“Oh really? I know I was the only person on that tour who cared. The only one who told you the truth. The only one who loved you enough to sacrifice everything. And what did you do? You threw me away like trash. You traded me in for someone shinier, sexier—”
“Icame for you!”
Daisy’s darting eyes stilled and locked on him. “What?”
“I came for you the day after you left. First flight I could get. I came to beg for your forgiveness, Daisy, to salvage whatever was left of the best thing in my life. But when I got there, your dad said you were gone to New York. He told me that if I ever loved you, I should let you go. Damn near demanded it. And you know what? He was right. I wasn’t good enough for you then… and maybe I’m still not. But I’ve been fighting like hell these last few weeks to prove I’m not that kid anymore.”
Daisy blinked, unsure her voice would work.He came for me?
She was still trying to process it when he added, “And don’t, for one second, believe I forgot you. Every single day these last nine years, there hasn’t been a morning I’ve woken up or a night I’ve gone to sleep without wishing you were right beside me.”
“Why?” The question escaped, thin as a thread.
He stepped in, stopping just short of her mouth, the world narrowing to their breath, to their pulsing hearts. “Because, Daisy, how the hell is a man supposed to live without the other half of his soul?”
Then, he kissed her.
The floor slipped away. The world stopped.
His mouth was heat and apology and want, his hand at her jaw angling her closer until there was no space left to argue. She rose into him, fingers in his hair, the taste of vodka swirling and relief making everything inside her go soft. He groaned when she took the kiss deeper, and the sound arrowed through her. For a dizzy, impossible moment there was only them. The years apart collapsing into now.
When a door banged open at the end of the hall and voices spilled into the dark, they broke apart, breathless, foreheads still pressed together. For a moment, neither spoke, the thrum of the club muffled under the sound of their racing hearts. Daisy almost laughed at the recklessness of it, and Jameson’s answering grin told her he was thinking the same thing.
By the time they made it back to the table, Anna and Lenny were gone. Two texts lit up her screen:
Anna: We’re out, Double D. I caved… Lenny’s a hunk. Sending the car.
Anna: Have fun with your band boy ;)
Daisy tilted the phone so Jameson could see. He huffed a low laugh and squeezed her hand. “Let’s get out of here.”
The car ride home was quiet. Strangely, she wasn’t replaying the kiss on a loop. She felt… calm. Clear. She had feelings for him—undeniable now—but what they meant was messier. Nostalgia or new? She knew the real answer and shoved it aside. He had broken her once. They couldn’t pick up where they left off. Their lives and their priorities were different now.
“Talk to me,” Jameson said, voice low in the dark. “What’s going on in that pretty head of yours?”
She slid closer, looping her arm through his, resting her head on his shoulder. “I don’t feel like talking. Let’s just… be.”
He kissed the crown of her head, his lips warm and unhurried. “Okay.”
They stayed like that in the quiet purr of the car until it rolled to a stop in front of the house. Jameson didn’t release her hand as he led her inside, guiding her up the stairs. Her breath caught when they walked past her bedroom and reached his. He pushed the door open and waited.
Daisy didn’t move. Her feet rooted to the floor, her pulse hammering in her ears. He turned back, a silent question in his eyes.
“I can’t,” she whispered.
“Can’t or won’t?” His voice was gentle, not accusatory, but it still sliced through her.
She let out a shaky breath. “A bit of both. If it were just me, maybe I’d risk it. Not think twice about the consequences. But it’s not just me anymore. Amelia deserves two present parents, not a soap opera. If I go to bed with you tonight, there will surely be fallout. And I can’t drag her through that. Not again.” She swallowed hard.
Jameson’s hand lingered in hers, unwilling to let go. His eyes searched hers, desperate, soft, but pleading. “Then what does this mean for us? The touching, the kissing, the… feelings?”
Daisy held his gaze, though it hurt. The simplest truth was the hardest to say. “It means nothing,” she whispered, her voice trembling. “For now… it has to mean nothing.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
DAISY WAS HAPPY TO BEback home in San Francisco. Los Angeles had been full of unexpected surprises, but it felt good to sink into something like normal again.
She and Jameson resumed their lives. He was back in the studio recording the band’s latest album, and she returned to the gallery. He still came over regularly for dinner and stayed until Amelia went to sleep. Daisy kept her distance, wary of repeating the intimacy they’d shared in LA. There were still heated glances and soft touches, accidental, at least on her part, but she kept a careful lid on it.
