“Owen...”
“Daisy...”
Her lips brush mine, and reluctantly, I kiss her back. I know she’s distracting me from the seriousness of the conversation. She’s impossible to resist, but I only allow myself a moment to luxuriate in her.
Forcing my lips from hers, I gently cup her face, avoiding the scrapes on her cheeks, and rest my forehead against hers, not giving her the opportunity to pull away. “Why won’t you admit you feel the same?”
She doesn’t speak, and I don’t rush her. Maybe here in the dark she’ll finally be brave enough to tell me what her holdup is. Placing a kiss on her forehead, I pull back so I can look in her eyes, but she closes them, shutting me out.
I open my mouth to tell her we can talk about it another time, when she finally speaks.
“You mean too much to me.”
Oh, thank Christ.
“Then why do you push me away?”
“Because it’ll hurt too much to lose you.”
“Baby, I’m not going anywhere.” My nervous system jumps into overdrive to hear she cares. I hope she doesn’t feel the shake of my hand against her skin or hear the chaotic drumbeat pounding against my chest.
“I can’t take the chance. I’d rather have pieces of you than nothing at all.”
“Daisy, that doesn’t work for me.”
“It’s worked for us all these years.”
“Baby, I want all of your pieces.”
The first tear splashes on my hand holding her face, and my heart hurts for her. This is clearly about more than her brothers’ opinion about the two of us together.
“You say that now, but in the end, you’ll get bored and leave.”
“I hate to break it to you, but you are anything but boring.”
She tries to pull away, but I stop her. “Talk to me.”
“What’s there to say?” She shrugs, trying to sound tough through her tears. “I’m not the kind of woman men want to settle down with. I’m here for a good time, not a long time. I’ve been through that with men who didn’t matter. But, Owen, you matter.”
“And you are all that matters to me.”
“Only me?”
“Only you. Everybody else is a waste of time.”
“You’re my brother's best friend.”
“That’s a chickenshit excuse, and you know it.”
“You’re the biggest flirt I know.”
“Right back at cha.”
“But you love the ladies, and the ladies love you,” she says, poking me in the chest.
“The ladies love me, and they always will. There’s nothing I can do about that. Unfortunately for them, my love lies elsewhere.”
She leans forward to kiss me, but I pull away.
