Lib Novel Page 76
She shoots me a withering look, but that only intensifies the fire inside me.
“And it seems there’s a possibility we soon might be three.”
I tug her closer, and she falls over my chest. My hand rests against her belly, and a defining thunder booms in my chest.
Daisy stiffens, and after a momentarily frozen pause, she intertwines our fingers, her trembling bandaged hands grabbing my cold ones. Her father’s gold band on my finger clicks with her rings.
“Will you please give us a minute?” she mumbles to the staff and tugs me toward the bedroom.
I go willingly. I’d love to talk to her without an audience and false pretenses.
The moment the door shuts with a loud thud, Daisy jabs her finger against my chest. “You want to know why I accompanied Mr. Buffay? Because you asked me to.”
Before I can call her out on this bullshit lie, she raises her hand.
“Not today. When I was first attending a meeting at the client site, I asked if your driver could drop me off, since he was already headed that way. But you refused. You said, and I quote”—she makes those stupid air quotes—“‘Miss Price, the last time I checked, Steve and Dave don’t receive their salary from you. You should manage like everyone else.’”
She pauses just long enough to suck in a breath. “The company policy is either I take the company car and pay for gas or take a cab. Many days, I have lots of meetings around town, and to save money, I started carpooling or taking lifts, but only after I know the person well.”
“That was before I knew you couldn’t drive, dammit.”
She’s throwing that in my face today?
Since I learned that Daisy can’t drive—which is an entirely different stupidity of its own—I’ve made sure she has a ride always, even at the expense of me running late on some rare occasions.
“Sorry that my instincts are failing me and I’m not immediately on board like you in this marriage thing. I’m sorry that I didn’t receive proper acting skills. I’m sorry that I thought I should say yes to the pregnancy test otherwise it might stir up a new set of rumors about this being fake. But you don’t have to worry because I’m not pregnant. It’s been a year since my jerk ex bothered to sleep with me while he was getting his dick sucked by other women. So, no, Mr. Hawthorne, there’s no bastard coming to destroy your perfect plan.”
Her finger jabs at my chest repeatedly with so much force that the bandage around her hand comes loose. She attempts to put it back in place but fails and gets more irritated.
I yank her closer, but she jerks out of my grasp. “I don’t need your help.”
But when she continues to fail, I tug on her wrist. “Either I’m doing it or I’m calling the doctor back.” Before she can look away, I pin her with my gaze. “I mean it, Daisy.”
She finally stops squirming, and I tie the bandage. Her rapid breathing subsides, and knowing she’s safe and there are no surprises, my own heartbeat starts to settle to its normal pace.
“From this moment on, you’ll drive with either Steve or Dave. I also don’t want you running inside dilapidated buildings, wife.”
Her pulse flutters under my touch when I call her that—wife. For someone who hated the idea of getting tied down, I’m enjoying riling Daisy up.
It’s because you know this is temporary.
“I’ll try not to make it a habit, husband.” Her eyes are shining, gleaming with anger, but a slow smile finally touches her lips.
My gaze travels south from her face to her hands and scraped knees, until it settles on her bare feet. One of her purple toenails has broken.
“You hurt your feet too.”
A shiver courses through her at my whispered words. Daisy’s face pales again, reminding me of the moment I found her trapped under the wall.
“I…I was scared,” she whispers, her eyes falling closed, and a tiny tear finds escape.
“Me too.” My grip on her face is featherlight as I run my thumb over the teardrop.
Her eyes open, lips quiver, and the realization of what could have happened today brushes against me once again.
There’s a reason I keep everyone at arm’s length.
“Thank you for coming to save me.”