We both fell silent as she continued to touch me. It was both comforting and arousing, and with her pressed up against me and one of her bare legs resting over one of mine, that wasn’t necessarily a good thing.
“Why didn’t you say anything, Sage?” she asked. I wasn’t sure what she meant until she added, “Why didn’t you let Cash give you what you needed before things got too bad?”
I stiffened, but when I tried to put some space between us, she wrapped her fingers around my upper arm.
“He told you,” I whispered.
She nodded, then leaned in to kiss me.
It was barely a kiss. Just her mouth brushing mine.
So soft and so fleeting I barely felt it.
“Enough to make me understand how important you are to each other and how what you have is what you both need. Neither of you have anything to be ashamed about.”
I didn’t sense anything in her voice that said she was lying to spare my feelings, so I forced myself to relax. “He gives me what Ineed. Not the other way around.”
“That’s not true,” she countered. “You two were so busy this week trying to hide things from me, that I don’t think you even noticed that you wereeachsuffering.”
I began shaking my head, but she moved her hand to my cheek to stop me. “I saw him, Sage. I heard him. He wasn’t the real Cash until the moment he sent you to your knees last night.”
Shame curled through me that she’d seen that.
“I didn’t understand it,” Daisy quickly continued. “But there was something beautiful in it… it was like… it was like you two became one in that moment. It was the same thing I saw at the wedding, and that night in the motel room. I’ve never seen two people so at ease with one another… but then this week you were both so different and I didn’t understand why.” She paused and said, “I shouldn’t have come here.”
“No,” I quickly said, but she covered my mouth with her fingers.
“And I should have said something earlier when I noticed something wasn’t right. I should have made it clear that nothing you two could have shared with me would have changed how I feel about you… about both of you.”
I wanted to ask her what it was she felt, but I was too afraid of the answer.
“Is he okay?” I asked, knowing she’d know what I meant.
She nodded. “God, he loves you so much, Sage.”
I closed my eyes and tried to stem the tears that threatened. But it didn’t work because Daisy began wiping them away as they fell. “Talk to me,” she urged.
“He deserves better,” I croaked.
I knew Cash was in the room with us. I’d felt his presence like I always did a few seconds ago when she’d told me he loved me. But somehow talking to him through Daisy made it easier. “He’s so strong and he gives me everything I need, but he never asks for anything in return.”
I expected Cash to chime in and argue with me, but it was Daisy who answered.
“That’s not what I see, Sage. I see a man who needs you just asmuch as you need him. I see someone who’s spent a lifetime questioning whether he’s strong enough. You give that to him. You’re proof that he is. And I saw you guys at the wedding. I’ve heard you bicker on the phone when we’re talking. That light that’s inside of you, Sage… that light that those terrible people in your past tried to snuff out… you share that with him. Every time you smile, laugh, say his name. Every time you lean into his touch, or press a kiss to his shoulder, or just look up at him with that thing – that look that tells him you’re okay, that you’re both okay – he feels that. Just like he takes some of the darkness away from you, you do that for him too. Don’t ever doubt that.”
I was stunned speechless. How had she managed to see so much in such a small span of time?
“Is it true, Cash?” I asked softly, though I kept my eyes on Daisy. Her thumb was sliding back and forth over my lower jawline.
I felt the bed dip behind me. I twisted my upper body so I could look at him. Daisy’s fingers fell away, but didn’t go far. I felt them on my chest, right over my heart.
“It’s true,” Cash murmured.
He’d told me as much many times, but somehow seeing it through Daisy’s eyes made it more real. And that had shame sifting through me. Cash’s word should have been enough. But I knew why it hadn’t been.
Because I’d trusted him with every facet of my body, but I’d never truly given him everything. I’d always held back part of myself.
“I’m sorr—”
