Daisy (Pushing Daisies Book 1)

by Heather Young-Nichols

  Time to be bold.

  I pushed off my chair and took the two steps toward him as he leaned back in his seat to watch me. I could’ve stopped when I stood between his legs, but that wasn’t where I wanted to be. Instead, I climbed up into his lap, a knee against the padding on the chair on each side of him.

  Lawson’s hands slid around to my ass as if he wanted to hold me in place. His fingertips burned against my skin as they brushed right beneath my shorts. I’d braced myself on his broad shoulders. Hard muscle beneath my hands jumped with each touch. We weren’t even naked, but I was already affecting him.

  I slid my hands up his shoulders and rested them on his neck, letting my thumbs stroke against his cheeks before pressing my lips to his. He yanked me closer. My most private areas rubbed against his hardness as his tongue pushed into my mouth. He tasted like chocolate, but underneath the chocolate was all Lawson.

  Suddenly, he lifted me up as he stood, causing me to squeal into his mouth.

  “Where are we going?” I asked without taking my lips from his.

  “Bed.”

  He dropped me onto the mattress, where I bounced twice. His hands slid up my body until I helped get rid of my shirt and he flicked open the front clasp on my bra, pushing the straps down my arms.

  Lawson wasn’t wasting any time as he pulled my shorts button open and slid those down my legs, taking my panties with them. In seconds, he had me naked on the bed. Unfair advantage in my book, given that he was still completely dressed and looking down at me like a starving man finally getting food.

  “Damn. You’re fucking beautiful.” He grabbed the underside of my thighs and yanked me to the edge of the bed, where he dropped to his knees and put his mouth on me.

  A loud moan escaped from my lips. Maybe it should’ve embarrassed me, but I couldn’t be bothered to care. His mouth just felt too good against me.

  He ran his tongue the length of me, focusing in on my clit, making me squirm so badly, he gripped my thighs tighter to keep me from scooting away. As if I didn’t have control of my own body, my fingers curled into his hair. Maybe I was afraid he was going to stop. Maybe I wanted to keep him there. Both things were true, but it was a subconscious decision.

  My orgasm hit me like a semi-truck. Fast and intense and I hadn’t seen it coming. Fuck, Lawson knew what he was doing. My heartbeat pounded in my ears and my thighs clenched together, catching his head between them.

  The asshole chuckled. Then he kissed his way up my body until his face was hovering over mine. “You’re so fucking beautiful,” he whispered again. I didn’t know if he meant in general or just now and I didn’t care even a little bit.

  “This really isn’t fair,” I told him.

  The corner of his mouth tipped up. “How’s that?”

  “You still have your clothes on.”

  His laughter filled the room as he moved away from me, reached behind his neck, and pulled the black T-shirt off in one movement. As his fingers worked the button on his jeans, I hopped up and dropped to my knees in front of him.

  I wouldn’t do this as well as what he’d done to me, but I wanted to do this for him. His hands stilled with his pants halfway down, his erection just standing there staring at me. I took over removing his pants until he could step out of them.

  Then, for the first time, I took ahold of him and ran my tongue up his length.

  Lawson groaned as his head fell back, face toward the ceiling. “Fuck,” he muttered.

  It was time to take him in my mouth. Lawson had nothing to be ashamed of where size was concerned. He was long and thick, but not so large that I thought it wouldn’t fit. I used my tongue around the head and took him in as far as I could then pulled back with a pop.

  “If I do this wrong, just tell me.”

  His hand fisted in my hair. “You couldn’t possibly do it wrong.”

  I grinned up at him then put him back in my mouth. Moving up and down then back again, something empowering came over me. The sounds that came out of his mouth hit me everywhere. As wet as I was, everything about him turned me on even more.

  Minutes passed. I didn’t know how many, but it wasn’t a lot. Lawson’s hand was still grasping my hair when he gave it a tug and forced me to drop him. “I’m not coming in your mouth,” he said in a ragged voice, as if it physically hurt him to make me stop. “Come here.”

  Lawson pulled me to my feet then moved me onto the center of the bed then grabbed a condom from the side pocket of his bag and slid it on before settling himself on top of me. He kissed me again, our tongues battling for dominance as he pushed inside me.

  When he filled me, it was like my body sighed in relief. As if this was where he was always supposed to be. We just fit together so perfectly that I missed his absence when he pulled back for even a second. Though he needed to.

  Sweat beaded Lawson’s forehead as he worked over me. His lips were on me the entire time. First my mouth, then my neck, then my shoulder, over and over until his body shuttered and he made the most amazing sound. Something between a groan and a sigh that I felt all the way to my toes.

  “You’re amazing,” he said breathlessly as I still gasped for air.

  “I don’t think that was me,” I told him.

  “It definitely was.” He kissed me again, almost drawing back to the starting line before he said he’d be right back.

  After just a minute, it was my turn to clean up. If my legs would carry me.

  Turned out, they would. Though shaky, I walked quickly to the bathroom. Once inside, I decided to hop in the shower quickly instead of just doing a sponge bath. Unfortunately, all my things were in my room, which left me with the hotel soap. No way was that hotel shampoo touching my hair, so I did a quick washing then hopped out. Only the ends of my hair got super wet.

  Shit. I hadn’t brought any pajamas and as a general rule, I didn’t sleep naked. Thinking fast, I knew exactly what I was going to do.

  As I came out of the bathroom, I quickly scanned the floor for what I was looking for. Once I found it, I hurried toward the bed, snagged his shirt off the floor, and pulled it over my head, letting it slide down my body just in time to crawl back into bed with Lawson Styles.

  We lay side by side facing each other, so close that his breath feathered against my cheek. His hand settled on my lower back and pulled me against him. We stayed like that for so long, I thought he might’ve fallen asleep. His eyes were closed, breathing steady.

  But then he said, “Are you just going to keep staring at me?”

  “I’m not staring,” I told him. “You’re staring.”

  “My eyes were closed. But I do spend a fair amount of time staring at you.”

  I fought the grin that wanted to break out across my face. “You do?”

  He nodded. “Hard not to. It has been since I met you. It’s worse now that I know how sweet you taste.”

  I slapped a hand over my face as the burn of embarrassment crept up my cheeks. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

  “Sure, you can.”

  I shook my head at him. “You’re crazy, you know that?”

  A tired laugh shook his body as I allowed myself a big stretch. But then we grew quiet.

  “Can I tell you something?” I asked him.

  His eyes opened again; this time he was much more awake. “Anything.”

  “Well, there’re two things actually and I don’t know which I want to admit less.”

  Lawson ran a hand down the side of my hair before pinching my chin between his thumb and forefinger, lifting so he had access to my lips again. This kiss was soft. Gentle. Tender.

  “You can tell me anything, Daisy.”

  I took a deep, hopefully calming, breath. “I’m falling in love with you, Lawson, and it scares me.”

  His brows furrowed. “Why does it scare you?” he asked softly.

  I swallowed hard, steeling myself, as I was about to put my heart on the line. “Because we haven’t really known each other long and I
’m afraid you’ll think it’s too soon for me to be feeling this way. Or since you were concerned about my age, you’ll think it’s a puppy love thing. That I’m a stupid little girl who gives her heart to anyone who asks. But you didn’t actually ask.”

  Four heartbeats passed before he spoke. “Do you give your heart to anyone who asks?”

  I shook my head vigorously. “I’ve never been in love before, yet I’m absolutely sure that’s what’s happening here. For me anyway.”

  “Not just for you, Daisy. And I wouldn’t ever think you’re a stupid little girl. When I was concerned about our age difference, that was because I’m too old for you. I’m worried I’ll always be in a different stage in my life than you will.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Yeah, OK, Grandpa.”

  At least that got him to smile. “But obviously, I don’t have those kinds of reservations anymore. What’s the other thing?”

  This one I really didn’t want to tell him. Only because if he knew, he’d worry more, but here we were. “I think this guy… the one from my bus…” His arm tightened around me more, creating a cage of marble with me inside. “I think he’s worrying me more than I let on. More than I let myself realize. I feel like I should have recognized him but couldn’t get a good look.”

  “I’m glad you’re worried because that means you’re less likely to give me a hard time about taking Cal with you places.”

  I snorted. He wasn’t wrong.

  “But,” he continued, “I won’t let anything happen to you, Daisy.”

  I didn’t have a response to the promise he’d made. Instead, we both grew quiet, taking comfort in the other’s presence. And I didn’t want to think about what would happen with us when the tour ended. That was months away. I didn’t need to let those thoughts into my head so soon.

  I listened to his breathing until my entire world went dark.

  My body felt as if it hadn’t moved in days when I woke the next morning. It was a good feeling, if not also a stiff one.

  I’d slept entangled in Lawson the entire night and not even my sore muscles would make me regret that. Before I made a move, Lawson released a groan and rolled onto his back.

  “It’s morning,” he said, as if morning were a dirty word.

  “Yes.” I was surprised at the sound of my own voice, dry and scratchy. I needed a drink of water. “Or it could be afternoon.”

  “It’s not. My alarm would’ve gone off.”

  That was right. He set an alarm every night because he had a sort of regular job that had to be done during the day.

  “I should probably get back to my room,” I told him as I trailed a finger down the side of his face.

  “Breakfast first,” he said as someone knocked on the door.

  “Room service,” the man on the other side called out.

  “You’ve been up?” I asked with surprise.

  He shook his head. “Ordered it last night for nine o’clock.”

  “You were so sure I’d be spending the night.”

  He chuckled as he swung his legs over the edge of the bed then snagged his jeans and pulled them back on quickly. “I figured it was either that or I’d be so depressed that you didn’t stay that I’d want to eat two breakfasts.”

  Now it was my turn to giggle, but instead of getting up, I sunk down into the bed more.

  The two voices filled the room and I had to smile over the fact that Lawson wasn’t going to let the guy in to set up breakfast. I liked to think it was because I was still in bed. He went over to the table and switched trays before piling the dirty dishes from last night’s dinner on the cart and taking it all back to the door.

  After everything was situated, I joined Lawson at the table, a little continental breakfast laid out before me.

  “Dibs on that cinnamon roll,” I said.

  “It’s yours.”

  We ate quickly. He had work to do and I would have to get back to my room before my brothers noticed my absence. Still, I stayed until I really couldn’t any longer.

  Even then, we kissed goodbye for like twenty minutes before I finally insisted that I had to go.

  As I stepped out into the hallway, Ransom and Dixon were there, as if they were standing guard. They made finger guns and swept the hallway like Charlie’s freaking Angels.

  “What the actual fuck?” I said more to myself, but I turned to Lawson with questions all over my face.

  He held his hands up like the police were about to arrest him. “I didn’t tell them anything. They guessed,” he insisted.

  “It’s true,” Ransom told me, as if just noticed me out in the hall with them. Lawson was bracing his hands against the doorjamb in just his jeans. Drawing me back in was what he was doing. “Dixon said something pretty disgusting about you and Lawson almost straight up merc’d him.”

  I turned to Lawson again.

  “You don’t want to know.” He sighed, making me giggle as I looked back to the guys.

  “Told him if I were single, I wouldn’t push you off my dick,” Dixon said, as if he had nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of.

  “Fucking Christ.” Lawson groaned. “Leave her alone and let her by, both of you.”

  “Yeah, uh, we saw Mack heading for your room like five minutes ago,” Ransom told me.

  “Thanks. I’ll… uh… see you all later.” I slid right by and went back to my room.

  Mack was leaning his back to the wall beside my door, tapping away on his phone. My stomach tightened when he glanced up and realized he saw me.

  “Hey,” I said cheerfully. “What are you doing here?”

  “Morning,” my oldest and biggest brother said back. “We have to get to the venue for some interviews. You weren’t answering your phone.”

  Shit, shit, shit. Where was my phone?

  “Where were you?” he asked. “You look flushed.” Mack reached out and ran the back of his hand over my cheek the way my mom used to when checking for a fever.

  “Went for a walk. Stretch out the muscles.” I slid the card into the slot to open my room. Fuck. No. I didn’t want him in here. My bed hadn’t been slept in.

  “Alone?” he asked, suddenly very close behind me. “Why’s your bed made?”

  Fuck. “Oh… Uh… I saw the housekeeper in the hallway when I left and told her she could clean in here if she wanted to.”

  “But your stuff is still in here.” He shut the door behind us. “This room doesn’t even look used.”

  “Look,” I snapped. “I don’t know how these things work. So we have to get to the venue? Where’s Van, Bonham, and Daltry?”

  Mack’s eyebrows were slammed down and I could see him physically trying to figure out my made bed in his head. “They went ahead, but I have a car waiting for us.”

  “Perfect.” I grabbed my purse and my overnight bag and went to lift the bags from shopping, but Mack took those instead.

  “Daisy.” He stopped before opening the door. “You can’t go out like that alone. Not until we find the guy who was on the bus. You could get hurt.” My big bear of a brother looked so vulnerable when he said I could get hurt and as much as I wanted to ensure him that I wasn’t alone and I could take care of myself as I had on the bus, I couldn’t.

  Not yet. Not when the other guys weren’t here. Telling one over the others would be a disaster.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Lawson

  Watching Daisy walk away was my least favorite thing to do. It wasn’t a bad view, but if that was what I was seeing, that meant she was leaving me. Which I fucking hated. She’d better talk to her brothers soon because I wanted to reach out and touch her without worrying about who might see me. Give her a kiss without caring who was around. Get to be a regular couple doing normal things.

  And when I found her phone in my room, I wanted to be able to give her phone back without thinking about where her brothers were.

  I got my room packed up and left not long after Daisy had. I’d taken a shower first because the luxury of a
hotel shower wasn’t something that got passed up on the road.

  My first stop was the bus to unload my things. Then I headed for the venue with Daisy’s phone burning a hole in my bag.

  “How do things look today, Cal?” I asked as he joined my walk.

  “Good so far,” he told me. “A small crowd as usual. Mostly women.”

  “Excellent. Thanks.” I yanked the door open as he turned back around. Cal would’ve been Daisy’s shadow right then if we didn’t all know she was with at least one of her brothers.

  I set myself up in an empty room and pulled my iPad out. Time to answer some emails. That was how I usually started my day. Barrett had insisted I get a small keyboard to use for this very thing and as much as I didn’t want to admit to her, she was right. It was way easier than tapping on the screen.

  “Hey, boss,” Barrett said as she breezed into the room.

  The reason I loved having Barrett as my PA, though truthfully she was a lot more than that, was partly because she had so much energy. She was eager, she wanted to do a good job, and somehow she managed to wrangle the guys when they needed it.

  “What’s up?” I asked her. I was in a tiny room, barely bigger than a closet. There was enough room for me and the small table, but Barrett grabbed a folding chair out from behind the door and set it up across from me.

  A rock settled in my stomach. What could she possibly want to talk about?

  “I dropped the list of tickets at will-call. The local radio station wants to know if they can do a quick remote spot with the guys and with Pushing Daisies before the show. Actually, they thought they’d do it this afternoon to sell last-minute tickets, but I told them we’re sold out.” She slid her finger along the screen of her tablet. Knowing her, she was checking her to-do list. “Oh, right. What about meet and great?”

  “Before the show and outside. Cal already knows to set up and area. The venue has a pop-up tent they’re going to use.”

  “Perfect. Still no meet and great for Daisies?”

  My jaw tensed. The answer that wanted to come flying out of my mouth was fuck no. However, it wasn’t really my call. “That would be up to Mack. But nobody’s coming backstage and we need a tight run through to make sure nobody stays behind to get to the buses.”