Chapter 7

Two years ago

Daisy pushed her face farther into the pillow as the soft kisses on her back made her legs tingle and stomach clench. She reached back and dove her fingers into Eric's hair as he slowly moved his mouth over her shoulder blade before coming up her neck and then to her ear.

The sounds they made together filled the room as Daisy let out a breathless sigh and gripped the sheets. Each kiss and every touch made her feel as if she was burning. Her eyes were tightly shut against the pillow when she heard the soft whisper of words in her ear.

"I'm going to work you so damn hard, princess."

Daisy's eyes flew open.

Those weren't Eric's words. That wasn't Eric's voice.

With her heart leaping into her throat and beating out of her body, Daisy spun around and fell into those mossy green eyes that left her in shambles. Luca smiled down at her as he leaned forward once more and darted his tongue out. Daisy's head started spinning as his hand moved up her leg, pushing her t-shirt farther and farther up. His wet tongue started at the base of her throat and traveled all the way back to her ear where Luca's warm breath made Daisy quiver and whimper with need.

"Ready for me, baby?" Luca's mouth formed the words that vibrated Daisy's body, making her hum like guitar strings. "I'm going to turn you back around and -"

Daisy whined with discontent, making Luca chuckle as his hands spread over her hips.

"And you're going to take it how I give it to you," Luca bite down on Daisy's earlobe. His voice deepened as he pressed into her. "You're so wet for me right now, gattina."

Daisy gasped as she felt Luca's hard body roll over her. She tightened her legs and pulled him closer as he moved his hand down, down , down...

Daisy whined once more, feeling her core throbbing with anticipation. Luca was going to slow and she was burning up.

"Now," Daisy said breathlessly. "Now, please."

"Beg for it, princess," Luca chuckled once more against her ear. "Come one....let me hear you."

"You're such an asshole," Daisy groaned as she grew cranky. "You're going to beg, sunshine. Not me."

"Make me beg," Luca whispered as he began to pull away.

"No, wait!" Daisy jolted awake as her eyes opened and reality set in.

Her heart pounded in her chest as the dark room greeted her along with Eric's soft snores. Daisy looked at him and placed a hand over her chest as if she could muffle the sound. The wetness between her legs reminded her of where her mind had traveled to as she jumped out of the bed and hurried to the bathroom. She couldn't make it there fast enough before locking the door and hunching over the sink to catch her breath.

Fuck, Daisy thought. Luca?

I'm going to work you so damn hard, princess...

Daisy felt goosebumps rise up on her skin as remembrance of the dream came flooding back to her all too soon. It felt so real. Daisy swore every once of her body really was on fire beneath him. His hands...his tongue...his mouth...

And that voice.

Daisy shut her eyes tight and gripped the edge of the sink. Her stomach clenched as her legs pressed tightly together.

Fuck that voice.

___________

The next morning Daisy was hoping to avoid having to see Eric off. She stayed in bed as long as she could, pretending to be sleeping and hoping Eric would show himself out. But when he gently shook her shoulder and reminded her that she had class, Daisy had no choice but to open her eyes and turn to greet him.

"Good morning, beautiful," Eric smiled down at her as he touched the edge of her face.

"Good morning," Daisy pulled a smile on despite the guilt in her heart.

It was just a dream, she reminded herself as Eric kissed her cheeks and cuddled her closer.

"I'll drop you off to class," he said.

"No, it's fine," Daisy shook her head. "I'm going with Gia to Isabella's pool party, remember."

"That's right," Eric said. "You're going from here?"

"No, I'm stopping by my house, picking up my clothes and then class and then Gia," Daisy explained.

"You know, if you had all of your stuff here, you wouldn't need to do all that."

"What do you mean?" Daisy asked.

"I mean that I have more than enough space in my closet right now for both of our stuff," Eric laughed.

"Are you asking me to move in with you?"

"Sure, if you want to."

"If I want to?" Daisy arched her brow.

"Yeah," Eric nodded.

"What do you want?" Daisy asked.

"I want you to stay here," Eric said.

"But I can move in if I want to," Daisy said once more. "Is this like a casual offer or do you actually want me to move in with you?"

"I wouldn't have said anything if I didn't want it."

"But you said if I wanted to," Daisy clicked her tongue.

"What's the problem?" Eric asked.

"The way you said it," Daisy sat up and removed the sheets from herself. "Sure, you can move in if you want. I don't want to move in here if you don't really want me to."

"Okay, I'm not following," Eric shook his head. "You're not making any sense to me right now."

"When you say sure if you want to, it sounds like you're not really interested in it," Daisy sighed.

"What did you want me to say?"

I'm going to turn you around and you're going to take it how I give it to you.

"I don't know!" Daisy jumped up from the bed and folded her arms over her chest. "Not so passively."

"Passively?" Eric arched his brow. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"I wish you would have told me you want me to move in with you," Daisy said. "Not leave it up to me to make a decision. You should have said I want your stuff here. I want you here every night."

"It's too early for this," Eric muttered as he rolled out of bed and headed towards the bathroom. "You can start bringing your stuff here whenever you want. I'm not going to beg you to move in with me. I want that, but I won't beg."

"Fine," Daisy said as she began to gather her clothes off the floor.

______________

With a rocky start to the morning, Daisy should have known going home was a terrible idea. But she needed to get ready for class and pack for her weekend with Gia. She prayed Gia's problematic brother had left town by then. She did not want to see him. Not until the memories of her dream were long forgotten.

"Good morning," Patty looked surprised as Daisy walked through the door of their apartment. "You didn't come home last night?"

"No," Daisy said. "I was with Eric."

"Good," Patty said. "At least it wasn't Gia or her family."

"What do you have against Gia?" Daisy asked, losing her patience.

"Nothing," Patty shrugged. "She's a wonderful girl. But keep your distance."

"Why?" Daisy asked, scowling.

"Because I think you're trying to be someone you're not," Patty said. "All of these events, parties, balls? Honey, you are not cut out for that kind of life."

"Excuse me?" Daisy arched her brow.

"You need to carry yourself a certain way in the society that Gia is from," Patty said. "Do you see how she's so poise and elegant and regal? You don't have that and I'm scared when you start noticing you're the butt of the joke at these parties, you will feel badly about yourself."

"No," Daisy said. "It's you, not the parties or Gia."

"I'm trying to help you," Patty said. "Go where you're suited for and you will thrive."

"You're jealous," Daisy suddenly realized that look in her mother's eyes. It was the same way she looked at all the other women at the parties she went to.

"Of what, honey?" Patty laughed.

"Of me," Daisy said. "I'm younger, prettier, and smarter."

Patty snorted, "Not if you keep skipping your skin care every night."

"You're scared that if I'm around Gia, I'll scoop up one of these rich boys and move on while you're stuck here growing old with no money or luxury," Daisy shook her head. "Oh my god."

"You're not pretty enough for those boys," Patty's eyes narrowed and her face soured. "They want a housewife. Not a dark horse like you. Unpredictable, rebellious, disobedient, ru-"

"Why do you see me as such a competition?" Daisy asked, her heart sinking a little bit. "I don't want anything from you."

Patty looked away. Her eyes stared out the window as she rubbed her finger over the rim of her tea cup. Her beautiful glossy blonde hair sat perfectly on her head and her plump skin shimmered from within. Daisy peered at her, feeling her heart sink farther and farther into her stomach.

"I'm late for class," She said, turning to head to her room. "Happy birthday, by the way."

"Brendon made dinner plans for tonight," Patty announced.

"Do you want me there?" Daisy asked.

"Come if you want to."

Daisy paused and looked back at her mother.

If you want to...

"I don't want to spoil your evening," Daisy said before heading into her bedroom and kicking the door shut.

Everything about that morning was proving to be a disaster. Daisy should have stayed home with her sketches. She was in no mood to go anywhere as she quickly packed a bathing suit and a change of clothes before pulling on her shorts and an old yellow t-shirt from art camp. Pushing her hair into a ponytail, she slipped on her paint stained white sneakers and hurried out of the apartment.

Of course, the universe was toying with her at her weakest. Daisy wanted to scream as she realized she started her period as soon as she stepped into class fifteen minutes late. Her professor looked at her over the rim of his thick glasses as she ran back out of the room. In the bathroom, she scavenged through her bag to find only one pad. Daisy groaned knowing she would need more by the end of class. But it was all she had and she had to make the most of it until class ended.

When she returned to class, the professor was not too pleased at having to repeat his announcements. Daisy hurried to her station and grabbed her clay and started her potter's lathe. For her final project she wanted to construct a tea set and a Greek style bust, but with the way her mood made her hands clumsy, Daisy wasn't sure if she would get any work done.

What time does your class end?

Daisy's phone lit up with a text from Gia. She read it and grabbed the washcloth to wipe her hand before answering.

In about an hour.

I can ask Manny to pick you up, Gia suggested.

Yes, please, Daisy sighed. With the way her day was going, she was sure she would miss her train or face an unexpected delay on the subway.

Okay, I'll call him.

Turning off her phone, Daisy pushed it into her pocket before going back to her lump of clay. She worked carefully, with extreme focus and tenderness. But when the shape wouldn't hold for the hundredth time, Daisy punched the clay and pushed it all back into a pile of lump. She wasn't going to get anywhere and the cramps in her stomach were next level. When Daisy noticed everyone else cleaning up, she sighed with relief.

With her work station cleaned in record time, Daisy hurried out of class to run to the pharmacy. She could feel the streak of clay drying against her chin as she stepped out of the building and ran down the stairs towards the street. She figured she would clean it when she went back into the bathroom to change her pad.

Daisy was also beginning to wonder if she should change her dirty shirt when suddenly a loud laugh caught her attention. Her feet stopped at the middle of the stairs as her eyes landed on May Bloomsdale. The tall blonde dance major who hated Daisy's gut for flirting with her boyfriend. In Daisy's defense, she had no idea the idiot was seeing May. If she had known, she would have sent him right back to his girlfriend as soon as he had offered to buy her a drink. But of course, May didn't see it that way. In her eyes, Daisy was the problem.

"You have to come see the show," May said, throwing her thick blonde hair over her shoulder.

Normally, Daisy did not care about what May Bloomsdale was up to. But when she spotted Luca speaking to her beside his car, all sorts of bells and alarms started to go off in her head.

"Yeah, your dad was telling me about it," Luca nodded. "But I'm only in town for a few days."

Daisy knew what show they were talking about. May was selected for a solo ballet performance at Lincoln Center. She was on posters all over the city.

"Aw, that sucks," May frowned. "But I'll also be performing at next week's Bloomsdale Charity dinner and I'm one of the bachelorette for this year's date auction."

"I'm sure you will be great," Luca said as his eyes flickered up and he caught sight of Daisy standing on the stairs. "It was good seeing you, May. Tell your parents I said hello."

"Sure," May nodded. "Are you free right now? Do you want to go grab coffee or lu-"

"My plans just arrived," Luca motioned towards Daisy. May turned to follow Luca's eyes and scowled immediately.

Seeing the look of annoyance in the girl's eyes irritated Daisy. She had no desire to walk over to them and be in the presence of both of those people. Especially not when May Bloomsdale was dressed in a fitted sundress with her perfect tan skin glowing and her blonde hair blowing. Daisy turned towards the other end of the block and hurried down the stairs.

"See you around, May," Luca said, before turning in the direction Daisy was headed.

"See you around, Luca,' May replied to which Daisy rolled her eyes.

If the intersection wasn't so busy, Daisy would have ran across to the other side to avoid Luca. She didn't understand why he was there as she waited impatiently for the light to change.

"My car is the other way," Luca said, coming to stand beside her.

"I can see that," Daisy nodded. "So why don't you go back the other way."

Luca rolled his eyes, "Get in the car, sunshine."

"Don't call me that."

"I thought it was your favorite," Luca tilted his head with a playful smirk on his lips that made Daisy's stomach do flips.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

"Gia said you needed a ride."

"From Manny."

"Manny's busy," Luca announced.

"Since when do you do Manny's errands?" Daisy asked. "And I don't believe G would send you if Manny was too busy."

"She didn't send me," Luca said.

"Are you stalking me now?" Daisy questioned.

"Just get in the car, Daisy," Luca said.

"I have to go to the pharmacy," Daisy turned towards the crosswalk again.

"Why?" Luca asked. "Are you sick?"

"Yes," Daisy sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"I'm sick of you," Daisy watched the light change and stepped onto the road. Luca followed. "Stop following me."

"What do you need from the pharmacy?" Luca asked, holding the door for her.

"Luca," Daisy sighed, feeling her lower back groan in pain. "Stop annoying me right now. Go back to May."

Luca didn't take too kindly to that comment. His face darkened and his mouth sat in a firm line. He glared at Daisy as she walked into the pharmacy and headed for the feminine hygiene aisle. Daisy adjusted the strap of her bag on her shoulder before searching through the shelves and finding the pack of pad she preferred. She could still feel Luca following her every step through the aisle and then to the counter.

"Do you need a bag?" The lady at the register asked as soon as Daisy placed the box of pads down.

"Yes," Daisy was about to reach for her wallet when Luca stepped forward and placed a bag of salty potato chips, a bar of dark chocolate, and some pain killers beside her pads.

"All together," he said to the lady behind the register.

"I didn't take you as the kind of guy that eats salty potato chips," Daisy said.

"They're for you," Luca tapped his card against the pin pad as the lady announced their total and began to bag up the items.

Daisy stared at the man standing beside her. She didn't know what to say as he thanked the woman and took the brown paper bag.

"Ready?" Luca asked. Daisy nodded but as she stepped forward, he stopped her and took her bag.

"Thank you," Daisy said quietly under her breath as she followed him out the door.

Luca didn't say anything as he walked them back to his car and opened the door for her. He waited until Daisy got inside to place the bag of snacks on her lap before placing her back in the back seat and walking around to the driver's side.

"Eat," he finally spoke as he pulled out of the parking spot.

"How did you know?" Daisy asked as she pulled out the chocolate bar.

"I have a sister," Luca said.

"I can't picture you buying Gia chocolate bars and potato chips," Daisy laughed.

"What can you picture me doing?"

I'm going to turn you back around and you're going to take it how I give it to you.

Daisy stared straight ahead as her heart pushed into overdrive. She couldn't think straight as the car filled with silence and she began to worry she might be able to hear her thoughts if it got too quiet between them.

"Don't take Lexington," Daisy cleared her throat. "There's a lot of traffic at this time. We'll be stuck for a while."

Luca flicked his indicator left and took the first turn he arrived at. Daisy's brows furrowed as she looked over at him.

"I just said not to take Lexington," she said, finding a small smirk on Luca's lips. "What is wrong with you?"

"How's your pottery class coming along?"

"Your stalker is showing again," Daisy opened her chocolate bar and took a bite. "How do you even know I take pottery cl-"

Luca reached over and grabbed her chin. Daisy's eyes widened as his warm touch sent shivers down her spine. Her breath hitched in her throat and the piece of chocolate slipping inside.

"I know because of this," Luca said, wiping off the clay from her chin.

Daisy raised her hand and wiped her face as Luca pulled back. She suddenly couldn't feel her hands as they fumbled around to hold the chocolate bar and the rest of the snacks.

"How's your boyfriend?" Luca suddenly asked. "Still mad at you?"

Daisy nodded.

"What now?" Luca leaned his head back. "About the other day?"

Daisy shook her head, taking another bite of the chocolate.

"Then?" Luca pushed.

"Why do you want to know?" Daisy asked. "It's none of your business."

"He seems to be mad at you a lot," Luca noted. "Are you sure he's the kind of guy you want to be with?"

"He has good reasons to be mad," Daisy said. "Which guy wouldn't be mad when you keep showing up and interfering?"

"Me?" Luca arched his brow. "What the hell did I do?"

"You had Manny abduct me from the airport."

"You walked yourself into the car," Luca said. "That's not abduction."

"Well, Eric didn't like that!" Daisy snapped. "And I'm sure he's not going to like you showing up and buying me chocolate today either."

"That seems like an Eric problem," Luca said.

"He's been different ever since Mexico,"' Daisy frowned and leaned back in her seat. "We're fighting more and more. And then you."

"Me?" Luca arched his brow.

"Yes, you," Daisy sighed. "What was that the other day? With the sketch book."

Luca's hands tightened around the steering wheel, "If you want to break up with your boyfriend, do so. But don't do it on my account."

"What?" Daisy asked in confusion.

"What the hell are you playing at?" Luca asked. "Are you saying I'm coming in between you and your boyfriend?"

Daisy felt her cheeks darken from the words Luca spoke to her. She could feel herself sinking further into her seat, looking for an escape. This was not happening. It was too much. Daisy wanted to put the paper bag over her head and scream.

"Just because I'm polite to you doesn't mean I'm into you," Luca continued. "I'm sorry if you misinterpreted my actions. It wasn't my int-"

"Polite to me?" Daisy laughed. "You've been nothing but an asshole to me since the day we met. I didn't misinterpret anything. I'm not that stupid."

"Then why are you asking about the other day?" Luca asked, his tone clipped.

"Because!" Daisy paused. Because we....there was something there.

"Because?" Luca waited.

Daisy wanted to crawl into a hole. She felt the embarrassment on her skin like a thick layer of sweat on a humid day.

"Whatever ideas you have in your head, I suggest you get them out," Luca said. "You're my sister's friend."

This would be a good time for a car to hit us, Daisy thought. Just t-bone us right now.

"Do you understand?" Luca looked over at Daisy.

Please, any car. Even a garbage truck will do, Daisy prayed.

"Daisy, I'm speaking to you," Luca commanded her attention. "Look at me."

"What?" Daisy turned and glared.

Luca didn't say anything. He watched her face as the muscles on his jaw tensed and his grip on the steering wheel tightened. Daisy was the first to look away. She stared straight ahead at the traffic as Luca turned his attention back to the road and hit the horn in frustration.

"Come on!" He hit the steering wheel.

Tossing the chocolate back into the paper bag, Daisy unbuckled her seatbelt and turned around for her bag in the backseat.

"What are you doing?" Luca asked, watching her.

"I'm taking the train," Daisy said, grabbing her bag and opening the car door.

"Sit down," Luca ordered.

Daisy snorted as she stepped out and slammed the door shut. She heard Luca's door open but she didn't stick around to see what he was going to do as she ran across the street in between cars and hurried down the stairs into the subway. 

What would you do if you were Daisy right now?