Daisy's Back in Town Read Free Page A

thigh, slipping beneath her blue and gold cheerleader skirt. Of Daisy Lee wearing a pair of red cowboy boots with white hearts on the sides, and nothing else.
    "Leaving the party so soon?" Gina asked as she walked toward him.
    He looked over at her. "Boring party."
    "We could make a party of our own." Typical of Gina, she didn't wait for him to make the first move. Usually that bothered him. Not tonight. She raised her mouth to his, and she tasted of warm beer and need. Jack kissed her back. With her firm breasts crushed against his chest, the first tug of desire stirred low in his gut. He pulled Gina into him and heated things up until all he felt was lust and the rain soaking his skin through his shirt. He replaced all thoughts of brown eyes and cheerleader skirts with the woman pressing herself against his button fly.

    Daisy Monroe raised her hand to the screen door then lowered it again. Her heart pounded in her chest and her stomach twisted into one big knot. Rain beat against the porch all around her, and water ran from the downspout and into the flower beds. The garage behind her was lit up, illuminating every nook and cranny surrounding Parrish American Classics. But where she stood was pitch black, as if the light didn't dare creep any farther into the yard.
    The garage was new, rebuilt since she'd seen it before. The yard surrounding the garage had been cleaned up.
    The old cars towed away. From what she could see the house was exactly the same, though, bringing a memory of a nice summer breeze lifting her hair and carrying the scent of roses. Of the many nights she'd sat on the porch where she now stood, wedged between Steven and Jack, laughing at their stupid jokes.
    Thunder and lightning boomed and lit up the night sky, shattering the memory. An omen that she should leave and come back again some other time.
    She wasn't good at confrontation. She wasn't one of those people who liked to face problems head oil. She was better at it than she used to be, but maybe she should have called first. It wasn't polite to just show up on someone's doorstep at ten o'clock at night, and she probably looked like a drowned cat.
    Before she'd left her mother's house, she'd made sure her hair was brushed smooth and flipped tinder just below her shoulders. Her makeup looked perfect and her white blouse and khaki pants pressed. Now she was sure her hair had frizzed, mascara had run, and her pants were splattered with mud from the puddle she'd accidentally dashed through. She turned to go, then forced herself to turn hack. Her appearance wasn't really important, and there was never going to he a good time for what she had to do. She'd been in town three days already. She had to talk to Jack. Tonight. She'd put it off long enough. She had to tell him what she'd been keeping from him for fifteen years.
    She raised her hand once more and nearly jumped out of her skin when the wooden door Swung open before she could knock. Through the screen and dark interior, she could make out the outline of a man. His shirt was missing, and a light from deep within the house cast a warm golden glow from behind, pouring over his arms and shoulders and halfway down his naked chest. She definitely should have called first.
    "Hello," she began before she could give into her trepidation. "I'm looking for Jackson Parrish."
    "My-my," his voice drawled in the darkness, "ii it isn't Daisy Lee Brooks."
    It had been fifteen years and his voice had changed. It was deeper than the boy she'd known, but she would have recognized that nasty tone anywhere. No one could pack as much derision into his new him anymore.
    "Hello, Jack."
    "What do you want, Daisy?"
    She stared at him through the screen and shadows, at the outline of the man she'd once known so well. The knot in her stomach pulled tighter. "I wanted to... I need to talk to you. And I-I thought... " She took a deep breath and forced herself to stop stammering. She was thirty-three. So was he. "I wanted to tell