Callie shook her head. “Heart-racing, toe-curling, bloomer-melting heat! Do his kisses make you tingle in places only you’ve ever touched?”
She didn’t catch every word of that, but understood enough that she blushed. The heat scorching her face was all the confirmation Callie needed. Daisy felt all those things and more when Clay kissed her. She’d thought her heart would stop, it raced so fast the first time he did, and now, when he held her close and kissed her as if it was the only thing he ever wanted to do, her body responded as if he was touching her everywhere. She ached, her lady parts clenching as she secretly willed him to do more. To touch her everywhere, and as she sat there listening to Callie, she wondered if he ever would. Maybe he was waiting for a sign from her, some indication that he could. According to Callie, he was.
The front door opened a moment later. The subject of their conversation walked into the house and paused when he looked at them. “Am I interrupting?” he asked.
Callie turned her head to him and said something. Clay’s answering smile caused a bit of jealousy as they spoke to each other. They would never have that. She and Clay could never sit alone and whisper soft words to each other, and she mourned a future that normal couples had.
He met her gaze across the room, then crossed to where she sat. “Everette over at the stagecoach station asked if I could help him out with something this evening, so I’ll be late getting back, so you don’t have to hold supper for me.”
“Oh, well, it's just a stew tonight, so it’ll still be warm by the time you get home.”
“Perfect.”
As if Callie wasn’t even sitting at the table with her, Clay leaned down and gave her a soft kiss. It was brief, nothing like the one he’d given her earlier, but it was enough. For now. He winked at her when he straightened, then said something to Callie before snagging a cinnamon roll from the plate she’d placed on the table and leaving the house again.
“He wants you.”
Daisy grinned at Callie’s words. Maybe she was wrong. Maybe she could have all she wanted. It didn’t matter if she couldn’t hear Clay speaking to her. His actions spoke volumes, and all those kisses he was suddenly giving her told her more than words ever did. Was Callie right? Did he want her?
There was only one way to find out. All she had to do was be bold enough to make it happen.
Chapter 10
After Callie left, Daisy searched Liam’s back porch for a washtub. Her dress was beyond dirty, and she knew Clay’s clothing was too. She’d spotted the tub, and stilled. Hanging there in the corner beside of it was a real bathtub. The tub was large enough to sink into, and if she wanted to look and smell her best for Clay, she needed to have a proper bath.
It took her longer than it should have to get it down from the hooks holding it up, nearly dropping it on her head in the process. Not only was it heavy, but it was long, and she’d had to drag it into the house. Once she had it sitting near the fireplace, she started filling buckets of water to heat on the stove.
Liam was staring at the door when she peeked into his room. “What’s all that noise about?” he asked.
She entered and said, “I found a bathtub on the back porch. I thought I’d have a bath, but it was heavier than it looked, so I had to drag it in.”
He nodded. “It is heavier than it looks.”
She glanced around the room and found a pile of clothing in one corner. “I’m going to do some laundry. Would you like me to wash your things as well?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know, but it’s the least I can do to pay you back. You didn’t have to let us stay here.”
His shoulders shook as he laughed. “Well, I think I’m getting the better end of that deal. Home-cooked meals by a pretty girl. Who can say no to that?”
She grinned and went to gather his clothes. Before she left his room, he told her where to find the string he used in the winter to hang his clothes and where to hang it. The next hour was spent washing clothes, wringing them out, and hanging them on the line she’d draped across the far end of the living room. She’d borrowed two sets of clothing from Liam, so she and Clay would have something clean to wear while their own clothes were drying, then set about filling her bathtub with hot water.
With Clay doing an odd job for the stagecoach station owner, she had more than enough time to bathe and get dressed before he came back. She glanced around the room, biting her lip while contemplating. Could she really strip naked in the kitchen where anyone walking in could see her?
A ten-minute silent war with her thoughts gave her the answer. Liam wasn’t able to walk in on her, and Clay would be gone for a while yet. Pulling the curtains closed so no one could see inside the house, she stripped off her clothes, threw everything into the wash tub, submerging it in the soapy water to soak before hurrying to the bathing tub.
The water was still warm when she sank into it. She sighed, her eyes closing at the blissful sensation. How long had it been since she’d had a proper bath? The day you left Silver Falls to head to Elkin.
She and Clay both washed daily with no more than a bowl of hot water and soap, each of them giving the other privacy to do so, but this was different. A standing bath was nothing compared to this. This was heaven.
She leaned back against the tub, draping her arms over the side, and lay there for a long while, just soaking. Her thoughts drifted to the conversation she’d had with Callie, and she smiled. Her bold friend was so different from anyone she’d ever met, and her ideas on how a person should live were—refreshing, if not scandalous. But scandals only happened when one got caught, according to Callie, and what someone did in the privacy of their home was no one's business.
Sitting up, she grabbed the pitcher she’d brought with her and filled it, wetting her hair, then soaped it, piling it all on her head as she lathered a washcloth and scrubbed her body. She rinsed, then repeated it, once again piling her soapy hair onto the top of her head.
Her thoughts were still on Clay as she washed her body again. Just thinking of him made her breasts sensitive to the touch, and running the cloth between her thighs had her imagining it was his hand instead of her own. She pushed the thoughts aside. They did nothing but make her ache for things she wasn’t even sure she should be thinking about. Callie said it was normal to want intimacy and that there was nothing wrong with it.
She bit her lip as their conversation came back to mind. When her new friend had left, her mind's eye had filled with images of her and Clay. Images of them doing all the things Callie had alluded to. Even now, her body tingled with thoughts of him touching her. Of him kissing her in places no man had ever seen.
