Sweet Heart (The Hearts of Sawyers Bend #2) - Ivy Layne Page 0,90

you get lunch? I can order some food up to my office, and you can tell me about your morning, figure out how I can help.”

She went stiff in my arms, pulling away and shoving her hair out of her face, not meeting my eyes. “Daisy, what happened?”

When she raised her face to mine, her beautiful brown eyes swam with tears. Frustrated anger surged through me. Her family couldn't keep doing this to her. “What happened?”

Daisy opened her mouth to answer, then snapped it shut. She wasn't going to tell me what was going on. I tried to tell myself to give her space, but I couldn't get there. She didn't need space, she needed someone to give her parents an ass-kicking. She needed her grandmother to stop enabling her son and stick up for Daisy.

She needed a lot of things, and she wasn't going to get any of them unless she was willing to stick around and ask for help.

“Why won't you talk to me?”

Daisy shook her head. “I can't. I want to, but I have to think. I can't tell you everything yet.”

“Do you need to talk to West?” I asked carefully.

She shook her head, her cherry-cola curls bouncing in the light.

“Daisy, tell me how to help.”

“Let me get my car out so I can go for a drive. I need to think. I need space, and I need to think. That's the only thing that's going to help right now.”

Frustration built in my chest, insistent that I do something. Fix this. Daisy going off on her own wasn't a solution to any problem. “Something's changed. What happened? Why don't you just tell me, and we can work it out?”

“Because I can't,” she burst out. “I can't tell you. I don't know what to do, and I need to think. Please, Royal, I need to go.”

I stepped back, wrestling inside myself for control. “Why? Just tell me why.”

“I can't!”

She stepped back too, putting distance between us. I didn't want Daisy over there. I wanted her here, in my arms. I crossed my arms over my chest to stop myself from reaching for her.

“You can't trap me here,” she said, pressing her hands together so I wouldn't see they were shaking. “Do I need to call West to make you give me my car?”

“Maybe you should,” I shot back. “Maybe he can get the truth out of you.”

The stricken look in her eyes stopped me in my tracks. I was furious, hurt, so frustrated I wanted to punch someone, but Daisy had a point. She wanted to go, and I was stopping her.

I had the sinking feeling that if I let her go now, she wasn't coming back.

Stupid. I had no reason to believe that. People had bad days, and people went for drives to clear their heads. This wasn't the end of the world. It wasn't the end of me and Daisy.

“I need you to trust me,” she whispered, tears staining her cheeks, her eyes frantic and so fucking hurt. I couldn't see straight past the pain in my gut at her misery. If I was any part of this, I had to stop.

“I trust you,” I whispered back. “I do. I just want you to tell me what's going on.”

“I can't. Not until I figure it out. Please.”

She closed the distance between us and reached up, framing my face in her hands. “I love you, Royal. I do. So much. But everything is so messed up right now. I need some time.”

My heart shattered. I knew what she meant by time. “No, Daisy. We can do this together. Just talk to me.”

I hated to beg, but I would do it for her. Except begging wasn't enough.

“We can't do it together. I wish we could.”

The sadness in her face was insurmountable. I wasn't going to talk her out of this. Ugly words rose to my lips, some bullshit about not waiting for her to figure herself out.

I kept my lips pressed together. She was killing me, but she was dying, too. As much as I wanted to strike out, I couldn't bring more pain to her eyes.

Daisy rose to her toes and pressed her mouth to mine, her lips moving, words barely audible. “I love you, Royal. I love you so much.”

I pulled her to me, holding her there, kissing her, everything that was Daisy washing over me. Her taste. The vanilla scent of her skin. The soft brush of her curls. The low hum in her throat