Air shuttled to the pit of my lungs and then back up again, unearthing my deepest secrets with it.
“I wore it because I’ve been trying to remember it was safe to be with Todd.” I reached for the ring, slowly twisting it up my finger. “That he was the devil I knew—a devil who had many faults but none that put my heart at risk. It sounds stupid considering he left me at the altar, but at least when he left, he didn’t take my heart.”
The band popped over my knuckle and slid into my palm.
“I wore it because it symbolized the old Daisy. The cautious, stubborn, independent Daisy. I wore it because it reminded me I was jobless, homeless, and pregnant, and the last thing I could afford to do was catch feelings for the man who kept stepping in to help me. The man who’s always been there to help me…even when I didn’t know it.”
I took another step, feeling the cool grass flatten under my feet.
“Daze.” Max hissed and held up his hand in a staying motion.
“It reminded me that I shouldn’t be so selfish as to desire my convenient husband.”
I held out my hand and the ring to him, an offering.
It came as no surprise when he didn’t take it.
Be brave.Curling my fingers around the band, I spun and walked toward the edge of the property.
“Daisy!” Max shouted, coming after me.
I had this dramatic moment cued up in my head where I’d toss the ring over the cliffs into the ocean, but I didn’t even know how far away that cliff was, let alone that I’d be able to make it there before Max caught up to me.
So I settled for the gesture.It was the thought that counted, right?
I heaved my arm back and slung it forward, the ring flying into the night.
“Shit, Daisy,” Max swore as he grabbed my other arm and spun me. “What are you doing?”
“Removing the barrier.” I flattened my palm to his chest, feeling the pounding of his heart, and then following it up the column of his throat to the angle of his jaw.
“Daisy.”
“What is it, Max?” I asked, torn between begging him and beating him for what was still holding him back. When he didn’t say anything, I started with the obvious. “You want me.”
His groan rumbled my fingertips before it reached my ears. “I do.”
“And I want you.” I lifted my now ringless hand, his grip still attached to my wrist. “So what’s holding you back?”
His eyes darkened. “Because, Daze…”
“Because why?” I curled my fingers into his shirt, wishing I could bury them right into his skin, so he couldn’t hide from me anymore.
“Because of how I want you, the way I…” He let out a slow breath. “It’s not how you’ve known me to be. And you deserve better.”
“Better?” I whimpered. “Was ‘better’ Todd stuffed up with your words and actions? Was ‘better’ a man who was puppeting what you told him?”
“Better,” he interrupted with a growl, shackling my free wrist with his other hand. “Betteris a man who takes you inside and tells you to go take a long bath and relax after a long day.”
My breath hitched. “And you?” I managed to choke out. “What do you want to tell me to do?”
His jaw beat like a war drum, fervent and furious. “Daisy, please,” he clipped. “You should go relax. Get off your feet—” He broke off with a hiss when I slid my hand from his chest up to cup his face, my fingers drinking in the feel of his stubbled skin and the hardened planes of his cheek.
“Tell me.”
“Dammit, Daze.” His jaw looked about to crack.
Too respectfulwas right. All Max had ever done was take care of me, try to make me happy, even when it came at his own expense. I didn’t know what he was so afraid to say, but maybe he needed to know I wasn’t afraid. No matter what it was.
