We decided to park the Navigator and walk the streets. It was a beautiful day and Harbor Point was on the beach with a refreshing breeze coming off the water. You couldn’t beat it. Calvin walked a few steps behind us and never reacted to a thing we said.
Our first stop was the bookstore. We browsed and laughed and I bought more books than I should’ve. But they were books. I loved books, especially romance though once in a while a thriller really hit the spot. They also took up a lot of space on tour, so when I finished a few of them, I shipped them to my mom, who, I hoped, was stacking them in my apartment for when I got back. We’d gone down one street then up another before my stomach let me know that I either had to eat or it was jumping ship.
“I don’t know about you two, but if I don’t eat soon, I’m going to have some problems,” I told them after a stop at the car to drop off our bags.
“Yes,” Paige agreed. “Where is this best pizza in the world?”
Barrett fiddled with her phone. “It’s just up here a little bit, then down a block. It’s called Romano’s.”
“Let’s go.”
We walked double time until we entered the beautiful air conditioning of Romano’s Pizza.
“Four?” the hostess asked after greeting us.
“I’ll sit at a different table near theirs,” Calvin clarified.
I turned to him and said, “You can sit with us.”
“‘Close, but not too close’,” he countered.
I smiled but shook my head. We were seated and the hostess took our drink order.
“I’ll eat anything on pizza,” I told Barrett and Paige as the three of us looked over the menu. “What do you like?”
“Yeah, we’re not picky,” Barrett said. “How about we be controversial and get a Hawaiian?”
I snorted. “Controversial?”
“There are entire Reddit threads about whether or not pineapple belongs on pizza,” Paige told me.
“Well,” I said, “I think it does.”
“Hi.” Our blonde waitress slid up to the table with drinks in hand, diet pop all around. She wasn’t very tall, but she was beautiful with kind eyes. “My name’s Bianca and I’ll be your server today. Do you know what you want or do you need a minute?”
“Oh, we know,” I told her.
That was when she actually looked at each of us with a genuine smile on her face. But that smile faltered when her gaze came to me.
“Oh shit,” she muttered, which usually meant I’d been recognized. It didn’t happen to us as much as Courting Chaos, but it was happening more and more since we joined this tour. “Sorry,” she said automatically.
I gave her a big smile and said, “You’re fine. Is something wrong?”
“Uh… no. Definitely not. But you’re Daisy from Pushing Daisies.”
I nodded. “I am. You know us?”
“My best friend, Bailey, and I love you guys. When we found out you were touring with Courting Chaos, another favorite or ours, we tried to get tickets. But the show tomorrow night was already sold out.” She stepped in a little closer to the table and dropped her voice. “I never, ever do this, but would you mind taking a selfie? Whenever is convenient for you, of course.”
“Absolutely,” I told her. Cal watched our interaction closely, but given that she wasn’t some large dude, he didn’t seem too concerned. Because the man in my bus had been a large dude, not a petite blonde around my age.
I slid out of my chair and came in beside her as she pulled her phone from her back pocket. We leaned in close and smiled. She clicked about fifty of those things, but I did the same thing when I took selfies. Out of fifty, one had to be good.
“Thank you so much,” she said, then she squealed quietly. “Bailey’s going to freak out.”
“No problem,” I told her as I sat back down. “About the show—”
“Yeah. It sucks it was sold out. We tried to find tickets on a resale site, but if we go, our boyfriends will want to come because they get all protective and then we wouldn’t want to leave out my boyfriend’s sister and her guy. It’s not easy to find six tickets.”
I held up a finger. “I think I can help.” But then I pointed to Barrett. “Or rather, I think she can help. Yes?”
Barrett grinned at me. I thought she secretly loved the power she wielded. I could go to Mack and he’d figure out if getting six tickets was possible, but Barrett could go straight to the source.
“Give me a minute,” she said as she stood up, then she walked away with her phone pressed to her ear.
Bianca blinked several times then shook her head as if she wasn’t really hearing what I’d said. “So, what can I get for you?”
“We’d like a Hawaiian—wait. Calvin,” I called over to the table kitty-corner from us. “Are you going to have some?”
“I can order my own.”
“The three of us can’t eat an entire pizza, dude.”
He chuckled. “Then yeah. I’ll have some of yours.”
Back to Bianca, I said, “Large Hawaiian.”
“Got it. I’ll get that order in and be back in a few.”
“You know,” Paige said, leaning her arms onto the table once Bianca was no longer in earshot, “I never understand how you all handle being recognized like that.”
I shrugged. “It’s the dream. We want people to know who we are.”
“True.”
Barrett dropped down back into her seat. “I’ve got the tickets. I just need a name to put on them at will-call.”
We chatted about nothing important. Just catching up with what Paige had been seeing at work and about Indie and Bellamy joining the tour. This would be the first time in a long time that I had other women surrounding me. Even when we weren’t on tour or doing shows, I spent the vast majority of my time with my brothers. Especially with Bri away at school.
Twenty minutes later, Bianca came back out with our pizza and got us all set up to dive in. “Enjoy,” she told us.
“Wait a second,” I said. She turned back and took a step toward the table. “Barrett arranged for six tickets to tomorrow’s show. We just need a name to put on them. You can pick them up beforehand at the will-call window.” I glanced at her name tag again. “Obviously, your name is Bianca, but what’s your last name? Is it Romano like the restaurant?”
She snorted. “No. This is my grandpa’s place… Well, kind of my place too, but my last name is Russo.”
“Perfect,” Barrett told her as she tapped away on her phone.
“But are you serious right now?” she asked her voice both going up with excitement and still with an edge of disbelief.
I nodded. “Yeah. If you want them.”
Her eyes widened much the way they had when she’d first recognized me. “Are you kidding me? Of course I want them. Everybody’s going to freak out.”
“Well,” Barrett began, “they shouldn’t get too excited. We were only able to reserve third row center, so they aren’t that good.”
“What?” Bianca said loudly. “That’s amazing.” She moved quickly in to hug me tightly. “They’re seriously going to freak out. Thank you so much.” She glanced around the table. “All of you.”
“Hey.” Paige held up her hands. “All I did was want pizza.”
“That’s more than enough.” Bianca gave us a big smile then left us to eat.
I loaded a plate up with a couple of slices and took it over to Cal, telling him he was welcome to more.
He was done much quicker than we did probably because we were chatting the entire time. I hadn’t finished my first slice before he eaten both of his.
“Want some more?” I asked him.
“No thanks.” He sat back in his seat and scanned the restaurant again.
Made me feel bad that he just had to sit here while we ate. Which was when a fantastic idea popped into my head.
“Hey, Cal. Why don’t you go walk around?” I asked him. “I mean, if you want to. Of course you’re welcome to stay too.” Dear lor
d, it sounded like I was trying to get rid of him when in reality, I just wanted him to do more than watch me.
He shook his head. “You heard Lawson.”
I rolled my eyes in an exaggerated way and held my arms up to wave my hands around. “We’re in a restaurant. No one is going to find us in here.”
“Bet you thought that about your bus before.”
Paige began coughing, choking on the drink she’d just taken. I knew Barrett had told her about all that. She’d told me.
“I couldn’t help overhearing,” Bianca said, suddenly halfway between our table and his. The restaurant was pretty busy, but she didn’t seem flustered at all and the last thing I wanted was to become a problem customer. “If it helps, my boyfriend is working in the kitchen. He’s big. He’s intimidating. He won’t let anything happen with fans or whatever you’re worried about.”
“It’s not fans,” I said, still looking at Cal. “It’s one fan in particular.”
She nodded softly. “I think I understand. Again. The offer is there. If there’s something you’d like to do,” she said to Cal, “we’ll make sure they’re left alone.”
“And we won’t leave the restaurant without you,” Barrett added, though I narrowed my eyes on her. “We won’t,” she stressed.
“Exactly.” I had to make sure he knew I wouldn’t go rogue. I hadn’t yet but the thought had crossed my mind so many times.
“I’ll go get Gio,” said Bianca. “You can meet him and decide.”
She left and came back a moment later, pushing this mountain of a man in front of her. I could barely see her around him. His jaw was hard set, as if he didn’t want to be doing what she was asking of him, but he’d do it anyway. This Gio was tall and massively well built. Dark hair, dark eyes, chiseled jaw, and tattoos for days. His hair was messy, as if he didn’t care what it looked like, but I’d bet he did.
My eyes widened and I muttered, “Holy shit.”
Apparently, I hadn’t said it quietly enough because Bianca giggled and mouthed, “Right?” Barrett and Paige both bit back grins. They clearly saw what I did.
“This is Gio,” Bianca said. “I just want the option out there,” she said and he seemed to know what she was saying. Still he sighed and folded his arms over his chest.
Holy shit Bianca’s boyfriend was hot.
Cal looked from him to me then sighed. “If you’re sure,” he finally said. “I’ll go check out the bookstore.” He’d been watching us instead of browsing. That was exactly why I wanted him to be free to do something for himself. He stood and shuffled over to us. “But please, Daisy, don’t leave without me.”
I crossed my heart. “Promise.”
Finally, the three of us were alone to nibble on our slices and have some girl talk.
“Now that we’re alone,” Barrett began, glancing from her plate to me. “How’s it going on Lawson’s bus?”
“Fine,” I said quickly.
“See?” she asked. “I told you it wasn’t bad. He’s a pretty considerate guy.”
She didn’t know the half of it.
“What was that?” she asked quickly.
“What?”
“Were you trying not to grin?” She narrowed her eyes on me and moved forward in her seat.
I had been but had hoped she wouldn’t notice. My palms began to sweat, unsure of what I’d say to her.
“I know that look,” she pressed. “You’ve got something to tell.”
Paige nodded. “That was the look of a woman who might have something… juicy on her mind.”
I shook my head and bit my lips together. “There may be something to tell.”
“Ohmygod.” Barrett clapped her hands with excitement. “Tell. Please tell.” But when I glanced at Paige, Barrett quickly added, “Paige is a vault. I understand you haven’t known her as long as me, but I promise you, she’ll tell no one what she hears here. Not even Booker.”
“Absolutely,” Paige agreed.
I swallowed hard. These were my friends, even if new friends, and this was what friends did.
I adjusted myself in my seat. “We had sex last night,” I blurted out.
Both of their faces exploded with excitement.
“I have so many questions,” Barrett finally said. “I knew you two were dancing around each other. When I saw him watching you on stage that first show… The look on his face… I knew something was going to happen.”
“Wait,” I said. “What? Watching me on stage?”
She nodded emphatically. “He couldn’t hide the smolder from me, but when Mack joined us, he reined it in.”
I slapped a hand over my face. “Mack?”
“Don’t worry.” She patted my other hand. “He noticed nothing. He’s a guy.”
“So how many details do we get?” Paige asked.
“How many do you want?”
“All of them.”
“I agree.” Barrett nodded again. “He’s always so controlled and stuff. It’s made me wonder if he’s always like that.”
“He is not,” I told them. They squealed again. “So the night that I found the guy on the bus… well, you know what happened with that. And can I say, the Courting Chaos guys were great when I slammed into their dressing room by mistake.”
“Mistake?” Paige asked. She hadn’t been there to witness any of it.
“I was so freaked out that I forgot which room was ours and I just exploded through the door. They all jumped up in surprise, but when they saw my face, they pulled me in farther and surrounded me like a protective shield until my brothers got there.”
“Makes sense,” Paige said as she looked over at Barrett. “They probably imagined if one of us had been in that situation… ”
“True,” Barrett agreed. “Keep going,” she told me.
I giggled at their eagerness. “Anyway, that night when I moved to his bus, before bed, he hugged me so tightly, like he didn’t want to let go.”
“Probably didn’t.”
“Then last night…”
They both leaned in, resting their folded arms on the table in front of them. I giggled at how identically they’d moved.
“Well, we talked and I attacked him,” I told them as if me making the first move with Lawson was a totally normal thing for me to have done. There was nothing wrong with it but it wasn’t how I normally acted.
“Attacked him?” Paige asked.
I nodded. “Climbed right over the table and kissed him.”
“Ohmygod,” Barrett said with a laugh. “I love it.”
“How was it?” Paige whispered.
I took a moment with that question. It’d be easy to just say it was fantastic, but it didn’t do the experience justice. Being with Lawson had been the best experience of my life. He’d taken his time with me. Made sure I enjoyed everything he was doing instead of just plowing ahead in search of his own release.
“You’re killing us,” Barrett said, all seriousness.
“It was… It was amazing,” I finally answered. “So… ” I shifted uncomfortably in my seat. I spent so much time with my brothers that I wasn’t as used to spilling my girl guts since Bri and I hadn’t talked in a while. We sent random texts and stayed in touch but hadn’t actually talked. I feared we were growing apart, but that kind of thing happened in these situations.
“So… ” I said again. “I know you two are a couple of years ahead of me, but I haven’t been with very many people.”
“Girl,” Paige said, cutting me off. “Neither have I.”
OK, good. They could understand then. “And let’s just say younger guys, as you know, aren’t always that great at getting the job done.” They both gave me knowing looks, which caused a little more comfort to settle in. “And they sometimes go at your clit like—”
“A jackhammer tearing up cement.” Barrett put words to the very accurate description that had been in my head.
“Exactly. So oral isn’t my favorite thing to have done to me.”
“L
et me guess.” Barrett held her hand up. “Lawson didn’t let that slide.”
“He did not.”
Again, they squealed.
“He’s completely changed my opinion.” Then I shrugged. “It seemed really important to him.”
Barrett nodded. “I knew he’d be that kind of guy when it came to sex. One to care about his partner first and foremost. It’s how you know you’ve got a good one.” She stopped and wet her lips. “You do have him, right?”
I nodded slowly. “We talked about it and we’re together. But I asked that he let me tell my brothers because they’re all weirdly protective of me. I need to finesse it, I told him.”
“I love everything about this,” Barrett said with a huge smile.
“Same,” Paige told me.
Talking to the two of them took a weight off my shoulders. Not because being with Lawson had been heavy or I had any regrets, but just having someone, or two someones, to talk to was incredibly nice.
Our chatter went back to less personal subjects as we finally finished eating and had Bianca box up the rest and told her we’d see her tomorrow at the show. One or more of the guys would eat it at some point. This pizza really was the best I’d ever had. The front desk guy did not oversell.
Then I sent Cal a text letting him know we were ready to go back. We’d been gone a while. Courting Chaos was probably done with their meetings and Paige said she was anxious to hang out with Booker since they’d been apart for weeks.
Still, even as we left Harbor Point, I knew three of us, or five if Indie and Bellamy joined us at some point, would have more days like this.
Chapter Twelve
Lawson
I watched Daisy all the way until the elevator doors closed. Fuck. I almost lost it when she’d said she didn’t want to be babysat. At least when I’d insisted, I’d had her brother on my side. But damn, I’d almost outed us, which I wouldn’t care about, but she seemed to. Finesse, she’d said she needed to use with them. I’d give her some time to do just that, but it was hard as hell.
“Thanks for backing me up,” Mack said once the women had left.
“No problem,” I told him, but my mind was still on Daisy’s ass as she walked away.
Daisy (Pushing Daisies Book 1) Page 11