Page 17 of What He Wants

“I’ll fucking take her home!” I snarled, not wanting anyone else’s hands on her.

“No!” Daisy yelled, bringing everyone’s attention back to us. She turned hard, angry eyes on me, but her soft tone belied what I saw there. “I don’t want anything more to do with you. I don’t want to see you again. I don’t want your hands on me. Do you understand?”

I just looked at her, clenching my jaw as I realized how much I’d fucked up. I wanted to tell her the truth, but knew that I wouldn’t. It was better this way. Later, I would explain myself and pursue her like I’d wanted to. I glanced at Cooper, who hadn’t moved from his spot. A chin lift gave him permission to take Daisy home. I didn’t like the thought of her on the back of his bike, or the thought of her pussy nice and tight against him. I hoped that the fucking glare that I shot him as I followed him to the door was enough to warn him to keep his hands off her.

I didn’t want to have to pound on him.

“Take the fucking truck,” I said, before turning and stomping from the room.

Chapter 8

Daisy

I glanced down at the reservation book to see how many customers we had coming in, breathing a silent thank you when I saw three names, all for the morning, and none of them for me. Due to the snow storm that had blown in during the night, both Betty and Jackie had phoned to say that they wouldn’t be in. If they hadn’t phoned I would have called them anyway, because I didn’t want them on the roads. And since they hadn’t booked anyone, I had to wonder if they’d sensed the coming storm. Mainers were good at reading the signs.

That left me and Jasmine in the salon, two non-Mainers waiting for three women who would most likely not show up. She was sitting in her chair and doing her nails. I was on my third cup of coffee and had moved to the door, staring at the snow as it continued to fall. It was beautiful to look at, but cold as hell. Luckily, the salon was nice and warm, thanks to the new heater I’d had installed when I’d bought the house.

That reminded me. “You’ll be happy to know that the loan was approved.”

“Whoopee!” Jasmine screeched, giving me a big smile. “When do we get the tanning beds?”

“I ordered them the minute the bank called. They should be in by the end of next week.”

“I can’t wait!” she said cheerily. “My Vegas tan has all but disappeared since I moved here.”

“You do know that these beds are for the customers, right?” I joked, smiling.

She shrugged, filing a nail. “So, are you ever going to tell me what happened between you and Big John at the Christmas party?”

Wow, where had that come from? The Christmas party had been a month ago, and I hadn’t seen Big John since, other than when he rode past the house. It had taken me a while to get over what he’d done, because at the time I’d felt such a strong, physical pull towards him. But after a while I’d given up trying to figure out what I might have done wrong, realizing that it had been nothing. For whatever reason, he’d decided to pull away before anything had begun, and I didn’t want to think about it, or him. We hadn’t had enough of anything to move on from.

I’d tucked away that mind-blowing orgasm on his bike to the back corner of my mind.

Still, being there that night, Jasmine had somehow found out what had happened. She’d questioned me the next day, but I’d brushed her off as if it had been nothing. That might have worked on someone else, but she was my best friend and saw right through me. Suspecting that Big John had hurt me, she’d been ready to go over there and give him a whack upside his head for being so stupid--her words, not mine--and I’d loved her for it. I also stopped her from going.

I wasn’t about to let the big man know how much he’d wounded me.

“I guess your silence is a no.” I laughed. “You know, I heard that he left after that.” So had I. I pretended indifference by shrugging. “There was some talk around the club−”

“Bedroom talk?” I chuckled, taking a sip of my lukewarm coffee.

“Well, I did hear it in the bedroom.” She wagged her eyebrows.

I just shook my head. Jasmine would never change. The night of the party she’d gotten involved with one of the bikers, Clay, and she’d been seeing him ever since. I had to admit thathe seemed to be good for her because she’d toned down her flirtatious ways when it came to other men. However, she still dressed like the neighborhood hooker, which Clay apparently liked.

“I don’t want to talk about Big John,” I said finally, giving Jasmine a serious look. “I was attracted to him, I thought he was attracted to me, it just didn’t work out.” Her expression revealed that she thought that I was spewing bullshit. I decided to change the subject. “Do you really think anyone is going to trek through this storm and show up today?”

“Trying to get rid of me?”

“Of course not! There’s just no reason to waste a day sitting around waiting for no shows.”

Jasmine chuckled, setting the green nail polish aside that she’d been applying to her nails. “Beats sitting around at home all alone. At least we have each other to talk to.”

She had a point. “Come, on. I’ll put a note on the door in case anyone shows up. We can lock up and go upstairs.”

“Girls’ day?” she asked excitedly.

“Sure. If that’s what you want to call it.” I didn’t really feel like being alone, either, and I didn’t want to worry about Jasmine driving in the storm. “We can pop in a movie,” I suggested, writing out the note as I talked. If someone did show up they could ring the bell I’d had installed in my apartment, and we would come down.

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