Twisted Love (Modern Romance #3) - Piper Lawson Page 0,25

a hand down my arm. I shrug off her attention. I have a goal for this evening and it’s not satisfying myself but looking as though I am.

By the time I get to the bar, I think I’ve lost sight of Daisy. But when my gaze locks on a fire-engine-red dress, I realize it’s the other women who’ve vanished.

Her smooth back has heat curling low in my gut as I remember yesterday in the change room.

It’s not as if I’ve never seen her in a bathing suit or a dress. I know the outline of her body, the profile of her face, can pick her out from a crowd by the way her hair swings in a shiny curtain.

But I’ve never given myself permission to just look at her. Yesterday, I did.

And what I saw stole my breath.

I stop behind her, leaning close to her ear. “Your friends abandon you, darling?”

I've never called another woman that, but it rolls off my tongue easily, playfully.

Daisy turns. My best friend's eyes are normally dark-rimmed, her lips the color of plums. Today, those lips are slicked red like the dress, and I can’t decide which is more worthy of my attention.

So I stare at both, feeling like a bull preparing to charge.

She looks me over head to toe before her expression dissolves into a smile. "You made it."

She throws her arms around me, and I force myself to keep up and remember the key information.

Friend.

Safe.

Hug.

Warm.

But whether it's the long-ass day or Holt's aggravation or the fact that now that I’ve let myself look at Daisy like a woman, it’s hard to turn it off, and my body processes other sensory data as she presses against me.

Voice.

Tits.

Smell.

Close.

“Kendall and Rena went to the bathroom,” she murmurs against my shoulder, oblivious to my sudden descent into barbarism.

“I thought women had to go in packs.” I pull back.

“They’re not wolves."

No, they’re not. But tonight, I feel like one.

"Tris said you’re in a bad mood.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.” I check her out again. “I want to talk about this dress.”

With her hair razored to a sharp edge, shorter at the back than the front and in a straight curtain, her lips painted red to match, and wicked heels, she’s a goddess. A beautiful creature designed to steal a man’s soul, to reduce him to ash with a look.

“Thank you. My boyfriend bought it for me.”

Her voice is laced with irony, but I don’t even care. I grin. “Damn straight.”

“It was gratuitous. And unnecessary.” She sighs, running her hands down the fabric. “And I kind of love it.”

Satisfaction swells in my chest, like an animal stretching. “That makes two of us.”

“You look nice too.”

“I changed after work.”

“For me?” Her eyes widen in pleased surprise.

"Yes." I order a G&T from the bartender, then raise my glass and toast her.

She takes a long drink of hers. “Tris said you got him something special for his birthday but wouldn’t say what.”

I shift. Daisy’s the only person in the world—other than my brother—who gets what we went through as kids, because I’ve always been straight with her about it. Some people figure if you have money, you have everything, but it’s not like that at all. “It was a watch of our dad's. He left it to me before he went. I never told anyone. But Tris used to look at it, back when our dad was still around.”

Her fingers thread through mine and she squeezes my hand. “That’s sweet of you. What’s going on with you and Tris lately?”

I shake my head, wishing I could use our point of connection to draw her closer. “He’s had a bigger chip on his shoulder since Mom checked herself into rehab. He accused me of being the good son. He’s too young to remember how things were. With her, I can be patient, but by the time I’m done dealing with her, I don’t have it in me to deal with him.”

Daisy cocks her head, eyeing me over her drink. “You can love your family. Doesn’t mean you have to like them.”

I can’t do anything but stare at her, because right when I’m feeling off without knowing why, there she is, fucking getting me.

“Ben and Daisy! We need to grill you.” Kendall and Rena appear, and they drag us back to the booth with the guys.

This is the moment we’ve been preparing for.

I hold Daisy’s hand as we head back to the booth, aware every step of the feel of her fingers