The Fae Book 2: Burr and Daisy

Chapter 15: Drag You Back To My Cave

Daisy stared at me for a minute when I made the announcement about changing Purr's litterbox for her while she was pregnant and blinked those soft brown eyes of hers at me.

"Seriously?"

I pretended to misunderstand her. "I don't mind. I have nothing else going on after work."

"Burr, is this just a way to...to...I don't even know what I'm trying to accuse you of here."

"I know you have no reason to trust me. But Daisy, I'm just offering because you want the kitten and a pregnant lady shouldn't change the litterbox. The disease is called toxoplasmosis, and you can Google it if you don't believe me."

She huffed. "I believe you, Burr. But I just feel like there's some ulterior motive here."

I moved toward her. "No ulterior motive, Daisy. I already told you I want to marry you. That was fair warning that I'm going to do everything in my power to convince you to marry me."

"Yeah, because my life's dream is to be married to a man who doesn't find me totally repulsive and who doesn't love me. That's not what I want."

I looked away from her, my jaw clenching, wishing I could tell her I loved her.

"Tell me what you want, Daisy." 

"I want love, Burr; more than anything, I want love. I want someone who looks at me and feels like the luckiest man in the world because I agreed to marry him. I want a man who pushes my hair behind my ear so he can kiss my neck and then whisper into my ear about how much he loves me. I want a man who sees me across the room and becomes speechless because he can't think about anything but the most beautiful woman in the world -- me. I want a man who finds excuses to touch me because he can't resist me. I want a man who walks into the kitchen and pulls me into his arms and begins dancing with me. A man who laughs quietly with me in bed as we talk about our days. That's what I want, Burr, and you will never be able to deliver that because you look at me and only see an unworthy donkey who bakes for a living."

"That's not true," I said to her quietly. And it wasn't.

"I don't want to be married to someone who thinks I'm ugly."

"Daisy, you're not ugly." As soon as the words were out of my mouth, I knew I'd said the wrong thing.

Her eyes filled with tears, and I knew that made her angry that she was showing any weakness in front of me. "You don't hear that, do you, Burr? I'm not ugly, I'm not repulsive. All you can tell me is what I'm not; you never put it in terms of what I am and that's because nothing I am means anything to you."

Those brown eyes looked up at me, liquid and shimmering, and I hated that I caused her so much pain. In that moment, I wanted to take her to bed and show her just how much I desired her, show her that I did, in fact, want her like no other, but I knew that would be the wrong thing. My thoughts were all over the fucking place and I needed time to unscramble them; I couldn't act on this primitive instinct I felt. Was there something embedded deep within me as a male, a leftover from early man, that turned me into a Neanderthal when I stood in front of the woman who was ripe and rounded with my child?

I needed to think, and she needed some space, so I took a step back from her. "What time do you want me over here tomorrow to change the litter box?"

She blinked, her tears catching on her long black lashes like tiny little diamonds. "I guess five, maybe. I usually come home from work and take a little nap, then have dinner."

"Let me bring you dinner, then, so you don't have to cook. I'll get something healthy for you and our prionsa."

"You can't --"