She threw her hands in the air. Both guys flinched again, probably thinking she was exasperated with them when she was really exasperated with herself for comparing Trent to Beckett in the first place. That was so not fair. And thanks to her brother, on top of ruining the fun, flirty thing she had with Trent, she had to give Beckett a ride home.
Whatever.
She stepped forward and kissed Trent on the cheek. “I’m going home. I’ll see you.” She turned away without saying anything else. As far as she was concerned, they would never speak of this again.
“Come on, Beckett, Quinton bailed on you. You’re riding with me,” she said without facing him. She made it all the way to her car without having to look his direction. Good thing, too, because she wasn’t at all happy that he’d gotten her kicked out of her favorite club. Trent honked once and waved as he drove away.
She reached for the door handle and suddenly Beckett was right behind her, his hand flat against the door to keep her from opening it.
“Hey.” She turned to face him, ready to let him have it for being a complete idiot. Her words evaporated before they completely formed inside her head. Beckett was right there. His large, callused hand rested on her arm, his body curved around hers, and Daisy leaned into him, drinking in his nearness. The parking lot shrank down to a circle that extended about a foot around them. The cool evening air grew thick with anticipation and expectations.
“What?” she whispered.
“You kissed Trent.” His blue eyes flashed with something dangerous.
“It was quick.” Daisy became acutely aware that her hands hung by her side. They could rest on his chest—he was that close. Or she could place them on his arms or even fold them.
“It looked like fun.” He leaned closer.
Overwhelmed by the strength of his undivided attention, Daisy went to step back, only to be caught by her car. She had nowhere to run. Not that she wanted to. What she really wanted was a moment to think this through. Kissing had consequences, and Beckett’s whole body told her he was going to kiss her.
Beckett shuffled and put one arm on the car. He smelled as good as ever, like spices and mint and soap andhim. She remembered the soft, tickling feeling of his beard against her palm and wanted that same feeling against her cheek, her neck. Her knees went weak at the thought. Beckett curved an arm around her back, giving her support. He touched his forehead to hers, bringing her desire to feel his lips to a frenzy. There was only one way out of this.
She lifted on her tiptoes and brushed her lips against his. The mixture of desire and fulfillment and heat and exploded into the night like a mushroom cloud.
In less than a heartbeat, Beckett claimed her mouth and she was lost in the manifestation of long-buried crushes and recent revelations. His hands were at her neck, tipping her head as he blazed kisses across her jaw. Daisy gasped as the urgency to be closer spiked. She wrapped her arms around his head and pulled him closer, ever closer, as they kissed again and again.
They broke apart, both gasping and holding tight to one another.
Daisy had no words. She wasn’t even sure that was a good idea, but it had been a fantastic kiss. The best she’d ever had.
Beckett trailed a finger down her cheek. “I’ve wanted to do that since you were sixteen.”
Daisy bit her lip, noticing the slight swelling. “I would have hit you.” She took in a shaky breath as uncertainty crept into her thoughts. “I may hit you now.”
“You probably should—knock some sense into me.”
She moved her hands from behind his neck to rest on his arms. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
Beckett shook his head slowly—like he was trying to clear it. “Nothing about this makes sense. We’re so different.”
She pulled her hands all the way off of him. “Like chocolate and bacon.”
He relaxed his hold on her. “Ew.”
“Exactly.”
He fingered a loose strand of her hair. “But this was … astonishing.”
Daisy smiled softly. She was definitely astonished.
Chapter Sixteen
“What did he mean—astonishing?”
Daisy kicked her feet up on the coffee table so Jason could shoot Nerf bullets under her legs at a tower of plastic cups. Vivian knelt next to the tower, ready to rebuild it as necessary. Not that Jason couldn’t build his own tower, but this way, he stayed focused on shooting and they could talk. They had finished brunch early and were killing time before the late church service started.
Daisy had puzzled over Beckett’s word choice since waking up this morning. When Vivian called to invite her for brunch, she leapt at the chance to sneak out before the guys were awake. Living with the guy who kissed her all the way to her bedroom door last night was awkward, because she had no idea what this meant for them—or him—or her, for that matter.
