Daisy Does It All (Clover Park, Book 2) Contemporary Romance (The Clover Park Series) (22 page)

He was very happy to see her, apparently.

She turned and opened her arms to him. “You are a stubborn man.”

“Yup. And you
will
be my wife.”

She threw an arm and leg over him. He wrapped an arm around her.

“No,” she said.

He tucked her under his chin. “Yes.”

“I don’t love you,” she said sleepily. The warmth of his body relaxed her, and she closed her eyes, breathing in his clean scent.

He patted her back. “Yes, you do.”

“I don’t believe in love,” she murmured. “It’s all run by corporations.”

He chuckled. “That’s right, wife.”

They lay in the dark, holding each other. His arm became heavy across her side. She pushed his arm off her and wiggled the nightgown up. She’d managed to get it over her hips when she stopped suddenly as she heard a soft snore.

He’d fallen asleep.

She sighed, pushed the nightgown back, and curled up next to him. She couldn’t blame him after their late night last night and all the work he’d done plowing and shoveling, refueling generators, helping at the shelter.

Still, she was surprisingly disappointed.

Chapter Twenty

Trav returned from refueling the generator at his place and Gran’s in the early morning and climbed the stairs to slip back into bed with Daisy. He’d fallen asleep last night out of pure exhaustion, but he wouldn’t mind a little morning action before everyone else woke up.

He stopped abruptly in the hallway at the sight before him. Max stood in front of Daisy, who wore only a towel, her pale skin rosy from a warm shower. Fury rushed through Trav, and he counted to ten. This asshole couldn’t take a hint. Daisy would never be with Max.

“Did you think about what I said?” Max asked. His back was to Trav, and Trav stayed silent to hear what the man had to say.

Daisy’s eyes widened as she saw Trav standing there. She took a step back, away from Max. “Please, Max, this is not the time.”

Max grabbed her arm. “This is the only time. We’re leaving this morning. I checked in with Ryan. The roads are clear.”

Daisy wiggled free and took off for the bedroom.

Max started to follow. Trav clamped a hand on his shoulder. “Looks like it’s time for you to crawl back to that fancy job of yours in the city.”

Max whirled to face Trav, eyes wide, jaw dropped. “I—”

“Shut up before I kick your ass for daring to put a hand on my wife,” Trav growled.

Max jabbed Trav in the chest. “She was once my wife. We’re soul mates. I asked her to marry me again.”

“Marry you! Soul mates!” Trav sputtered. “That’s shit. You’re full of it! Where’d you get that, a self-help book on what women crave? If you really loved her, you never would’ve left her in the first place.” He shoved him hard. “You had your chance, and you blew it.”

Max narrowed his eyes. “You wanna take this outside?”

“I’d wipe the sidewalk with you if it wasn’t for Daisy. For some reason she doesn’t want me to touch your pretty-boy face. She’s too good for you.”

Max got in his face. “She doesn’t love you, asshole.”

Trav grabbed Max’s shirt and pushed him away. “You mean she doesn’t love
you
.”

“Stop it!” Daisy cried.

Max and Trav turned to her as one. She stood in the hallway, wearing one of Gran’s flannel nightgowns.

“What’s with the nightgown?” Trav asked.

She waved that away. “I had to get dressed quickly.”

“You loved me once,” Max said. “Do you still, even a little bit?”

“Tell me you don’t still love this jackass,” Trav said in a low, even voice.

Daisy turned to Max. “I’ll always have a place in my heart for you. You were my first love. But I’m not in-love with you. Do you understand? You’ll always be special to me.”

Max’s shoulders sagged. “I understand. I don’t like it, but I understand.” He turned to Trav. “You win, man.”

Damn right
.

“No, he doesn’t win,” Daisy said. “I’m not some prize to fight over. Trav, I love you for loving Bryce. That will never change. But I’m not in love with you either. How could I be? I don’t really know you.”

It felt like a stab to the heart.

“You do know me,” Trav protested.

“I know your jokes, your humor, but I don’t know you.”

“That is me,” he said, completely exasperated. He felt heat creep up his neck as Max witnessed this scene. He turned to Max. “Go away!”

Max slipped away, heading downstairs.

“I think there’s more,” Daisy said, “but you never open up.”

“Dammit, what do you want me to do? Cry like a total wimp and get all sappy on you?”

Bryce let out his usual full-throated wail so everyone would know he was up. Daisy went into Shane’s room to get him. Trav followed her. Shane was still out cold.

Daisy shooed him out the door. He waited and followed her back to Gran’s room, Bryce in her arms. She climbed in bed, propping up pillows to nurse him.

Trav paced back and forth by the bed. “First I have to deal with your ex. Then you want me to be a wimp. You want me to be someone I’m not.”

Daisy just looked at him and shook her head sadly, fueling his frustrated rage. He stormed from the room. This woman wanted too much.

He went outside; it always calmed him. The crisp air, the gently sloping drifts of snow as far as the eye could see, the stark trees. He stared at the snow of the front yard, perfectly smooth and untouched. He looked up at Gran’s bedroom window.

Then he did something he hadn’t done in a long time. Made a total crazy ass of himself.

~ ~ ~

“This has been an interesting storm,” Daisy told Bryce as she walked around Maggie’s bedroom, patting his back for the burp, “but we’re going back home soon. Maybe in a few days, tops. As soon as we’ve got power back at our place. Life will go back to normal.”

Burp
.

“Good boy.” She dressed quickly, then made the bed one handed while holding Bryce on her hip, pulling the blanket back into place, tossing all the pillows back up by the headboard. Not perfect, but it would do. She never made her bed at home. She felt like a guest here in Maggie’s house. She could hear Jessica and Max moving around downstairs and decided to stay right where she was.

She set Bryce on the bed and sang one of their favorite songs, an oldie but a goodie, “Ironic” by Alanis Morissette, as she did their usual massage routine. She finished and was just starting to think about bundling him up and slipping out to her sister’s house when she heard something hit the window.

Ping. Ping.

What the hell?
She crossed to the window just as another pebble hit it. She looked down to a waving Trav.

He was completely and totally naked. In the snow. She looked closer. He was standing at the end of an arrow he’d drawn in the snow. And her name was there too. Like she needed her name and an arrow to notice him.

She put Bryce on the floor and yanked open the window. “What are you doing, you crazy man?”

“Isn’t it obvious?”

“No!”

The cold definitely had a shrinking effect.

“I’m bared to you. I opened up.”

He began posing muscleman style—biceps flexed (impressive), a side chest move (tasty), and then arms lowered into a humungo flex with exaggerated strain on his face (ridiculous). She giggled.

Uh-oh. Her parents pulled up in their Toyota Highlander and parked on the street. Trav hadn’t noticed.

He pointed one hand and lifted a leg in a fountain-spewing-water pose.

“Trav, honey, come inside. It’s too cold for that. Let’s talk.”

He stopped posing and put his hands on his hips. “No more talking. I took action. And I won’t come in until you agree to do what you promised.”

She really should warn him.

But it was hard to resist watching the inevitable.

She shook her head at him and watched her mom climb out of the passenger seat and head up the front walk. Dad was right behind her.

Mom looked from Trav up to Daisy. Daisy waved. Trav’s head snapped around. He immediately crossed his hands in front of him—classic Adam expelled from Paradise pose.

“Daisy, you really should let him in,” her mom chastised. “It’s cold out here.”

“Damn cold,” her dad said. “Come in with us, son. We’ll get you warmed right up.”

Trav dashed inside. Even from upstairs she could see his red face.

She chuckled and shut the window. She didn’t know what he hoped to prove with that stunt.

Yet she couldn’t stop smiling.

She headed downstairs with Bryce just as Trav dashed past her on his way up.

“You might have said something,” he muttered.

“Next time keep your clothes on,” she called over her shoulder.

She met her parents in the living room, where they were chatting with Rico. He turned when he saw her.

“You got him good,” Rico chortled.

Daisy grinned. “He’s nuts.”

Rico shook his head and headed off to the kitchen.

“What was that about?” her dad asked. “Did you and Trav have a fight?”

Daisy waved that away. “Just a silly bet. So what are you guys doing here?”

Her parents exchanged a look.

“We just wanted to check in to see how you and Bryce were weathering the power outage,” her dad said.

“Did you check on Liz too?” Daisy asked tightly.

“We knew she’d be okay,” her mom said. “She always plans ahead.”

“We stopped by there too,” her dad added.

She knew her parents thought she always needed someone to take care of her. She would’ve made do if she had to. She’d never let anything happen to Bryce.

“I told you Daisy and Bryce would be fine, Clive,” her mom said, taking Bryce from Daisy’s arms. “Trav obviously took care of them. They’ve got heat, power.” She kissed Bryce’s little fingers. “How’re you for food, honey?”

“We’re fine. Trav took care of that too,” Daisy said.

“I’m so glad you two are finally getting married,” her mom said.

Daisy did a quick shushing motion. The house was quiet, but that didn’t mean Max and Jessica had left yet.

Her mom slowly nodded. Message received.

“I could’ve handled things, even without Trav’s help,” Daisy said.

“You can always come home in an emergency,” her dad said. “We’ve got your old room waiting for you.”

“Thank you, Dad, but I’m fine. I don’t need someone to take care of me. When the shit goes down, I’m on top of it.”
Wait, that didn’t come out right.

“Daisy! Language,” her mom said, covering Bryce’s ears. “And don’t talk to your father that way.”

Her dad patted her mom’s knee. “It’s okay. I know what she means. She’s an adult. But even adults need help now and then.”

“Not if they’re married,” her mom said. “Then they can lean on each other.”

“I don’t need…forget it.” Daisy fumed. She’d always be the screw-up to her parents.

Trav trotted downstairs. “How you guys doing?” he blustered. He pumped her dad’s hand and kissed her mom on the cheek.

Her mom gave him a subtle once-over.
Eww.

“Good, good.” Her dad smiled. “Too bad you lost that bet.”

Daisy tilted her head and looked at Trav meaningfully.

“Yup. Too bad.” He took a step toward the door, obviously still too embarrassed to visit with her parents.

“Trav, that generator you recommended runs like a dream,” her dad said. “No complaints.”

“We’re just so glad Daisy had you to help her through all this,” her mom said.

Trav smiled and turned to Daisy. His smile dropped when he took in her furious expression. “Well, I’d better be going. I’m going to check in on Gran.” He ruffled Bryce’s hair, grabbed his coat, and headed out the door.

“We’re going to get going too, sweetheart,” her dad said. “We need to check on Garner’s. Make sure the pipes don’t freeze.”

“Sure. I’ll see you later.” Daisy hugged her dad.

Her mom handed her Bryce. “Let us know if you need anything.”

“We’re fine,” Daisy said between her teeth.

“Mmm-hmm,” her mom said noncommittally. Then they were gone.

“Errgh!” Daisy exclaimed. Bryce startled and started crying. She sighed and patted his back. “It’s okay, baby. Mama’s okay.”

Five minutes later, she’d gotten him calmed down, and headed upstairs to fetch his favorite blankie and the diaper bag.

She stepped into Maggie’s bedroom and stopped short. Jessica was sitting on the end of the bed.

“I got cell service,” Jessica sang.

Chapter Twenty-One

“Good for you,” Daisy said, brushing past the nasty woman.

“It is good for me,” Jessica said. “I was able to find out a few things about you that I’m sure your followers would find very interesting.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” She grabbed the diaper bag and looked around for the blankie. It must still be in Shane’s room.

Jessica’s voice rang out sharp and clear like they were in a courtroom. “This isn’t your house, is it?”

Daisy scrubbed a hand over her face. “Let me hand off Bryce, and we’ll talk.”

“This ought to be good.”

Daisy knocked on Shane’s door. “Can you take him?”

Shane slowly sat up in bed. “Sure.”

She handed over Bryce and returned to the bedroom, where Jessica was snooping through the closet.

“Interesting how all your clothes are a size two, when you’re obviously”—Jessica looked Daisy up and down—“at least a size twelve.”

She was an eight, but she kept her cool and took a deep breath. “So tell me what you learned once you could call people.”

“Why don’t we start with you telling the truth?” Jessica approached, punching her hand in the air dramatically with each question. “Why are you pretending? How far does the lie go?”

Daisy regarded her steadily. She wasn’t going to admit more than she had to. Jessica would just love to drag her name through the mud.

Jessica stood, arms crossed, her nasty smile triumphant. “I know this isn’t your house.” Her ice-blue eyes gleamed as she narrowed in on her prey. “Found that out with one call. I suspected as much when you didn’t know your way around the kitchen.”

Daisy exhaled sharply. “It’s not my house, but it was the inspiration for the house in my blog. No one wants to read about my crappy little apartment.”