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“Yeah, I do, if you consider leaving me a solution.” I walked right up to him and flicked the center of his forehead. “There, that stupid thought is now banished from your mind.”
His mouth opened and closed, opened and closed, then he rubbed his forehead. “That hurt. I didn’t know you were so violent.”
“Remember that the next time leaving me becomes a possibility.”
“I never said I was going to leave you.”
I wagged my finger at him. “I saw where your mind was going. Don’t deny it.”
His arm darted out to gather me against him. I kept going, climbing him like a tree until we were face to face, my legs locked around his waist.
“It wasn’t a real thought, Daze. I fucking panicked for a second.” He dropped his face to the crook of my neck, inhaling my scent. “I don’t know what to do. For once, I can’t think of how to plan my way out of this.”
“I love you, Miles. Your mother isn’t you, okay? You aren’t responsible for her behavior.” I squeezed him hard with all four limbs and stroked the back of his hair. “I’ve been thinking about this, and I’ve decided it’s okay. Bea brought in her Millennial wine moms, and we’ve gotten a lot of attention through social media. It’s just...I’d booked so many jobs so quickly, when they went away, it felt like I was losing everything. But the thing is, I don’t need those rich bitches. I had to reframe how I saw this business growing, and that took me a minute, but I’m there. We just got started, and we’re making a name for ourselves. It’s happening.”
His lips touched the curve of my neck, my jaw, my chin, then my mouth. “So, this summer, all the events, the whole fake dating thing, it was all pointless?”
“No, it wasn’t pointless.” I took his face in my hands. “The point was you and me. We never would have happened if we hadn’t tricked ourselves into it.”
His huff was hot against my lips. “My little storm cloud is looking on the bright side, huh?”
“You’re wearing off on me, sunshine.”
He closed his eyes, his head shaking slightly. “I can’t believe she’s doing this to you. I should be able to believe it, but I really can’t.”
His voice cracked with emotion, and my heart panged for him. Nothing about this was right, but I’d resolved to make the best of it for Miles’ sake. I would never ask him to stop his mother’s path of destruction. We just had to get out of the way so we didn’t get trampled further.
“I’m sorry she let you down in such a massive way.” I pecked the tip of his nose. “You have to know you’re more important to me than any business, and that’s an always thing.”
“God, I love you, Daisy.” He strode into the bedroom with me in his arms and sat on the edge of the bed. For a long moment, he studied my face, neck, chest, shoulders—all the places he could see with me plastered to him.
I stroked his hair, letting him look all he needed to. I wasn’t going anywhere.
Chapter Thirty-nine
Daisy
Long seconds of silence ticked by where we held each other and merely breathed.
Then Miles looked me directly in the eye and said, “I’m ready for my treat now, Daisy-daze.”
My toes curled as I smiled. “What treat? I don’t know what you mean.”
“You do.” He moved fast, spinning and tossing me flat on my back. “If you won’t give it to me, I’ll take it.”
Squealing, I scooted away from him, up the mattress until I hit the headboard. All the while, he prowled, taking his time crawling after me.
“No, no,” I cried, giggling and kicked at him. My stomach was a tilt-a-whirl from the thrill of him hunting me down and taking what he wanted. “Not my feet. Anything but my feet.”
He caught my ankle and lifted my leg so my socked foot was right in front of him. I kicked him with my free leg, but he caught that too. His hands were so big, fingers so long, they wrapped around both my ankles. He worked my socks off with the other hand and tossed them aside. Then he kissed the soles of my feet, which were smooth as silk from my afternoon treatment.
“So soft,” he uttered.
Lowering my legs, he pointed my toes down so he could see them too, breath hitching when he caught sight of the polish.
“Fuck, Daze. Red? For me?”
When his eyes found mine, they were already glazed. I nodded. “For you. I hoped you’d like it.”
