Page 95 of Stealing Sunshine

There’s too much to say and not enough time to say it. We’re not there yet, and I don’t know if we ever will be. Calling Daisy Mitchell mine is a dream that I never planned on coming true but always hoped would.

She tightens her grip on my wrist and steps forward, the toes of our shoes touching. The firm press of her lips on mine grows more frantic as she takes control and releases a soft sigh.

It’s as close to a moan as I’ve ever heard from her, and it drives me to utter insanity. I have to tear my mouth away before she winds up with her back against that oak tree and my touch between her legs.

“Daisy,” I whisper, pressing my fingertips against her scalp.

Her eyes appear dazed and glossy when she lifts her lashes. I don’t have to look in the mirror to know mine are just as lost.

I’m forced out of my haze when she blinks back to reality and shakes off my touch. Red blotches appear on her neck before drifting up her cheeks and the tip of her nose. Her smile is the fakest I’ve ever seen her wear. It’s somehow worse than the one I saw in my bedroom after our first kiss.

Confusion punches me in the chest, and I don’t keep quiet about it this time. “What just happened?”

“Not here, Bryce,” she pleads.

“Yes, here. I’m real fucking done with the disappearing act. You’re not going to do it to me again.”

She crosses her arms and leans backward in an adorable attempt at an aggressive stance. “If you get to pull away from me every time we kiss, then I get to disappear on you afterward.”

“What are you talking about?” I ask, tightening my gaze as my heartbeat stutters.

“I’m so stupid to think that this time would have been any different . . .”

I press a finger to her mouth, and she stops speaking, that spark of anger igniting into an out-of-control wildfire.

“My mom is coming,” I whisper, grazing her temple with my knuckle. For a second time, she subtly shakes my touch away, and my pussy tightens in excitement.

Fuck, I love when she gets angry with me and lets her fiery spirit out to play. Even if it should piss me off.

“You’re not off the hook. We’ll be talking about what you’ve apparently convinced yourself of. Even if I already know you’re so fucking off base,” I add before giving her another inch of space.

My mother tears up the grass on her way to where we stand, and knowing that the reason behind her anger is the best kiss I’ve experienced in my entire goddamn life?

It tastes almost as sweet as my sunshine.

29

DAISY

“Qu’est-ce que tu fais?C’est pas l’endroit pour ça.”

Bryce rolls her eyes and faces her mother. Like wiping marker off a whiteboard, she erases the entirety of her teasing demeanour with a single blink.

I wish it were that easy for me to let my feelings go. It’s already taking more than enough effort not to draw her back to me and kiss her again. Pretending to be completely unbothered in the face of her mother’s approaching wrath isn’t possible.

Keeping my arms crossed to form a boundary between me and the woman I desperately want to touch, I steel my spine.

“You didn’t tell me you would be here, Mom,” Bryce drones.

“Was I not welcome? Is this not your Daisy’s childhood home?”

Her Daisy.

“Of course you’re welcome here, Claudine.” It’s Mama who speaks, joining us with Mom in tow.

Claudine pauses and then quickly tucks her hair behind her ears, her posture erect in a prim and proper way.

“Hello, Rachel.” Her smile is small but honest, taking me by surprise. “Jennifer.”

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