Chapter Sixteen
Brick
I wanted to take Daisy to bed. I’d spent all day at the office thinking of her, replaying every little sound she’d made last night, trying to recapture just how her skin had felt against mine, but her physical pain was evident with every step that she took. I was enormously unhappy to see the bruises on her wrist, and her awkward gait was all too telling.
She needed the night off, and as much as the desire to have her filled with every inch of me consumed my thoughts, I let her rest instead. It afforded me the opportunity to go over some work that I’d otherwise neglected at the office today.
After dinner, Daisy changed into a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. I would have preferred to see her in the expensive lingerie, but she curled her legs up under her as she turned on the television in the living room, and I could see the happiness on her face.
It was mesmerizing.
As I stood in the doorway, staring at her, she turned those gorgeous eyes up at me and smiled. “Care to join me? I can pick a movie that we both like.”
When was the last time I’d sat on the couch with a woman and watched a movie? Hell, when was the last time that I’d sat down and watched a movie alone? I couldn’t remember, and her invitation was more than tempting, but it was a dangerous road to take. Daisy was here for one thing only. To be my submissive, and that didn’t include movie date nights.
Of course, there were moments, like right before dinner, when I could see that she wasn’t submissive at all.
“No.” Turning from the doorway, I headed to the stairs.
“Mr. Langston! Before you go, can I ask you a question?”
After hearing her moan my name during sex, it was getting on my nerves to hear her go back to Mr. Langston. “Brick,” I said coldly and turned around. “You may call me Brick when we are conversing and Master when we are in bed.”
She stared at me in disbelief. Annoyed at myself, at wanting to hear my name on her lips, I cleared my throat and wished it were just as easy to clear away these unfamiliar desires. “You had a question for me?” I reminded her.
“Yes, of course. Sorry. Tomorrow. In addition to my chores, may I go for a walk? There’s a lovely park across the street, and I’d like to spend some time over there.”
Let her out of the penthouse? I clenched my fists. “No. I don’t want you walking around the city alone.”
“What?” She frowned. “I grew up in the Bronx and have been walking by myself in the city since I was eight. Walking across the street in broad daylight isn’t dangerous compared other times that I’ve been alone.”
“Unlike the people who called themselves your parents, I care about your safety,” I snapped. Her face immediately darkened in anger. There were some lines even I shouldn’t cross.
“Is this about my safety or do you just not want someone to see me leaving your condo? I can’t possibly be as…fancy or sophisticated as the woman you usually see.”
“I don’t ever want to hear those words leave your lips again,” I snapped, angry that Daisy thought she couldn’t compare to other woman more than actually being mad at her. “You are not to compare yourself to any other woman. Ever. If you want to go out so bad, we’ll go out tomorrow night. For dinner.”
“Out to dinner?” Daisy repeated it like it was a foreign concept to her. Didn’t her sorry excuse for a boyfriend ever take her out to dinner?
“Yes. In the meantime, I don’t want to have this discussion again. If you want to take in the sun, open the blinds and sit by the window. We’ll go to the park this weekend. Together. You’re not walking around in the city alone. Now watch your damn movie and go to bed.”
I didn’t bother to stick around to make sure that she obeyed me. I closed myself up in my room instead. The scent of wood polish hit me almost immediately, and I frowned. I’d forgotten about telling her to clean in here. Now thoughts of her in my room, touching my things, consumed me.
Crossing the room, I turned down the coverlet and stared, finding exactly what I was looking for. A single strand of long blonde hair on my pillow.
It should piss me off that she’d taken liberties and crawled into my bed, but it didn’t. It was feasible that she’d just crawled in to feel the sheets on her skin, but they were the same thread count as on her own bed. Maybe she’d just leaned over while making the bed and the hair got tucked in, but something told me that wasn’t the case.
She wanted to be close to me while I was gone.
And that pleased me far more than I wanted to admit.
* * *
The woman was a dazzling sight. When I picked her up for dinner the next night, I didn’t bother getting out of the car. Not that it mattered. As soon as my driver pulled up to the valet, Daisy was running out the door to greet us. The woman could barely walk in heels from the stairs to the kitchen, but when she had a goal in mind, the stilettos were no obstacle. At least it seemed that her foot had healed enough to use the high-heeled shoes. It made me glad to think she wasn’t in pain from cutting it on the glass a few nights ago.
Even my driver chuckled when he opened the door and she slid inside. “Thanks,” she said breathlessly and rewarded me with a huge smile. The emerald dress was stunning against her skin. I’d picked out something more modest. Something she’d be comfortable in, but also where I wouldn’t have to see other men completely out of their minds drooling over her and making me angry all night. The halter-style dress showed just a peak of her ample cleavage, and the dress fell to her knees. It hugged her curves in all the right places, and I wanted to just sit and stare at her.
The diamonds glittered around her neck, and for one insane moment, I wanted to ask her to take them off. If she was this excited about a dinner, then she should spend the night as my date and not as my submissive.
It was a dangerous line of thinking, and I immediately dismissed it. “You seem excited,” I murmured. “Your boyfriend never took you out?”
Her cheeks colored just a little. I’d ruined the mood by bringing him up. It brought me just a little satisfaction knowing that she was struggling with her so-called relationship. “Maybe it’s medieval to think that the men should pay on dates, but I always paid when Ralph and I went out, so it didn’t really feel like romance. Not that this feels like romance. I understand the boundaries,” she said quickly. “But I’m not ashamed to feel a little giddy when it comes to putting on a pretty dress and fancy heels and going out to a nice dinner.”
“And dancing.” The idea was impromptu, but if she was this excited about dinner, I wanted to know how she would feel to go out and twirl in her pretty dress.
“Dancing?” Her eyes rounded, and her jaw dropped a little. “I would love to go, but I’m not great at it. Which is an exaggeration. I’m a horrible dancer. I don’t have a lot of practice.”
Did this woman believe in herself when it came to anything? Although timid, she was a survivor. While uneducated formally, she was highly intelligent. Her worst trait so far was that she never seemed to believe in herself.
“Practice makes perfect,” I murmured. Unable to help myself, I rested my hand on her knee and gathered the fabric up. She inhaled sharply and looked nervously at the driver, but I had no intentions of baring her to the world. Instead, I just skimmed my fingers along her knee and contented myself with stroking her silky smooth skin. “How do you feel?”
“Right now?” she whispered, turning her face towards me. Her lips parted just a little, and I had to resist the urge to move my hand higher up her thigh.
“Right now.”
“Excited. Happy.” She bit her lower lip. “A little wet.”
So fucking perfect. “Sore?”
“Not anymore.”
Good. Tonight, I could enjoy her fully again. My invitation of hosting little Gemma for the weekend meant that I’d have to keep my hands off Daisy. My desire to spend some time with the little angel hadn’t been thought out properly.
As we pulled into the parking lot, I leaned over and quickly whispered all the things that I planned to do to Daisy tonight. As my driver opened the door, she was still rooted to the seat with her hands fisting around her dress. “Daisy,” I reminded her with a chuckle. “We’re here. Let’s go, sweetheart.”
“Right. Sorry.” Hastily, she stumbled out of the car and straightened her dress. Amused, I followed behind her and instructed the driver to wait for us. Pressing a hand to the small of Daisy’s back, I pushed her gently to the door.
Showlett’s was an expensive and ritzy steak house in the heart of Manhattan. It was impressive from the parking lot all the way inside, and Daisy was too busy looking at everything to pay attention to where she was walking. I ended up anchoring my arm around her waist to steer her away from other customers, make sure she didn’t trip over the curb, and to keep her from marching right passed the hostesses podium as her eyes caught the shimmery fountain in the middle of the restaurant.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered. She was star struck, and this was hardly the cream of the crop for me. I conducted business meetings here on a monthly basis, but it was a good think that I hadn’t aimed higher. I might not have even gotten her through the door.
“Brick,” she whispered as we walked to my normal table. “The curtains have tassels!”
“Whoa.” Pulling her closer to me, I managed to catch her right before she walked into the dessert cart. “Eyes front, darling. You can look everything over when we’re seated.”
“Are those plants real?”
“I don’t know, Daisy.” I didn’t care either, but if it bothered her all that much, I would find out.
“Can I toss a penny in the fountain and make a wish?”
“I don’t have any pennies, but we can find something for you to toss in there.” Gripping her arm, I pulled her along until we finally made it to the table. It wasn’t until she was seated that I breathed a little easier. “You’re a handful, aren’t you?”
Daisy snorted. “I just wanted to toss a penny. For a man with a ton of money, you must not have much fun if you think that’s a handful.”
Before I could respond, the manager stopped by our table with my normal red preference, but I waved my hand. “Champagne, tonight.”
The man looked at Daisy for a moment before nodding and quietly headed back to the kitchen. He could lose his license serving alcohol to someone who was clearly underage, but he also knew that I had the money to protect him and the restaurant.
For some strange reason, I wanted tonight to be special for Daisy, and special nights meant champagne.
Whatever Daisy had learned about being a submissive went right out the window. She was bubbly. Chatty. Full of life and happiness. I had to remind her to look at the menu, but I was entranced. I’d dated some of the most beautiful and successful women in the country, but there wasn’t a single one that could hold a candle to her.
She was genuine. Honest. Pure.
What the hell was I doing wit her? By the time she left my side, she’d be anything but.
Bringing a glass of champagne up to her lips, she took a sip and giggled. “Tickles my nose.” When I didn’t say anything, she flushed and put the glass down. “Am I embarrassing you? I guess you’re used to more sophisticated women. This place would be nothing to them.”
“I believe you were told not to compare yourself to other women,” I said lightly, lifting my own glass. “But you’re right. They wouldn’t notice the tassels or wonder if they could make a wish in the fountain. I never did. You have a way of opening people’s eyes.”
Her blush deepened. “I’m pretty sure that you’ve done more to open my eyes.”
“Why did you call your father yesterday, Daisy?” As much as I wanted to tell her all the ways her eyes could still be opened, we weren’t exactly in the proper place for that.
“He’s my father. Am I not allowed to call him?”
She was getting defensive, and that wasn’t my intention at all. I didn’t want to ruin her mood, just understand her a little better. “Of course you’re allowed to call him. I just don’t understand why you did. You’re not the type to confront others, so I can only surmise that despite the fact your father has used you and then kicked you out, you simply wanted to talk to him.”
Daisy’s eyes darted around to everywhere but me. “He’s my father. I’ve taken care of him. Despite his flaws, I just wanted to make sure that he was okay without me.”
“And was he?”
“I think that he needs money,” she muttered.
“And you told him that you were going to get some soon. Daisy, I don’t want you to give that man a dime, do you understand me? You’re doing this for your future, not his.” I wanted to forbid her from talking to him anymore, forbid her to have any contact, but what good would that do? We were only together for a few more weeks, and then she could do whatever she wanted.
“Okay.” Her voice was hollow, and I knew that it wouldn’t matter. She’d always feel obligated to her family.
“Tell me about your mother. You must take after her. In all the good ways.”
A soft smile lit up her face. “When my mother was sober, she was the most amazing woman. Vibrant. Beautiful. She was a dreamer and a doer. She waited tables, and people would just throw money at her, not because she was good at her job but because she was the most amazing soul. In her spare time, she designed and created the most gorgeous pendants and earrings.”
“I guess you do take after her,” I chuckled. After all, I was throwing money at her.
“I hope not. She chose passion over everything and look where it got her. A depressed addict who spent her last few years miserable.”
“Stop, Daisy,” I said softly, leaning across the table and taking her hand. “I didn’t mean to upset you. You called your father because you just wanted someone to talk to. I took something precious and personal, and I’m sure you wished that your mother was around.”
“You didn’t take anything. I gave it to you,” she said fiercely. “I wanted it too. Don’t ever think differently.”
She was something special. So special.
Our dinner arrived, and I released her hand. She dug into her food with gusto, and I watched as every emotion played out on her face. She was an open book. Every bite was a new experience for her, and her gaze never stayed in the same place at once.
She was enjoying every single second of our night together, and I was both pleased and fascinated. How much money had I spent on women before who could never be happy enough? But Daisy? She was content to be in her pajamas and curled on the couch watching a movie. She was dazzled by a pretty dress and a nice restaurant.
Daisy just loved life, and with her, I was starting to enjoy things again too, and it had been a long time since that had ever happened to me.