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“Stop, Lamise. I know what you’re thinking, and it’s ludicrous. He loves you, and he knows you love him. You’ve been in his life for months, spending whole days with him. You’re the closest thing he’s got to a mom. I think, if you want it, that title is yours.”
Lamise attempted to blink back the tears and choke back the sob, but it was useless. There were too many emotions, so she held on to Rhys and buried her face in my chest.
I wrapped my arms around both of them.
And two months later, just before the start of our first holiday season together, I proposed to Lamise.
PREVIEW OF CAUTION
Prologue
Daisy
“Truth or dare?”
One half of my mouth quirked up in a smile.
It was the easiest question anyone could ever ask me, because the answer would always be the same. As I twisted my neck to the side to glance at the man who’d sat on the stool beside me, I answered. “Dare.”
His reaction was just as I expected—surprised.
“Most girls pick truth.”
Yep.
And that was probably because they didn’t have anything they refused to admit. I wasn’t so lucky. Of course, I wasn’t going to share that with a random stranger in a pub. Smiling, I countered, “I’m not like most girls then.”
It was the truth, but it didn’t have anything to do with the girls specifically. I found it was rare for me to have much in common with anyone, male or female.
Despite that, I still had dreams for my future. Or maybe just one dream—to be loved. Genuinely. I didn’t need anymore fake friendships or false declarations of love. I wanted the real deal.
And while I might have had every reason to believe it didn’t exist for me, I refused to accept that. One day, I’d find it.
It was entirely possible the guy who just sat down beside me could be the one to give it to me. So, I didn’t mind entertaining him with a fun game of Truth or Dare. Maybe he’d like my bold nature and fun-loving self. It was entirely possible he was the one. I couldn’t risk rejecting him off the bat.
He smiled at me, a mischievous look in his eyes. “Alright, then. How about you go put a song on the jukebox and sing along for anyone to hear? I’ll even give you the quarter.”
The man reached into his pocket, pulled out a quarter, and held it out to me.
“Seriously?”
He shrugged, sending a look my way that indicated he didn’t think I’d do it.
I pressed my lips together, fighting the urge to smile, and took the quarter from him. After I stood from my stool, I downed the last of my drink.
I might have been a bit adventurous, but I liked to think I wasn’t a complete fool. I didn’t know this guy, and the last thing I was going to do was leave my drink unattended with him.
Sucking back the rest of my drink was all about keeping myself safe and had nothing to do with needing liquid courage to carry out the dare.
What I was about to do didn’t bother me. I was the kind of girl who’d try anything once. And while I’d certainly done my fair share of loud singing in my car or the shower, Ididn’t exactly make a habit of doing it in the middle of a crowded pub.
Who knew?
Maybe I’d start a trend, and the next time I came into this pub, they’d have regular karaoke nights.
I scanned the list of songs, smiled when I found one I liked, and dropped the quarter into the machine. After making my selection, I spun around to face the guy who’d given me the quarter and let out a laugh when the instrumentals started.
Though I wasn’t a singer, I knew what it meant to put on a performance. They always said the most believable performances were the ones where it was clear the performer was connecting to the material. In this case, a song. The first two phrases of the song I’d chosen described me perfectly, and many of the lines in the song, in general, fit the bill for my life. So, there was no reason I wouldn’t knock this out of the park.
