Chapter Twenty-Eight
Daisy locked up the shop, pausing to look at her reflection in the glass door before pulling down the protective metal grating. It had only been a month since she’d adopted Taz, but the woman staring back at her was different. And yet not.
The outfit she wore was trademark Daisy Fowler. Sleeveless yellow blouse tied at the waist with matching capris and wedge heels. But as she pulled the iron grating, locking it into place, she acknowledged the changes in her life. Changes for the better.
Work had begun to make her smile again, as had the creativity she was enjoying with all the new contracts. Even the warm summer breeze brought with it a newfound sense of optimism.
As she got into her brand-new burgundy Jeep Cherokee she inhaled that distinctive new-car smell, mentally patting herself on the back for buying the SUV. Her old Mercedes had been a royal pain in the ass, constantly breaking down and costing her a bundle. Her only regret was that she hadn’t bought the Jeep sooner. Besides, since she’d taken in a furry roommate, she’d found she needed a larger vehicle.
Everywhere she went, Taz accompanied her. The beautiful puppy made friends with everyone. As soon as Daisy had begun walking her on the sidewalk and driving her to the park to frolic with other dogs, her social life had taken off. It was amazing how many new friends she’d acquired because Taz had come into her life. Cassie had been spot on. She had needed Taz.
She started the engine and pulled from the curb, loving the deep rumble of the motor and the Jeep’s quick responses. The vehicle also contributed to satisfying her need for a fresh start. Along with the Jeep, she had a new puppy that greeted her with unconditional love and exuberance the second she walked in her door at the end of the day. No longer did she dread coming home to an empty apartment and the soul-wrenching loneliness that stayed with her until the moment she fell asleep. She was moving on with her life and felt optimistic for the first time in months.
Just last week, she’d done the most cathartic thing of all. She’d donated ten million dollars to Lost Souls of New York, the nonprofit organization Dom had suggested.
What she hadn’t counted on was the undeniable sadness that accompanied her donation. She really had hoped that one day she would carry a child of her own. Dom’s child. A beautiful little boy or girl born of their love, and with his incredible, Caribbean-blue eyes.
Shaking off the sadness she’d worked so hard to leave behind, she gunned the Jeep toward home. The route to her apartment was uncharacteristically clear of the typical evening traffic, and she easily shaved a good ten minutes off her usual commute. She smiled as she opened the door to her apartment, expecting to hear the pitter patter of little feet as Taz went through her spirited welcome-home routine of pirouetting and prancing for attention. But she didn’t. The living room was empty.
No Taz.
Daisy stood motionless, holding her breath to listen, but the apartment remained eerily quiet.
Something is wrong. Very wrong.
Tensing, she shut the door and set her bag on the entry table. Still hearing nothing, she stepped quietly toward the kitchen. “Taz?” she whispered.
Still no sound, and no Taz.
Her heart rate picked up. She rushed back to the entry table, then dug around in the bottom of her bag for the canister of pepper spray. The can was cool to the touch as her fingers closed around the metal cylinder. She flicked up the small plastic tab, resting her index finger on the trigger. As an added precaution, she also pulled out her cell phone in case she had to call 911.
Her heart thumped faster as she headed down the short hallway to her bedroom. At the sight of her bedroom door she froze. The door was half closed. She always left it open when she went to work.
Someone’s been in my apartment. Or did Taz move the door?
Possibly. For such a little puppy, she had the thickest furry tail and was always whipping it into something. Once, that flicking tail had sent a glass of red wine flying off the coffee table and against the wall.
Hairs on the back of her neck prickled with unease, and she gripped the can of pepper spray tighter. Cautiously she nudged open the door, wincing when it creaked. Then she gasped. Her heart stopped beating altogether, and she couldn’t breathe.
She squeezed her eyes shut, then opened them.
Lying on her bed, fast asleep, was Dom. Taz was curled up next to him with her head on his chest.
Both the can of pepper spray and the cell phone slipped from her hands, hitting the rug with soft thunks. Taz woke and leaped from the bed to greet her. Absently, she leaned down to scratch the pup’s ears, but her eyes never left the man sleeping on her bed. For someone so reactive to danger, it was a wonder he hadn’t woken by now.
Gone was his short cop haircut, although a light stubble shadowed his handsome face. Hair that was normally a light sandy brown was now sun-kissed and golden, brushing the collar of the unbuttoned, light blue shirt he wore. She resisted the urge to tousle the strands she knew were soft and silky to the touch. Even in sleep, his tanned and bronzed forehead creased. For that matter, his chest was equally tanned, telling her wherever he’d been for the last four months he’d been out in the sun.
His chest rose and fell rhythmically with slow, shallow breaths. A light dusting of sun-bleached hair curled over hard, rounded pectorals. Just below his left shoulder was a small scar, pink and puckered, where a bullet had ripped through his body. The ridged muscles of his abdomen led to a thin line of hair that disappeared below the waistband of faded, worn-out jeans. His feet were bare, and she noticed boots lying on the floor at the foot of the bed.
Daisy wrapped her arms around herself, moving closer. Her stomach clenched, and her head pounded with anger that he’d left her so callously without a word, to worry for four long months, not knowing whether he was dead or alive. But it was her heart that betrayed her by beating furiously with joy. Joy that he was not only very much alive, but that he was here. In her bed.
Taz pranced around her legs, panting, demanding more attention, so she leaned down to pet the puppy again. The little dog was a reminder of how she’d just begun to get her life back on track and make positive changes. Now Dom was here, kicking her legs out from under her yet again. She was happy that he was seemingly okay, but she didn’t have the emotional fortitude to handle the way he materialized into her life any time he chose, then zoomed out of it—literally and figuratively—with the ease and mystery of a secret agent.
Where had he been all this time? For that matter, how had he gotten into her apartment?
Duh. Once a cop, always a cop. Plus, since the Piazza, she’d heard through the grapevine that he’d once been some kind of covert super-soldier, conducting all sorts of dangerous undercover forays in the Middle East. Picking a simple lock on her apartment had probably been child’s play for him.
Be strong. This has to end now.
She let her arms fall to her sides and clenched her fists. Taz uttered a discontented snort and jumped back onto the bed, snuggling against the side of Dom’s bare chest. He woke with a start, bolting upright. Taz leaped back to the floor, eyeing him warily. Dom’s forearms tightened as he looked around the room, his abdominal muscles clenching as he breathed heavily. When his gaze landed on her, his body instantly relaxed.
His eyes were even bluer than she remembered, contrasting starkly with his tanned face. But what struck her was the utter exhaustion she read in his expression. He was still gorgeous, perhaps even more so, yet he seemed to have aged since she’d seen him last. Tiny lines she hadn’t noticed before darted from the corners of his eyes and mouth.
“I’ve missed you.” His voice was low and gentle. He swung his legs over the bed and stood.
She automatically took a step backward. Not because she was afraid of him physically but because she was petrified of what he could do to that weak-willed muscle inside her chest. Her heart ached for him, and in that instant she knew the truth. No matter how much time passed, she’d never be able to fully eradicate him from her soul. She could manage to live without him, but he would always be the one. Unfair didn’t begin to describe it. That she would be permanently scarred, useless to any other man, suddenly angered her beyond belief.
Hands still fisted, she inhaled a shaky breath. “Where have you been?”
“California.”
“Guess you needed a vacation.” Without her.
He shook his head. “Not a vacation. I was crewing on a fishing boat. I needed to clear my head. There’s no better place than on the water, and no better way than doing hard work.”
“It would have been nice if you’d let someone know you were okay.” Let me know. Fearful that he would glimpse the pathetic longing in her heart, she looked down at Taz sitting patiently by her feet.
“I’m sorry.” He took another step toward her, extending his arm, reaching out to touch her. “Seems like I’m always saying that to you.”
Needing a buffer, she picked up Taz, holding the puppy to her chest. No way could she allow him to touch her. “I’m glad you’re okay, but that doesn’t give you the right to break into my apartment.”
He let his hand drop. “I was tired. I drove nonstop from the West Coast, and I needed to crash.”
“What about your own apartment?”
“Didn’t want to go there.”
“Why not?”
“I like your place better.” A hesitant smile twitched at his lips.
“Why?”
“You’re here. Didn’t realize you had a roommate.” He tipped his head to where Taz wriggled in her arms. “That little thing about bit my face off the second I stepped inside.”
“Good girl.” She kissed the puppy on the top of her head.
Dom smiled fully this time, and damned if it didn’t make her knees weak. His expression sobered. “You have every right to be mad at me. I deserve it.”
Something inside her snapped. She set the puppy down and jabbed a finger in his direction, being careful not to touch him. “You’re goddamned right you deserve it. You can’t keep drifting in and out of my life any time you choose.”
Over his shoulder, she glimpsed Taz leaping to the bed.
“I’m sorry for that, too.” In a lightning-fast move, he grabbed her extended finger and hand, tugging her against him. “But I don’t regret a single moment I ever spent with you.”
“Let me go.” She struggled in his grip, but his other arm was now wrapped around her back, holding her in an iron-hard embrace.
His gaze was both soft and determined as he looked down at her. “That’s something I can never do.”
“You have to,” she choked out. “Because every time you come into my life you upend my entire world, then leave me to deal with the consequences, and I can’t do it again. I just can’t.” Her lower lip trembled, and her eyes filled with unshed tears.
She’d loved this man with every ounce of her being. There wasn’t a part of her heart or soul that hadn’t ached at his loss. It was like losing her parents all over again, only worse. Her parents died in an accident. They didn’t choose to abandon her. Dom did. He had a choice, and he’d left her.
He lowered his forehead to hers. “When I saw you covered in blood and—”
His voice broke, his big body shuddering against hers as he took a deep inhale. Daisy knew the end of the sentence he couldn’t finish. After Dom had shot Smith in the head, there hadn’t been an inch of her skin or dress that hadn’t been splattered with his blood and brains.
“Seeing you nearly die reminded me of Anika,” he whispered. “It was like a switch turned off in my head. I don’t even remember leaving the hotel. The next thing I knew I was patched up and on a plane to San Diego. I didn’t know where I was going or what I needed to do. I only knew I had to get away.”
“From me.” She swallowed the sobs building in her throat. If he didn’t release her she’d lose it and break down and do something stupid. Like tell him I still love him and always will. No matter how much he keeps hurting me. “I understand.” Tears rolled unchecked down her cheeks, falling on his chest.
He pulled away, a look of disbelief in his eyes, and he let out a short laugh. “No, not from you. Never from you. I had to get away from my past, one that nearly repeated itself right before my eyes.” He removed his arm from her back, holding her upper arms gently. “Don’t you get it? I love you. You. But I was weak. Seeing you almost die… I couldn’t handle it.”
The empty hole in Daisy’s heart constricted painfully. Though he’d said he loved her that day in the hotel room, she’d always wondered if he’d truly meant it or whether it was something he’d said under duress, thinking they were both about to die. For her, it had been real. A love magnetic and all-consuming. The once-in-a-lifetime kind that never dies. No matter how much a person wishes otherwise.
As he gazed down at her, she felt as if she were looking directly into his pain-ridden soul. There was love in his eyes, but there was also suffering so raw and intense it was like a neon sign screaming for help, and it nearly brought her to tears.
In the aftermath of the Piazza she’d been so self-absorbed by her own needs she hadn’t once considered the trauma that Afghanistan had inflicted on him, or that he’d been forced to relive that horrible part of his past. And the worst of it was, she above all others should have.
Losing her parents had been devastating enough, but she’d never been forced to experience what must have been sheer horror for Dom—seeing someone he loved bloody and battered. As a teenager she’d been shielded from that brutal ugliness. Her grandparents had identified her parents’ bodies, and it had been a closed-casket funeral. Dom had been forced to bury Anika’s remains and leave her behind in the desert.
Tears filled his eyes as he slowly knelt in front of her and wrapped his arms around her legs. When he looked up, his cheeks were wet. “I’ll never leave you again,” he said in a hoarse voice. “I’m home. You’re my home.” He pressed the side of his head to her belly.
Numb with shock, she couldn’t move, couldn’t utter a word. This was the biggest decision of her life. Take that giant leap and give herself to him, or risk never being whole. Because without him she would remain fractured, with no hope of ever fitting back together.
Several seconds ticked by, then she lifted her hand to his head and stroked his soft, wavy hair. He inhaled deeply, almost as if in relief, then let out a long, heavy sigh. When she caressed his cheek, he turned his head into the palm of her hand, kissing it tenderly, sending shivers up her arm.
“Dom.” She paused as her gaze roved the contours of his face. “I love you.”
He smiled up at her, relief obvious on his handsome face. “I was hoping you’d get around to saying that again.”
His lips were warm against her cool skin as he began kissing his way up the underside of her forearm, grazing her rib cage and breast with his chin before standing to gaze down at her with unabashed heat.
He clasped her face in his hands and gave her the most earth-shattering kiss she could ever imagine. Slow. Hot. Wet. They tumbled to the bed, disrupting Taz, who jumped off and scampered away.
Daisy’s clothes disappeared, peeled off hastily and dropped to the floor. Dom tore off his shirt first, then his jeans and tight Jockey shorts. Not for the first time she was overwhelmed by his incredible physical beauty. But beneath all that strength and power was also a man of the greatest character she’d ever known. A soldier and law enforcement officer born to serve and protect. A man with unexpected kindness, gentleness. One who had suffered great loss but had found love again. With her.
The mattress shifted as he leaned over her, his delicious clean, fresh scent settling inside her lungs. She gazed up into the clearest, bluest eyes. Windows to a beautiful soul. Levering onto his forearms, he leaned down to kiss her, but she touched her fingers to his lips, stopping him.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Tell me this is real,” she whispered. “Tell me again so I know I’m not dreaming.”
The look in his eyes was soft and gentle, yet fierce in its intensity. “I. Love. You. Always.” The smile he gave her was hesitant, as if he was waiting for something. Reassurance, she realized, and she clasped his face in her hands, pulling him down to her.
His kiss was gentle, his tongue stroking expertly with hers. As he deepened the kiss, a passionate longing took hold inside her, and her body thrummed with need.
She let out a little moan as he dropped languid kisses along her neck and breasts, then flicking and teasing her nipple into a hardened peak with his tongue, and doing the same with his fingers to her other nipple. She cupped the back of his head, holding him to her breast, arching into his mouth. The ache inside her grew, blossoming urgently into a beautiful flower desperate for water. Desperate for him.
With a deep, guttural groan he rose and kissed her again on the mouth. This time the tempo was faster, and she kissed him back with everything she had, pulling him on top of her, loving his weight and the feel of his body pressing against hers. She ran her hands down the steely hardness of his back, gripping his ass, urging him to enter her before she burned up like a comet entering the atmosphere.
He grasped her thigh, hiking her knee up, then thrust inside her, filling her so completely she uttered a throaty moan. She locked her other leg around the back of his thigh and met his thrusts, their bodies merging again and again until she was writhing against him.
“Please,” she whispered, arching her neck, pushing her breasts against his chest. His lips were hot beneath her ear, sending tingly shivers to her core. The tightness became unbearable, and her breaths came harder, her pulse racing as he rocked into her. She clung to him, completely mindless as the convulsions slammed into her, and she cried out his name again and again.
Dom’s last thrusts were powerful, shoving her up the mattress as he came inside her. “Daisy. Oh, sweet Jesus.”
Still pressing down on her, he kissed her neck once more, then her mouth, her chin, and her eyes. When their gazes met, his love shined with such honesty, it took her breath away.
For the third time since the day they’d met, Daisy fell in love with the same man.
…
Through the sheer curtains, Dom watched the remnants of the city’s pink sunset filter into the bedroom. True to her nature, Daisy had fallen into a deep sleep with her arm thrown over his chest and her head snuggled against his neck. The flowery scent he inhaled was as much a part of her as her flower shop.
They’d gotten so hot after a second round of love-making they both lay naked on top of the covers. The sleekness of her smooth back and the rounded curves of her buttocks drew his attention. There wasn’t one part of her that he didn’t love to touch or taste or kiss, but what he loved most was her beautiful heart and her fiery spirit. She’d never take shit from him, and he loved that, too.
Being careful not to wake her, he lovingly skimmed his fingers over her shoulder, reveling in the softness. It still amazed him that after the hell she’d lived through as a child, then what he’d put her through—emotional and physical—she still loved him. She’d been the one for him all along. The only one who could bring him back from the dead and get his heart going again. Emotional CPR. He’d needed it in spades.
Making love with her both humbled and empowered him, and coming inside her was one of the most beautiful things he’d ever experienced. He was more alive than he’d been in a very, very long time. With her, he realized, he was a better man.
On the floor beside the bed, Taz lay curled into a little black ball on top of his jeans. He’d actually had a condom tucked into the wallet in his rear pants pocket, although he hadn’t wanted to use it. Because he wanted a family. With Daisy.
He glanced at the closed drawer of the bedside table. Inside was a blue velvet box he’d stashed there before falling asleep on her bed. When he’d woken to find her watching him, the shocked then wary look on her face had scared him to death. For a minute there, he’d nearly broken out in a cold sweat for fear that she wouldn’t take him back. She didn’t know it, but he would have groveled at her feet for the rest of his life if she hadn’t. He ached for her that badly.
Reaching out, he opened the drawer and pulled out the box. In the event he really had gotten Daisy pregnant, he fully intended to make an honest woman of her.
“Sweetheart.” He stroked the top of her head. “Wake up. I want to ask you something.”
“What?” she murmured against his chest.
His gut tightened with apprehension, and he took a deep breath. Even though she’d said she loved him, he took nothing for granted. There was every chance she’d need time to think about it, or flat-out say no.
“Will you marry me?” he asked.
Her eyelids fluttered, then opened. Whiskey-colored eyes stared at him. Her mouth gaped at the sight of the box in his hand. “What did you say?”
He knelt on the floor beside the bed. After opening the lid, he held the diamond-studded engagement ring out to her, and with his heart thudding in his chest, repeated his question. “Will you marry me?”
She clamped her mouth shut. Her lips trembled, and she nodded. Slowly at first, then more vigorously. “Yes,” she whispered, smiling as the most beautiful tears ran down her cheeks. “Yes. I’ll marry you.”
He tugged the ring from its velvet cushion, then took her left hand in his. He slipped the ring onto her finger and kissed it. When he lifted his gaze to hers he saw everything he needed reflected in the depths of her eyes. Love. And his future.
His gut tightened at the overwhelming emotion welling inside him. He couldn’t believe this exquisite beauty—the woman of his dreams—had agreed to be his. “You’re everything to me. And I want to be everything to you. I swear I’ll make you happy.”
“You already have,” she said in a trembling voice, then reached out to stroke his cheek, urging him back onto the bed.
As he lowered her to the mattress he entered her, thrusting deeply until she clung to him, crying out his name. And afterward, as he lowered his head to her chest, the wetness on his cheeks was his own.
No longer were either of them disavowed. No longer would either of them be alone. Because they had each other.
Now and forever.
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