by Ivy Layne
Printed from the DMV website, it was the form she'd need to permanently change her address to Heartstone Manor. “I want you to move in. For real.”
Daisy laid the form out on the table, smoothing her hand over it, back and forth, saying nothing.
“You can do it online, I think, but I wanted to give you this, to show you—” I shut up. Where was all my charm? The change of address form had seemed like a good idea at the time. Watching her squint down at it, mostly it just felt lame.
I wasn't expecting her to lean in and kiss me softly, her champagne-flavored tongue tasting mine. When she pulled back, she was smiling.
“I'm sorry, I've been dragging my feet. It wasn't about you. At all. I was just worried about everything with the bakery and if I was going to have to find work somewhere else. I didn't feel like I could settle in until I knew I had a job.”
“Just for the record, I don't care if you have a job.”
“I want to support myself, Royal. I'm not—”
I leaned in to kiss her, stopping her words. “I know. And I get it. I really do. But life isn't always smooth, and I'll love you through the hard times along with the good. Job or no job.”
Daisy didn't answer me in words. Setting her champagne on the table, she framed my face in her hands and kissed me. Thoroughly. I was breathing hard when she pulled back to say, “I'll go to the DMV on Monday and change my address. Maybe after I’m done you can help me pack up the rest of my stuff from the apartment.”
“Sounds great to me,” I agreed.
“What's in that basket?” Daisy asked, shifting on my lap to brush against my erection. It never failed. Kissing Daisy always made me hard. “Can it wait until later?”
My cock insisted it definitely could not wait until later. It took me a second to realize she meant the food. “Finn cooked us dinner, and yes, it can wait.” Truthfully, I wasn't sure if it could, but it was going to.
Daisy's eyebrows shot up. “Finn cooked for us? Finn doesn't cook for anyone.”
“I know. I had to beg and bribe him with a favor to be redeemed later.”
“From the smells coming out of that basket, it was worth it.” She leaned in for another kiss. I hated to do it, but I held her off.
“One more thing.” I set the velvet box in front of her. Reading the alarm in her face, I covered the box with my hand. “It's not what you think. I'm not dumb enough to try to give you an engagement ring when I'm still trying to get you to finish moving in.”
A sheepish smile curved her lips. “Sorry, it was knee-jerk. So, it's not a ring?” The smile faded. “Not that I want a ring. I mean, I do, someday, but it feels too soon and—” She rolled her eyes, shaking her head at herself. “Shut me up, will you?”
“Never.” I loved listening to her, even when she made no sense. Except she was making sense. “I want to give you that kind of ring. But not yet, not until you're ready. We can wait on that, but I wanted to give you something from me. I never got the idea of promise rings. It always seemed like a cop-out. Why not just pull the trigger and get engaged? Now I get it. You're mine. My woman. My love. Forever. I want you to wear that promise, to have that from me.” I flipped open the box.
A delicate ring of yellow gold gleamed against the black velvet, the center pearl glowing in the candlelight, surrounded by petals fashioned of tiny yellow diamonds.
A daisy. She reached for it, then snatched her hand back. “Can I—”
Pulling it from the box, I slid it on her finger. It was a perfect fit. I owed J.T. a thank you for that. Holding her hand in mine, I turned it back and forth, watching the sparkle of the diamonds, the glow of the pearl. This ring was Daisy, the fire of diamonds and the serene calm of the pearl.
“It belonged to my Great-Great-Grandmother, Lady Estelle Ophelia Sawyer. My brothers and sisters helped me look through the jewelry, and when I saw this, I knew you had to have it. Not just because it's a daisy. It reminded me of you. As delicate as the pearl and as strong as the diamonds. Will you wear it?”
She closed a fist around the ring. “I'm never taking it off.” Shifting on my lap, she went in for another kiss. Dinner could wait. Scooping her up, I left our champagne on the table and carried Daisy to the bed.
Laying her across the white duvet, I looked down at my future. Her warm brown eyes, the explosion of pink curls, her wide smile. She radiated love. For me. She was what I'd been waiting for my entire life.
We were what I'd been waiting for. Together we could do anything.
I set about stripping her bare, needing to show her exactly how much I loved her. Daisy was ready for me, her eager hands making quick work of my pants before I managed to get her shirt off. We rolled across the bed, laughing and loving until our dinner was cold and we'd sated ourselves on each other.
I got up to bring the champagne to the bed and looked back to find Daisy sprawled across the duvet, gorgeously naked, a smile of satisfaction spread across her face. I didn't know what the future held for us, but with this woman by my side, I knew it would be everything I’d dreamed.
Daisy and I might have our forever figured out, but for everyone else… Things were still up in the air.
We slept in, for us. Grams was opening the bakery, and Daisy and I were still lazing in bed as the first beams of sunlight crested the mountains, turning the treetops emerald and burning off the dawn mist.
We took our time getting dressed, pulling on clothes between kisses, reluctant to leave our cozy love nest for work and real life. Unfortunately, we hadn't packed breakfast or coffee. Stomachs rumbling, we set out for the house, hand in hand.
As we walked, I caught Daisy turning her hand in the light, watching the diamond petals flash and glow in the early morning sun. I loved the sight of that ring on her finger almost as much as I was going to love sliding on the engagement ring I'd already picked out.
If she loved Lady Estelle's daisy ring, she was going to adore the diamond I had in mind for her. Later. We had time. Now that she'd agreed to move in and wore my ring on her finger—even if it wasn't an engagement ring—I could be patient.
I expected the house to be quiet when we snuck in the back door. Breakfast was served as a hot buffet most days to accommodate the widely varying schedules of the Sawyers. Those of us who worked outside the house usually hit breakfast early, though not this early.
Then again, what did I know? I'd been leaving before dawn with Daisy for the last month. Maybe the rest of the family had turned into early risers.
Despite the cacophony of voices from the front hall, I doubted it. Daisy and I bypassed the dining room, dropping our picnic basket at the top of the stairs to the lower level, and headed straight for the crowd assembled just inside the front door.
Griffen stood there, his hair rumpled from sleep, Hope in her robe beside him, her face pale and eyes wide. I glanced to Tenn and saw the reason for her expression. He stood beside a tall redhead I didn't recognize. The redhead's teeth were gritted, her finely wrought features torn between fear and annoyance.
“Hey guys,” I said, trying to figure out what the hell had gone wrong now. “Since when are you all up this early?”
Tenn raised an eyebrow at me. “Since I found Vanessa's body this morning when I came back from my run.”
Daisy and I both stared at him, his words not sinking in. Vanessa had made bail a few days before, but she'd since disappeared. We'd kept an eye out for her to resurface but otherwise hadn't given her much thought.
“Vanessa's body?” I asked. “She's dead?”
“Shot in the forehead, just like Dad,” Tenn confirmed.
“And who's she?” I asked, looking at the redhead. The redhead in question rolled her eyes to the ceiling, her impatience almost disguising her nerves.
“Her?” Tenn asked. He raised his arm and hers followed with a metallic jingle, the handcuff connecting them shining silver.
“She's my alibi.”
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Also By Ivy Layne
THE HEARTS OF SAWYERS BEND
Stolen Heart
Sweet Heart
Scheming Heart
The Untangled Series
Unraveled
Undone
Uncovered
THE WINTERS SAGA
The Billionaire’s Secret Heart (Novella)
The Billionaire’s Secret Love (Novella)
The Billionaire’s Pet
The Billionaire’s Promise
The Rebel Billionaire
The Billionaire’s Secret Kiss (Novella)
The Billionaire’s Angel
Engaging the Billionaire
Compromising the Billionaire
The Counterfeit Billionaire
Series Extras: ivylayne.com/extras
The Billionaire Club
The Wedding Rescue
The Courtship Maneuver
The Temptation Trap
Don't miss
the series that started it all.
The Billionaire Club Trilogy.
About Ivy Layne
Ivy Layne has had her nose stuck in a book since she first learned to decipher the English language. Sometime in her early teens, she stumbled across her first Romance, and the die was cast. Though she pretended to pay attention to her creative writing professors, she dreamed of writing steamy romance instead of literary fiction. These days, she’s neck deep in alpha heroes and the smart, sexy women who love them.
Married to her very own alpha hero (who rubs her back after a long day of typing, but also leaves his socks on the floor). Ivy lives in the mountains of North Carolina where she and her other half are having a blast raising two energetic little boys. Aside from her family, Ivy’s greatest loves are coffee and chocolate, preferably together.
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