by Ivy Layne
Daisy melted into me with a low moan, her lips parting, tongue sneaking out to stroke mine. I'd never get tired of kissing her, of the way she gave herself over to me without hesitation. I could have kissed her for the rest of the afternoon, but I had a meeting at Heartstone in a few hours, and she had to be back at the bakery long before that.
Lifting my head, I absorbed her dazed expression. “Ready for lunch?” I asked, stroking a spiraling curl that had sprung free from her barrette.
“Mmmhmm.” She nodded but stood there, staring up at me.
“Do you want me to kiss you again first?”
“Mmmhmm.”
Lunch could wait. Kissing Daisy came first. See, didn't I say I had my priorities straight?
I don't know how long we might have lingered in the stairwell, kissing and letting our lunch go cold. With Daisy in my arms, her lips soft and giving under mine, I wasn't in any rush for food. I was thinking about sneaking her into an empty room—something that occurred to me pretty much every time we had lunch in my office—when the heavy stairwell door flew open and a tall figure in sneakers and an Inn uniform came barreling past us, long blond hair sticking out from beneath her Inn cap.
I knew in an instant that this was not one of my people. Like the man who'd bumped me earlier, something about her was familiar but not as one of my employees. The Inn had a big staff, and Tenn and I knew every single one of them. Not just their names, but who they were—hobbies, families, pets.
The problem was I couldn't place either the man in the stairwell earlier or the woman flying down the stairs. They seemed familiar, but that was as far as I got. The only thing I knew for certain was that neither of them should have been wearing an Inn uniform, and there was no reason for anyone to be in the admin suite who didn't work there.
I stepped in front of Daisy, shielding her with my body as I pushed open the door. At first, everything looked normal. Penny's desk was vacant, not unusual since Daisy and I had been delayed in the stairwell long enough to push into Penny's lunch break. Ditto for Tenn, who'd planned to head out for a run during his lunch break.
The reception area was quiet. Tenn's office door was shut, but mine was open. The faint sound of a moan drifted to us, low and undeniably male. A thump followed, and another moan. Pain. Keeping Daisy behind me, I started for my office.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
royal
Daisy, call West,” I ordered, dropping to my knees beside Forrest's prone body.
“I'm fine, I'm fine,” he tried to say, the words cut off as he braced his arm under him to sit up and ended up falling on his face. Another thump and moan.
“Fuck, stay still you idiot, you're not fine. What the fuck happened? You're bleeding all over the place.”
Not waiting for an answer, I yanked at his shirt, pulling it up on one side to reveal a thin slash along his ribs bleeding profusely. “I need something to put pressure on this,” I shouted to Daisy, somewhere behind me, still talking to West.
Before I could ask again, a bundle of fabric was shoved in my face. Clean napkins. I pressed them to the slice on Forrest's side, trying not to feel bad about his groan of pain.
“Just lay there and stop trying to get up.”
Forrest subsided, his forehead knit in a scowl. With one arm he reached over to hold the napkins to his side. I shoved his hand away. “Fucking chill or you're going to make it worse. Who did this?”
“Did you see her?” Forrest craned his neck as if he could spot his assailant still hanging around the office.
“The blond woman in The Inn uniform who raced past us down the stairs?” At his nod of confirmation, I pulled up my phone and called our head of security, alerting him to the possible suspect. I had a feeling she was long gone, but if she was still hanging around I didn't want to wait for West to get someone looking for her.
“She's not one of ours,” I said, and Forrest nodded, his green eyes dark with pain and frustration.
“I didn't recognize her. I would have remembered a blond that tall. And the uniform didn't fit her right. I was just processing all of that when she whipped out a knife and went for me. I think she was planning to stab me in the back, but I turned at the last second and my ribs blocked the knife.” He winced at the memory, reaching for his ribs again.
“And you have no idea who it was? Or why she'd want to stab you?”
Forrest's face was drawn with pain, but his eyes were clear. “Royal, I don't think she wanted to stab me.”
I was still processing his words when Daisy leaned over us, scanning Forrest, assessing his wounds. With a nod, she narrowed her eyes on me. “He's in your office, Royal. And if she came up behind him, she probably thought he was you.”
Fuck. They were right. Forrest and I are about the same height and build. Both with dark hair, a little longer than it should be and in need of a cut. Someone who was in a rush could easily have seen Forrest leaning over my desk and assumed he was me.
“What were you doing in my office?” I had to ask. We had an open-door policy at The Inn for the most part, but Forest had his own office. Why was he in mine, going through my desk?
“Looking for the Williamson contract. I wanted to double-check the time frame.”
“West is on his way up,” Daisy said, setting the bag with our lunch on Penny's desk and coming back into my office to stand over us.
Forrest shoved my hands away from the make-shift bandage on his side and lurched into a sitting position, leaning back against the side of my desk as another wave of pain hit him.
“Let me see,” I demanded, pulling his hands away from the napkins to check the wound. It was still bleeding but sluggishly. I pressed the napkins back into place and let him take over holding them. “You might not need stitches, but you definitely need to see a doctor.”
“Figured that,” Forrest grunted. His eyes lit as the elevator door opened. Sterling flew across the reception area into my office, dropping to her knees beside Forrest. “I'm okay—” he started.
“Oh, my God, you're bleeding! Forrest! What the hell happened?” Sterling turned to look at me accusingly as if I'd stabbed her new boyfriend. And when had that happened? There was no hiding the fact that these two were more than casual work acquaintances.
“We're trying to figure that out,” Daisy soothed, shooting me a look that simultaneously said What the fuck? and Not now. I was right there with her on the WTF? and could grudgingly admit that this moment was not the one to confront my sister over her office romance. Especially not while she was cooing all over my new CFO.
West had followed Sterling in and stood over us, shaking his head. “Can't stay out of trouble, can you?”
“Hey, I was just coming to my office for lunch.” I explained what we knew so far, ignoring Forrest and Sterling's whispers.
Narrowing his eyes on the bloody napkins pressed to Forrest's side, West took over. “Royal, walk Daisy back to the bakery. You'll have to reschedule lunch. I'm going to get Forrest to the ER and take his statement. After you drop Daisy, come straight back here, grab Tenn, and we'll go over the whole thing with your security team, see if they found anything.”
Sterling glared up at both of us, her hand gripping Forrest's with white knuckles. “I'm coming to the hospital with Forrest.”
I thought about arguing and decided that Daisy's look earlier had been right. Now was not the time. Instead, I gave a sharp nod and stood. I took Daisy's hand in mine, only remembering lunch when we were halfway down the block. “I'm sorry about lunch,” I said, my voice sounding distant in my own ears. I was still dazed from walking into my office to find Forrest bleeding all over the place. “I should have remembered the bag. Now you don't have anything to eat.”
“It's fine,” Daisy said absently. “I'm not hungry anymore.”
“Yeah, me either.”
That was all either of us said u
ntil we reached the alley door to Sweetheart's kitchen. Once inside, Daisy stopped and looked up at me, her expression fierce. “Be careful. If that had been you—” She shuddered.
I pulled her into my arms, burying my face in her hair and taking a deep, soothing breath. Rocking her from side to side, I murmured, “I'll be careful. I promise. Nothing is going to happen to me.”
“It had better not,” Daisy threatened, her eyes worried beneath the false bravado. “I just found you. You aren't allowed to get stabbed.”
“I won't,” I promised again. Lifting my head, I opened the door to leave. I needed to get to the office and catch Tenn before he came back and saw the blood on the carpet.
Turning the doorknob in my hand, I said, “Lock this behind me. When things are settled, I'll come back to let you know what's going on. But don't let anyone in if you're alone.”
“Do you think I'm in danger?” she asked as if that thought hadn't occurred to her. I hated that it had occurred to me.
“I hope not. Sabotage is one thing. If this is escalating to physical attacks, I don't want to take the chance it's going to spill over onto you. It's pretty obvious to anyone watching me that you're an important part of my life. I won't let anything happen to you.”
Daisy went to her toes, reaching up to press her lips to mine. “Okay, I'll be careful, too.”
I left her with one more kiss, pausing on the other side of the door to wait for the snick of the deadbolt flipping so I knew she was safely locked inside. It came, and I left, my mind racing with possibilities, eyes scanning the street for threats.
This was absurd. Griffen had a guy come after him not long after he'd moved back to Sawyers Bend, but that guy was in jail now, and he'd had a grudge against our father. The list of people who'd hated Prentice was long, but I couldn't think of anyone who'd come after me specifically.
You can't expect logic from a person who'd walk into your office and stab someone, I reminded myself.
We were dealing with someone who was capable of murder. Who the hell knew what they were thinking? I hoped West had some idea of where to go with this because I had nothing.
When I got back, the offices were crowded with evidence techs, my office blocked off by yellow caution tape. Tenn sat at Penny's desk, talking to West and digging into one of the quiches Daisy brought for our lunch. I thought about complaining and then, much like the thing with Sterling and Forrest, decided now was not the time. It wasn't like Daisy was going to eat it anyway.
Two hours later, Forrest was back from the ER, bandaged but not stitched, and we were no closer to figuring out who had attacked him. He was giving me cautious looks when he thought I wasn't paying attention, but I wasn't sure if they were about Sterling or getting stabbed in my place. I didn't ask.
Forrest and I agreed that the woman we'd seen was both tall and blond, but neither of us had recognized her. Something about her struck me as familiar, but when I tried to break it down—was it her face? her build?—I came up empty. I couldn't remember a tall blond. I knew tall women and blond women, but not both together. Of course, she could have been wearing lifts or a wig.
There was definitely premeditation involved. Not just stealing an Inn uniform or the possibility of a disguise, but the security team reported that the system was shut down in the stairwell, elevators, and admin suite on that floor of The Inn. They'd gone offline right around the time I was called back to the front desk to deal with the reservations snafu.
Lucky for me, or I would have been in my office when the mystery woman went after Forrest in my place. Or unlucky because if I'd been in the office with Forrest, it was likely no one would have been stabbed, and she would have tried again another day.
Either way, it was late afternoon by the time West went back to the police department with a plan to question Forrest again the next day in the hopes that he'd remember something useful. Forrest had tried to work the rest of the afternoon, but Tenn and I sent him home to sleep off the worst of the pain. I did not ask if Sterling went with him.
I bailed on Tenn after West left, packing up Daisy's used storage containers to take back to the bakery. I knew she must be dying to know what had happened after she left, and I needed to see her face, to assure myself she was well and safe, insulated from all this craziness. I wasn't keen on the idea that someone had tried to stab me. I was even less keen on the idea that they might come after Daisy.
I can't remember the last time I’d entered Sweetheart Bakery from the front door. Ever since I'd been seeing Daisy I'd used the alley door to the kitchens, bypassing the customers in the front. More to the point, bypassing Grams and Daisy's mother. Grams was all too happy to see me, but the few times I'd crossed paths with Daisy's mom she'd glared at me, prompting Daisy to usher me away before we could be properly introduced.
I let her do it, proving I was a coward when it came to meeting the parents. I'd never bothered to meet a woman's parents before. Maybe it was karma built up from all those casual relationships. My first attempt at a real relationship and her parents hated me. Crossing my fingers that Grams would be alone at the counter, I pushed open the door to Sweetheart Bakery.
Should have texted Daisy and asked her to open the back door, I thought as I was hit with the sweet scent of sugar and the bitter glares of both of Daisy's parents. Great. Just what my day needed.
“Can I help you, sir?” Daisy's mother asked, her voice dripping with saccharine sweetness, her eyes shooting daggers. If I hadn't been sure Forrest's attacker had been white, I might have suspected Sheree Hutchins. I couldn't remember any woman looking at me with so much dislike. It was intense, especially considering we'd never formally met.
Biting the bullet, I stuck out my hand. “No, thank you. I'm Royal, Daisy's boyfriend. I'm sorry we haven't officially met. She asked me to stop by—”
“We know who you are,” Daisy's father cut in. He was handsome, with dark hair and chiseled features. He probably had a very charming smile when he used it. I doubted I'd get to see. He glared at me with even more animosity than his wife.
I dropped my hand, shoving it in my back pocket. Well, okay, what now? I was here to see Daisy, not start an argument with her parents, but shoving past them to the kitchen door was too rude despite the way they were acting. I was considering leaving and going to the back door when Sheree spoke up again.
“Look, Daisy isn't here. And from the things she's said, even if she were here, she doesn't want to see you. You need to break it off with her. She wants you to stay away.”
I stared at Daisy's parents, dumbfounded. I knew that wasn't true. It couldn't be. I'd only left her side a few hours before. Even if she was freaking out over what had happened to Forrest, she would have called. She absolutely would not have asked her parents to break up with me. No way. Not Daisy.
A niggling doubt ate at me. But what if she had? It didn't bear thinking about. If Daisy had decided she was done with me, I wasn't going away quietly. What we had was too good to give up. Not without a fight.
“I just talked to her a few hours ago, and she asked me to stop by. If she wants to break up with me, I'd like to hear it from her.”
Her father's eyes went white-hot with fury. “You don't need to talk to her. You think I don't know all about you? The way you fuck your way through the women in this town? The way you think everyone should bow down to you, one of the mighty Sawyers? Well, fuck you and fuck your family. You can't have my daughter. She's done with you.”
Chapter Thirty
Daisy
I couldn't believe what I'd just heard. Why? Why would my dad tell Royal I was done with him? Rage and humiliation burning through me, I shoved the door wide. Three faces turned to me, Royal's relieved and my parents' defiant.
Of course, they'd be defiant. Why would they feel shame for lying to my boyfriend and humiliating me? My heart ached as I realized I'd been hoping for more. Support mayb
e? For them to think about me instead of their own agenda?
Whatever I wanted from them, it was clear I wasn't going to get it.
“Dad! Why would you say something like that?” I pushed past them, needing to get to Royal. I reached for his hand, hoping he wasn't too angry to listen. “He's lying. I'm not done with you.” More quietly, the truth whispered from my heart. “I'm never going to be done with you, Royal.”
His arms went around me before I was done speaking, pulling me tight to his side. “I'm so sorry,” I whispered, my cheeks burning with mortification.
“Don't apologize for them,” he whispered back. “You didn't do anything wrong. It's not your fault they're—” He ran out of words, probably not ready to call my parents assholes, even if they deserved the title.
Typical Royal, being a good guy even when he was in his rights to say what was on his mind. I spun in his arms, shielding him from Sheree and Darren. They were my problem, not his.
“Why would you treat Royal like this? You know we're together. How could you be so rude?”
“Because he doesn't deserve any better,” my father said. “You know who he is. Who his father was. He's just using you.”
“You're making a fool of yourself, honey,” my mother said, pity in her soft eyes.
I stared at both of them, speechless. “You know that isn't true. And you don't know Royal. I do, and you're wrong.”
I wasn't stupid enough to believe them. Maybe Royal and I hadn't talked a lot about what our relationship meant or where it was going, but considering we were practically living together and I'd never been happier in my life, I didn't need the talk. I knew how I felt. I hadn't told him I loved him, but I would as soon as I worked up the nerve.
My father dismissed me with a roll of his eyes. At that moment, I thought I'd never hated him so much in my entire life.
He was about to prove me wrong.
“We've let this go so far, but it needs to stop,” he said, ignoring Royal to focus on me. “He's nothing more than a spoiled man-whore and you're acting like a stupid slut. Keep your legs together and get back to work. I don't want to discuss this again.”