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All of those things are great. Amazing. Perfect. Those things have been the inspiration for every single one of my fantasies every single night since we met. If this was just going to be a fling, those things would be more than enough for me—hell, those things alone would be the jackpot of flings.
But now that I knew she had a personality that matched those fiery curls? And now that I’d seen how sweet and tender she could be? I’d held her in my arms when she was bruised and broken. I’d been on the receiving end of that sharp tongue and iron will when she put Prescott and me in our places after we’d acted like jerks.
Yeah, her looks were out of this world, but it was the other things that really mattered. It was the other things that I didn’t want to lose now that I’d had a tiny glimpse of what my life could be like with her in it.
Those were the thoughts racing through my mind as we helped her from the dining room back to my bed. Those were the thoughts that made my stomach clench whenever Prescott said we would all need to talk.
Prescott was my best friend, my boss, my partner in keeping this town safe. But I never thought I’d be counting on him to come through for me like this. But when it came to Daisy Lynn, he was the key to our happiness.
He knew it, too. I could see it in his eyes.
Daisy Lynn’s eyes closed as soon as her head touched the pillow. We both stood there over her for a moment, waiting to see if she needed anything, watching as her breathing got deeper and her chest started to steadily rise and fall.
Once she was asleep, I looked over at Prescott and nodded toward the door. His shoulders slumped as we stepped out into the hallway, and I reached out to give my friend’s shoulder a reassuring squeeze.
“If you aren’t ready, this is the time to say so,” I whispered. “We can’t lead her on. Not even for a minute.”
He shook his head. “No, I don’t want to lead her on. She deserves better than that.” He leaned back against the wall and scrubbed a hand down his face. In the years that we’d been working together, there had been only a handful of times I could remember him looking so stressed. Or so tired.
“So, what are you going to tell her?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I honestly don’t know what the right thing to do is anymore. I want her. I know that for sure. The thought of not having her just makes me…” His voice trailed off, but I didn’t interrupt. “I feel like letting her go would be one of the biggest mistakes of my life. But I’m worried. I’m worried I’ll fuck things up somehow and she’ll end up leaving me—leavingus—anyway. Fuck, I was head over heels in love with my ex-wife once upon a time, and look how that turned out.”
“No.” I put a hand up to stop him from continuing. “This isn’t like that. Daisy Lynn isn’t your ex. It’s apples to oranges. Comparing the two isn’t fair to anyone. You either have to leave the past in the past where it belongs or you have to admit that you aren’t ready for something new. Mixing the twowillfuck this up, and I’m not going to be a part of that.”
Yeah, it was a little harsh, but this wasn’t the time to walk on eggshells. This wasn’t just Prescott’s life and happiness we were talking about. This was Daisy Lynn’s life.Mylife. If he made the wrong decision, it would affect all three of us. And we’d all have to live with the consequences of whatever we decided here tonight.
But if I saw that Prescott might be steering us in the wrong direction, I wasn’t going to sit by quietly and let the train wreck happen. We had to start this thing off on the right track. Right now.
“So you think I should stop worrying and just go for it?” he asked. “No matter what kinds of doubts I might have? She’s so damn young.”
“I didn’t say that. And I can’t tell you what the best decision is foryourlife.” I took a breath and did my best to choose my words carefully. It was an easy decision for me, but Prescott and I didn’t have the same kind of baggage. “What I can say is that I think this relationship deserves a chance to succeed or fail on its own merits. Constantly worrying about whatmighthappen or comparing it to things we’ve done in the past is only going to poison the well. Look, she’s not asking for a ring. I don’t think any of us are ready for that yet. But I personally don’t have a problem saying I’m ready to keep going in this direction, to take the next step and say that yeah, we really can do this together. I’m pretty sure that’s all she’s asking for right now.”
He seemed to visibly relax a little once I’d said that, but Daisy Lynn’s weak voice called out before he could respond.
“Guys…” Fuck, she sounded so helpless and small from the other side of the door. “I… I need you.”
We were back by her side before she’d even finished getting the words out.
“We’re right here, beautiful,” I said, taking her hand and sitting down on the edge of the bed next to her while Prescott moved around to the other side.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “We aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. How are you feeling?”
“Sleepy,” she said. At least she had a faint smile on her lips and she didn’t look quite as pale as she had just a few moments before. “I think I might have overdone it a little today…”
“That’s okay,” I said, bringing her hand up to my lips for a quick kiss. “We know you want to be back up and on your feet as soon as possible—and we want that for you, too. But just rest for now, okay?”
“And we really appreciate that dinner you made. It made us happy to seeyouhappily moving around the kitchen. But we’ll be even happier when you’re back to full strength.”
She sighed. “We didn’t even get a chance to enjoy the meal together, though. I wanted you guys to have some home-cooked food tonight after everything you’ve done for me. The last thing I had planned was to end up back in this bed with you guys taking care of me again.”
I grinned. “We like taking care of you.”
“That’s right.” Prescott nodded, taking her other hand as he sat down on the other side of the bed. “We’re not ever going to get tired of looking after you, okay? So don’t even worry about that.”
She looked like she was about to protest a little more, but I cut her off as soon as that pretty little mouth opened.
“And as for dinner,” I said, reaching out to brush a stray strand of hair from her forehead. “You can leave the rest to us. We’ll dish it up and bring our plates back here so we can all still eat together.”
