The choice warred inside him for a split second, and then he gave me what I asked for. I shouldn’t have been surprised when it shattered me.
“I won’t kiss a woman who’s wearing another man’s ring.”
My gasp echoed his retreating footsteps, my eyes sinking to my left hand.The hand his closed over when we were outside.He’d felt the engagement ring, and that’s why he’d stopped.Why he’d changed.
Even though Todd wasn’t here. Even though we were technically married.Even though I’d begged him to kiss me.
Max wouldn’t settle for just a piece of me, and I wasn’t sure if I was brave enough to give him anything more.
Chapter 16
Max
I’d almost kissed my temporary wife, and there was no worse mistake I could’ve made.
It wasn’t the shadow of that almost-kiss that followed me around, but its ghost. The look in her eyes, the feel of her hands drawing my face to hers, the plea from her lips to kiss her…I was haunted by that moment more than any other I’d collected in the last four years.
Being around Daisy all the time was like being an asteroid in her orbit, destined to hurtle myself toward her in spite of the gravity of my reservations and the destruction promised by the way it made me burn. But there was nothing I could do. I was hers. Pulled to her by something that was as out of my control as it was unlikely to have a good outcome.
My hand tightened on the steering wheel as Daisy came out of the store onto the sidewalk. She had on a long dress and the new sneakers I’d bought her. I didn’t miss how she’d worn sandals to my aunt’s for dinner, but when she wore them again the following Monday for our deliveries—when it was employee protocol to wear closed-toe shoes—I knew there was a problem.The next morning, I left a solution—a new, larger pair of sneakers—on her steps.
Daisy waved over her shoulder to Erica, and the breeze caught her dress, flapping it around her ankles. She’d only been wearing long, loose dresses for the last week and a half. I didn’t miss how every inch of her was filling out. Rounding. The dresses were a practical, comfortable choice, but the only thing on my mind was how easy they would be to lift. To remove.
Like she heard my thought, Daisy turned to me, her cheeks instantly staining a perfect shade of pink. They’d done that every time she looked at me—caught me looking at her—over the last several days. Then her nipples peaked like they did now, begging to be touched, and next her eyes strayed to my mouth just before—gone. Her gaze turned elsewhere, and the moment vanished like a fever dream, leaving me in a sweat.
I noticed every slight change because I had a problem. I’d always had a problem keeping my eyes off my best friend’s girl, but now that she was my wife, my obsession revolted for its right to survive.
“Sorry, I had to pee again,” she said, reluctantly taking my hand and climbing into the truck.
“It’s fine. We’ve got plenty of time.” I closed the door behind her and went to the driver’s side.
Daisy was quieter since that night, and when we did talk, it was all about work or the logistics for her doctor’s appointment this afternoon, and never about what happened on the side of the road. Never about our almost-kiss.
Daisy buckled and bundled her arms over her middle. Instantly, the memory of her holding her stomach, her face blanched white, and her stare a fugue of static as she looked at the doe and her fawn. I’d never felt so worried. Never felt my stomach drop like it did in those moments. And the only thing that unfroze me was needing to know Daisy was okay.
“Max?”
“Yeah.” I sucked in a breath, pulling away from the curb when her scent hit me. “Wow, you smell good.” I couldn’t stop the words from coming out, even if I wanted to.
Hello, blush.
“It’s peony and lavender.” Her eyes darted to mine. “From the bouquet you made me.”
For our wedding.
“It’s…good.” More than good. She smelled fucking edible, butgoodwould have to suffice.
“Thanks,” she murmured, reaching up to tuck her hair behind her ear, my eyes snagging on her fingers.On her ring.
Every muscle in my body tightened.
As many times as I went back to that moment, to the soft-spoken plea for me to kiss her, I was equally ripped back to reality by the giant diamond glittering on her finger. I’d told her I wouldn’t kiss a woman who wore another man’s ring, and even though she’d asked me to—even though she’d wanted me to—she still hadn’t taken Todd’s engagement ring off.
And that was why I’d had to accept that night as a fluke. An unlikely combustion of anxiety, panic, and then the relief that everything was okay. It had created a moment of ache and vulnerability that suspended all reality—all reservations for those few minutes—until I felt the ring she still wore on her left hand.
“How was the glucose drink?” I changed topics.
“Not blueberry flavored, but not bad at all compared to how I’ve heard the normal one tastes.” She smiled and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “You really didn’t have to get me a special one. I could’ve stomached through the yucky one.”
