Only something inside me howled with rejection.
Otto grinned like he was rejecting the idea, too.
Hell, every single one of them was looking at me like they knew I was full of shit.
Like they saw exactly what I was feeling as I stood there with this little family surrounding me.
Colin in my arms and Daisy right next to me with Eva in hers.
Addy leaned against my side for support, sleep calling her back.
“What’s pretend, My Giant?” she asked through a yawn, still clinging to that bead set I’d gotten her like it was her most prized possession.
“Nothin’, sweetheart,” I forced out.
I didn’t know which statement was the lie.
Beside me, Daisy inhaled a shattered breath, and I sucked it all down, dipping my chin in parting at the rest of the family while Daisy once again whispered a bunch of goodbyes and thank yous.
We trudged down to the waiting SUV. I opened the back door on the passenger side so Daisy didn’t have to do it, then I guided Addy around the rear on the opposite side.
She climbed in when I opened the door, then I nestled Colin into his car seat. Worked through his straps to buckle him before I tugged at Addy’s to ensure they were secure.
The whole time, I could feel the turmoil that wheeled around Daisy as she buckled Eva in. The energy that crashed and lapped and whispered old promises that should have been ours but now could never come to fruition.
My touching her last night had been nothing but a crime. Taking what had been cut off. Me severed from the goodness. A goodness that would have been mine had I remained clean.
But I’d tainted and destroyed and ruined that good.
I needed to remember it.
But knowing it didn’t do anything to arrest the greed that suddenly pulsed in the air. The darkness ushering it in like a secret dream. Memories of her taste and her scent and her soft fucking skin.
My cock jerked as I looked up to find her staring over at me. Her chest heaved, and her perfect tits pressed against the thin fabric of her tank.
Fuck.
She was gorgeous.
So stunning that my guts clenched and my fingers itched.
Wanting a replay of what had transpired last night.
It would be so easy to reach out and take what wasn’t mine.
Glut on it. Devour the sweetness that she was.
I did my best to cut off the dangerous train of thought and shut the door, but those treacherous imaginings came barreling right back as I rounded back to the other side of the SUV. Unable to stop my feet from taking the path to her.
Daisy’s soft floral scent wafted all around as I eased up behind her as she finished buckling Eva.
It was like breathing the sunshine in the darkness. Standing in the sun in the middle of the night.
A shiver rocked through her at my proximity. Battering swells of severity crashing between us.
“She good?” I asked, my voice raw and low.
“Yeah. She’s good,” Daisy whispered as she edged back, warily turning in my direction.
