Page 134 of The Rogue and His Flower

“Yes. She told me she loved me, and I swear to you, I swear on our twenty-year friendship that I’ve never felt more at peacewhen I heard her say those words to me. For the first time in my life, I felt wanted. It felt like coming home.She’smy home.”

“You’re a lucky man, Dalton,” he says with a soft laugh.

“I know that…”

He lets out a long breath. “Then make her happy, that’s all I’ve ever wanted for her.”

“I will,” I say. Silence descends between us and nerves coil in my stomach. “Shit. How the hell am I going to do this?”

“Don’t dwell on it, Dalton. Don’t wait. If life has taught me anything, you have to live it now. Be in the present, don’t second guess, justdo. Go and claim the woman you love,” Drix urges.

I don’t bother to reply. I simply click off the call and stride towards Daisy’s bedroom ready to open up, ready to lay everything bare, ready to make her truly mine.

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

DAISY

Groaning, I let the warm spray of the shower glide over me, my head tipping down as I look at the trail of blood washing away. My stomach aches, the heavy pull of my period tugging deep inside. I’ve dealt with a heavy flow since I was fifteen, but this seems abnormally painful, and nausea washes over me. The whole journey home I’d felt unwell, and now it seems like the pain is getting worse, not better. Feeling lightheaded, I press my hand against the tiled wall and groan. What on earth is happening?

“Daisy?”

Lifting my head, I see Dalton enter the bathroom, his gaze dropping from my face to my hand pressed against my stomach, to the blood swirling down the drain. I swallow the urge to throw up, not just because of the blood, but because of how unwell I feel.

“Are you okay?” he asks, stepping into the room and shutting the door behind him.

“I’m fine. Just… Well, except for the fact my body is doing its best to rid me of every last drop of blood it would seem,” I mumble, trying to laugh even as another sharp pain lances through my stomach, and takes my breath.

He steps closer, his hand pressed against the glass as he peers around the shower door at me. “Is this normal?”

“For me it is. Don’t worry, it’ll only last another couple of days and then I’ll be good,” I reply, trying to reassure him, but another wave of pain takes over, and I stumble a little.

“I’m getting in,” he says, his voice urgent.

“You don’t need to,” I say, turning to face him, my cheeks heating as I feel more blood trickle down my leg. “This is kind of disgusting.”

“Nothing about you is disgusting. I can deal with a little bit of blood, Daisy,” he says, trying to reassure me as he reaches for his jumper, about to remove it.

“I think I’m going to throw up,” I say, covering my mouth with my hand as I step towards him on shaky legs.

“Daisy, fuck!” Dalton exclaims, slipping his arm around my back to steady me as another wave of dizziness takes over.

I’m caught between wanting to throw up and wanting to faint as he leads me to the toilet. Vomit rises up my throat and I drop to my knees emptying my stomach into the bowl, feeling humiliated, vulnerable. Dalton swears again, and grabs a towel draping it over my back as he rubs his hand up and down my spine.

“Something isn’t right,” he says, helping me to my feet as black spots dance in my vision.

“Dalton, I think I’m going to…” my words trail off as darkness engulfs me. The last thing I capture is Dalton’s expression of fear as I collapse into his arms.

“Daisy, can you hear me?”Dalton’s voice cuts through the haze of confusion in my mind, bringing me back to reality.

My eyes slowly flutter open and I take in my surroundings, the blinding light of what appears to be a hospital room coming into focus. I’m lying on a bed with crisp white sheets, hooked up to an IV as a heart monitor beeps steadily beside me.

“Dalton?” I croak, my throat dry and scratchy. I focus on his concerned face as he reaches out to gently stroke my hair off my forehead.

“Hey, Daisy,” Dalton breathes, relief flooding his features as he stares at me. “You had me worried there for a bit.”

“What happened?” I ask, trying to ease myself upright, but feeling the heavy throb in my stomach and thinking better of it.

“You fainted in the bathroom back home,” he replies softly, his hand still stroking my hair soothingly. “Don’t you remember?”

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