“Tonight?” she repeats, her mouth dropping. “Ryke, this is a charity event.”
I cut in, “I’m going to write a check, so it’ll make up for whatever happens.” I know that’s not the right thing to say. Daisy looks petrified, her eyes widening at the thought of hurting people. She’s not going to, but in her mind, maybe that’s what she sees.
Ryke cups her face, and she stares only at him. “Dais, we’re not asking you to humiliate yourself or anyone around you. Just throw out this fucking etiquette book your mother gave you, and do what you feel.”
She blinks back tears. It’s hard to watch, but I can’t turn away either. “Maybe…next week,” she hesitates.
“No.” Ryke pulls her into his body, with both hands on her cheeks. “Today, tomorrow—be wild, Calloway.”
She inhales strongly. “What if that’s not who I am?”
“Then be who you are, sweetheart,” Ryke says passionately. “But don’t change for them.”
Daisy fingers his business suit, and I think she’s going to comment on it. Maybe that fight is a sore one because she doesn’t mention the change he’s made for the company. Though, she stands on the tips of her toes to kiss his shaven jaw. He tenses, and then she lands on her feet. “Don’t stop me,” she tells us, and she actually smiles, her eyes twinkling deviously.
“I rarely do,” Ryke reminds her.
She blows out a breath like she’s embracing something inside of her that she’s locked away these past months. And then she begins walking backwards towards the ballroom door. Her grin grows as she plants a playful gaze on Ryke.
I have no idea what she’s about to do, to be honest. I just hope it’s enough to persuade the board that she’s too reckless to be a CEO. That she’s still young.
She pushes through the doors, and we’re close behind. In the packed conference room, Daisy wags her brows at us, and then spins towards the groups of boisterous people, no one on stage right now.
She does one cartwheel, and her skirt flies up to her waist. Revealing underwear that says…I roll my eyes. But the similar underwear reminds me of Lily.
Beside the chocolate fountain, Lil holds a stick with a banana. A smile overtakes me. It’s an old trick of ours. Act like you’re contemplating dipping a piece of food into the fountain, when you’re just killing time.
I peel my gaze off her and onto my brother. He’s trying to suppress a rare smile of his own, completely infatuated with Daisy. She’s on the fourth cartwheel and gathered more attention from people. When she does a handstand, people watch her. A few board members shake their head in disapproval.
I LOVE RYKE MEADOWS is upside down.
I catch a few people snapping photos with their camera phones. That was expected.
“Your name is on her ass,” I state blankly.
“I’m so fucking in love with her,” is all he says. And I believe every word.
When she drops her feet, she takes a small bow, and a couple guys clap. Probably for showing her ass. I shoot them a look, but that doesn’t stop them from ogling Daisy. It irritates me, but that feeling vanishes the moment Daisy locks eyes with my brother.
The moment she runs straight out of the ballroom with the biggest, brightest smile. She’s a ball of light that Ryke is going to catch up to. I can see it in his eyes.
And he’s off behind her.
I head to the window that overlooks the street, and I feel a presence slide next to me. Chocolate banana in hand, Lily presses her nose close to the glass. “What are we looking at?”
“Your sister, my brother,” I tell her.
I wait for them to exit onto the street. It’s something Daisy would do. And maybe three minutes pass before a platinum-blonde girl sprints out of the hotel and into the parking lot. She removes her shirt and her skirt as she races forward. We’re only on the third floor, so I make out her overpowering smile.
It’s like watching someone break free.
And my brother—he runs after her. I know everyone thinks he chased Daisy to stop her. They were nodding in approval about it as he left, but he’s not.
As soon as he falls in line with Daisy, he runs by her side.
“They’re going to last,” Lily says with a hopeful nod.
Yeah. They just might. I tear my attention off the window and onto her. She’s pulled out her cell and concentrates on typing. “What’re you doing, Lil?”
“Tweeting,” she says and then flashes me the screen: I’m Crazy for Raisy.