Instead of getting my head out of my ass and telling her what was up with me, I avoided it. I did this by keeping us busy. Busy meant we went at each other for a quickie like wild animals in the shower, so much so there was water all over the floor when we got out. By the time we finished cleaning that up and got to her room so she could get dressed, it was time for her to start work. I suggested she take the afternoon off and hang with me until it was time to head to the sound check but she was having none of it. I then tried to go with her, but she shut that down as well, citing how difficult it would be to keep her mind on work if I was staring at her.
Bored as fuck, I sent a group text to the rest of the band and asked what they were doing. I got no word back from Flynn, which likely as not meant he was busy doing Tessa. Gavin was out with Leah and Bree shopping for shoes. He invited me to have a car take me to where they were, but I turned that shit down lightning fast. Shoe shopping with women who weren’t Daisy sounded like a dud. Fortunately, Cole was free since Devon was holed up in a hotel room editing. After Cole and I firmed up our plans Devon sent me a funny text thanking me for getting him out of her hair so she could actually work.
We decided to go get ice cream and wound up at a specialty dessert shop where everything was homemade. Since it was the middle of the day, we were pretty much in the clear. Most people were either working or at school. The people who were there were all a bit older than us so they didn’t even notice the two men in hats ordering sweet shit. Hoping to keep the not being recognized streak going, we sat at the most out of the way table with no one else around it. Our security team knew the drill and they sat a reasonable distance away to give us our privacy. After a few test bites of our ice cream—cookies and cream for him and brownie batter for me—we got talking.
“You’re a tad keyed up,” he mused.
I considered his words as I ate a spoonful of my ice cream. “I wouldn’t say I’m keyed up,” I said finally.
He gave me a wry look. “Semantics.”
I spread my hands and shrugged. “Guilty.”
“Stop stalling and tell me what’s up with you and Daisy,” he ordered.
“How did you know…” I trailed off, putting a stop to the question because it was stupid. Of course whatever I had on my mind was Daisy related.
“Last night I had Daisy in my bed,” I said.
Cole’s eyes widened before he quickly schooled his expression.
“I can’t believe you’re surprised. You fuckin’ know I like her and you’ve been cheering me on. Now you suddenly think it’s weird?”
“Not at all,” he laughed. “I think it’s great, asshat. You caught me off guard with the whole in your bed thing. I thought that might take a really long time. Truth—I’m proud of you for plowing ahead.”
He paused and snickered. “Heh heh, I just said you were plowing.”
I balled up my napkin and tossed it across the table at him, hitting him square in the middle of his forehead.
“You’re an idiot,” I said dryly. “What’s next, a fart joke?”
“Nah, I leave that level of immaturity to you,” he said pointedly.
I had to take that one on the chin. “Touché.”
“Now continue,” he pressed.
“Anyway, don’t get too excited about me having her in my bed. ’Cause even though that happened, I couldn’t stay. I had a panic attack and had to leave the room. Went down and talked to Ian for a while and when I got back to my suite I slept in the other room.”
“Don’t downplay it,” he replied firmly. “You even being in the same suite as her was a big step for you. How was she with the whole sleeping in separate rooms thing?”
I looked away guiltily. “She doesn’t know,” I muttered.
“How the fuck is that even possible?”
“She fell asleep.”
He ate a spoonful of ice cream as he considered what I’d told him.
“You realize you have to say something to her, yeah? You got lucky this time but if it happens again and she wakes up to find you missing, it could get ugly. Face it head on and everything will be fine. Keeping important shit to yourself won’t go well. Trust me on this.”
“You keep a lot of secrets from Devon?” I prodded.
I knew damn well he didn’t. The biggest thing he’d ever kept from her was the reasons he was afraid to be in a one-on-one relationship. Other than that, the fucker was an open book.
“Fuck no,” he said with a choked laugh. “I’m not stupid. Devon probably knows more about me now than I do. Whatever she doesn’t know from me, she’s picked up from you assholes and the rest of the family as she’s filming. When I said keeping shit wouldn’t go well I was talking about Flynn. Remember how freaked he was when Tessa stopped talking to him because she thought he was having a baby?”
“Uh, yeah I remember. He was on a plane out of LA so fast I thought he might’ve broken a land speed record.”
“Wouldn’t have gone down like that if he’d kept her in the loop,” Cole pointed out.
I let out a long sigh as I nodded. “True. I’ll talk to her about it tonight after the show. The truth is I’m scared she’ll be disgusted.”
He cocked his head to the side and looked at me as thought I were a few screws short of a set.
“Daisy’s cool as hell. I can’t imagine any scenario where you tell her your issue and she throws up her hands and bails. Stop borrowing trouble.”
I hoped he was right.
As much as I’d resisted her at the beginning, I’d always found pleasure in watching her work. She was sweet down to her core and it was obvious the gang was fond of her. She took time to talk to everyone, stepping in and helping wherever she could. She worked hard and if I hadn’t been able to deduce it just from seeing it up close and personal, Lacey had told me Daisy was the best employee she’d ever trained, bar none.
I was distracted during sound check because I could see Daisy out at the soundboard with some of the crew helping out with something. She’d become the go-to person and I couldn’t help being proud of her. It was obvious she loved her job.
After sound check, I climbed down from the stage and walked up the aisle to where she was working. As I was walking I noticed one of the roadies, Chad, kept checking her out. I gnashed my teeth together as I glared at his oblivious ass. I didn’t even question how territorial I was feeling. Cavemen were probably less obvious than I was about to be. Bottom line, she was mine. When I got to where they were, I gave the motherfucker a pointed look as I put my arm around Daisy and brought her against me. Her lips parted and she flushed as she licked her lips and looked up at me dazedly.
“What’re you—”
I silenced her by kissing her. I kept it cool by not taking it to Def Porn 4, but I did swipe my tongue against hers twice because I couldn’t be that close to her without tasting her. When I pulled back, everyone in the area was looking at us. Realizing I’d just caught them, they all had the good sense to look away. Chad was smart, swallowing nervously as he backed away. I barely contained the urge to smirk at him, but I stopped myself because I realized I didn’t need to. Daisy was with me. She’d chosen me. Chad could make goo-goo eyes at her all day, but it was me she’d be going home with after the show.
Her eyes were wide as I traced my thumb across her bottom lip.
“I guess we’re not trying to keep what’s going on between us secret?” she asked softly.
I shook my head at her as I laughed. “Hell fuckin’ no we’re not.”
The way she beamed at me indicated she was feeling my answer. I positioned myself at her side, slinging an arm over her shoulders as I started walking us toward the backstage entrance.
“So how’s work?” I asked teasingly. “Better than spending the day on my dick?”
She giggled as she elbowed me in the side. “Definitely not better, but it’s been good. I’ve gotten a lot done.”
“I saw that since I was watching you during sound check,” I told her as we made our way down the long hall to the backstage sitting area.
“You were?”
“I was,” I admitted.
“See anything you liked?” she asked in a sassy sounding voice.
“Fuck yeah I did. Tonight after the show, I’ll be cataloging all those areas by touch.”
“Tyson,” she murmured breathlessly. “You make me crazy.”
I stopped just outside the sitting area door and turned her so her back was against the wall. Sliding a hand over her hip, I stepped in close and smiled down at her before I covered her mouth with mine and kissed her deeply.
As we kissed, she wrapped one arm around me and set the other against my stomach. I’d meant to kiss her gently but it quickly went further. I forgot where we were and just went for it, kissing her deeply as I ground against her. Her little moan as I did made me so hard I wanted to fuck her through the wall. It was all going perfectly until someone smacked my ass.
“Should I have Tessa grab the camera and take pictures?” Flynn asked dryly.
I groaned as I separated from Daisy, looking over my shoulder to glare at him.
“I interrupt you when you’re mackin’ down on Tessa?”
“No,” he laughed, “the difference is I generally don’t do it in the hallway where everyone can see it. I would’ve stayed quiet, but people were starting to watch.”
Daisy buried her face against my chest as she let out an embarrassed chuckle.
“Perverts,” I said with a roll of my eyes before I dropped a kiss on the top of her head.
“It wasn’t pervy voyeur shit,” Flynn assured me. “You had to know people were going to notice you flat out claiming her.”
I shrugged as I turned, keeping my arm around Daisy. “Makes sense.”
It also made sense because I wanted people to know she was mine. For once in my life I was proud, and I wasn’t hiding jack shit. Once we walked into the backstage lounge, Lacey called Daisy over to talk and I grinned like a fool as I watched her walk away. I was feeling damn good about her and what was going on with us, but a part of me was still feeling anxious about the conversation I knew I needed to have with her after the show.
My biggest fear was that she wouldn’t want to deal with my shit. If that happened, I didn’t know what the fuck I’d do.