Chapter 15
chapter
fifteen
MILES
I can’t stop smiling.
Which is a problem.
Not a huge problem, though, because the crew probably thinks I’m just pumped that we found concrete evidence. Not that Daisy and I kissed behind a tree hard enough to temporarily erase my ability to form complete thoughts.
I've been with enough women to know the difference between chemistry and compatibility. Enough to know that most relationships don't end because someone does something wrong—they just slowly run out of reasons to keep choosing each other.
More than once, I've been told I lived too much in my own head. Too focused on work. Too emotionally… elsewhere. They weren't wrong.
It was always easy to compartmentalize a one-night stand here or there. Work and relationships stayed separate. I never expected the two to blur, let alone for someone to kick the walls down entirely. But that’s the force that is Daisy Bennett.
And her suggesting we could just have fun? I smile to myself, because we both know this is already more than that.
“Adler.”
I blink.
Maya’s staring at me from across the Machine.
“You’ve labeled the same audio file three times and you’re smiling too much.”
I look down.
Sure enough, she’s right. Very professional behavior.
“Crazy day,” I mutter.
Jax walks past carrying camera batteries. “You look like you got hit in the head with whimsy.”
Taylor points at me from the dinette. “No, wait, hold on. He’s got a post-validation glow.”
“Could be a thing,” Jax agrees.
“This man just spent fifteen years getting called insane for this particular case, and then found a giant, very real, footprint in the woods. He’s experiencing the highest form of validation.”
I drag a hand down my face while everyone keeps talking over each other around me.
Normally this would be my favorite part.
The aftermath.
The crew buzzing with adrenaline as we catalog evidence, argue theories, and replay sounds until three in the morning.
Usually, I love this.
Tonight, though?
Tonight every nerve ending in my body is hyperaware of Daisy sitting eight feet away pretending to organize her show notes while wrecking my psychological stability.
She keeps touching me.
Tiny things.
Nothing obvious.
Nothing anyone else would clock.
But I feel every single one.
Her pinky brushing mine when we both reach for batteries.
Her knee nudging against my leg beneath the table.
The way she keeps looking at me when nobody else notices.
I think she knows what it’s doing to me. I risk looking toward her once. Huge mistake.
Daisy’s sitting cross-legged on the bench wearing my hoodie again, hair still messy from the woods, pen between her teeth while she reviews audio waveforms on her laptop.
Then she catches me staring. And smiles. Not big. Just small and private and devastating.
My face immediately catches fire.
I look away so fast I nearly sprain something in my neck.
“Okay,” Maya says, clapping once. “Everyone needs at least six consecutive hours of sleep before we all start hallucinating.”
“Boo,” Taylor says.
But even she looks exhausted now. The whole crew does. Adrenaline crashes hit hard after days like this. Especially today.
Because no matter what happens next, today changed everything.
We found something real. Maybe not definitive proof for the world yet. But enough for us. Enough to crack open possibilities wider than it’s ever been before. Underneath all the excitement humming through the Machine, I feel lighter. Like I’ve spent years bracing for impact that finally never came.
“You good, Adler?” Jax asks casually while packing up gear.
“Yeah.”
And for once, I actually mean it.
One by one, everyone starts disappearing toward the bunks.
Taylor steals half the trail mix on her way.
Maya reminds us all not to touch the footprint casts.
Normal.
Then Daisy closes her laptop.
“I still need one last interview,” she says casually. “Closing out the night. We can do it outside, so we’re not too loud.”
My pulse spikes at the double meaning.
Taylor barely looks up from brushing her teeth. “Nerds.”
“This will be the closing of the first episode,” Daisy adds.
Maya waves toward us. “Don’t stay up too late.”
And just like that, we’re alone. Daisy grabs her recorder and heads out the front steps of the Machine.
I follow her, and the second the door closes behind me, every molecule in my body reacts to hers.
“Interview?” I repeat.
She shrugs in mock innocence. “Technically, you are my assignment.”
“That feels manipulative.”
“You like it though.”
Yes. Very much.
The night air hits cold outside the Machine as we walk towards the trails that are covered in pinyon pines. The desert feels completely different after dark.
Quieter. Closer somehow.
Moonlight filters silver through the trees while wind rustles them softly.
We walk side by side without touching.
Which somehow feels more intimate than if we were.
Neither of us speaks right away.
The silence stretches warm instead of awkward.
Then Daisy glances over. “You’re happy.”
The observation catches me off guard.
“I mean…” I chuckle softly. “Yeah.”
She smiles. “You should be.”
Something about the way she says it settles deep in my chest. Because she means it. No teasing. No irony. Just genuine happiness for me.
“You know what the weirdest part is?” I admit.
“What?”
“I think part of me spent so long expecting to be wrong that I never fully prepared for what happens if I’m not.”
The moonlight catches her face as she looks at me. Beautiful enough to make coherent thought difficult.
“And now?” she asks.
“Now I feel like I drank one of Taylor’s energy drinks.”
That gets a real laugh out of her.
Then quieter: “You deserve this, Miles.”
The words hit me hard enough that I stop walking.
Daisy slows too.
And suddenly we’re standing there in the middle of the moonlit trees looking at each other, more vulnerable and raw than we should be.
“You keep doing that,” I say quietly.
“What?”
“Seeing me.”
Her expression shifts at that.
Like the words landed somewhere tender.
“That’s because you let me,” she says.
Wind brushes through the trees around us.
The world narrows.
And then Daisy steps closer.
Just enough that I can smell her shampoo and feel warmth radiating off her skin in the cold night air.
My entire body tenses.
“You know,” she murmurs, “for someone who always has something to say, you go very quiet at interesting moments.”
“I’m trying to behave.”
“Why?”
Because if I stop behaving, I’m going to kiss you until I forget my own name.
Because I already feel dangerously close to losing control around you.
Because today something cracked open in me and now every instinct I have keeps screaming “mine, mine, mine” in ways that feel concerningly irrational for a rational person like myself.
Instead, I say, “The crew’s twenty feet away.”
Daisy’s mouth curves slightly.
“So? I can be quiet if you can.”
My pulse stutters.
She reaches up, slow and careful, then touches the front of my jacket.
And it’s so gentle.
Like she’s choosing me.
That’s what does it. She’s not pushing me. She’s soft and intentional.
My restraint snaps clean in half.
I kiss her with enough force that she stumbles backward into the nearest tree with a sharp breath.
Hands on her waist, fingers digging into her thighs. I need her closer.
Daisy makes this sound against my mouth that goes straight to the most primitive part of my brain.
And suddenly kissing her doesn’t feel enough anymore. That sound tells me she knows it, too—that this is just the beginning.
Adrenaline and fear and wanting all collide at once.
Her fingers tangle in my jacket, pulling me even closer into her, if that’s even possible. My mouth moves to her neck, and she leans her head back to give me better access.
Daisy Bennett, the woman who controls every room she walks into, every conversation, every version of herself she allows people to see, is letting her guard down with me.
I like it way too much.
I pull back abruptly, breathing hard.
Moonlight catches her flushed cheeks, swollen lips, the wild look in her eyes.
Beautiful.
“Miles,” she whispers.
The sound of my name in her mouth sends a rush through me.
I grip the tree beside her head instead of touching her again.
“This is a terrible idea,” I say hoarsely.
“You keep saying that while actively making it worse.”
Daisy reaches for me again, fingers sliding beneath my shirt this time, touching bare skin, skimming over my abs. I feel it everywhere.
I moan into her neck, biting at her ear. God, I don't know why I did that. I don't even know if she's into that kind of thing, but it feels like we've done this before even though we haven't.
I feel her still, and I pull back slightly to look at her again.
And instead of doubt, instead of pulling back, heat flashes across her face.
Want. Pure, uncomplicated want. For me.
I lean down slowly until my forehead rests against hers, her back still against the towering pine tree, both of us breathing too hard.
“If we keep going,” I say quietly, “I’m not stopping.”
Daisy’s fingers tighten against my waist, pulling me closer.
“Good,” she whispers back, pulling my hoodie she’s been wearing over her head and draping it on a nearby branch.
My eyes trail her body—she’s in a bralette that’s doing wonders for her breasts.
My hands run from her hips up her sides, one stopping to cup one of her tits and the other up to her collarbone. Holy shit, this is happening.
I tip her chin up and claim her mouth with mine, a whimper escaping her throat as I grip the back of her head. Our tongues slide together and Daisy wraps her arms around my neck, pulling herself higher into me.
Instinctively, my hands grip her ass and haul her up my body so we’re level. Daisy’s legs wrap around me and my dick jerks in my sweats, feeling her warmth.