Daisy lets out a soft moan as she crushes her mouth against mine.
“You like the sound of that?”I ask with a laugh.
“Uh huh.”
“So you wanna eat dinner first or you want to get started?”I ask, already knowing what her answer will be.
Daisy pulls back, hitting me with a look that has me laughing.“Really?”she deadpans.
I shrug.“I don’t know, maybe you’re hungry.Big day cleaning and shit,” I tease.
Daisy slides off my lap, grabbing my hand as she yanks me up off my chair.“Miles Olsen, you do not get to tease me with all that sex talk and then not deliver,” she says, giving me a hard stare.
Laughing, I grab her ass and pull her against me.“Babe, trust me,” I say, leaning down to kiss her.“When it comes to sex, Ialwaysdeliver,” I add, before lifting her up and carrying her inside.
It’s been a long,hard week, but it feels so good to have made some progress on the cottage.Anytime I’m not at work, I’m at the cottage with Miles or the girls, working late into the night to get it ready to be lived in.
We’ve also been getting quotes for the bakery, which is going to be ridiculously expensive, but Miles keeps telling me not to worry about it.
But I do.
The money he’s spent just to purchase it feels excessive, and when I lay down at night, I’m still riddled with guilt over it all.It’s hard to process and understand why, after everything that happened, he still wants to help me with this dream.Why he wants to use all his money to help me when I did nothing but fuck him over the moment he left.
There will never be any excuse that negates what I did, but I do see it differently now that Isaac is out of my life.Realizing now that he saw my vulnerability, he saw my pain and used that against me.He made me dependent on him, but he also filled my head with so much negativity surrounding Miles that I began to believe it.
Fuck, I probably need therapy, especially after everything that happened with my dad, and now starting over with Miles.I don’t ever want there to be guilt or resentment.That could ruin us more quickly than we realize.
And we need this to work.
I need this to work.
Being with Miles was always the plan, and I love that he’s back and things are going well.I just wish it hadn’t taken me a year to break up with Isaac permanently.Miles and I lost an entire year together because we were too stubborn, too afraid to admit where it all went wrong.
It’s hard to blame yourself, but that’s the only place I should be pointing the finger.Taking ownership of what happened is helping me recognize that I never want it to happen again.This feeling I’ve carried with me since the day Miles left is heavy, and I’m ready to put it down.
I’ve been distracted most of my lunch shift at the bar, and when Lisa calls my name, I look over at her.With a smile on her face, she shakes her head.
“Go.When your last table leaves, just go,” she says, and I can’t tell if she’s pissed at me or if she’s sending me off to work on the house.
She knows all about it.It’s been the only thing I’ve talked about for the last week: filling her in on how we ordered flooring and cabinets, and how Miles resurfaced the bathtub so we don’t have to buy a new one, and how he and Nate put a new roof on.Luna and Tanner spent last weekend helping us repair the wooden siding and painting it.
It’s pretty much become my life, and every penny I have has gone into it so far.And I don’t plan to stop.I’ll never be able to match what Miles paid out, but I’ll give what I can.
“I’m sorry.It’s just been so much work,” I tell her.“But I’m good.I’ll finish my shift tonight and head over after I’m done.Miles is supposed to be starting the flooring after he’s done with lessons and a few of the boards he started.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Lisa quips playfully.“I know I’m losing you to the bakery eventually, and I know how much you want to get out of your mom’s house.Just go.”
She grabs a bar towel, snapping me on the ass with it, which only causes me to laugh.She’s been so good to me, and not just when it concerns getting the cottage ready.
She gave me a job when Miles left with the band and I couldn’t function.I dropped out of school and drank too much, spending my days sleeping and depressed.Alana and Sloane tried, but they had their own lives, and I was too far gone.
It was Lisa giving me a job here that helped.It got me out of the house, giving me something to do other than focusing on missing Miles.I’m forever grateful to her.
“Are you sure?”I ask her, and she rolls her eyes, tapping her nails on the old, worn-out wooden bar top.
“Of course I’m sure,” she replies, but pauses, watching me with reverence, and it catches me off guard.
“What?”
