Sipping her champagne, Daisy slid into an autopilot mode of self-preservation. One she had not used in many years. Brett introduced her to more people, and being a social Queen-Bee courtesy of her mother, she performed extremely well. She spoke at the appropriate moments, cracked jokes when needed, smiled when necessary, even as she was boiling with jealousy inside. Fake or genuine, she did smile and smile is a smile, doesn't matter how genuine it was. Even with the internal riot she was battling, she struggled to pay attention to the discussions so as to know the right words to say and when she's expected to say them.Yet she was still conscious of the Sheila Robbin's figure gliding across the room, giving her subtle sharp spear-piercing stares once in a while. Brett on the other hand was extremely grateful for her presence and the way she was handling the people they had discussions with. He was more than pleased to discover that within five years, Daisy has grown not just bigger, b
"Are you with someone Dee?" Ray asked.Daisy shook her head just before she could register the question and just how broad it was."So you’re available." She took a deep breath, feeling uncomfortable despite how fluidly they moved together. "Well, I’m not taken." Ray flashed his charismatic boyish grin. "My night just took a good turn." He filled the rest of their time in the dancefloor with amusing anecdotes about his new band and the progress they were making and how much fun he was having doing his favorite thing and making tons of cash from it.His stories made Daisy laugh and took her mind off Brett for the time being. When the song ended, Ugo was there to take the next one. After playing a brief catch-up with Ugo who wasn't in the least interested, Ray left the dancefloor making Daisy promise to let him know before she leaves.Ugo gave Daisy a stern look once they started dancing. They danced very well as a couple because they'd taken lessons together. Daisy finally felt relax
Ugo snorted, pressing her ignore button. Daisy swallowed past the lump in her throat. "You gave a wonderful speech tonight, Brett. It enjoyed every bit of it." He sucked in a sharp breath and shoved a hand through his hair. Abruptly, he cursed under his breath pulling his vibrating phone out of his pocket, he glanced at the screen. "I have to go, Daiz." His gaze caught hers and held it for a while. His fingertips drifted over her cheek. "I’ll call you, please." He eyes held a plea but his face didn't and then he was gone. "Do you want to stay?" Ugo asked quietly. "No." "I’ll take you home, then." Ugo said calmly."No, don’t." Daisy insisted.She wanted to be alone for a bit. Soak herself in a hot bath, take a few glasses of wine and pull herself out of her self-induced misery. "You should stay here. It might be good for your career. We will talk when you get home. If not today, tomorrow. I’m seriously going to need the solitude." Ugo nodded. Her gaze darted over her friend's face
"Daisy." Ugo called out when her friend shuffled into the living room the next morning. Dressed in nothing but a loose robe, Ugo lay stretched out on the sofa with her feet crossed and propped on the table. "How was your night?" Daisy gave her the thumbs-up and headed into the kitchen for coffee. She paused when her eyes caught the beautiful arrangement of Daisies and lilies on the side stool beside Ugo. "Chef did it again?" Daisy asked, smiling. "I should meet that man, he's a born-romantic. I want to tell him thank you."Smiling, Ugo shook her head. "Those are not from Chef. They came in for you about an hour ago.""Know who sent them?""I didn't check." Ugo replied. "But I guess it's between band-boy Ray or Lexington.""You always have a name waiting. What's band-boy Ray for crying out loud."She shrugged. "Makes it easy to know who I'm talking about." "A Sunday delivery." Daisy said picking up the bouquet. "So Intentional and super pricey. I wonder who sent these." She plucked t
"Did Lexington say that to you?" Again, fury laced Ugo's quiet question. No. But he once told me he doesn't sleep with his female friends and he’s got issues with women wanting more than a good time, so he keeps the women he bangs and the women he hangs out with in two separate camps." She took another sip of her coffee. "I told him back then the setup wasn’t going to work for me and he said he’d make some adjustments, but in the end, he turned out to be one of those guys who’ll say whatever he has to in order to get what they want.""What the hell! Lexington fucking did you dirty. Why did you let him an inch near you again.""Maybe growth, I'm not sure. But I thought I've grown past all that. I thought he wouldn't have that strong effect on me again.""Does he?"Daisy nodded. "Not as strong as before. I can say no now. But if I don't step away, I might loose the will to say no.""Does he stop when you say no?" Daisy nodded."Maybe he just want another chance. Let's see it from a com
Daisy knew she needed to cut Brett off , but she felt stringed out from the desire to be with him, which in turn, held her in. She was suppose to let him know that Saturday night was the last time she'd wanted to see him, but she couldn't. Memories of how good his lips felt on hers and the electrifying feeling of his hand on the small of her back laced her thoughts. She found herself wanting to experience it all, again and even more. But her pan of senses pushed a bit forward. "Brett, we don’t have any reason to have lunch together. I believe we've sorted these things out on Saturday night. I'd like to just leave it at that." Brett's voice turned gruff. He hissed with frustration. "I know I fucked up. Don't you want to hear me out at least. Let me explain." "You don’t have to. There's really no need for the explanation. We had an agreement and there was no way it was going to change." "Daiz, I need to see you.""I don’t want to." She insisted. "We can do this the easy way, Daiz
Brett felt a heavy painful pang in his chest. He rubbed it briefly and shoved a hand through his hair, exhaling harshly. "You don’t mean that."Daisy suddenly felt exhausted, from the continuous fight within herself over Brett. "I really mean it, Brett. Remember our agreement at the hotel. After Saturday night, I get to decide if I want to see you again or not. And you owe me the right to stay away if I ask you to..." She paused. "You and me......we can't do more than acquaintances, and even at that, I don't want to keep running into you. Brett, I don't want to go down that road again, not after the mess I went through from the last one. This thing right here, is a mistake."Brett's jaw tightened, his heart heaved with the possible fear of loosing Daisy. "This is not a mistake, the way I handled Saturday night, was a mistake and I'm sorry."Daisy stared at him, startled by the fierceness of his honesty. "I wasn’t really talking about just Saturday night, Brett. I’m talking about my l
Daisy took a bite of her meal and moaned sweetly when she got a full hit of it's flavor. It was a traditional meal. She had first had a taste at Oakland when she paid a visit to Ugo's parents and ever since, she got hooked. The taste was divine. "Good, right?" He asked. "Very good. In fact, if you keep this up, I might consider keeping you to myself forever." She joked and wiped her mouth and hands. "That would please me, Daisy." He paused and looked at her. "Do you find exclusivity far fetched, for you?" He asked, setting his cutlery down. There was a loud stillness to his words and Daisy tried guessing what he was thinking, but came up empty. "To clear any doubts, I'm trying to say that there won’t be any other men for you as long as we're together, Daisy." A shiver moved through her at his blunt finality, The tone and steadiness in his gaze touched a part of her. Just as Daisy had grown and evolved over the years, so has he. There was now an even darker side to him that Daisy