With that, she climaxed against him, her body convulsing again and again! Eyes closed, body arched against his hand as waves of pleasure hit her. He came right after that and she clung to him with her inner muscles for a long moment before collapsing against the counter.
“Daisy,” he groaned as his strong hands pulled her in closer. Closer still, cradling her as they came down together.
Chapter 10
“Stop it!”
Daisy turned, looking at Ivy and Marilee. “What am I doing?” she asked, startled by the vehemence in their tones. Rocco had driven into Louisville for an appointment and she’d spent the morning re-organizing all of their spaces. Between the incredible sex with Rocco and the soothing effect of her re-organizing efforts, she was completely mellow.
Marilee threw a pillow at her. “You’re too happy!”
They were sitting on the small, stone patio behind Marilee’s pretty house, the four matching chairs she’d bought for just this purpose comfy and plush. Ivy laughed and poured more sangria into their glasses. “That smile is getting annoying.”
Daisy laughed and took a long sip of her drink, then lifted her arms up into the air. “I am happy,” she announced softly. “I’m really happy!”
Ivy and Marilee sat on the swinging love seat, glaring at Daisy who was reveling in the sunshine and the fresh spring air. “You know, for those of us who aren’t getting laid by a gorgeous, handsome guy, you could be a bit more circumspect with your happiness.”
Daisy giggled, hugging the pillow close. “Sorry. But Rocco, he’s just…so incredibly sweet!”
Both Ivy and Marilee groaned. A deeper laugh broke into their groans as Tony stepped through the doorway to Marilee’s small, brick patio. “Is she doing that annoying grinning thing again?” he asked, picking up a glass and filling it to the brim before sitting down next to Daisy. He turned to her and rolled his eyes. “Yeah. She is.”
“She won’t stop,” Marilee sighed, shaking her head with mock irritation.
“Changing the subject,” Daisy looked over at Ivy. “Anyone know who put the bikini on the statue of Lowel Burken?” she asked, referring to the town founder. He wasn’t actually the town founder, but he built the coal mine which had employed everyone in the town. So, he was more of a CEO than a town founder, but the latter had a better ring to it.
They all chuckled, shaking their heads. “I think it was an improvement,” Ivy stated, causing them to laugh harder.
Marilee covered her mouth after her laughter evolved into a snort. “Where in the world would someone get such a hideous bikini?”
“And how the hell did they get it on the statue like that?”
“Sewn on, from what I’ve heard. Mr. McGoo,” she said, referring to the grumpy grocery store manager – which wasn’t his real name, “cut it off as soon as he saw it.” They all started laughing, thinking of the balding, normally angry man who snapped at people in the grocery store. If there was a closer grocery store, everyone would migrate to that store instead of patronizing the man’s shop.
“You look good,” Tony commented, looking at Daisy with a smile.
“Don’t encourage her,” Marilee grumbled.
Daisy only laughed and leaned her head against his hard shoulder. “I am very happy,” she replied.
“He’s treating you well?” he asked.
She grinned. “He’s very sweet. Very kind and…” she blushed, thinking about the times when he wasn’t kind. When he was demanding. And she loved every single moment of all of it!
“That’s good then.”
Ivy snorted. “Not good for us!” She shifted in the love seat, causing it to swing precariously and earning her a glare from Marilee. “We’re not getting those warm and wonderful nights!”
“Speak for yourself,” Tony quipped.
Both Ivy and Marilee rolled their eyes. “Yeah, well, you’re going to find a woman who will put that grin on your face and then we’ll talk!”
Tony smiled and nodded. “I hope that happens soon.”
Ivy again changed the subject. “In answer to your question before the late one in our quartet interrupted,” she paused to glare at Tony, who only lifted a dark brow as if to say he wasn’t overly concerned with her ire, “yes. We are making progress on hiring a sheriff, but most of the applicants back off once they hear that there isn’t really a force yet. So they’d essentially have to create the department themselves and accept that the team won’t be very big.”
“I heard that there’s one candidate that looks pretty good,” Marilee added in.
Tony shook his head. “I know who you’re talking about but no.”
“No?” she asked softly, disappointment evident on her lovely features. “Why not?”
“Because the guy everyone is talking about is an NYPD SWAT commander. He’s a big time tough guy. He’s up around Gunner’s level of badassness.”
“Isn’t that a good thing?” she asked, not sure why being a tough guy would disqualify someone from coming into LowPoint to become sheriff.
“It would be if we were a bigger town. But this guy is too good for LowPoint.”
“No one is too good for anywhere,” Ivy argued, staunchly defending her beloved, quirky town.
“This guy is. He comes with the highest recommendations and all of the qualifications for running the entire New York City Police Department. Why would he want to come to a small town like LowPoint where there’s barely any crime at all? It would be a complete waste of his talents.”
Marilee and Ivy agreed. “You’re right, I guess.”
Marilee looked uncomfortable for a moment, then shrugged. “I suppose we’ll have to settle for someone a bit less amazing,” she sighed.
“We’ll find someone,” Daisy interjected.
Marilee agreed. “You’ve got to admit, whoever comes in has to be smart enough to figure out what’s been happening around town lately. The bubble incident and now the bikini? That’s just…”
“Weird,” Tony interjected with a chuckle. “And then there were the animal races over at the senior’s center. Ms. Scarlett had all of them choose some sort of animal to race from one end of a field to the other.”
Daisy laughed. “I thought the dog would win, hands down.”
Tony turned to stare at her. “You knew about the animal races and didn’t stop it from happening?”
Daisy shrugged. “What harm was there in a bunch of animals racing across an open field?” she demanded.
Ivy’s eyes narrowed. “The bikini prank wasn’t funny though, Tony,” she warned.
Tony nodded. “I know. But…it is. Kind of.”
Marilee smiled too. “Maybe it’s one of Daisy’s team. These things started happening when Rocco’s team started on the job.”
Daisy’s mind had been drifting, thinking about last night and all of the things she wanted Rocco to do to her. Again. But at the mention of Rocco’s team, she straightened and looked at her friends. “Huh?” When they all stared right back at her, she shook her head. “No! I personally guarantee that these guys wouldn’t even know where to buy a bikini, much less find the time or energy to put one on a statue. And sew?” she snorted, leaning back against the cushions again. “No way. They laugh at my comments about making pillows.” She shook her head again and took a long sip. “Nope. Not even on a dare.”
“You’ve got to admit, the timing is pretty interesting.”
Daisy only shrugged a shoulder, dismissing the possibility. “Not Rocco’s crew. I promise.”
Rocco tossed the bags from the hardware store into the back of his truck, rearranging a few more items in his tool box just for Daisy, then…stopped.
The jewelry store across the street caught his eye and he wondered. It wouldn’t hurt to look, right?
Glancing at his watch, he realized that he had some extra time before he needed to meet Lucas, the kid over on the south side that Rocco mentored. It was a glorious Sunday afternoon and Lucas would be finished with church in about a hal
f hour. Most Sunday afternoons, Rocco met with Lucas, took him out to lunch, talked with him, played basketball or whatever. They just hung out. Lucas’ father was in prison for robbing a gas station and wasn’t around. His mother, Jenny, was a sweet lady but was sometimes flummoxed by the needs of a growing teenage boy. Rocco knew the situation, had been in Lucas’ place a long time ago. In fact, Rocco’s dad was still in prison for his latest stupidity but Rocco’s mom…well, not as good of an influence as Jenny. In fact, Rocco’s mother was on her third…fourth…husband? He’d lost count and didn’t care any longer. She wasn’t the most motherly of women anyway. But he acknowledged that she was better than his father, whose best advice had been, “Don’t get caught.”
Which was why Rocco tried to provide better guidance to Lucas and he wouldn’t put up with excuses regarding grades. Jenny helped him do his homework at night when she had time, but Rocco went over the test grades with Lucas on Sundays, reviewed his homework assignments, making sure he understood the math concepts, his worst subject, and that he was turning everything in. Rocco had even taken on the responsibility of contacting Lucas’ teachers for Jenny, making sure that Lucas was treating them with respect and living up to expectations.
So far, he was pretty proud of the kid. Before Jenny had forced her son to join the mentoring Big Brother program, Lucas had been earning Cs and Ds in his classes and was starting to hang out with a pretty rough crowd in the neighborhood. Rocco wouldn’t allow anything lower than a B and even then, Lucas had to explain where he was missing things. The kid was now an honor roll student and was even thinking about running for a class office.
But pushing that aside, Rocco slammed his truck closed again and walked across the street. Inside the brightly lit interior of the jewelry store, his eyes zoomed in on what he was interested in checking out.
“May I help you?” a man with a snooty attitude asked, peering down his nose.
Rocco ignored him, knowing that his dusty jeans and flannel shirt, not to mention his steel toed, well-worn work boots weren’t indicative of a guy ready to drop loads of money on a single piece of jewelry. Little did the man know, but Rocco had saved more than half of his salary since he’d started making money in his teens. He had invested it carefully and had a tidy nest egg. Something he hoped might tip the scales in his favor for Daisy if…well, he wasn’t to that point yet.
“I’m just looking,” he told the manager and walked over to the case containing diamond engagement rings.
Was he crazy? He’d known Daisy for a month! What the hell was he doing standing in front of a case of diamonds worth thousands of dollars each?
And still, he stretched his arms out wide, leaning down to look at the various diamonds. He’d love to find one in a daisy sort of style to match her name but…well, that was probably a crazy idea. No one had an engagement ring in the shape of a daisy. Probably corny, he thought.
“Is there anything I can show you, sir?” the man asked, not as snooty now.
Rocco straightened and pointed. “How much is that one?” he asked, pointing to a big one in the back. It sparkled just like Daisy’s eyes when she laughed. He liked that. If he couldn’t have a daisy shaped engagement ring, he could at least give her a nice big one.
Then again, Daisy rarely wore any jewelry. He’d occasionally seen her with a pair of small gold hoops in her ears but other than that, she was usually adornment-free.
Realizing that he didn’t really know her preferences well enough to be spending a huge amount of money on a diamond, nor even how she felt about him, he pushed away from the counter. “Actually, never mind. This wasn’t…” he rubbed the back of his neck, feeling foolish. “We’re not there quite yet,” he told the guy who froze with the tray of diamond rings halfway out of the display case.
Without any other explanation, Rocco stepped out into the fresh air and hurried back to his truck. What the hell was he thinking? He and Daisy were…well, they’d agreed to slow things down, get to know each other. The sex just kept getting better and better though. They weren’t going slow at all in that department.
Yeah, he was moving too fast. He needed to slow down, to let Daisy get to know him a bit more. They might spend every night in each other’s arms, but still, they didn’t know much else. Except what she sounded like when she climaxed, he thought, his hand tightening on the steering wheel. Or how she liked it when he nibbled on that spot on the back of her neck. And right at the edge of her hip. Yeah, he liked that spot a lot too.
With a groan, he forced his mind to think of something else. He had to get to Lucas now and walking up to his front door for their weekly lunch fully aroused would be odd.
Twenty minutes later, he rang the doorbell, ignoring the shouts coming from the other tenants in the building. Rocco looked around, always on alert in this area. He knew it well. Too well. He’d grown up here. Not in this building exactly, but around the corner. So he knew the people. He knew the dangers.
The door whipped open and Lucas smiled up at Rocco. “Ready, old man?” the kid asked.
Rocco lifted an eyebrow at him. “Old man?”
“Yeah, you fumbled last week on the court.” He stepped out of the apartment, slinging a backpack causally over his shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. Slowing down happens as everyone ages. Nothing to be ashamed of,” he teased.
Rocco threw back his head and laughed. The kid was good. Really good! The taunt was exactly what Rocco needed to get his mind on the afternoon and not on a delightful strawberry blonde woman that he couldn’t seem to stop thinking about.
For the next several hours, Rocco talked with Lucas, they ate lunch, went over his grades, Rocco showed him a few tricks to algebra, and then they went to the courts and played basketball, just one on one until a few of Lucas’ friends showed up. Rocco didn’t mind that. Actually, he encouraged it because that allowed him to find out who Lucas was hanging out with. He knew the good kids in the neighborhood, as well as the bad element. The gang members were always looking for weak or abused kids to take into their fold. Rocco was determined that Lucas wasn’t going to be one of them.
He’d just stepped back into Lucas’ apartment when his eye was caught by sunlight glinting off stunning strawberry blonde hair.
Irritated, and feeling as if he were somehow cheating on Daisy, he turned away. But before he did that, a gesture caught his eye. It was so similar to the gestures Daisy made that he turned back and…sure enough. It was his Daisy.
“What the hell?” he growled under his breath.
She didn’t see him from this distance, but he could see her from Lucas’ balcony. He watched, wondering what the hell she was doing with the man across the table from him.
The guy was about thirty years old and looked pretty beaten up. That was probably because the guy had just gotten out of prison. Rocco knew this because the guy in question had been in a rival gang way back when Rocco had lived in the neighborhood. The man had shot someone during one of his robberies and, although he’d been only fifteen at the time, he’d been tried as an adult.
Apparently, he’d been released early because the guy had been sentenced to twenty years in prison.
This wasn’t good and all of his protective instincts fired up.
“What you looking at, old man?”
Rocco turned away, but Lucas already knew what was going on. “Yeah, that guy’s back. I heard he’s trouble.”
Rocco put a hand on Lucas’ shoulder. “Stay away from him,” he warned. “He’s not just trouble, he’s one of the worst. I knew him way back.”
Lucas looked up into Rocco’s eyes, understanding the intensity behind Rocco’s words. “I’ll watch out for him,” Lucas vowed.
Rocco’s shoulders relaxed slightly with the assurance, but then he turned back, wondering why Daisy was talking to one of the worst of the worst.
“I’ve seen that woman before,” Lucas said. “She’s been talking to another chi…woman,” he corrected himself. Rocco wouldn’t allow Lucas to us
e the term “chic” for a woman since it was derogatory. “Respect everyone,” Rocco had drilled into Lucas for years. “And words matter.”
“What’s she been doing around here?” he asked, and suddenly, the mornings that Daisy had been missing popped into his head. He hadn’t thought anything of it at the time, just assumed that she’d been out looking for tiles or searching for furniture. The woman had a sense of style that was…awesome!
But now…he wondered what was going on.
Keeping his mouth shut, he watched as the two interacted. Daisy seemed to be on good terms with the monster, even touching his hand several times. Rocco knew that Daisy was just like that. Not as much as Marilee, but yeah, Daisy was a toucher. Marilee was a hugger, a toucher…she just liked a physical connection with others. But his Daisy…He stopped and thought about that for a moment. Was she actually “his” Daisy?
In that same moment, he watched as Daisy slid a fat envelope towards the guy. He stared at it for a long moment and Rocco knew that, whatever was inside that package, the guy was reluctant to take it. In fact, he looked around, trying to see if anyone else was watching but eventually, he slid it into his pocket, not even bothering to open it and find out what was inside.
Possibly because he knew what was inside? Cash?
“I have to go,” he snapped, handing his glass of half-finished lemonade to a startled Jenny. “Lucas has an algebra test Tuesday,” he said as he headed out the door. “He’s ready for it, but don’t let him slide on his homework.”
Jenny laughed. “I know, he gets cocky when he thinks he knows how to do something, doesn’t he?” she laughed, walking Rocco to the door.
Rocco might have smiled, but his mind was once again on Daisy so he ignored the “Moooom!” as he walked out the door.
Rocco headed down to his truck, determined to find out what was going on. But by the time he got back to his truck, Daisy was gone. So was the gang-banger and Rocco’s frustration amped up several levels. He wanted Daisy safe but…why would she even be in this neighborhood? It wasn’t safe, especially not for a woman like Daisy. She was soft and sweet and definitely vulnerable in a tough neighborhood like this.
Tempted (The Lottery Winners Book 2) Page 12