Page 105 of Almost Always

With her heels digging into his ass, Daisy set the pace of his thrusts and she rocked up against him with every movement. Her walls fluttered and clenched around him, pulling him in deeper. He breathed heavily against her neck, his teeth scraping the skin there. The hand in his hair continued to tug, fingers twisting in the strands as his thrusts turned sloppy.

“Harder, hotshot,” she breathed out and he obliged.

He shifted and used his knees to support him and fucked herhard. The strangled moan that came from her was enough proofhe was doing it right. Her heels pressed firmly against his back and before he knew it, both of them were shaking as his vision went black. He felt her walls clamp around him, soaking him as he emptied into the condom.

His arms shook from the effort of holding him up and he shuddered before collapsing on top of her. The sound of her breathing and soft puffs of air against his head made him sigh. He could also feel a layer of sweat forming between their bodies, but at that moment, he didn’t give a shit.

Fingers trailed down his back, tracing his spine and his eyes snapped open, realizing he might have dozed off right there. While still buried inside her. Grunting, he lifted himself and carefully pulled out. Their eyes met and he noticed that hers were glazed over, probably from sleep as well. He stole a quick kiss and shifted to the side of the bed to roll off the condom.

“Don’t fall asleep,” he warned, kissing her knee before he went to the bathroom. Washing up, he stared at himself in the mirror and smiled at his hair sticking up in different directions, the wetness around his mouth and the happy as shit look in his eyes. Not to mention the lipstick marks that were all over his stomach and smudged along his dick.Thatmade him chuckle, because fuck yes, she’d made one of those silly dreams of his come true.

With a washcloth soaked in warm water, he returned to the bedroom. She flashed him a sleepy smile and he chuckled, using his free hand to spread her legs. Not only was she wet and lush, he saw a faint pinkness on the inside of her thighs from his beard. Holding her spread open, he carefully wiped her clean and kissed her thighs, then returned to the bathroom.

When he came back, she was sitting up, hands in her hair. He stood at the foot of the bed and watched as she twisted it into a bun and smiled. There was a part of him that was rejoicing that he got to experience this with the love of his life. But anotherpart was in awe that he got to even look at her like this. Climbing into bed, he pulled the covers back and lay down. She scooted closer, her warm body pressed against his.

“Debauched?”

“And ruined,” she whispered, making him laugh.

“I love you, Hero.”

“Love you too, Raff.”

CHAPTER 31

THEN, 2000

Apparently there was something worse than having a crush on her best friend—meeting hisgirlfriend. She was actually surprised when Rafferty asked her to meet him at the corner diner after class so he could introduce her to his girlfriend. For a brief moment, Daisy imagined that he was asking her to be his girlfriend. That would never happen, obviously. For so many reasons, mostly the fact that she was thirteen to his sixteen and he still thought of her as a little kid. He thought his job was toprotecther because Nonna Ames had said as much.

Besides, she didn’t know what it meant to be someone’s girlfriend. Most of the books she found in the library were about crushes, girls her age going through puberty and the weird parts of being a teenager. So few of them talked about love or romance. The first time she encountered kissing in a book it was brief, but it intrigued her. She eventually discovered a section of the school library that had books for slightly older kids. There was a lot more kissing and really elaborate descriptions of what it meant to be a girlfriend.

Of course she wanted that to be her life with Rafferty.

Except he chose theworstperson in the world.

Daisy knew she should have told him how Vivian Chambers was the queen of bullies. That she was the one who teased her when she got her first period. Every time that thought popped into her mind, she’d hear her mother calling her ajealous little witchand she’d shake it off. Shewasjealous and he never needed to know that.

The thing that confused her was why Rafferty was letting that part of his life meet the secret part. Sure,hedidn’t know that their friendship was a secret. She’d done such a good job of putting that distance between them in public. The kids at school had always been awful to her and she knew that they’d either get worse or torture him if they knew they were friends. Rafferty insisted they werebest friends, but would that be the same when he found out she was keeping secrets from him? And keepinghima secret.

Let it go. She sat up straight in the booth where she was waiting to meet the she-devil herself.

Rafferty’s face split into a stupid smile. “There she is,” he said, with so much awe, she couldn’t understand how this was her life. Even if for a minute Daisy thought he was talking about her.Silly little girl, her mother’s voice so helpfully said.

She didn’t bother hiding the eye roll and didn’t get up either. Stretching her legs out and crossing them at the ankle under the table, she watched as Vivian walked over to them with the fakest smile known to mankind.

“Hi baby,” she cooed and wrapped her arms around Rafferty.

Daisy swallowed back a gag. They slid into the seat across from her. Vivian had the tightest grip on Rafferty’s jacket, like she was afraid he might leave her. If only the redhead knew that her boyfriend was absolutely and completely dedicated to her. Daisy could have paraded around naked and he wouldn’t even look or notice.

“Daisy, right? I’ve heard so much about you!” Vivian said, fake charm dialed up to eleven.

“We know each other, Vivian.”

“We do?” She batted her eyes, glancing at Rafferty in confusion. “I mean you’re younger than us, so I don’t know how that’s possible.”

“Sure.”Unbelievable, she’s going to play it like that?

Vivian bounced in place and turned to Rafferty. “What are we doing here, pookie? I thought we were going on a date.”

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