Chapter 22

As a young hostess led her across a crowded dining room, Daisy’s heartbeat kept stammering. When Dan had sent her the address, she’d freaked. It was downtown, near the place Caleb had met her that first night. However, this restaurant was much cozier. Candle-lit with red tablecloths, filled with the succulent aromas of Italian cooking, and soft jazz, it exuded calmness.

Which she really, really needed.

When passing a small, mirrored wall section, she managed a quick glimpse of her reflection. As she slowed, both hands swept her hips—again. All afternoon, outfit after outfit had flicked over her curves in the mirror. Too sexy. Not sexy enough. Did she look desperate? Not desperate enough?

At last, she’d yanked a dress from beneath the pile on her bed. Blood red and tiny. As she walked, its tight hem crept up her thighs.

“Yeah, desperate. And sexy,” she whispered before clicking faster to catch the hostess.

After following the blonde around a thick potted plant, she froze. With her pulse spiraling higher, the universe shrank, becoming only the figure in a small booth. The flicker of a table-top candle illuminated his face. Dan. Then she spotted the smaller silhouette beside him.

The world flipped and spun before crashing as her heart plummeted deep into her roiling stomach.

Young and gorgeous, with Asian features and porcelain skin, plus dark eyes as wide as hers felt. Black, shiny hair in a tall ponytail bobbed above a leather shoulderless dress tight to a slender figure. While Daisy sucked in air, her heels dragged on the carpet.

The hostess spoke words, and Dan smiled. After grinning at the blonde, the leather-clad woman beside him scanned Daisy, and as the grin faded, her lower lip, then entire jaw, wavered.

“Fuck, she’s nervous?” Daisy whispered before inhaling and stepping closer. “Hi, um, Dan,” she muttered, not knowing where to look.

Rather than reply, his gaze wandered her shaking frame. At his eyebrows raising, she rolled her lips. Yes, that dress. Backless, with tiny halters only just covering her areolas, it was the one she’d worn for him when they’d started dating. Back then, she’d also been desperate—and sexy.

A quick glance at the petite lady beside him had her mind spinning. Oh, Daisy was even more desperate, but was she still sexy enough? Closer, the woman’s stunning beauty was even more apparent, and when leather squeaked as she snuggled into Dan, a wave of jealousy tore through her.

“Daisy? God, you’re even more gorgeous than your pictures.”

Beneath hooded eyes, Dan’s lips weren’t moving. It took another second for Daisy to find the young woman’s smile. It was shaky, and the lip continued to tremble, but her black irises twinkled.

“Um, th-thank you, uh—”

“S-Sorry, this is Natalie,” Dan spoke at last, glancing at the figure tight to him. “We, um, work together. And, uh, live together.”

“Oh.” Daisy looked around. Which way was the exit?

“Please stay.”

At Natalie’s quiet voice, she spun to find the woman smacking shiny lips. Time wobbled, but after inspecting those dark pools, she released a slow exhale. While ignoring the heartbeat thumping well below her stomach, she slid into the red-leather booth across from them. Without a word, Dan filled a wineglass and slid it towards her.

“Why’d you agree to meet, Dan?” she asked, inspecting Natalie.

Instead of speaking, he whispered into the beauty’s ear. After a quick nod, she leaned over him. As she continued leaning, Daisy’s pulse soared, and at the sound of his zipper parting, the universe shuddered.

“Things have changed.” His breathing hitched at a quiet slurp and Daisy tightened her fist on the glass’s cold stem. “Mmm, Nat is, um, part of my life now.”

As the shiny black ponytail started languid, twisting bobs, Daisy flung her gaze between it and his stony visage. Lasers, his eyes beamed into her, searching.

“So, um, what about us?” she whispered.

“That’s up to you?” he replied before moaning as the ponytail sank. But a second later, his expression hardened. “Did you fuck them again? At that party?”

“Huh? Who? Oh, no.” She shook her head. “No, honey, I didn’t. It was—”

Her voice trailed off as Natalie rose, smacking her glossy lips and smiling up at him. Once he dropped a napkin into his lap, her arm continued slow motions. After lifting her wineglass, she stared at Daisy with her twinkling black pools. In sync with the languid motions of her neck as she drank, Daisy’s breathing slowed.

Before anyone could speak, a server arrived to take their orders. Having chosen earlier, they provided their selections as Daisy rushed, scanning the menu.

Once the guy had departed, she managed a shaky sip while flicking between Natalie’s sparkling dark eyes, her ceaseless slow stroking, and her husband’s piercing gaze. Though exquisite, the wine wasn’t calming her. She took a longer drink, but that also failed to help. At last, she tapped the glass on the table and sighed.

“They were married, Dan. And, um, nothing happened.” She glanced at Natalie. “Not with them.”

“Married, huh? Well, isn’t that rich?” He laughed, lifting the glass to his lips, but instead of drinking, he paused to sigh. “How’ve you been, Daisy?”

“Really?” She looked pointedly at the woman stroking his cock before meeting his gaze. “What’s going on, Dan?”

“Nat says I care, so I’m here.” He shrugged, then chuckled under his breath. “It was her idea to suck on me—”

“I don’t want to lose him, Daisy,” the slender beauty added in a low, shaky voice.

“Lose him?” Heart suddenly racing, she gulped. “Dan, are you gonna let me ... I mean, can I—”

“Don’t know.” With a longer sigh, he shook his head and looked at Natalie. “There’d have to be rules.”

After following his gaze, Daisy’s pulse thumped to a halt. He was focused on the thin band of gold-trimmed black leather fixed to her pulsing throat. With the universe slowing, cooling, then heating, at some point, her stomach stopped its angry roiling, and her heartbeat returned.