Page 32 of Apple of My Eye

She lifted a shoulder to her ear. “Tonight, you got me to have fun. Maybe I’m ready to kiss and find out what happens next.”

That did it. My lips landed on hers, crushing. One hand slid down her side, pulling her fully across the console this time until she was in my space, straddling my lap, her body melding with mine.

My hand found the hem of her shirt, and slipped under. She flinched.

“Cold hands. Sorry.”

“Don’t stop,” she urged. That was all the permission I needed.

“Yeah?” I brushed my mouth along her jaw. “That’s my girl.” Her skin warmed my hand, supple like silk, easy to caress. “I've been wondering what you’d feel like far too long.” I hadn’t let myself think about it too much because I knew once I did, I wouldn’t stop.

“You could’ve asked me out,” she shot back, though it came out thinner than she probably intended.

I smirked against the skin of her neck. “We both know you have plenty of reasons you would have said no.”

“True. Maybe you should’ve tried harder.”

I laughed under my breath, my thumb brushing over her nipple through the fabric of her bra. “Oh, I’m trying hard now. Very hard.”

Her hand dipped down, brushing over the bulge in my jeans. I about jumped out of my skin. Fuck, are her walls crumbling down entirely?

“Mm, Knox…”

The only sound I’d be playing in my head on repeat for the foreseeable future, was her moan of my name.

“Yeah?” I rolled her nipple between thumb and finger, watching her reaction. “Say it again like that and I might not last as long as I planned.”

My hips bare;y jerked. She moved with me. No hesitation, only heat from grinding.

Her fingers dragged through my hair, pulling me back to her mouth, kissing me like she meant it, like she wasn’t holding anything back anymore.

That alone nearly snapped my control. Where had thisversion of Daisy been hiding all this time? When my hand found the button on her jeans, it lingered there. “Is this okay?”

“I don’t think I can handle you going any slower,” she said, a little breathless, a little teasing.

I met her eyes. “Precious, remember? I take good care of what matters.”

“Yes, Knox.” She wrapped her hands around my neck, anchoring herself to me, her head tipping back as I rolled her nipple and dragged my lips down the side of her neck. She unraveled by the second, this woman who carried the world on her shoulders and never asked a single person for help.

My free hand returned to the waistband of her jeans.

She caught my wrist, but only for a moment. She lifted up and tugged them down her thighs, an amazing feat in the cramped space we were in. Then she moaned and let go when my hand caressed in, under the fabric of her panties, through her wet seam. And when I found her clit, swollen and wanting, our hot breaths multiplied. We fogged all the windows.

I took care of Daisy the way I took care of everything that mattered to me. Methodically. Attentively. With a hell of a lot of focus and absolutely zero intention of rushing the process.

“Just like that.” She moved against my hand, chasing the pressure, her grip on my jacket tightening. I read every shift and hitch of her breath and squirm on my lap—a language all-Daisy I’d been waiting to learn. I adjusted until I found the rhythm that had her forgetting to hold anything back.

“You gonna keep pushing me away after this?” I teased, even as I kept the pressure exactly where she needed it.

“Hush, Knox,” she breathed.

I grinned against her skin. “That’s not a no.”

“Ooh, don’t stop,” she moaned into my shoulder, barely audible.

“I’m not even close to finishing with you.” My thumb worked in slow circles around her clit while my fingers inside of her urged her higher. I kept my mouth at her neck, her jaw, her ear, her lips, praising her,good girl,enough to keep her here with me, keep her feeling every point of contact all at once.

“Almost… almost, Knox,” she whimpered.