Chapter 8
Tony took the stairs to the top floor of the old Victorian house two at a time, reminding himself with every step that Daisy was capable of handling her own problems.
But Tony couldn’t stop years of worrying about the women who were closer to him than sisters. After a short conversation with Gunner, they both agreed that more information was necessary. So if Daisy wasn’t going to provide that information, then Tony was going to get it from the other source, Rocco.
It wasn’t like Tony needed to figure out where the guy was living. It was LowPoint. Everyone knew everything.
Well, almost everything. Whoever had put bubbles into the park fountain the other night was a mystery. And someone had draped the mail boxes in sheets decorated to look like clowns last week. That didn’t make a whole lot of sense either.
Unfortunately, they hadn’t hired a sheriff yet, although the vandalism was increasing the board’s efforts to speed up the interviews. To date, no one who had interviewed so far had really excited anyone on the town’s board so…the search continued.
He reached the door and knocked, cringing slightly as the loud sound reverberated through the empty space. Vaguely, he noticed that the door here was freshly painted and the hallway looked to have a glossy coat of stain. But he was too intent on discovering why his friend was upset. The last conversation he’d had with Daisy had been about this man, so it was the first place to start.
When the door opened, Tony was eye to eye with the man in question. “You Rocco Barnes?”
The man understood Tony’s belligerent tone. The big guy’s shoulders instantly squared off, prepared for battle. “Yeah. What do you want?”
Tony smiled, more than ready for a fight. It would be nice, he thought. He hadn’t been in a good fight for a long time. He hadn’t needed to do anything physical since he’d won the lottery. Now that he was a wealthy man, Tony preferred to handle his battles legally.
Rocco eyed the man standing in his doorway carefully. The nice clothes covered a man that was tough and determined, built for battle.
Bring it on, Rocco thought. He’d been needing a release of his frustrations ever since he’d seen Daisy with this guy yesterday morning. Now, he was ready! More than ready!
“I want to know what you did to hurt Daisy.”
Rocco’s gut clenched at the thought of Daisy being upset about anything. But then the image of the beautiful woman sitting across the table from this guy hit him and he clenched his teeth. “Daisy seems to have many admirers. How did you narrow it down to me being the one to upset her?”
Rocco was waiting for a response, thinking the guy in the slick khakis and cashmere sweater would offer another rebuttal.
He was wrong.
Rocco never saw the man’s arm swing upwards but he felt the shock of pain as the man’s fist struck his jaw with enough force to land him on his backside.
Then the guy was hovering over Rocco, a burning in his eyes that was as fierce as he’d ever seen.
“Don’t you ever imply that Daisy is anything less than a lady and loyal to boot!”
Rocco was rubbing his jaw, contemplating how to take this guy out when a female voice screeched from his doorway. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Tony! You said you weren’t coming over here!” another female voice snapped. Neither voice was the one he yearned to hear and he rolled to his side, opening and closing his jaw to see if it was broken. So far, so good, but there was a bit of blood, indicating that he had a split lip.
Sitting up, he shook his head carefully, trying to clear his double vision. Looking around, he noticed that a gorgeous, willowy woman with soft, brown hair was stepping over his legs followed immediately by a woman with the softest, most luscious breasts that he’d ever seen.
But neither of them were quite as beautiful as Daisy. And neither of these two smelled as good. For some reason, after the past two weeks, Rocco was partial to the sweet smell of strawberries.
“You poor man!” the buxom woman sighed and leaned over to help him up. Rocco was perfectly capable of standing on his own, but he never turned down the soft touch of a lovely woman.
“What did you say?” the taller one asked. Rocco turned and saw that the woman was digging into his fridge, filling a dishrag with ice.
The two ladies put a hand under each of his arms, trying to lift him up. But he knew that he would only pull them down with him if he allowed their assistance, so he stood on his own, glaring at the ass who had taken a swing at him a moment ago.
The big guy was daring him to respond with the truth, but Rocco wasn’t an idiot. Knock him down once, he learned his lesson and wasn’t going to repeat that mistake. “Good one,” he said to the other guy. “I guess I deserved that one, but don’t try it again.”
Tony took a step closer and Rocco pushed the ladies behind him, protecting them from whatever might happen next.
The thin lady wasn’t taking that and handed the ice pack to the buxom little darling. “Don’t Tony! Get out! Let us handle this.”
Tony looked like he was ready to argue, but the two ladies gave him a look that promised retribution if he didn’t comply. Rocco almost laughed when the man appeared to relax, but Rocco saw his fists open and close, knew that the guy was only pretending to back down.
“Tony!” the skinny one snapped. A moment later, Tony walked out, his angry footsteps echoing down the stairs followed by the slam of the front door.
Rocco sighed and turned to the ladies. “Sorry about that.”
The soft one reached up and put a hand on his shoulder, pressing him into a chair. “Don’t apologize. Tell me why Tony took a swing at you.”
The skinny one stood behind the soft one, shaking her head. “And why you allowed him to do it,” she added.
Good question, he thought. Maybe he could have ducked. But Rocco sighed as he acknowledged that he sort of deserved the hit. Just then, the ice was smacked against his jaw and he cringed. “Thanks,” he muttered and took the ice filled dishrag out of the skinny woman’s hands.
“I’m Rocco,” he told them, extending his hands to the soft looking one. She was beautiful in an alluring way, whereas the taller one was gorgeous and glamorous. Neither of them could compare to Daisy though.
“I’m Ivy and this is Marilee,” the skinny one explained. “We’ve been friends with Tony and Daisy for a long time. So whatever is going on between you and Daisy, well, it’s none of our business, but…”
The soft one stiffened up. It was adorable, kind of like a kitten pretending to be a tiger. “We’re making it our business. We don’t like it when our friend is upset and you’ve upset her.”
Rocco closed his eyes, wishing someone would punch him again. He could deal with that kind of pain better than he could the pain of thinking of Daisy being hurt. “Is she okay?”
“No. She’s crying,” Ivy answered flatly.
Marilee pulled the ice pack away and smacked a bag of peas against his face. “This will work better,” she explained. “What did you do?”
Rocco pressed the bag of peas against his jaw, agreeing with Marilee about the “better” part but not wanting to admit his “asshole” part.
“I saw Tony and Daisy this morning at that little sandwich shop on Main Street.”
There was silence and he looked at each woman, trying to determine if either of them were about to hit him. When they just stared back at him as if waiting for more, he continued. “They were alone and they looked…well, they looked…” He sighed and closed his eyes. “They looked intimate.”
There was a giggle and his eyes snapped open. The soft one had her pretty hand covering her mouth. “You saw Daisy and Tony eating breakfast together and were jealous of Tony?”
Ivy laughed as well, shaking her head. “Tony isn’t…He and Daisy definitely aren’t a thing.”
Rocco remembered what he saw. “He loves her. And I could tell that she loves him,” he growled, irritated that these women were defending a man stepping close to what he’d previously considered his woman.
Marilee laughed again, but then made a valiant effort to suppress her amusement. “First of all, yes, Tony loves Daisy, but he also loves Ivy and me. We’re close. If you are interested in any sort of relationship with Daisy, then you’re going to have to accept that.”
Rocco’s eyes narrowed. “All of you?” he asked, looking between the two ladies. “The four of you?”
Ivy smacked his shoulder, but it wasn’t hard. “Not like that!” She shook her head as if she were disappointed in him “Buddy, you’d better watch yourself. If Gunner ever heard you implying something like that about Daisy…”
Rocco’s whole demeanor tightened. “He would what?” he demanded with a bit for fury. “And who the hell is Gunner? What is going on here? I thought…”
Ivy lifted a hand to cover Rocco’s mouth. When Rocco stopped speaking, only then did she explain. “You have to understand something about Daisy and Gunner.”
He pulled her arm away. “What? That you guys are all into some kinky…”
Again, his question was stopped by Ivy’s other hand coming up to cover his mouth.
“Gunner is a Navy SEAL. And he’s Daisy’s brother,” she supplied forcefully. “And here’s the deal. He’s an explosives expert and a big, mean badass guy who can whip your butt then hide any evidence that you were even born.” With that threat delivered, she stepped back and nodded once. “The fastest way to piss off Gunner is to hurt Daisy. I wouldn’t recommend pissing him off!”
Marilee stepped in front of Ivy, her features angry as well. “And don’t piss us off either! We’re pretty badass as well!”
Rocco looked at the buxom beauty, eyebrows lifted in surprise. The only thing the pretty brunette would intimidate was a brush because of all of her curls, but he wisely kept his mouth shut. Gunner was a brother. Yeah, he could handle a brother. Even a Navy SEAL brother.
“I’m pretty badass myself,” he told her. But then straightened. “But I didn’t realize that the guy was her brother.”
Ivy put a hand on Marilee’s shoulder and the two of them nodded. He didn’t understand what that meant, but he was too irritated to ask. He just wanted these ladies gone. Gone so he could…be pissed off alone.
“The other thing you need to know is that Tony isn’t Daisy’s lover. He doesn’t love any of us that way, nor do we love him like that, either.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
Marilee smiled and took the bag of ice, gently placing it back on Rocco’s cheek. “Tony is like a brother to us. We’re a family. Siblings, I suppose is the best way to describe our relationship, but none of us are related in any way.”
Rocco looked down at the soft beauty, wondering why he should believe her. “Why the hell doesn’t Tony love Daisy, or any of you, romantically? Daisy’s gorgeous! He should…”
Another gentle touch from Marilee and he stopped, not sure what to say. How she could stop his outrage with just a touch, he wasn’t sure. But there it was. The woman had a calming touch and he just…shut up.
“First you were outraged that Tony and Daisy might be sexually intimate and now you’re furious because you think Tony is spurning Daisy?” She laughed, shaking her head. “You’re going to be okay, Rocco.”
He took the bag of peas from her hand and stepped away, not liking the way she could…well, she was just a sweet woman and he…hell, Rocco had no idea what was going on.
“It’s late. I’ll walk you ladies home.”
Ivy and Marilee both stared at him, stunned. “What?” he demanded at their amused expressions.
“This is LowPoint.”
“And?” he demanded.
They giggled a little, but nodded their heads. “We don’t need you to walk us home. There’s no crime in LowPoint. Most people don’t even know that this place exists.”
She had a point. Even he had thought that the town had disappeared several years ago.
“And besides, Gunner and his friends taught us self-defense. We’re pretty badass ourselves.”
He chuckled softly, impressed with these women. “Regardless, I’ll walk both of you home. It’s dark and I won’t be able to sleep tonight if I don’t know that both of you are safe.”
The ladies rolled their eyes, but they didn’t argue. “Big guy wants to walk the little ladies home, who are we to argue?” Ivy teased, looking over her shoulder at Rocco’s handsome features. “Maybe we could give him a few hints on winning Daisy over.”
Marilee looked back at him as he grabbed his keys. “Nah. It’s more fun to watch him squirm, isn’t it?”
They laughed when they both heard his snort of disapproval, but they walked down the stairs and out the door.
Fifteen minutes later, Rocco was back in his apartment, staring out his windows at the dark night. He knew which house was Daisy’s, could see the light coming from what he suspected was her bedroom. Why did she live in one of the smaller houses in town? He knew how much money he was making, which was an outrageous amount. Surely, Daisy was making at least that much, if not more. So why wasn’t she living in a bigger house?
It was just another layer of the mystery and Rocco was more than slightly intrigued.
Tomorrow, he thought with a sigh as he rubbed the back of his neck. Tomorrow, he would figure out what was going on, talk to Daisy, and…yeah, admit that he was jealous. Maybe she’d forgive him for being an ass. Maybe not. If not, he’d figure out a way to win her back. Because Daisy was worth the effort. She was…
Rocco stopped, not wanting to define his ideas about Daisy. Before last night, they’d fought and argued over just about everything. Rocco acknowledged that their arguments had simply been the unacknowledged sexual tension. So yeah, getting to know her now would be a good idea. He should have gotten to know her before having sex with her but…well, that wasn’t his normal operating procedure. He liked women, but he’d never truly dated a woman. He’d been with women he’d have a good time with, but he’d never been friends with his lovers.
So why was he changing that for Daisy? Why was he suddenly intensely curious about who she was underneath the sexy clothes?
Hell, he thought as he stripped off his clothes and climbed into bed. Staring up at the ceiling, he wasn’t sure what was going on. Or not going on.