“Sweetie,” Riley said, watching the small brunette. “Anything you want to tell us about Cole?”

Penelope blinked big brown eyes, then gave a sheepish smile. “Sometimes he’s too agreeable. It gets annoying.”

They all threw carrots at her.

“Seriously though,” Grace said, bringing their attention back to Daisy. “We’re not saying that things have to be all smooth sailing; we’re just saying you should be careful, Daisy.”

“Of what?” she asked.

Emma took over. “Lincoln’s had his heart ripped out in the most brutal way possible, and it wasn’t a quick rip of the Band-Aid. It was a long-drawn-out torture. Nobody wants you to find your happy ending like I do, Daiz. You know that. But sweetie…I don’t know that Lincoln’s it. I don’t know that he can be.”

Daisy swallowed as the truth of Emma’s statement tore through her. On some level, she supposed she’d known what she was dealing with—a man who would never put his heart on the line, not after what happened. But hearing it out loud was a whole other kind of pain.

The kind that reminded her why she’d quit believing in happily ever after.

Because believing, and then having it ripped way…it hurt. It hurt in the way that you never recovered from.

Especially when what you were losing—who you were losing—was Lincoln Mathis.

Her eyes closed as she realized that what she wanted more than she’d ever wanted anything was for Lincoln Mathis to feel about her the way she felt about him:

A forever kind of love.

She also knew it was never going to happen. Lincoln had already had that once. And it wasn’t with her.

Whatever was going on with her and Lincoln was temporary. That’s what her friends were telling her.

Even worse, she knew down to the tips of her pink-polished toes that they were right.

What she didn’t know:

However would she survive it when he left?

Chapter 30

Daisy opened her eyes slowly, grateful for the dim light in her…

Her hands spread to her sides, finding an unfamiliar bedspread, sheets that were just slightly less soft than hers in Charlotte.

It was her new bed, her sleepy brain registered. The one she’d recently purchased after her move to New York…

Her eyes opened all the way and she rolled to the side toward the nightstand alarm clock…that wasn’t there.

There was, however, a small bundle of white fluff next to her face.

The bundle of fluff moved, giving Daisy’s chin a quick lick before hopping down to go to her own pink bed in the corner of the room.

Daisy realized a couple of things all at once:

(1) There’d been a dog in bed with her. A tiny Maltese.

(2) The bedspread was gray instead of white, the alarm clock on the left nightstand instead of the right…

Because…(3) She wasn’t in her room.

A quick glance down showed she was in a man’s undershirt; a peek under the cover showed she was wearing nothing but pale blue panties.

There was a stirring beside her. A man.

Daisy smiled as the sleep-fog receded completely. Same bed as she’d woken up in once before, but entirely different circumstances.

For starters, there was no hangover. She and Lincoln had gone out to dinner the night before and had a couple of glasses of wine, but no copious amounts of Jack Daniel’s knocked back like it was water.

And while she was wearing a man’s undershirt, there were no boxers this time.

There definitely hadn’t been a Britney Spears striptease, although not from Lincoln’s lack of pleading.

The most important distinction, however…

Daisy rolled onto her side, smiling at the sleeping man next to her. As one might expect, Lincoln was every bit as handsome asleep as awake. In fact, sometimes it was these quiet moments she liked the best. The moments she felt like she had him all to herself.

He stirred, shoving the covers further down his body. She’d learned he ran hot when he slept, kicking off the sheets more often than not.

Daisy watched appreciatively as his sculpted chest came into view, although unfortunately he stilled when he got the blankets down to his waist. Something else Daisy had learned…Lincoln liked to sleep naked.

She slid closer to him until she could set a hand possessively over his chest. He stirred a little, putting his warm hand over hers, but he didn’t wake.

Daisy bit her lip, feeling…inspired.

Easing her hand from under his, she slid her hand over his stomach until her fingers hooked into the sheet, easing it all the way down.

She smiled in triumph. God bless morning wood.

Her gaze went back to his face as she slowly wrapped her fingers around his warm erection. Lincoln stilled, his back arching just slightly at her touch as though reaching for more.

She gave it to him, her thumb rubbing over the smooth tip of his cock. His eyes remained closed, but his breathing quickened as though he was enjoying a dirty dream.

Daisy decided to make the dirty dream a reality.

She sat back slightly, tugging the borrowed shirt over her head and tossing it aside before moving back to his side, easing down his body. She shifted onto her knees for better leverage, bending over him until she could put her mouth on him.

Daisy had done this to him only once before, and she’d felt shy. But with him still asleep, or at least in some dreamlike state, she felt emboldened.

She experimented, licking up and down with leisurely strokes, before taking him all the way in, as deep as she could.