Page 58 of Disavowed

Dom turned to reenter the shop but froze when he caught the three of them staring. His eyes met Daisy’s, and another thought occurred to her. How could a man who cares so much do something serious enough to get him fired from the NYPD?

As he came back toward the shop, she stepped aside.

“What were you saying about that delivery?” he asked, closing the door behind him.

“Um, yeah.” She struggled to refocus her thoughts. “The maid of honor will meet you at the church. Marjie will get you all the addresses.”

“Fine.” Dom returned to the counter for his coffee. “Jack, I’ll help you load up these arrangements.”

“Let’s do it,” Jack said without so much as looking at her.

She watched the men start carrying centerpieces down the hall and into the storeroom. Jack was definitely miffed about last night. At least he’d showed up for work. Sadly, her biggest worry was that he’d up and quit on her if things didn’t go the way he wanted.

“You know,” Marjie said as she stacked the morning’s delivery of roses on the counter, “you could have either of those gorgeous hunky guys just like that.” She snapped her fingers.

“What do you mean either of them? Jack’s the only one I’ve gone on a date with.”

“Yeah?” Marjie began sharpening her thorn knife. “Then why does Jack look pissed and Dom look like he wants to eat you up? It’s obvious you’re hot for the guy.”

Daisy smacked her cup onto the counter. “Hot? For Dom? The man works for me, nothing more.”

“Right. And Jack doesn’t?” The smirk on Marjie’s face told Daisy she was only humoring her.

With a roll of her eyes, she retreated to the peace and quiet of her office to concentrate. She fell onto her chair and rechecked the day’s calendar to be sure she hadn’t missed any small orders. From outside, she heard Jack and Dom talking as they loaded the centerpieces into the back of the truck.

Who am I kidding?

She’d never be able to concentrate on anything today because it was the most difficult day of the year.

My birthday.

Glancing again at her calendar, she reread her handwriting under today’s date: My birthday—buy chocolate! That would be the extent of her celebration. There had been a time in her life when she looked forward to her birthday, as any young girl did. Those days were filled with gifts, birthday cakes with pretty candles, and lots of hugs and kisses from her mother and father. Now, aside from treating herself to her favorite chocolate cake, she was thankful it only happened once a year. She hadn’t had a birthday since her parents died. On her eleventh birthday.

After the tragic crash, her grandparents had declared that day to henceforth be a day of mourning, not one to celebrate. But they hadn’t given her a birthday on any other day, either. When they’d dumped her into the foster care system, she vowed never to celebrate another one of her birthdays for the rest of her life. Not even Alex knew when her birthday was.

With a heavy heart, she touched her fingers to the framed photo on her desk. The last photo taken of the three of them. Uttering a soft moan, she lowered her head into her hands.

I can get through today. I can get through tonight.

The clock on her wall read ten a.m. Fourteen hours to go and the day would be over.

Rumbling sounded outside the window, followed by shifting of gears as the delivery truck headed down the street. A minute later, a masculine cough came from her open doorway. She jerked upright to find Dom leaning against the doorjamb.

“Wanna talk about it?” he asked.

“Talk about what?”

“Your date last night.” He raised his brows. “Judging by the way you and Jack barely acknowledged each other this morning, I gather it didn’t go well.”

A spurt of anger shot up her spine. “You are the absolute last person I intend to discuss my dates with.”

“Why is that?” He came in and sat on the edge of her desk, towering over her.

“Don’t you have work to do?” She pushed from the desk, intending to get up and leave, but he leaned down and grabbed the armrests, caging her in.

“I do, but I thought you might want to talk.”

His face was close enough to hers that she could see the tiny green flecks in the blue of his eyes. “You planning on giving me advice about sex?”