Chapter 13
Daisy stops in the open doorway, her eyes wide and her mouth even wider, and I cannot help but laugh.
“Daze, you okay there?” I ask, turning and walking slowly toward her.
She lifts her arm, her finger pointing at the sign as she blinks. “What...what, what is this?”
Chuckling, I throw my arm around her shoulders, pulling her close as I press my lips to her temple. “This is yours.”
She swallows audibly, turning to look up at me, those blue eyes of hers still wide. “What?”
Grinning, I lean down, my fingers sliding under her chin as I press a soft kiss to her lips. “It’s yours, Daze. I bought it for you.”
When I pull back, she’s blinking rapidly, as though she’s trying to process what I’m telling her. “It’s what?” she asks, her question barely audible.
I move so I’m standing in front of her, my hands on either side of her neck. “It’s yours,” I repeat.
“But how?”
“Because I bought it for you,” I say again, giving her a smile.
“Why?”
I burst out laughing. I’ve never seen Daisy like this—so genuinely surprised and speechless. I lean in and give her another kiss. “Because this has always been your dream, Daze,” I whisper against her lips.
“But...but...why?”
“I want to make it a reality for you.”
She blinks once before suddenly launching herself at me, flinging her arms around my neck as she all but leaps into my arms. My hands grip her ass as she wraps her legs around me and kisses me hard.
“You bought it?” she whispers, still kissing me hungrily.
“Uh huh,” I murmur with a laugh.
Daisy pulls back now, her eyes meeting mine as she asks, “How?”
Grinning, I kiss the end of her nose as I say, “The tour and album did well, Daze. The band might have imploded, but before that, we did well. The royalty checks haven’t stopped.”
She’s shaking her head before I’ve even finished speaking. “No, nope, you can’t do this.”
I walk us over to the dusty old counter, depositing her on it as I step between her legs. “Yeah, I can,” I tell her. “And I have.”
“Miles!” she whines, her arms dropping from around my neck as she grabs the front of my T-shirt and yanks me toward her. “You can’t!”
“Why not?”
“Because,” she says, shaking me.
I laugh, resting my forehead against hers. “I can, Daze,” I whisper. “And more to the point, I want to.”
Daisy’s eyes close as she huffs out a breath. “But why? I was so awful to you,” she whispers.
With my thumbs under her jaw, I tilt her head up so she’s looking at me. Waiting until she opens her eyes, I say, “And I was awful to you. But we’re moving past that, Daze. We’re a thing now, remember,” I add, giving her a wink.
She lets out a half sob, half laugh as she crushes her mouth against mine. “Fuck, I love you,” she murmurs around our kiss.
I smile against her. “Was wondering when I’d get to hear you say that again.”
“Miles, seriously,” she says, and it’s only now that I see that she’s crying. “This is too much, it’s—”
Brushing the tears away, I shake my head. “It’s yours, Daze.”
“But—”
“Nope,” I say, silencing her with another kiss. “Yours. And for the record,” I pause, smiling at her, “I love you too. Always have.”
Daisy crushes her mouth against mine, half laughing and half crying as she says, “This is totally one of those places we should have sex.”
I laugh, and then we do.
“You got a vision for how it’s going to look?” I ask, glancing over my shoulder.
Daisy sits behind me on the counter, my back to her front as I stand between her legs, her arms hanging loose around my shoulders. “Yeah, I think so,” she says, her eyes moving slowly around the space. “It’s going to need some work, but yeah, I think so.”
I give her a quick kiss before stepping forward, pulling her off the counter, her hand in mine.
“You should talk to Sloane and Nate about designs and shit,” I say, leading her around the counter and through to the old kitchen.
“And we can help with building stuff,” I add as I unlock the back door and walk outside.
“Where are we going?” Daisy asks, her eyes scanning the back lot.
“One more surprise,” I say with a grin.
“No, Miles, wait,” she says, stopping, her hand tightening in mine as she forces me to stop. “You can’t just—”
“It came with the shop, Daze,” I say, lifting her hand to press a kiss to her palm. “You can keep it or sell it or whatever,” I add with a shrug. She narrows her brow at me, and I laugh, tugging on her hand. “Come on, it’s not far.”
We walk to the back of the lot and the small side road that separates it from her shop, crossing over to the small cottage on the other side.
“Miles, no—” she starts before I cut her off.
“Don’t get too excited, Daze. This one needs even more work,” I tell her. “But I just figured, with you back home with your mom, you might wanna consider it for the future.”
She blinks up at the house, the small front porch that faces the ocean, and the tiny yard out back that has a huge mango tree in the middle, laden with fruit.
“This too?” she asks.
I throw my arm around her shoulders, pulling her close. “If you want, yeah,” I say, dropping a kiss to the top of her head. “Or you can sell it and use the money for the shop, whatever you want.”
She turns to face me, her eyes wide as she slowly shakes her head. “I can’t believe you’ve done this, Miles. Can’t believe...” She trails off, not finishing her sentence.
“Daze, babe,” I say, my hand cupping her jaw.
“Just because we broke up doesn’t mean I ever forgot,” I tell her.
“I knew the second I made any money that I was going to do everything I could to get this place for you, to make your dream a reality. I want that for you. Always have,” I say. “Maybe almost as much as I want you.”
“I don’t deserve you,” she says, throwing her arms around my neck and pulling me close.
“I’ve always been yours, Daze.”
She smiles up at me, her eyes still shining with tears. “Well, this place,” she adds, tipping her head toward the run-down cottage, “it won’t be mine. It’ll be ours.”
“Sounds perfect,” I murmur, dropping my lips to hers.
After we’ve spent a couple of hours walking through the house and the shop, talking ideas and plans and how we were going to do everything, we head down to The Pipe Dream to see who’s around.
Walking in, the familiar bell above the door ringing out, we’re met with Owen and Sloane making out at the counter, apparently oblivious to everything and everyone around them.
Daze and I glance at each other with a smile before I clear my throat and say, “You really think this is what customers wanna walk in on?”
Owen flips me off as he slowly pulls away from Sloane and turns to us, his gaze roaming around the shop. “Don’t see any customers here, do you, babe?” he asks.
I roll my eyes at him, but I’m grinning, loving that my best friend finally got his girl and is so ridiculously fucking happy about it. I kind of know how he feels because having Daisy back, knowing she’s mine again, is like the greatest feeling in the world.
“Fucking lucky,” I tease, holding my hand out to him.
Owen laughs, gripping it as he pulls me into a one-armed hug. “What are you guys doing here? Thought it was your day off?”
“It is,” I reply. “But I wanted to show Daze her surprise.”
“Surprise?” Sloane asks, looking from me to Daisy.
“The shop,” Daze says, her hands together as she rocks on her heels. “He bought me the shop!”
“Oh my god!” Sloane shouts, running over to hug Daisy, the two of them jumping up and down on the spot together.
Grinning, I turn back to Owen, who is shaking his head slowly at me, a smile on his face as he says, “You sly fucking dog.”
I lift a shoulder. “It’s no big deal.”
Owen rolls his eyes, tipping his head toward the girls as he sarcastically says, “Yeah, really seems like it.”
Laughing, I say, “Please, like you don’t do this kinda shit for your girl all the time.”
“Whatever,” he says, waving my comment away, even though we both know it’s true. Owen is fucking loaded and could probably buy this whole row of shops if he wanted to.
But one of the things I love about the guy is how he doesn’t act like it. He never even mentions his family’s money or acts like he’s rich as fuck. To me and all of us, he’s just a guy who loves his girl, his friends, the surf and this island.
Laughing, I ask, “Where is everyone?”
“Out back,” he replies, jerking a thumb toward the back door. “Sloane and I were just closing up and gonna join them.”
“Oh, that’s what that was, huh?” I tease.
Owen laughs, throwing his arm around my shoulders. “Shut up, dude who buys his girl a shop. Let’s go get a drink.”
We head out the back door of the shop to find Nate and Sage, Kai, and Alana and Flynn already sitting around the fire pit, beers in hand. Daisy and Sloane are right behind us, and I reach for Daze, wrapping my arms around her as I give her a quick kiss.
“This finally feels right,” I murmur against her lips, knowing it’s been forever since Daisy and I have been here like this. Together.
She smiles against my mouth. “It does.”
Behind us, Sage squeals, clapping her hands together as she runs over, pulling Daisy from my arms. “I love this so much!” she shouts, hugging Daisy, who is smiling so wide right now.
Chuckling, I gently tug on Daze’s hair as I say, “I’ll get you a drink,” before making my way over to the fridge to grab some beers.
After I hand her a drink, I join the rest of the guys around the fire pit, Sloane and Alana now both talking with the girls.
“You look smug as fuck, little brother,” Kai says, grinning as he takes a sip of beer.
Owen bursts out laughing as he nudges my leg with his foot and says, “That’s because he is.”
“Oh?” Kai asks, a brow raised in question. “And why is that?”
Shrugging, I take a sip of my beer before saying, “Just did something for Daze. No big deal.”
Owen lets out a loud laugh, his head falling back as he mutters, “No big deal, my ass.”
“K, well, now you gotta tell us,” Flynn says as the girls wander over, and he pulls Alana into his lap. “What’d ya do?”
“He bought Daisy a shop, her shop!” Alana squeals, wrapping her arms around his neck.
“Wow, way to go big, Olsen,” Flynn says with a laugh. “And thanks for upping the game for the rest of us!”
“Oh, babe,” Alana croons. “You quit your job and stayed in Hawaii for me. I think you kinda set the benchmark high already.”
Flynn laughs, his hand on Alana’s ass as he leans in and kisses her long and deep.
“Fuck my life,” Kai mutters, downing the rest of his beer. “What is it with you lot and this whole love thing?”
Now it’s me laughing as I shake my head at my brother, the guy who loves women but is vehemently opposed to actually falling in love. “You know, I can’t wait for the day when some woman walks in and you fall hard,” I tell him. “Something tells me it’s gonna be spectacular to watch.”
Kai stands, walking over to the fridge to grab some more beers. “Never gonna happen, little brother,” he replies. “I’m strictly a one-and-done kinda guy.”
“You are not!” Daisy shouts, pointing a finger at him. “What about Lisa?”
Kai bursts out laughing, twisting the cap off his beer as he hits Daze with a grin. “Lisa, your boss, you mean?” he teases.
Daisy lets out a groan as she says, “Yes. You admitted that had happened more than once. Many times, in fact.”
His smile widens as he winks at her. “Sure did, but she’s not a tourist, so it doesn’t count, does it?”
Daisy slow blinks, turning to me as though I can rationalize my brother’s weird-ass logic. “No idea,” I say with a shrug.
She turns back to Kai, narrowing her brow at him. “Well, I’m predicting that this time next year, you, Kai Olsen,” she says, pointing her finger right at him, “are going to be the biggest, sappiest, in-love person here. And that’s saying something,” she adds, waving her hand around the group.
Kai walks over, stopping in front of her. He says, “Care to make a bet on that, Daze?”
“Yep,” she says, holding out her hand.
Kai laughs. “What are we betting then?”
Daisy glances at me, smirking before she turns back to my brother. “If I win, which I will, you have to dress up in a cupcake costume and promote my shop.”
Kai laughs, grabbing her hand in his. “Fair deal,” he says. “And if I win, then you have to...” He trails off, shooting me a quick look before he says, “Tell me about this secret tattoo my little brother got for you. Deal?”