.
All those months with you were some of the best of my life. I’d do anything to go back.”
He leans in and brushes a stray lock of hair back from my face. “They were the best of my life, period. Nothing compares.”
A little knot of tension comes undone in my chest. “But you wanted more.”
“I did.”
“And… do you still?”
He sighs. “I do, Darlin’. And I’ve got more reasons to want it now than I did back then.
Working the way we used to, on the road and always moving, doesn’t suit a child, and I intend to get full physical and legal guardianship of Ollie.
Sarah hasn’t been a good enough mother to that little boy, and I know what that feels like.
I don’t want Ollie’s childhood to be like mine, and I’ve got a good case to be his legal guardian.
At least, I intend to make my case as watertight as I can. ”
“I respect that,” I say. “And where do you see me in that picture?”
His mouth ticks up and his deep brown eyes soften.
“I see you right there by my side. But, Darlin’, can we make a life here?
Your family hates me. They have no reason to care about my feelings and every reason to care about yours.
I’m a brother too. I can see where yours are coming from.
If Sarah brought home a guy like me, I’d disapprove of him too. ”
My heart hurts as I cup his face. “You’re not a loser, if that’s what you’re getting at.”
He sighs. “No, I’m not, because I’ll work my fingers to the bone to give you and Ollie the life you deserve.
But I can’t do that here. This will always be your family’s ranch.
I’ll only ever be an employee depending on you for my paycheck.
I’m not willing to hold my tongue or duck my head to make your brothers happy.
Nothing good came from losing you, Darlin’, but I did gain some clarity: I expect more of myself.
I won’t ask you to accept less than the world, but I need you to let me find my own way to give it to you. ”
I blink at the sting in my eyes. “Are you saying you don’t want to stay here?”
He shakes his head. “No. I’m saying… it’s complicated.”
I sigh and let my head fall. “I know.”
Beau lifts my chin with a gentle finger. “I’m also saying that whatever we do next, we’ll do it together.”
He leans in, knees crowding my thighs, pushing my dress high enough I feel a little naked. His mouth draws closer to mine.
“And I’m saying that I really, really want to kiss you, Darlin’.”
I close my eyes and lean into his lips. My breath catches as we connect, and I whimper as he gives me one of those soft, adoring kisses that always made my bones melt.
Beau cradles my head in his hands as his mouth moves over mine.
I’ve never told him how much I love the feel of his large fingers and rough palms so tender on my face.
How it makes me feel like a rare and precious treasure.
His kiss is patient, and we let it linger, like a tentative reintroduction to something that used to come naturally.
Slowly, his fingers drift toward my neck, ghosting against my skin and leaving a trail of goose bumps.
My breath shudders against his mouth, and he swallows deeply.
“Do you want to—”
“Yes.” I kiss him again, sliding my palms along his thick, denim-clad thighs. “I do.”
Beau stands and takes me with him, hoisting me up so I can wrap my legs around his waist, my arms around his neck, and keep kissing him.
My body buzzes with the promise of him. I never forgot how his mouth felt on my skin, but the memories have faded and shifted.
Each one is pale and insignificant compared to this.
He climbs the stairs with me clinging to him, kissing him, his palms sliding under my thighs and up my dress, a groan sounding in the back of his throat as he brushes against the lace of my underwear.
He dips his fingers beneath the fabric, sweeping past the spot of wetness between my legs, and moans louder, his mouth growing rougher.
I match his desperation. It’s been too long since I felt him against me. On top of me. Inside me.
The hard ridge of his cock presses against the fly of his jeans, and I enjoy the friction as he carries me to the bedroom.
He sets one knee on the edge of the mattress and eases me down, his kisses growing messy with longer, more needy strokes of his tongue.
My heart pounds and my core pulses as he lays me on the covers.
“I don’t know where to begin, Darlin’,” he murmurs, towering over me, hot eyes running up and down my body, stalling on my mouth, then my breasts, then the dress rucked up around my hips.
His gaze is glassy and wild, his hair mussed from my fingers.
“I’ve imagined this a thousand times, and every time it’s different. Every time is perfect.”
I set my heels on the mattress and let my knees fall open. “I know where I want you to start.”