Easy (9 page)

“He wasn’t going to fight you!”

“He would have if I’d have stayed,” he assured her. “He wanted you, Daisy. He wasn’t there for coffee and conversation.”

“Not true,” Daisy grumbled and looked away.

“Did you have coffee and conversation? Or did the two of you twist up your sheets?”

Daisy felt her shoulders sag. “I didn’t plan it,” she mumbled.

Behind them, someone gasped, and Daisy whipped her head around. Abby, Sarah, and even Tildy, wrapped in her towel from the waist down, stood in a tight group in on the other side of the open doorway.

“Oh, my God!” Sarah cried. “
You did it again?!
”

Daisy groaned loudly.
Adam’s eyes twinkled. “Sorry, honey,” he told her and walked away. Daisy turned to face the horde.

“I didn’t plan it!” she repeated.

“Are you going to see him again?” Sarah asked.

“I’m not seeing him now!”

“You slept with him twice!”

“He just… keeps showing up!” Daisy cried.

Sarah stepped forward, suddenly concerned. “Daisy-”

Daisy put up her hands to ward her off. “I’m not going to hurt him, Sarah. I promise you. I get it now, all of it.”

Sarah shook her head. “But-“

“I’m pretty sure it’s over,” Daisy told her. “He walked out on me, didn’t even say goodbye. I think… well, I’m pretty sure he just wanted to prove that he could do better than the first time.
Mission Accomplished. I… I wish he was interested in me,” she admitted. “But he’s not.”

“He’s just scared.”

“I can’t make him like me, Sarah.”

Sarah bit her lip and looked at Daisy. “Could you
try
?” she asked.

Tildy pulled up to a cute, white house with black shutters and parked her car in the driveway.

“This used to be Shooter’s place,” she explained as she got out of the car. “Before he met Sarah and bought the cabin for her.” She nodded her head to the smaller, blue house next door. “That’s his, too.”

“Who lives there?” Daisy asked. When Tildy didn’t answer, she tore her gaze from the house and to her new friend. “Oh, you’re kidding.”

Tildy shook her head and gathered up her shopping bags from the car’s trunk. “Nope.”

“I seem to have fucked myself into a black hole from which there’s no escape,” Daisy grumbled.

Tildy blushed but laughed. She unlocked the front door, ushered Daisy in, and closed it behind them. “I like it,” Daisy declared.

“The bathroom’s amazing!” Tildy told her and tossed the bags on the couch. “The kitchen’s nice, too. All new appliances. If I can ever figure out how to actually use them. Sarah’s trying to teach me to cook. It’s going okay, I guess. But I’m not as good as she is.”

“I’ve only eaten there once, and I think it’s safe to say no one’s as good as she is,” Daisy agreed.

Tildy tugged at her waistband and grimaced.

“Itches?” Daisy asked.

Tildy nodded.

“Well, whatever you do, don’t scratch it. The ink will bleed and it’ll look terrible. Just take your pants off.”

Tildy looked horrified and glanced around at the completely private living room. “Just... walk around in my underwear?!”

Daisy laughed. “Well, I certainly don’t care. I doubt your man does.”

The young woman frowned and skirted around the kitchen island. “I couldn’t do that,” she said and headed toward the hallway. “I’ll be right back.”

She appeared minutes later wearing an oversize jersey knit sleep shirt that hung just below her butt. It was pink, and not like anything Daisy would wear to bed, but it seemed to suit her. “That’s what you wear to bed?”

Tildy blushed and nodded.

“Those panties are going be a big hit.”

Tildy grinned and came back into the kitchen. She grabbed a bottle of wine off the counter and opened a drawer. “I know,” she told Daisy. “He’ll love them. He’s not going to be thrilled about the tattoo, though.”

Daisy shrugged. “He’ll get over it.”

Tildy filled two glasses and began pulling various items out of the fridge. “You want to stay for dinner?” she asked. “Such as it is?”

Daisy nodded. “Absolutely. Thanks.” She wandered through the kitchen to the attached dining area, passing by the sliding glass door and did a double take. “Whoa,” she said, stopping in her tracks. There was Easy, in total shirtless glory with a sheen of sweat covering his chest.

Tildy peeked over her shoulder. “Oh, yeah. He does that. Not that I watch,” she amended.

“Damn,” Daisy whispered. “Impressive.”

“You’ve never seen him naked?”

Daisy shook her head. “Not even just his shirt.”

Tildy nudged her. “I’ll invite you over on Saturdays,” she whispered, even though there was no one around to hear.

“Does he always wear pants?” Daisy figured he must be hot as hell mowing in the noonday sun in a pair of jeans.

“Always,” Tildy replied.

“Have you ever seen his leg?” She turned to look at Tildy, who shook her head.

“No. Never.
Not even Sarah has. When we go to the lake, he won’t come.”

“That sucks.”

“He doesn’t like to talk about it, either. At all. And he gets twitchy if you try to help him. When we first moved in, Hawk offered to mow both lawns.”

Daisy snorted. “Bet that went over well.”

“He ignored us for days. He hates being thought of as weak. It’s hard to know, though, exactly what will set him off.”

The sound of a bike engine rolling into the driveway had Tildy skittering away from the back door. “Don’t tell him I was looking!” Tildy hissed.

Daisy laughed and saluted her with a glass of wine. “My lips are sealed, woman.”

Tildy tugged nervously at her
sleep shirt, and Daisy rolled her eyes. “Too late, now, Tildy. He’s going to notice.”

“He’s going to be mad.”

Daisy shrugged. “He’ll get over it.” “Or,” she said thoughtfully, “he can get one for you. Then you’re even.”

Hawk’s keys hit the lock and the door swung open. He stepped in and to his credit, only paused for a moment as he took in the two empty wine bottles and his half-naked wife. He glanced at the empty glass on the counter. “We’re playing ‘It’s Five O’Clock Somewhere’?”

Tildy giggled nervously. “Yes.”

“Are we having a sleepover, too?” he asked, looking at her shirt.

Tildy bit her lip. Hawk came further into the room and watched her carefully. Daisy was pretty certain that Hawk had eyes like his namesake and very little, if anything, ever got past him. “What’d you do?” he said casually.

“Um...”

Hawk looked at Daisy, but Daisy pressed her lips together, only re-opening them to take another huge gulp of wine.

“I’m making quesadillas!” Tildy chirped. “I have chips and salsa, too!” she told him. “Do you want some?” She turned and flitted toward the kitchen. “Wash up and I’ll-”

“Freeze.”

Tildy did as asked
but turned back around to face him. Hawk’s eyes narrowed and he strode toward her. Daisy saw Tildy gulp, and one of her feet lifted off the floor. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned.

The other woman gasped as her man grabbed her around the waist, swung her around so she was facing away from him, and yanked up her
sleep shirt over her hips. He looked down at the gauze taped to Tildy’s skin.

“Talk. Now.”

“It’s for you,” Tildy chattered.

“I didn’t ask you to do that.”

“Well, I wanted to!” she argued.

“What is it?” he demanded. “I can buy you flowers. Whole bouquets of them, every Date Night. You don’t-”

“It’s you!” Tildy protested.

“It’s what? You got my name tattooed above your ass like Abby? Babe, I know you belong to me. I don’t need to see proof of
-”

“Even better!” Tildy insisted. “It’s a hawk.” She looked at Daisy, her eyes begging for help. Daisy slid the folded piece of artwork out of her pocket and handed it over.

The large man plucked it gently from her fingers and opened it. He studied it for a good, long while. “I don’t dislike it,” he declared.

Tildy squealed. “He likes it!”

“I didn’t say that,” he corrected. “But I think we need to discuss it before making decisions, permanent decisions, in areas of-”

“It’s my body!” Tildy countered.

Hawk looked down at her, crossing his arms in front of his broad chest. “Oh, so if I come home with a Prince Albert, you wouldn’t have an opinion on it?”

Tildy’s nose wrinkled. “What’s that?”

Hawk grinned. “It’s a stud that goes through the cock head and when we fuck-”

“Stop!” Tildy said, covering her
ears, which were already turning purple.

Hawk obliged, but still smirked at her.

“I wanted it!” Tildy told him. “And it had to be now, because I won’t be able to later. Maybe not for a long time. So I did it! And that’s all there is to it!”

He cocked his head to the side. “Why now, exactly?” he asked her.

Tildy crossed her own arms and squared off against her old man. Daisy got the impression of a chihuahua going up against a mastiff. She suppressed a laugh and took another drink.

“I want a baby,” Tildy declared loudly.

“A baby.”

She nodded sharply. “Yes. Now. And you’re not supposed to get a tattoo if you’re pregnant. Which I want to be.”

“So you keep saying.”

Tildy gaped at him. “That’s it? That’s all you’re going to say to me?” She slapped his arm harmlessly. “I just said-”

Hawk surged forward, seized her around the waist with both hands, and spun her until she was pinned against the wall. Daisy almost dropped her wine glass. Tildy wasn’t hurt at all, but Lord above she was shocked as hell and nearly hyperventilating. Hawk pressed his crotch between Tildy’s legs and Daisy got vicariously wet just from watching.

“I heard you,” he said quietly. “You said you want my mark on your ass and my seed in your belly and since you’ve already got one, I guess that means we need to work on the other one.”

Tildy made a kind of mewling noise and closed her eyes.

“Daisy,” Hawk said, a bit more loudly.

“I’ll show myself out,” she replied, finishing off the glass and setting it down on the counter. “You two have fun!”

She slipped out the front door and closed it softly behind her.

Easy finally finished the lawn and wrestled the mower back into the corner of the garage. He wiped his brow with the back of his hand and headed for the cool air-conditioning of his house. He wasn’t particularly looking forward to an entire summer of this, but it wasn’t like he had a choice, either. He grasped the handle of the large bay door and pulled. When it met the concrete of the driveway, he bent to twist the handle and lock it into position.

“Nice view.”

He jerked his head around to see Daisy standing on the sidewalk, eyeing him appreciatively. He stood up and shielded his eyes with his hand. Ignoring her comment, he said, “What are you doing here?” It was a slight moment of panic or maybe just irritation. Surely she didn’t think they had some kind of relationship, not just because they’d screwed a couple of times. He certainly hadn’t meant to leave her that impression.

She grinned at him. “I was visiting Tildy.”

He sighed inwardly and relaxed his guard a little. The last thing he needed was some chick breaking into his house or telling everyone they were getting married. Granted those things had worked out for Tex and Hawk, respectively, but Easy wasn’t headed down that road.

“But if you’re going to walk around shirtless,” she told him, “bending over all the time, I might visit more often.”

He frowned. There didn’t seem to be anything to say to that without putting ideas in her head. “Don’t you have to work tonight?” he asked. Truthfully, he had thought to seek her out after her shift. Last night had been good, better than he’d been hoping for actually. The look on Daisy’s face as she’d laid on the bed was all the evidence he’d needed to conclude she’d enjoyed it, too. She wouldn’t be telling anyone else that story about the bathroom. He felt confident that he’d fucked the memory out of her pretty little head.

She was cute, he had to admit. Cover up the tats and take out the nose piercing and
she’d be just his type. In the looks department. In the sex department she was pretty good, too, but that mouth of hers- yikes. He sure as hell didn’t need a woman like Slick, picking fights and winning them, too. Even Abby, who no doubt used her mouth for something other than sassing Tex, at least in the bedroom, was too high maintenance with Dom/sub bullshit and constantly needed tending to. Tildy would’ve been perfect, if he’d met her in basic or on R&R and hadn’t been blown to shit right after.

A beautiful, polite, nice girl who would move into a house on base and fill it up with kids while he earned his commission. But that possibility was long gone. In its place would be other women, a lot of t
hem, for the rest of his life, which wasn’t a bad way to live, he realized, now that he knew he could do it. At least he wouldn’t have to settle for his hand anymore. As he looked at her now, he imagined her bent over again, her golden curls moistening as he used her in all kinds of filthy ways. It seemed dangerous to try that now, though. This was his place, and she’d caught him off guard. Everything about this moment had him off balance.

“My shift starts pretty soon. You could give me a ride,” she suggested.

Easy frowned harder. One, he wasn’t comfortable with trying it, and two, she might get ideas in her head. Before Hawk met Tildy he never let a woman share the saddle. “They get territorial,” he’d explained.

Easy shook his head. “Can’t. Got to shower.”

She smiled at him again. “Me, too. Want to do your part to save the Earth and invite me in? I’ll wash your back, if you wash mine, okay and your front, if you’re nice. And maybe-”

Easy shivered at the
thought of her seeing his stump and of having to explain the white, plastic stool. Nothing about showering with him would even be remotely sexy. He turned and walked toward the front porch. “Later, Daisy,” he said as he mounted the steps.

She sighed dramatically and turned away. “Later,” she mumbled and started walking.

He wasn’t willing to give her the upper hand here, but he had to admit he was grateful that she’d gotten him over the hump, so-to-speak. He could fuck her again tonight. One or two more practice sessions couldn’t hurt. When he was safely inside, sitting under the hot shower spray, he ignored the fact that his cock had wanted desperately to take her up on her offer. He could stroke it now, he supposed, but he’d see her again in just a few hours, and a few hours after that he’d have her bent over again, screaming in pleasure. At that point his dick would forgive him for blowing her off.

He felt confident that, after last night, Daisy would forgive him, too.