Page 23 of The Heiress

I bow my head. In shame? I guess. “This whole thing is my father’s machination. There has never been anything, and therewill never really be anything between me and Cristiano. Please. What can I do to make you believe me?”

She smiles. “Run away with me, Daisy.”

We can’t leave fast enough. Partly because Cristiano could come back at any time, partly because we’re that desperate to be together.

Chapter 12

Lorde

Until a few moments ago, I was a woman wallowing in self-pity unlike ever experienced before. I couldn’t even tell you why. Here was this gal I never even had sex with, unless you count what we did in the movie theatre as sex. (When you’ve been with as many women as me, you start upping the ante with yourself. I often don’t even add them to my memory unless we’re grinding or something is vibrating.) All I had done was kiss and finger her. What should have been an old hat for me turned into something that constantly drove me insane.

I’ve never been one to commit. Can’t say I ever thought I would. So why did it hurt so much when I thought she was cheating on me with some guy… how could she be cheating on me when we weren’t in a relationship? Hey, wait, was she cheating on the other guy with me? Ouch.

The tabloids and gossip sites have been full of photos of her lately. After the initial scandal of us kissing, she went back to this Italian dude.

Cristiano. His name alone makes me want to break his teeth.

As much as I tried to convince myself that I didn’t care… I did. I do. I want Daisy for myself. I want to feel her warm lips on mine… and on other parts of my body. I want her attention, her touch, and her love.

I had been robbed of that by some dude named Cristiano, for fuck’s sake.

What hurt the most was the fact she never tried to explain.

After we went our separate ways in that alley, I thought she hadn’t tried to contact me once. Didn’t call. Didn’t e-mail. She still hasn’t accepted my friend request! As it turns out, she did try. I don’t know why I didn’t get the messages.

I kept telling myself that I didn’t care. Not once did I believe that.

Daisy DeMonte has been on my mind 24/7. Torturing me. Consuming me.

But now?Now? Holy shit. She’s here. She’s with me. We’re running away together. Maybe only for the night, but I’m damn happy to have her.

“Run away with me, Daisy.”

I don’t know where to go. I suggest my place, but she aptly decides that it would be too risky. We definitely can’t go to hers. What a pair of lives we live when we can’t even run away to our own homes.

“A hotel?” I slyly ask as we sit in my car, far away from prying pap eyes.

Daisy sheepishly looks away. What? This young lady who has boned her fair share of lucky people and was ready to rough ride my face the second time we met? The one who was no stranger totouching me in a packed movie theater? She’s suddenly got some sheepish morals? Ha!

“Okay,” she says. “If you can think of a nice one that won’t turn us over to the paps.”

I know what that means. Nice hotels come in two flavors: those with scrupulous employees who can’t wait to say what celebrity has come to stay the night, and those that are so popular that paps are always camped out there.

“How about the Caesar? It’s on the outskirts of town, and I’ve never had a problem.”

She raises an eyebrow as I start the car. “You would know, huh?”

“Hey, when money isn’t a problem, you take all your dates to the same hotel.”

“Uh. Huh.”

“Wanna know a secret?” I whisper, leaning in close to her as the car revs up beneath me. “I haven’t even thought of another woman since the day I met you.”

I have no way to know if she believes me or not. It’s dark, she’s wearing sunglasses and a hat, and her face is away from me. Finally, Daisy turns her head, teeth nipping my chin. “I’m going to be the last girl you ever take to that hotel. You got it?”

Oh, I’ve got it.

For being on the outskirts of the city, the Caesar is a relatively short drive away. Don’t care. I’m glad to have Daisy here with me. We could be going to the middle of the desert, a landfill, or her grandmother’s house and I would be ecstatic by the prospect.

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