21. Daisy
***Daisy***
Things with the Calloway brothers were weird, to say the least. Wes was distant and spent his time being anchored to the couch by Hank, who was obsessed with Wes, while looking like a ghost of himself.
Flynn was acting like a different man, with his meaningful looks and silent promises.
Max was always weird so nothing had changed with him but the fact that Max was the most normal brother was really a statement about the others.
At least the kids were their usual selves.
They were living their best lives, having the best summer ever with their Aunt Daisy, and if their dads were being a little strange, what did they care?
Even with the tension between the adults, the house was full of joy and fun, a fact that made me feel proud and hopeful about my future as a parent.
While the kids were arguing over who built the better stick tower, I busied myself with cooking dinner.
The meals had become more and more decadent, a sure sign that my mind was in turmoil.
That night was a lot, even for me. The Wellington was resting, the duchess potatoes were almost done, and the sauce I’d had cooking down for nearly two hours was shiny and perfect.
Everything was perfect but when it came time to sit down with everyone for a family dinner, I couldn’t do it.
I bowed out of dinner as gracefully as possible and scurried to my room before anyone could ask questions.
Late that night, I slipped out of the house and curled into the big porch swing overlooking the lake.
It was basically a swinging bed and I’d already sent a picture of it to a contractor I knew back home.
I wanted an exact copy on my porch, though the nights in Atlanta weren’t nearly as nice in the summer as they were at Calloway Cove.
I had a million thoughts racing through my mind when someone moved out of the shadows.
I nearly screamed before I recognized Max.
Grasping my hands to my chest, I shot him a dirty look. “What are you doing out here? You scared the hell out of me!”
He sighed and held out a blanket. “You’re cold.”
“I’m not-” I sighed back at him. I was cold.
I just didn’t love how much he could read my needs.
As much as he stayed away from me, he’d practically made himself a staple in my day to day life.
He would just show up with the exact thing I needed or was searching for, hand it over, and then disappear.
It was a mind fuck. Did he watch me? Enough to meet my needs before I could voice them? “Fine. I was cold. Thank you.”
Our fingers brushed when I reached for the blanket and the sound of his sharp inhale was unmistakable. His eyes locked onto mine as he grunted out an unhappy sound. “Just let me do it.”
I held my breath as he leaned over me to carefully tuck the blankets around my sides and legs.
He was so big and dangerous looking. His tattoos and muscles probably intimidated most people.
It had me, too, at first. Then there was the scowl.
The scowl was somehow both alarming and seductive.
It was impossible to not want to shove him down and climb on top when he looked like a warning wrapped in an orgasm.
As soon as I recognized where my thoughts were going I looked away from him and mumbled out my thanks.
That was the part where he normally would’ve left. He’d taken care of a need; that was his cue to run away and hide again. Except that night, he didn’t run. He knelt beside me and studied me.
I couldn’t handle his scrutiny. “What? Is there something on my face?”
“I thought you’d be gone by now.”
I sat up, the words hitting me straight to the heart. There’d been too much rejection lately and I wasn’t sure I could take another. He was the one who told me to stay. If he expected me to leave, why had he made me think he was-
“Whatever you’re thinking, you’re wrong.” Max went quiet after those few words and just stayed where he was, kneeling next to me. His face was a mask of blankness but I saw his jaw muscles clenching like he was angry.
I stood up and tried to walk away but Max twisted and brought me back down on the swing.
Instead of letting me sit on one side or the other of his broad shoulders he pulled me down right in front of him and shifted closer, enough that I had to open my legs to make room for him.
The position hit me immediately. My breath caught audibly and I made the mistake of trying to close my legs.
The move felt wildly erotic; I was squeezing him with my thighs and it made the fact that he was between my open thighs even more blaringly obvious.
I could feel my body responding at F1 speeds and froze. I was embarrassingly wet almost instantly and I was horrified that he might smell my arousal.
Max gripped my thighs roughly and jerked me forward so my center was pressed into his stomach.
His eyelashes were insanely long and I watched them flutter as he squeezed his eyes shut.
His grip turned bruising when he reopened them and met my gaze.
His eyes were burning and I realized that I’d maybe never met the real Max because the man between my thighs wasn’t anything like the controlled man I knew.
He was closer to the Max from Tyler’s stories.
“I thought you’d be gone because we’re all a lot to handle. I want you here.” Each word seemed to cost him something but he kept going. “I wasn’t telling you I’d hoped you’d be gone by now. Understand?”
His tone made me want to say yes, sir in the dirtiest of ways. I swallowed and nodded instead. I wasn’t sure I could speak. Every breath he took brushed his body against my most sensitive spot and it felt like heaven. I needed to move away but my brain wasn’t in control.
I didn’t even realize I was shifting my body against his until he gripped the back of my neck and snapped my head forward until we were eye to eye. One of his hands slid around to grip my ass and he used it to rock me into his body at a faster rhythm.
Max’s eyes burned with hunger that I never could’ve imagined pointed in my direction. “I should tell you I don’t want you here. Then maybe you’ll stop looking at me with those innocent eyes like you aren’t the sexiest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.”
I moaned. It wasn’t quiet or reserved. It was the moan of a woman who’d just heard a controlled man snap and wanted more. I had to brace myself with my hands on the swing behind me to keep from tumbling right over the edge of my sanity. The move pushed my chest out and Max groaned.
“Fuck, Daisy.” He bent his head forward and pressed his face into the valley between my breasts. His whole body shook with restraint when he moved back. “I can’t.”
It was embarrassing how disappointed I felt.
I started to nod and tell him it was okay but he shocked me by wrapping an arm around my waist and standing with me wrapped around him.
I was still trying to get over how strong he was when he laid down on the swing and jerked my body up his until I was kneeling over his head.
“I can’t but you can. Ride my face, Daisy.” He wrapped his arms around my thighs and dragged my core closer to his mouth. “Ride it like you fucking mean it.”