Page 87 of Driftwood Daffodil 3

“Now, kiss me,” I tapped my cheek. “Right here.”

My dick twitched when Nova grumbled under her breath and lifted up on her tip toes to press her lips to my cheek.

I smirked down at her while she glared up at me.

This was going to be fun.

All my amazement died when the door opened and the Barones walked in.

Fuck.

NOVALEE

On the odd occasion I found myself wondering if maybe, I’d taken things too far? Like when Memphis tried out for the football team in seventh grade to please his father. Did I really need to put that itching powder in his jockstrap? Or maybe I shouldn’t dye my sister’s favorite shirt mustard yellow because she got the last of Maw Maw’s cinnamon buns.

Right now, I was wondering if I should give Gio a break? Yes, I had a bet to win, but this wasn’t about victory. When we were standing out in the hall there was something in his eyes.

A sadness or hesitation that for some reason tugged at my heart. I almost felt sorry for him. What did that say about me? The guy held me down and put a vibrating egg thing in my ass and I was still considering taking it easy on him.

That is until he made me kiss his cheek.

The smug arch in Gio’s brow had me tempted to lift back up on my tiptoes and bite his cheek. By the way, tiptoe standing did not help my stability in these god awful shoes. The heels were pretty, I’d give them that.

“Looks like you can play the good girl after all.”

Did he think he’d won something? Because he didn’t win anything. Sure, I would play the good girl – there was no way I was going to lose this bet – but the second my twenty-four hours were over, I was going to make Gio’s life a living hell. If he thought I was difficult before, he hadn’t seen anything yet.

“Awe,” Atlee sang, drawing my glare his way. “That was cute.”

Him, I’d take down just for fun. “Enjoy it while you can.”

“Oh, I see how it is.” He leaned back and casually draped his arm on the back of the couch. “Don’t get mad at me because you took a bet you didn’t like.”

What was I going to do? Say no? I may not have much, but I did occasionally have pride. That and I was very much looking forward to proving Atlee wrong.

“You could always surrender and admit defeat.” Atlee suggested.

Surrender was not an option. “You know this means war?”

“Bring it on, Small Fry.”

“Will you two shut up.” Gio grumbled with an extra growly tone.

What was he so upset about? I was the one who had to play good girl all day. Yet there he was with an angry crease in his forehead.

Huh?

My head tipped to the side. That wasn’t anger, it was something else. Worry maybe? No, that couldn’t be right. What could the great Gio Mancini possibly have to be worried about? Whatever it was, it seemed to be targeted at the three people walking in the room. One of whom was Darry.

That wasn’t who Gio was staring at though. His focus was on the couple whom I assumed to be Darry’s parents. If they weren’t his parents, then he had to be related to them somehow. Darry looked like a younger version of the man. He had a few things in common with the woman, like hair and eye color, but if she was his mother, then she had him when she was young.

She was the kind of woman people couldn’t stop staring at. A high class elegance that caused her to move gracefully and a poise that demanded attention. It was obvious that she came from money. People like that had a kind of arrogance about them. Gio had it. His dad had it. Everyone in the room aside from me had it. But her…

Why did she seem familiar?

I tipped my head as Darry broke off from the couple and headed our way.

“Hey,” Darry tipped his chin at Gio then dropped his gaze over me. “I guess you can dress her up.”

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