We were already done when the door opened and Barrett came through.
“Pushing Daisies is ready,” she told me. “They’ve got a few minutes.”
“Eep.” Lexi stood faster than the rest of us.
“Calm down,” I told her.
“You don’t understand how excited I am.”
“Yeah. I do. But calm the fuck down.”
“Hey,” she snapped as we left the room. “It’s not every day I get to meet my favorite band and your girlfriend. Give me slack.”
I shook my head but kept moving until we were in the main hallway. Daisy and her brothers were at the end of the hall not far from the stage door. When she saw me, this wide grin crossed her face. I couldn’t help but smile back.
“So this is my family,” I told them. “My mom, Ashley.” Mom stepped right up and pulled Daisy into her arms. I probably should’ve warned her about that. “Stepdad, Charlie. Older sister, Erica, and fucking annoying little sister, Lexi.” I then turned to my family and said, “Daisy, Van, Bonham, Daltry, and Mack,” as I pointed each one out.
“So… ” Van dragged the word out and I knew I wasn’t going to like what followed. He used an index finger and thumb to stroke his chin. “You have a little sister. Interesting.”
I gave him my best death stare that said to keep his hands off my sister. Charlie shook all of their hands and Erica was cool as hell. But fucking Lexi was talking a mile a minute and taking pictures. Daisy laughed all the way through it. Though Mom kept her occupied most of the time.
“All right. All right,” I finally said. “They’ve got a show to do and you’ve got seats to find.” Mom and Charlie were going to stay back here. They weren’t into the crowd out there. It wasn’t that they were old. Mom was fifty-four. They just weren’t into it.
Barrett showed Erica and Lexi how to get out to their seats.
I pulled Daisy aside and said, “Thanks for that.”
“For what?” she asked.
“Humoring my mom.”
“I like your mom.” She pushed up onto her toes and for the first time, she gave me a kiss in front of her brothers.
Not one of them said a thing.
If I were a better son, I would’ve stayed back with my mom and Charlie. But I had a need I couldn’t quantify to see Daisy on stage that night.
Just like last night, she moved across the stage as if she were meant to be there. Honestly, she was. Everything about her was more relaxed. Her interactions with the crowd were somehow different as well. Knowing that the guy who’d been sending those nasty messages and surprised her on her bus wasn’t out there anymore had taken a load off my shoulders and it must’ve done the same for her. I knew Daisy had beaten herself up for not recognizing him when she saw him but thankfully she finally realized that he’d looked different on the bus and it had been dark.
None of this was her fault.
Far too soon, Pushing Daisies’ set was over and they were heading off the stage. The brothers all passed by me without a glance, but Daisy stopped right in front of me. Her skin glistened with the sweat she’d worked up on stage but she was still absolutely beautiful.
“You were great,” I told her as we made our way toward her dressing room.
“Thanks. I don’t know.” She shrugged. “I was just feeling it.”
I didn’t want to mention what I thought was behind the newfound energy. Not only not having the stress of him out there but also her no longer blaming herself. If we spoke about that guy ever again, it wouldn’t be because I’d brought him up.
“I’m going to take a shower before my brothers get in there,” she told me. “I’ll see you in a bit.”
Before Courting Chaos went on, I checked in on my mom and Charlie. They were doing fine and Barrett had set them up in a secluded room. Bless that woman. But before I knew it, Courting Chaos was going on and I headed back over to the stage to watch them but also check on my sisters.
Erica and Lexi were in the front row. I could just barely see them as they let loose with the first song. I’d meant to check up on Lexi when Pushing Daisies were on, but I hadn’t been able to take my eyes off Daisy.
Third song in someone slid against my side. I didn’t need to look to know it was Daisy. Her I could’ve identified by feel.
“What’re you doing here?” I asked her. “I assumed you’d go back to the bus.”
Her hand moved over my abs, holding tightly to my side.
“I thought I’d watch with you,” she told me while looking up under those full lashes. Daisy was always beautiful. Always. But like this… freshly showered with her hair up in a bun and not an ounce of makeup on was my favorite look.
I couldn’t fucking help but kiss her. We were there in front of all of the crew running back and forth doing their jobs and I didn’t care at all. Neither did she.
When the band was finished, they rushed by us while I kept her snugly to my side. I’d have to let her go now, but damn, I didn’t want to.
“I have to go see my family,” I told her as we walked slowly away from the stage. “Want to come with me?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think so. You don’t get to see them often, so you should have some time. I’ll go back to the bus.”
“You’re more than welcome.”
“I know.”
“All right.” We stopped so I could cup her face and kiss her again. I’d see her in a bit.
After watching her walk away and enjoying the view quite a lot, I headed for the room Mom and Charlie would still be in.
“Wait up, Lawson,” Lexi called out.
When I turned, I saw my sisters jogging my way.
“How’d you like the show?” I asked them when we were moving again.
“Which one?” Erica asked. “The concert or the way you kissed Daisy just now?”
“Fuck off,” I told her, but I smiled. She’d know I wasn’t being serious.
She shrugged. “I thought it was cute. It’d been a long time since I’ve seen you kiss someone like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like they matter.”
Ouch. But actually pretty accurate. “Well, Daisy matters.”
“I can’t fucking believe you weaseled your way into her life,” Lexi said, shaking her head. “She’s a fucking badass and you’re… you.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Lexi smiled widely. “I think she’s too cool for you.”
“Obviously,” I said back because I didn’t deserve Daisy, but I had her and I’d keep her as long as she let me. If it were up to me… I’d keep her forever.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Lawson
An hour and a half later, after I’d walked my family to their car and made sure they got out OK, I climbed onto the bus both tired and anxious to see my girl.
If Daisy was already asleep, I wouldn’t blame her. I’d climb into bed and hold her all night while trying not to wake her. If she was awake…that was a different story.
“Honey, you’re home,” she called out, bringing a smile to my face.
Since moving to my bus, she hadn’t used that phrase once. She’d only used it with her brothers.
“Hey.” I flopped down on my stomach onto the bed.
“Your family head home?” she asked as she ran her fingernails over the back of my head. It was such a small, gentle movement, but I could feel those fingers all the way to my dick.
“Yup.”
“You talk to your sister?”
“Yeah.” I groaned. “Lexi wouldn’t give up anything on what’s going on. Mom wants me to let her come on tour for a while. Guess I don’t really have a choice because something is definitely not right with her.”
“Nope. No choice. She’s your sister.”
“Van’s response to her kind of made me realize maybe a little of what your brothers were feeling about us.”
Her quiet giggle told me she’d been thinking that too. “We women have minds of our own an
d there’s not a lot you can say to change those minds.”
I pushed up and got closer to her. So close that our noses almost touched. “What’s your mind want you to do right now?”
A wide grin crossed her lips. She was thinking exactly what I was. But still, she made the first move, grabbing my face and pulling it even closer.
Her lips were soft against mine, moving with an urgency the origin of which I had no idea. She slid down so I could move over on top of her. Daisy was the one to lean up and yank her shirt over her head and fuck me, she wasn’t wearing a bra.
I moved down to suck a nipple into my mouth. Daisy was so responsive and I was so in love with her that I’d swear my heart was twice the size it had been when I’d met her.
Her hands moved to my head and held me where I was, egging me on until I moved to the other breast. The weight of it in my hand was perfect… just like Daisy. She was the perfect woman for me and I’d almost let her pass me by due to my own stupidity.
My shirt was somewhere on the floor. Then went her shorts and panties and my jeans. Our skin-on-skin contact was warm and turned me on so much. We kissed and explored. I savored every part of her.
Then I heard an unfamiliar sound and popped my head up.
Daisy had secured one of her wrists in the harness Dixon had set up on my bus. Using that thing had never entered my mind and I sure as hell never would’ve suggested it to Daisy.
“What the fuck?” I asked her.
Her slim shoulder shrugged. “Seems like a waste not to try it out just once.” She glanced up then back to me. “I can’t do the other one alone, though.”
“We don’t have to do this,” I told her, though I was harder than ever at the thought of her wanting to.
“I know.” She wet her lips. “But I want to try it.”
“You’re sure?” Fuck. Me. “Whatever you want, baby.”
I reached up and did up the second restraint. At least Dixon had gotten one with padded restraints and not just handcuffs. Metal on Daisy’s skin would’ve left marks and that wouldn’t have sat well with me. But this… not a single person would know and my girl would be left unmarred.
That I could get behind.
The bus was moving before we got very far. Even better. On the road, her brothers wouldn’t accidentally hear us because they couldn’t walk by the bus.
I coaxed every ounce of pleasure out of Daisy, leaving her breathless with a glowing mist over her body. This was fun. But I wouldn’t want to have her this way again. I’d much rather her hands were on my body, touching me, holding on to me, her fingernails digging into my skin. But her wanting to hand this amount of trust over to me… just knowing that she would… would stay with me.
This one time would be enough and I made sure to make it as good as she’d hoped it’d be.
When the time came for me to release her from the restraints, she lay back in the bed, her chest heaving with the effort we’d just put out.
“I’ll be right back.” I went to the bus bathroom to take care of the condom and do a quick cleanup. She hadn’t been ready to get up yet or I’d have let her go first.
When I got back, she slowly pushed herself up and did her own thing.
But when she came back, she grabbed one of my T-shirts off the duffle bag on the side of the bed and let it fall down her body. Fuck. That was almost as sexy as when she was naked.
“That was… different,” she said quietly after I’d turned the light off. Streetlights passed over us at regular intervals and that was all we needed.
“Different good or different bad?”
She shrugged. “I mean it was good. Really good. I don’t think I’ve ever had that many orgasms during a single event.”
I snorted at her description. I’d counted four but could’ve been wrong.
“You don’t think?” I asked for clarity.
She rolled her eyes. The timing of the lights meant I saw it. “Fine. I’ve never had four orgasms during a single sexual encounter, OK?”
I chuckled, my body moving against hers before kissing her cheek.
“But…I’m not sure I want to do it again,” she added, her tone telling me she was unsure of how I’d feel about it.
“Me, either.”
She turned my way so quickly, her head almost collided with my chin. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. I prefer you to be touching me.”
“Me, too.”
Her heavy eyelids fell and rose slower and slower each time. It wouldn’t be long before we were both asleep. A big yawn took her over.
“I love you, Lawson.” She didn’t have the energy to look at me and that was fine. She was here in my arms and that was enough.
“Oh, baby. I love you too.”
Yeah, this woman I’d be keeping forever.
Thank you for reading Daisy! Please consider leaving a review!
Preorder Pushing Daisies Book 2 – VAN!
Also by Heather Young-Nichols
New Adult Romance
Pushing Daisies
Daisy
The Fallout Series
Last Good Thing
A Little More Touch Me
Hard to Say Yes
Courting Chaos
Cross
Ransom
Booker
Dixon
Something Irish
Harbor Point
Love by the Slice
Love by the Mile
Love by the Rules
Gambling on Love
Highest Bidder
Highest Stakes
Highest Reward
Finding Love
Making Her Mine
Making Him Hers
The Empowered Series
The Gremlin Prince
The Goblin War
Standalones
Moonstruck
Written with J.A. Hardt
Dirt on the Diamond
After Office Hours: Seducing the Professor
Bound by Magic
About the Author
Heather Young-Nichols is a multi-published YA and contemporary romance author and a native of the great and often very cold state of Michigan. She is better known at home and to her friends as the Snarker-in-Chief, a job she excels at beyond anything she could have imagined. She loves many things, but especially cold coffee, hot books, and baseball. But not necessarily in that order.
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Daisy (Pushing Daisies Book 1) Page 20
