Page 36 of Sweet
“I’m going to get dressed and go over to his house real quick.” Daisy was already getting out of bed. “Tell Betsy where I went, okay?”
“Sure.” Emmie smiled. “You’re gonna tell him, aren’t you?”
“Mind your business.” Daisy couldn’t bring herself to smile—her heart was still bruised—but she was starting to have an idea.
Spider belonged in Metlin. It would hurt Daisy’s heart to see him leave, but it would shatter Emmie. It would leave Betsy on her own. And she was pretty sure Spider would be miserable.
This wasn’t just about him and her. This was bigger.
She knockedon his door and he answered, still wearing the black T-shirt he’d been wearing the night before. His eyes were red, and it looked like he hadn’t gotten a bit of sleep.
Spider pulled her inside and quickly shut the door.
“No one is outside,” she said. “I looked when I turned on the street. I know all the cars here, and no one—”
She stopped talking because he kissed her.
Spider kissed her over and over, like a man starving for her lips. He cupped her cheek with one palm as his arm came around the small of her back and he pressed their bodies together.
His kiss felt sweet and desperate at the same time.
“Spider?” She pulled away and gasped for breath. “Did something else happen?”
“I love you.” He kept his eyes closed and pressed his forehead to hers. “I wasn’t going to tell you, but I already fucking lied to you enough, and not telling you feels like a lie.” His fingers dug into the muscle at her back. “I fucking love you, and I don’t care if you don’t love me. It’s okay if you don’t, you know? But it wasn’t right—”
“I love you too.”
His eyebrows furrowed and his grip turned tighter. “Princesa, I don’t know what to do. I just… I need someone to tell me what to do.”
“You can’t leave.” She leaned back and forced him to look at her. “That’s the one thing I know: you need to stay in Metlin. Not just for me. I mean, I could go with you. But Emmie and Betsy can’t. Neither can Bill or—”
“What?” He blinked as if the idea had never occurred to him. “You go withme?”
“You think I was angry about your leaving?” Daisy asked. “I mean, yeah, I was. But I was madder you weren’t planning to tell me, and I was extra hurt that you weren’t going to ask me to come with you.”
“Your family is here,” he said. “Less than twenty-four hours ago, you had a huge fight with them because you didn’t want to leave Metlin.”
“I don’t, but I don’t want to lose you.” Daisy laid her head on Spider’s shoulder. “When I’m with you, I feel peaceful and safe. Yes, obviously I think you’re superhot, but that’s not why I’m with you.”
“You think I’m superhot?”
“Shutup.”
He chuckled, and it was the best thing she’d heard in days.
“You know you’re sexy,” Daisy said. “Don’t pretend.”
“You’re the one who’s sexy.” Spider’s voice was low and growly in a way that made Daisy’s insides jump. His mask was completely gone, and the strict control he usually exercised seemed to have been forgotten.
He held her in a loose embrace, his fingers trailing along her neck, behind her ear, and along her collarbone as the hand at the small of her back dipped lower, stroking over the curve of her butt and teasing the sensitive skin there.
“So fucking sexy.”
She pressed her mouth to his neck. “Spider.”
“Tell me to stop.” Spider pressed kisses along her collarbone. “If you don’t want to—”
“I want to.” She felt a near desperate need for him, as though if she let go of him, he might disappear. “Please.”
