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Her phone buzzed, and she reached for it, smiling when she saw the alarm clock was back in place on the nightstand. She read the text then sat up straight. It was from her best friend, Lauren.
Coming up to the room with coffee.
Crap. She cast a quick glance about the room, taking in the clothes that, to her, had clearly been taken off during a hot and heavy session of sex.
She replied, Okay. See you soon, then hopped out of bed, hurriedly threw on her usual oversized T-shirt and plaid pajama pants, threw her messy hair in a ponytail, and brushed her teeth to remove the lingering taste of vodka from her mouth. As she spit, she heard a knock on her door, and cursed under her breath. Running across the bedroom, she picked up all her clothes, threw them in the corner, and gave the rest of the room a cursory glance.
Nothing looked weird, so she put on a smile and opened the door to her best friend. “Hey!”
Lauren looked at her, frowning. “What’s up with you?”
“Huh? Nothing.” God, how did she always know? “Why?”
“You just look…” Lauren tipped her head, her brown hair falling over her shoulder as she came inside holding two to-go cups from Starbucks. “Different.”
“I, uh, slept well,” she said calmly, despite her rising panic that her friend was going to figure out her secret. “I drank, then passed out. I didn’t even wake up until you texted me.”
“Seriously?” Lauren asked, setting the coffees down and propping herself on the edge of the unmade bed. “You just woke up?”
“Yep. Like I said. I drank last night.”
Lauren’s face softened, because she, of course, knew what last night had been. “Are you doing okay?”
“I am,” she said quickly. And the thing was…she was. Thanks to a certain blond, brown-eyed, talented man. “I’m okay. Honestly.”
The other woman stared. Just…stared.
She wasn’t buying it. Daisy could tell.
The last thing she needed was her best fri
end finding out she’d had sex with another man. Then Lauren would expect Daisy to be ready to move on and find love again, but she didn’t want to. Not yet, anyway. Her career was all she needed right now, thank you very much.
Which was why it was so important to keep all this on the hush hush.
News of her night on the wild side would be an invitation for Lauren to start setting her up with men her friend thought would be perfect for her—including that Mark guy that Daisy swore she would never, ever date. She had a strict “no military men” policy.
Her father had been military. He’d been a drunken, abusive asshole. She’d seen enough men like him over her years in the force to know that, more often than not, the military had a way of changing a man for the worse. Sure, there were exceptions to that rule.
Some people got out of the service without scars, visible or not.
But she wasn’t willing to gamble on whether the man she was dating was one of them. She’d survived one abusive vet. She wouldn’t try to make it through another.
There were plenty of men out there without a military history.
Men like Chris.
Was he still here, in the hotel? Even though she wasn’t supposed to…she wanted to see him again. To thank him for a magical night. And then maybe…
Lauren waved a hand in front of her face, her blue eyes narrow. “Hellllooooo?”
“Hi,” Daisy said quickly, forcing a smile and a lighthearted laugh. “When do we need to be downstairs for the wedding?”
“Four.” She nibbled on her lower lip. “It’s noon now.”
“Wait. What?” she cried. She hadn’t slept in past nine since she graduated high school. “No way.”
“Yep.”
