by Sabrina Sol
Daisy’s arms circled his neck. Her head spun as Brandon’s taste mingled in her mouth with sprinkles of water. How on earth had she come to be in this place, in this moment? Girls like her didn’t have sex like this. Okay, technically this wasn’t sex, but it was damn fucking close. Never before had she felt so wanted, so lusted after.
She could so get used to this.
Their kisses turned frantic, demanding. And the harder and faster they kissed, the more she realized she’d never be satisfied until another part of him was inside her.
She let go of his neck and slid her palms down the front of his chest then gently nudged him back. “Your turn,” she teased.
Hunger flared in his eyes and they traded spots under the showerhead. When he saw her reach for the bottle of shampoo, he lowered his head without her having to ask. His hair was too short to thread her fingers through, so she used both hands to smooth the white, creamy liquid all over and then gently started to scrub.
“God, that feels so good,” he said on a moan.
“I know,” she said with a smile.
When she was satisfied, she told him to turn around and rinse. She opened the body wash and squirted the soap into her left palm and waited for him to finish.
“Stay facing that wall,” she instructed. When he told her he was ready, she rubbed the body wash between her hands and began lathering his back. She started near his shoulders and spread the soap with fanned fingers. His slickened skin was smooth but it didn’t detract from the firmness of the muscles underneath. No wonder he could lift her like a kitten.
When his upper back was all nice and soapy, she slid her hands under his arms and pressed her breasts against his back. From behind, she spread the body wash around his chest and made sure to pass over his hardened nipples again and again.
“Oh, yeah, baby. You feel so good. This all feels so good,” he whispered.
Part of her wanted to reach for his stiff, jutting erection. Daisy couldn’t see it from her current position but she knew it was there. She could sense it.
You should save the best part for last.
As her reward for her willpower, she moved her hands to the second best part of Brandon’s body—his firm, tight ass.
He gasped. “Son of a bitch. Damn, I love when you touch my ass.”
She wasn’t just touching it, though. She was kneading it, caressing and adoring it. And when she boldly traced the cleft in the middle, Brandon lurched forward and spun around. “Okay, that’s it.”
“But I didn’t even do your legs,” she protested.
“I didn’t say we were done. Not even close. Put out your hand.”
Although she was still confused, she put out her hand. Her grabbed her wrist and squirted more body wash onto her palm. Then he moved her until her back touched one of the shower’s tiled walls.
“Are you ready?”
“Ready for what?”
“My cock is going to fuck your hand and that tight pussy of yours is going to fuck my fingers.”
He pushed her hand down between them and maneuvered himself until she could take hold of his erection. At last.
She started stroking him but stopped when he sucked on a nipple and slid two fingers inside her.
“Ahhh,” she moaned.
“Keep moving your hand, amante. I’m so worked up it’s not going to be too much longer. And judging by how slick and hot you are, I have feeling you’re right there with me.”
She was. Her release had been tightening in her stomach since the moment she touched him. She was ready to come. God, she was ready. But she wanted him to come more.
And so she picked up her pace, curling her fingers firmly around his engorged shaft, pulling up and pushing down, making sure to grasp the tip in every rotation. Meanwhile, Brandon was just as focused, alternating between finger thrusts and rubbing circles along the tight bundle of nerves that held the key to her final undoing.
Their breaths turned ragged. Their movements became frenzied.
Pull and thrust. Pull and thrust.
“Fuck. Yes. Fuck.”
Daisy looked down and watched as Brandon pumped into her hand over and over again. It was all she needed.
Every muscle in her body tensed as if suspended in time. And then the moment shattered, sending everything she’d ever felt crashing to the ground in magnificent pleasure.
Brandon’s own groans brought her back from nirvana just in time to witness his body stiffen after one last pump. Warmth and wetness covered her hand as he shouted her name and slumped against her.
Chapter Sixteen
“I don’t know. Is it just me or does that bush look like it’s been shaped into a giant penis?” Mira asked.
Daisy shielded her eyes from the sun and followed Mira’s pointing finger. “No it doesn’t…oh my God, it does!”
Daisy and Mira looked at each other and laughed before surveying the rest of the garden landscape at the Downtown Los Angeles Library. When Mira had first told her where she wanted her wedding to take place, Daisy had kept her reservations to herself. Apparently this was where Christian and Mira had shared their first kiss, so she went along with the sugary sweet fantasy, secretly making a list of alternate locations until they were thrown a curveball. Filming on Christian’s first movie was unexpectedly moved up, which meant the wedding had to be rescheduled. And since the library had already been booked well into next year with other events, it seemed like Daisy’s backup list would come in handy after all. But then the event coordinator called last week and said a cancellation had opened a date for next month.
She didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when she heard the news. How could she possibly pull together a wedding in less than thirty days? But as they walked around the beautiful grounds and talked to the event coordinator, Daisy’s doubts began to fall away, and all kinds of ideas popped into her head. The excitement on Mira’s face alone told her that this was the perfect place to have the wedding. Because of that, she was willing to overlook a penis-shaped shrub.
“Don’t worry, my friend,” Daisy said. “On the day of the wedding we can put one of the columns right in front of it. No one will notice it at all. Especially, when you come walking down that aisle.”
“Ah, you’re such a kiss-ass. Thanks again for being so flexible with everything. Did you end up rescheduling your doctor’s appointment?”
The appointment actually wasn’t hers to reschedule. Today was the day Lorena was going to find out if she needed any more treatments. Dr. Katz had told them at her last appointment that if the PET scan showed anything, they’d have to regroup and talk about another round of radiation and perhaps even chemo.
“The appointment was for Brandon’s mom. They went ahead without me.”
“Oh my gosh, Daisy. Why didn’t you tell me? I totally would’ve tried to get us an appointment later in the week.”
“It’s okay, Mira. Brandon insisted that I come with you today instead. He knows how important it is to you and Christian to get married here, and if we’d rescheduled there was a very good chance another opening wouldn’t come up here until the end of next year.”
“Well, that’s very understanding of him. Hey, speaking of wedding locations, have you guys picked yours?”
And now came the part that Daisy always hated—lying to Mira about her engagement to Brandon. She was a bride-to-be so it was natural for her to want to talk bride stuff like flowers and cakes and place settings. She involved Daisy in more than the usual wedding planner decisions and Daisy had begun to feel guilty about it.
“Oh, you know, we’re still talking it out. We figure we still have some time.”
“Don’t tell me you guys are going to be one of those couples who are going to be engaged for ten years before you just decide one day to take a trip to city hall?”
As if. “Nope. I have a feeling our engagement won’t be lasting that long,” she said. It was a half-lie—or rather a half-truth. Either way it made it her sick to her stomach not
to be able to confide in Mira about what was really going with her and Brandon.
Although, she didn’t quite know what was going on with them, either. They’d spent almost every night together in the same bed, and when he couldn’t come home for dinner, she and Lorena would go the restaurant to meet him and Alexa. They’d gotten into quite a comfortable routine and not just with his family. There’d been other outings with her dad and Teresa, and evenings out together for a movie premiere or charity fundraiser. They had become the perfect fake couple—so much so that she’d begun to wonder what it would be like if they weren’t pretending.
The only problem? Brandon seemed perfectly content with the way things were.
As Mira went off to go find the event coordinator, her thoughts drifted back to Lorena. She’d grown so close to her in the past several weeks. Daisy smiled thinking of the first time they’d met and how uncomfortable she’d felt around the loud, boisterous woman. It had been a privilege to go with her to her radiation appointments and take care of her in the evening while Brandon was at the restaurant. To her credit, she never pressed Daisy about her relationship with her own mother, seemingly satisfied with her response that it was “complicated.”
Some of her most favorite moments had been when the two of them would run errands together and talk about her life in Puerto Rico and how Brandon had been as a kid. The pride and adoration in Lorena’s eyes when she spoke about her son melted Daisy’s heart night after night.
She had to be okay.
Please God. Let her be okay.
She looked at the time on her phone and figured they should already be in with Dr. Katz. Soon they’d all know if their prayers had been answered.
Daisy walked into L.A. Cuchara and headed toward the back. It was packed, but even as the waiters and waitresses rushed from table to table, they all stopped to say hello. One girl she didn’t recognize even called her Mrs. Montoya.
She must be new, Daisy thought. Rather than correct her, she smiled and said hello back. The giddiness she felt at the thought of being mistaken for Brandon’s wife disappeared the moment she opened the door to the back office.
Whatever Alexa, Lorena, and Brandon had been talking about stopped when they saw her. She met Brandon’s eyes for a second before he looked away. Her chest tightened, and she held her breath for the bad news.
Lorena stood up, walked over to Daisy and pulled her into an embrace. She didn’t hesitate this time and hugged her back as hard as she could. “Tell me,” she whispered.
Lorena pulled away and that’s when Daisy noticed that she was smiling. The older woman took her hands and squeezed. “The cancer is gone. Gracias a Dios.”
She grabbed Lorena and hugged her again. Tears of relief finally spilled onto her cheeks and she buried her head into Lorena’s shoulder. “I’m so happy for you. For all of you.”
After they hugged for a few seconds, Daisy pulled away and wiped her eyes. She looked at Alexa, whose face was beaming, and then at Brandon, who still wore a sullen expression.
What was wrong with him?
“I think we need to celebrate,” she gushed. “How about tonight?”
“Before we celebrate… Mamá, tell Daisy the rest of your news,” Brandon finally said.
Daisy looked at Lorena. “There’s more?”
“Yes. The doctor says I can go back to Puerto Rico. We just bought my ticket. I’m leaving this Saturday.”
She looked at Brandon. This meant their arrangement was ending. The deal had always been to tell Lorena that they decided to call off the wedding once she went back home. That way both of them would be safe from her wrath in person.
“Oh. So soon? What about your follow-up appointments?”
“I’ll come back to L.A. every couple of months. It will be fine. And guess what? I have more good news!”
By the look on Brandon’s face, she doubted it. Even though she was afraid to, Daisy asked anyway.
“I called the church where I was married and the priest says you can get married there,” she gushed. “I know you haven’t set a date yet, but I don’t see why we can’t have the wedding in Puerto Rico.”
Her heart practically stopped. “Oh, Lorena. I…um…I don’t know what to say.”
“See Mamá, I told you she wouldn’t want to get married in Puerto Rico.”
Daisy frowned at Brandon. Why was he putting this all on her? “It’s not that I’m saying no, it’s just that I’m so busy planning Christian and Mira’s wedding that I think it’s going to be a while before I can even start thinking of planning ours.”
The older woman nodded wildly. “Yes, of course. I know you both are very busy. How about this? Why don’t you both come after their wedding so we can go see the church?”
Daisy still didn’t know what to say.
And Brandon, of course, still wouldn’t help. “Yeah, right,” he muttered.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she asked, and looked over at him.
“It means how are we going to go see a church in Puerto Rico if you refuse to fly there.”
His mother furrowed her eyebrows. “Why won’t you fly there?”
“Because she’s afraid the plane will crash,” Brandon answered for her. “And she won’t take a boat either because she somehow thinks she’ll end up sharing one bathroom with hundreds of sick people.”
“I don’t understand,” his mother looked at Alexa, who simply threw up her hands.
Daisy’s cheeks burned. She was going to have a few choice words with Brandon later about putting her on the spot like this. “Okay, maybe I’m a little bit afraid. But there are some good drugs I can take to knock me out or something, right?”
Even though she’d said them, Daisy couldn’t believe the words that had just come out of her mouth. It was Brandon’s fault. If he hadn’t teased her, she wouldn’t have tried so hard to prove him wrong. Now, all she’d done was manage to tell Lorena another lie. There’d be no need for knockout drugs because there’d be no need for her to get on a plane because there’d never be a wedding. The fake engagement was coming to an end.
The disappointment in her gut rattled her. Before it could show on her face, though, she plastered on a smile and took a deep breath. She might as well just dig her hole a little deeper. In a few days, none of this would matter anyway. “I’ll be fine. If it means this much to you then we’ll figure it out. I’ll come to Puerto Rico.”
Lorena squealed in delight and clapped her hands. Then she went over to Alexa and they began chatting about all the places they were going to take Daisy to visit in Puerto Rico.
Brandon got up from his chair and walked over to Daisy.
“What the hell was that?” he asked.
“She caught me off guard with the church thing. And then you didn’t help things by basically challenging me to get on a plane.”
“I was trying to give you an out.”
“Oh. Well, next time do it better.”
“You know she really thinks you’re going to Puerto Rico now?”
“I know and I feel bad. I’m sorry.”
“I think we should talk about…things. How about we go out tonight, just the two of us?”
A night out with Brandon sounded both wonderful and scary. His mom was going back to Puerto Rico. There was no need to pretend to be engaged anymore and she wasn’t quite sure yet how she felt about that. But if this thing with Brandon was about to end, then she’d take every last minute of it.
“Okay, dinner sounds nice.”
He smiled at her and then turned to ask Alexa a question. And as the conversation changed from Puerto Rico to other random topics, Daisy stood there and tried to ignore the feeling of dread bubbling inside her stomach.
Brandon couldn’t help but feel nervous.
He sat at the table waiting for Daisy to return from the ladies’ room. They’d just arrived at the restaurant when she excused herself. Now as he sat there, he tried to come up with the right way to say what he wanted to say when
she came back.
As soon as his mamá told him that she wanted to go home to Puerto Rico right away, he knew that meant that things with Daisy were coming to an end. And up until that moment, he’d been preparing for it. Had been resolved to it. But now the thought of never having her in his bed again…kind of pissed him the hell off. And that’s when it hit him. For all intents and purposes, this had been a business deal. And what did he usually do when he wanted a better offer? It was time to renegotiate.
He looked up in time to see her walking toward him. Although she’d looked apprehensive earlier, her face was bright and beaming now. She sat down across from him and he grabbed her hand and brought it to his lips. “You look beautiful tonight,” he said before kissing her hand softly.
“Thank you. You look pretty nice yourself. Is that a new suit?”
He loved that she noticed things like that. “It is. I bought it just for our date.”
“Oh, this is a date?”
“Of course. I’m prepared to wine and dine you for a few hours and then we’ll have some dessert later. If you know what I mean.”
She rolled her eyes and laughed. “I told you before. I always know what you mean.”
They sipped their drinks and discussed what to order. He’d brought her to this hole-in-the-wall Italian restaurant just a few blocks away from the condo. Far from a Hollywood hot spot, the restaurant was still packed with diners, and he knew that meant the food was as good as he’d heard. The cozy dining room and quaint decorations, including strings of twinkle lights wrapped around pillars, screamed family-owned. He knew that Daisy would love it.
And judging by the big smile on her face, and the way she ooh’d and aah’d over the menu, he’d been right.
After the waiter left with their orders, he knew it was time to discuss terms.
“I’m so glad we’re doing this. I think it’s better that we discuss things away from the house and away from Mamá. She’s been talking nonstop about everything she’s going to do once she gets back home. She’s starting to feel like her old self again. I can already see it.”