Chapter 12 Wrong House, Wrong Person #2
I’m trying my damnedest not to let my gaze wander, but it’s impossible. Every curve sings my name. Each slope of her body is a road with no return. I’ve always known it, but last night made it undeniable: I fucking love her body.
“Focus!” she snaps, her fingers cutting the air like a whip and pulling a smile from my lips.
“Sorry. Sorry.” I raise both hands in surrender, but my chest pounds. “Don’t be mad at me, but…Violeta didn’t break things off. I did.” The confession comes easier than I thought—less like ripping skin, more like shedding dead weight, like I can finally breathe.
Her brows knit together, confusion clouding her face…confusion I placed there with my little white lies. “Wh-what do you mean? You bought the ring.”
I nod slowly. “I know. Then I looked at the ring…and at the woman I bought it for…and I couldn’t do it. I drove all the way to her house, ready to take her to the dinner I reserved for us, and I froze. I stood on her doorstep, staring at her—beautiful, yes, but not the woman I loved.
The ring was wrong. The house was wrong. The life was wrong. But my heart?” I press my fist against my chest. “My heart was right. I just had to finally listen.”
A shiver rolls visibly through her body, goosebumps prickling her wet skin. I step forward, twisting the faucet off, then grab her bathrobe. Draping it over her shoulders, I smile softly.
“Come on.” She slips her arms into the robe, following my unspoken command, and I guide her out, leading us into the bedroom. I sit on the edge of the bed, motioning for her to join me.
“Daisy…” My voice roughens, but if there’s a time when I need her to know I’m serious is now. “I told you last night. I love you. I always have. I just wasn’t brave enough—or honest enough, with myself or with you—to admit it.”
“You…you still feel that way?” Her voice trembles, and tears shimmer at the edges of her mossy green eyes, threatening to spill. I hope they’re joyful tears and not sadness. I don’t think I can bear it. I don’t think I can bear her being upset or sad over something I did.
“What part of I’ve always loved you do you not understand? Come on, Daze. It’s not that complicated.” I brush my thumb across her cheek, tender, but she flinches, recoiling as if my touch harms her.
“Well, maybe the part of me that never knew. That part just watched you all cozied up with your ex.”
“An ex I left because I realized I never loved her.” My voice sharpens then softens, pleading. I don’t want to scare her. I want her to understand. “You know the difference between a sensual touch and a friendly one. Which do you think that was?”
She only shrugs, defensive walls rising, completely getting into her irrational but beautiful brain. I’ve seen it before, when she doesn’t want to admit defeat, but it’s still infuriating all the same.
“You know…” I sigh, shaking my head. “For someone as brilliant as you, you sure can act oblivious sometimes."
Her brows snap together. “Are you calling me ignorant?”
“No.” I lean closer, determined. “I’m saying you’re letting your emotions fog your judgment. And I’m here, trying to tell you—it was never her. Never anybody else.”
My nose flares as I try to contain my emotions. “They were not you so it was always going to be wrong.”
Daisy’s eyes bounce between mine, and her hands intertwine.
“It was always you. I was just too blind, too damn stubborn, to see it.”
Her voice is small when she whispers, “So you two were not…” She trails off, her eyes dropping to her knees.
“No.” I pause then force myself to continue.
“I was actually asking her why she treated you so harshly for no reason. And she started crying because—” I hesitate.
I hope Violeta forgives me for telling her secret, but this isn’t just anybody.
This is the love of my life. “Because she’s pregnant. Emotional. Scared.”
Her head snaps up, her green eyes wide. “She’s pregnant?” A second passes, and then she mutters finally under her breath. We both laugh, the tension finally breaking. Everyone knows Violeta has always wanted kids.
“She’ll be fine,” I assure her. “And I hope she apologizes, because you didn’t deserve that.”
“It’s okay. She doesn’t have to.”
“No, Daze. You didn’t deserve the hurt she caused. She knows that now. I just hope she actually does the right thing.”
“She’s pregnant, Mateo! Her hormones are everywhere—cut her some slack,” she says, her heart so big, it nearly bursts from her chest. God, another reason I love her.
“Can we stop talking about my ex now?” I grip her hands, grounding us both.
“I’d rather focus on what actually matters.
” I hold her gaze, memorizing the moment—tucking it away for the day our children ask when I first told their mother she was the love of my life, or for when we’re old and gray and this memory is one of the few still clear. I hope it stays that way forever.
“What is that?” She bites her lower lip, eyes searching mine with desperate hunger for answers, answers I hope are as clear as my love for her.
“You,” I say simply. “I want to talk about my feelings for you.”
She hisses softly, breath catching as I lace my fingers with hers.
“I told you last night, but I also told you a lot of things. I’ve been afraid.
” My voice is steady, but it’s raw, laced with every single year I kept my feelings hidden.
“But I love you, Daisy. I just don’t want to lose your friendship.
I’d rather have any piece of you than none at all.
So, if you got carried away last night, that’s fine.
I won’t be able to forget it happened,” I swallow hard, “but I won’t bring it up again. I just—”
She closes the space and kisses me, her legs falling on each side of me as she comfortably sits on my lap. Yes, ma’am. Her hands explore my hair while mine grab her ass. Oh shit, her ass. No, we’re not doing this.
“Hold on, baby,” I whisper against her lips. Her red and swollen lips. I can’t believe I just stopped her from kissing me again.
“I need you to tell me with words, Daisy. I know you like my body, I know you liked what we did, but I need to know how you feel. I need to know what I’m getting myself into.
I know I said I would take any part of you I can get, and that’s still true, but I need to know before I do.
Is this a carnal thing, or is this a heart and possibly forever thing? ” Great job at scaring her, Mateo.
“Forever?” Her hands are still in my hair, and I bring my hands to her back. This is it. Tell her, you idiot.
“I…think so? I’m not proposing, not yet, but I am saying that’s how I feel about you. That’s how I’ve always felt. When I think of myself being old and grumpy, I think of you by my side. Always have.”
“When did you become so chatty?” Her question is flirty and joyful, tittering between honest and deterring from the topic.
“Stop deflecting, Daisy. I’m serious.”
She drops a peck on my lips. “I’m sorry, I’m just teasing. I would like someone to pinch me right now and remind me this is actually real.”
I pull her lip between mine and bite gently. ‘Real enough?” I ask with a wicked smile, hoping she can see I’m being honest and serious, but I’m still me, and this is still us.
“So what if I tell you I’ve had a crush on you since I was, like, six?
My mom actually yelled at me for talking about kissing boys at that age.
I’m never going to forget when I told her it wasn’t boys I wanted to kiss.
It was only you. And then, the older we got, that crush turned into more.
” She pauses and blinks harshly, letting out a breath, mustering courage to continue while I’m completely in shock.
“And it’s scary, so scary loving your best friend this deeply when you think he won’t ever love you back the same. ”
"Daze,” I interrupt.
“So, I’m sorry if hearing you say you feel the same seems completely out of the realm of possibility.”
“Daze,” I whisper again.
“I love you so much and so deeply, Teo, that I would fake date you even feeling the way I do to get your family to leave you alone over being at this wedding. Let that sink in.”
I smile, and she chuckles. We both do. Her face falls on my shoulder. “I thought for sure I was gonna die when I saw I had to share a bed with the man of my dreams.”
“That’s what I call you.”
She sits up, hands holding my face and her eyes bouncing left and right to mine.
“What?” Her voice carries confusion and joy. Oh, she’s enjoying this, isn’t she?
“The girl of my dreams. Because every time I close my eyes, it’s only you I see.”
“Are you always this much of a lover boy?” she asks.
“I can be whatever you want me to be, Daisy girl. Just be mine, yeah?” She doesn’t answer my rhetorical question.
She doesn't have to, because what she does instead lets me know everything I need to know. The way she kisses me, the way she pulls me as close as I can be, the way her chest is flushed against mine, all lets me know I don’t only have her, but she has me too.
She loves me too.
The day has flown by, at least the afternoon, and now, it’s time for the wedding. A wedding I had been dreading to attend, but I’m now actually looking forward to enjoying. Maybe my family can finally leave me and Violeta in the past and start focusing on her future with Jaime—
and mine with Daisy.
The wedding has been in full swing: a beautiful ceremony by the beach followed by a lively reception in an outdoor event pad. The beach frames the beautiful setting, but the music drowns out the crashing waves, and the fairy lights cast a glow over the space, the night sky forgotten.
Dinner was traditional Dominican Noche Buena food—plates full of telera, pastel en hoja, moro, and pork.
Daisy’s face lit up the moment she realized what we were eating.
That’s the beauty of traditions—you know what’s coming, and both your head and your heart get excited for it.
There are no surprises, just comfort. One spoonful, and suddenly, your body remembers joy, family, and hope on a day meant to embody all of that.
I’m sure there are details about tonight I should try to hold onto—the vows, the dresses, the decorations—but I don’t. The only thing in my mind is how perfect this Christmas Eve has been now that I’ve told Daisy how much I love her—and she’s told me the same.
So much for the last rule I’d set for myself: to keep my feelings hidden so I wouldn’t change our friendship. I’m glad I broke it. I hope it changes everything for the better. I know, no matter what, Daisy will always be my best friend—but now I can’t wait to grow old with her.
“So…how did the fake dating go? You get to go home tomorrow and what? You’re going to pretend you don’t love her?” Livie asks knowingly.
“How do you know I love her?” I ask, my attention never leaving my girl, who’s dancing the night away with my little cousins.
“Anyone with two eyes can see there’s only one girl for you, big bro. You just needed to be brave enough to actually utter the words.” She pats my back. “I’m glad you finally did. I’ve never seen you smile as much as you did this weekend. And happy looks good on her too.”
I look at Livie and smile. “Thanks, hermanita. Not everyone can meet the love of their life and immediately be honest about their feelings, you know? Some of us need a little push.” I shove her gently with my shoulder.
“Mmm, actually, Alex and I fake dated too,” she replies.
What?
“What?” I ask, and she giggles.
“It’s a long story, but yeah. Crazy, huh?”
The song changes from a perico ripiao to a bachata, and I know exactly what to do. Daisy seems to think the same, since her eyes find me immediately.
“Oh my God, get a room!” Livie shouts.
“I’m not even close to her,” I tell my little sister, now walking away from me in her frilly cupcake dress, as she calls them, to sit on her giant husband’s lap.
“You don’t need to be. It’s all in the eyes, remember? Now go. Get out of here.” She sends me away with her hand. I don’t have to think twice about it. I walk up to my future and hold her in my arms.
“Hi, baby,” I whisper.
“Oh, how I love the sound of that,” she replies, her head falling to my chest while my hands rest on her exposed lower back.
“Get used to it.” I kiss the top of her head and carry us along as the song fades into the distance like everything else does. Because when Daisy is in my arms, nothing else matters. Nothing else exists. Just me and her.