I walk up to Landry’s father and wrap my arms around his middle, catching him off guard. “Merry Christmas, Coach Reed. Thank you for raising such an amazing man. But you know how he is, right?”
He furrows his brow as I step away, and Landry shakes his head at me, smirking in amusement.
Ms. Lana and Lilley each pull me in for a hug, and Lilley gives me an extra squeeze. “I’m so glad he has you,” she says, making me smile.
Loren comes over to say good night and invites us to the Bourgeois Christmas dinner at her house tomorrow evening. “Hey, is everything okay?” she adds quietly, concern lining her face.
“Yeah, it’s great,” I reassure her.
“Good,” she replies, offering a rueful smile. “I’m glad. It’s just … he can be impatient. Don’t let him pressure you into anything, all right?”
I frown at her, torn between appreciating her effort to protect me and resenting her assumptions about Landry. “We’re fine, but thanks.”
She nods, looking slightly embarrassed now, and Landry shoots her a look as he leads me out.
He holds my hand on the short drive home, stopping to place a kiss over my knuckles once we’re back inside the house.
“Thank you for tonight,” he says softly.
I reach up and stroke his cheek, my fingers scraping against his short beard. “Landry?”
“Hmm?”
I take a deep breath and gaze into his eyes. “I love you.”
He stares back at me for a second, his brow furrowed. “Daisy …”
“You don’t have to say anything. I just wanted you to know that you are loved.” I wasn’t planning on saying it yet, but I feel like he needs to hear it tonight. And it’s the truth.
Landry’s chest rises and falls until he leans in and kisses me softly, his hands entangling in my hair. But that sense of urgency and hunger quickly returns, and now I find myself thinking about my cycle and whether I’m past my window of fertility while I literally crush my body against his. It’s like I can’t get close enough.
My family was right—there’s no way I’m coming away from living with Landry unscathed, and neither is my virginity at this rate. Chastity is a good and holy virtue, I know. And I don’t just think that because I was taught to avoid premarital sex. I truly believe in all the ways a relationship can prosper from treating physical intimacy with reverence and temperance. But it’s all fun and games until you find yourself facing real temptation. And it may have taken me nearly twenty-six years to get to this point, but I’m not sure I can last the next five minutes without begging Landry to take?—
“Sorry,” he says, pulling away and hissing. “That was not the appropriate response to what you said, was it?”
I blink at him, wondering if I accidentally took my anti-seizure meds too early because I’ve never felt this drunk before. “I think it was a lovely way to convey your gratitude,” I slur, and he chuckles.
“Then you’ll understand I mean it as a compliment when I tell you I’m running off to take a cold shower now.” He smirks and kisses me on the lips once more before he pulls away, leaving me whimpering in the kitchen.
I barely talk myself out of knocking on the bathroom door to offer him a warm towel, but I realize my desperation is showing and lock myself inside my bedroom to wait for my turn in the shower instead.
When I emerge, I find him sitting on the couch with a bowl of popcorn. He smirks and inclines his head in an invitation to join him, and I don’t even bother trying to hide my smile as I plop down beside him with my hairbrush.
“Sorry, I had to wash my hair,” I tell him as I flip my damp locks over the arm of the sofa to brush them out.
“Can I help?” he asks, gesturing to the brush.
My brow lifts. “Uh, sure.”
He motions for me to sit on the floor between his knees, then he takes the brush and guides it through my hair until it no longer catches on any tangles. I shiver when he uses both of his hands to section my hair before weaving it into a thick braid. He holds a hand out over my shoulder, and I wordlessly drop an elastic band into his palm. Once he secures the braid, he pushes it to the side and leans down to press his lips to the back of my neck. I tilt my head as his mouth trails over my shoulder, and he wraps his arms around my middle to drag me closer to him.
My eyelids flutter closed, mimicking the butterfly wings flapping around inside me, and I lean back into him. After he takes his time kissing his way across my shoulders, Landry cups my cheeks in his hands and lifts my chin so that I’m looking up at his face. He plants an upside-down kiss on my forehead, then my nose, and finally my lips, and I reach up to hold him in place for a while.
“Daisy,” he breathes when he pulls away, and my name has never sounded so good. I turn and rise to my knees in front of him, and he squeezes his eyes shut tightly. “You make me feel …” He shakes his head before he opens his eyes again. “So much.”
And I can tell by the way he says it, by the way he moves his hands so tenderly over me, that he wants me to know he loves me, too.
“So do you,” I whisper.
