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Carys sighed and moved around the conference table, sitting next to her fiancé. “Not really. If Daisy is willing to accept your apology, then I say we sit here and have our first double date.” She reached for his hand. “Life is too short to be mad.”
“Thank you.” Aidan leaned over and kissed her and then looked to Daisy. “And I’m so sorry, Dais. I love you. I want you to be happy, and if your version of happiness means you’ve got a three-hundred-pound Australian tree on top of you most of the time, then I’m glad for you. I will talk to Da.”
“I’m not three hundred pounds,” Nate said with a frown. “I’m barely two sixty.”
“And it’s all muscle,” Carys said with a wink.
“Hello, fiancé right here.” Aidan frowned Carys’s way.
“Well, I can look, and I’m going to high-five Dais when you two aren’t looking. Now, is there a ham and brown bread? I’m starving, and I have to get back to the hospital for afternoon rounds soon.” Carys took the sandwich Daisy gave her.
Aidan stood again. “And I will go get us some sodas since Nate only remembers what Daisy drinks.”
“Mate, I didn’t even know you were here.” Nate had a big smile on his face.
“Well, you should know I’ll be anywhere my sister needs me,” Aidan vowed. “And I’ll check and make sure Da is still breathing.”
When the door closed behind him, Carys leaned over. “Thank you for not being too rough on him. The wedding is…well, is coming up way too fast, and it’s settling in that Tristan isn’t going to be there.”
In some ways she understood. Daisy forced a smile on her face. “It’s okay. I don’t need revenge or anything.”
“So I shouldn’t have texted the twins and asked them what’s going on?” Nate opened his own soda casually, like he hadn’t dropped a bomb that was going to explode in her brother’s face.
“You did what?” Carys asked, her jaw dropping slightly.
“Oh, I just figured if anyone would be able to tell me if I was right about what was going on, it’s the twins.” Nate was a gorgeous bastard, and she kind of wanted to jump him right there. “I mean they are in the information business. Kala said she would handle it. I don’t know what she means by that.”
Carys stood. “I have to go warn Aidan. Are they back? How long do we have?”
She rushed out the door, and Daisy was left alone with the most gorgeous man she’d ever met. The one who would probably break her heart.
“Hey, I didn’t actually text the twins. I’m not trying to get your brother killed,” Nate explained. “Just uncomfortable.”
She grabbed a sandwich and forced herself to relax. “Well, if my brother thinks the twins are coming after him, he might move. Far away. Though they might think about recruiting him because I swear the twins know everything. Big brother did a great job hiding it.”
But it was all out in the open now, and she would have to deal with the ramifications.
* * * *
Nate made sure the security system was on and then sent Avery a text letting her know they were safely locked in for the night.
He’d promised his mum’s best friend he would protect her daughter with everything he had.
What he didn’t tell her was he intended to protect her soul, too.
Something was up with Daisy. Oh, she was smiling and polite, and she’d been incredibly patient. But he saw right through her. Something had happened the night before, something that had shifted his universe into place, and he had zero intention of allowing those stars to unalign.
Daisy was the sun in the sky for him, and it didn’t matter that everyone would tell him he hadn’t known her long enough. He knew this deep in his bones. He’d spent the night with her and known he wanted all the nights with her.
He stepped out of the security office and jogged up the steps leading to the lounge and beyond, the dungeon floor.
Daisy sat in the lounge, her head down, staring at her phone.
This was what he’d dealt with all afternoon. After the confrontation with her father, she’d shut down. Oh, she would smile when she needed to, and she’d been polite when her father had walked in and told her to be careful, but when he’d hugged her, she’d barely hugged him back.
She’d done everything she’d been asked to do, including make a list of things for Devi to pick up for her and drop off at Sanctum. Devi had gone with her mom, and they’d even stopped at the grocery and stocked the kitchen for them.
“We’re locked in for the night,” he said, studying her. She was simply stunning. All the awkwardness of her girlhood was gone, and nothing but a glorious sun of a woman was left in her place. Which was precisely why he hated the fact that her glow had dimmed.
