I was also marveling at the fact that Marcus didn’t mind that I rewound to the locker room scene (and played it twice).

Since my mind was otherwise occupied, it came as a surprise when his hand fell light as it cupped my cheek.

My body jerked and my eyes darted up to his.

“Please don’t touch me.”

His hand dropped away but this time he didn’t move away.

He shifted closer. In my space. Not threatening. Not pushy. Just…there.

“Have you talked to someone?” he asked gently.

“I’m talkin’ to you now,” I pointed out.

“About what happened to you, honey.”

I looked to the side.

“Please, darling, look at me.”

I pressed my lips together, drew in breath through my nose, and looked up at him again.

“You need to talk to somebody,” he urged.

“I’m doin’ a-okay,” I shared.

“You have trouble with me touching you.”

“You find that surprising?” I asked a little sarcastically.

“No. My fear is that, if you don’t speak to someone about it, you won’t be able to get past it.”

I shook my head. “Had a lot of shit happen to me in my life, sugar. This is just another load a’ shit I gotta get around. And make no mistake, like all the others, I’ll get around this.”

His brows went up. “And it’s necessary for you to do it on your own?”

“All a girl’s got is herself.”

That’s when Marcus Sloan rocked my world.

He did this by declaring, “You’re entirely wrong.”

“I—” I began and I got that one letter out but it didn’t count because he talked right over me saying it.

“A woman like you should have had a momma who loved her. A daddy who adored her. Friends who thought the world of her. She should have grown up every day knowing that straight to her soul, never doubting it, not for a second.”

I felt my eyes narrow for no other reason than to beat back what his words were making me feel.

“You don’t know what kind of girl I am.”

“I know precisely the kind of woman you are, Daisy. And if you don’t understand it, then it’ll be up to me to show it to you.”

Oh Lord.

Time to try another tack.

“Marcus, I’m tellin’ you, you don’t got a pla—”

He put his hand up between us and shook his head, cutting me off saying an impatient, “No.”

I kept trying.

“The food was real good and it was sweet, you bein’ all…” I didn’t know how to express the gorgeousness of it so I used the universal, “whatever with me when M’Lynn lost it at Shelby’s funeral. And I’m not sayin’ I haven’t hit a rough patch. I know I have. I’m not in denial or nothin’. I’m workin’ through it, but doin’ that my way. What I’m sayin’ is, this is sweet and all, but you don’t have a place in that.”

“You’ve made that clear. I just don’t agree.”

Again, I was getting mad.

“Okay then, I’ll explain it this way. I’m not gettin’ used to some fine man showin’ me attention, bringin’ me fancy food and bein’ sweet only to hit that time when I get my gold bracelet and a good-bye.”

He stared down at me, something flitting through his eyes.

Then he murmured, “Ah.”

“Ah, what?” I snapped.

It was then he got closer. Still not threatening, but coming on strong.

I held my breath.

“It’s understandable, in a sense, that you’d say that. You don’t know me. But I’ll tell you and then I’ll show you that I am not a man who would come into a woman’s life, a woman who had what happened to you happen to her, with the intention of doing what I had to do to get what I wanted and then give her my good-bye.” He drew in breath and didn’t release my gaze when he finished, “Although understandable, it’s still insulting as all fuck.”

I blinked and felt my stomach twist painfully.

He shifted back.

“Goodnight, Daisy.”

And with that, he turned, walked down the hall, and disappeared.

Chapter Five

Prince Charming

Daisy

I woke up in a cold sweat.

And terrified.

I didn’t even think. I couldn’t coordinate my limbs. So when I moved, I fell off my bed, right to the floor. I crawled half the distance to the door to my bedroom before I found my feet.

Once I did, I sprinted to the dinette where I’d left my purse. I snatched out my cell and sprinted back to my room, slamming the door, locking the lock, so lost in my head, when I ran across the room, I thumped into my bed, falling on top of it, but I didn’t hesitate.

I scrambled over it and off the other side, hitting the floor on my hands. The cell digging into my palm, I just kept going. My knees falling off the bed, crashing into the floor, I crawled to the corner¸ turned, pressed my back in, lifted my knees up protectively in front of me, and fumbled my phone as I brought it to my face.

I flipped it open and saw it tremble in my hand as I searched for the number I’d programmed in no matter I knew it was a fool thing to do.

I was glad I’d done it then.

I hit it, put the phone to my ear, and felt it shaking against the shell.

I heard it ring.

It rang four times, and with each passing one I wanted to scream before I heard a deep man’s voice say, “Yes?”