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“Okay, now that all of that is settled, can we get to the business we need to cover?” Liam asks.

But my mind is too busy thinking of Daisy and how I can’t fucking touch her.

chapter three

Beau

It’s been three days.

I’m not normally one to mark time like this, but the truth is, the day I met Daisy feels monumental in some capacity. So my brain has been keeping track. Three days since I met her. Three days since her brother—one of my best friends—told me she was off-limits.

Of course she’s off-limits. For so many reasons. Her being Flynn’s sister is just one of them. How about the fact that she’s pregnant. I don’t have anything against babies or single mothers. But I am not dad material. So there’s no reason for me to even pretend otherwise. Even without her impending motherhood, Daisy is a wife-her-up kind of woman.

I don’t have those skills either.

When you’ve never been a part of a functional family, you can’t ever cross that line. I’ve never seen a husband and wife in action. Okay, not like that kind of action. I just mean, I don’t know how to be a husband. Watching my buddies Dane and Jack do it just doesn’t count. They found their other halves.

Pretty sure men like me don’t get those. Hell, as scarred as I am on the outside and as fucked up as I am on the inside, I’m pretty sure I don’t have enough of me left to make up half of a couple.

So yeah, Daisy is a no-fly zone. A suicide mission you don’t expect to come home from. Even knowing all that, I’m drawn to her in ways even I don’t understand.

I tell myself I’m just being a good friend to Flynn. Checking in to make sure his sister is okay in this brand new town.

But that’s all a lie.

Yesterday I managed to just drive by the row of small cabins. Twice. Before I made my way back home.

Today I’ve parked my truck down the street and snapped on Mouse’s leash.

What are you doing, Stevens?

I don’t know. I only know that I can’t stop myself from doing it.

I’ve barely made it half of a mile from my truck when my phone rings.

I tap my earbud to answer.

“What are you doing, asshole?”

“Good morning to you to, Romeo. Why am I an asshole?”

“Where are you?”

That question gives me pause.

“Are you reconning me?” I ask.

Romeo chuckles. “Nope. I can see you just from looking out my front window, which is what I was doing.”

“Who were you looking for?”

“Irrelevant. The point is, what the hell are you doing over here on this side of town?”

“Saddle Creek is a small town, Romeo. It’s hardly fair to say it has sides.”

Silence comes from the other end of the phone.

I sigh. “I’m walking Mouse.”