It was Friday night, which meant tequila and junk food at Daisy Darling's house. Daisy lived outside Baltimore, in the county, in a little white house with black shutters, surrounded by trees. Her three best friends, who all lived in the city, resented the half-hour drive, but appreciated the quiet privacy of Daisy's cottage; the sort of quiet privacy required by professional young women when they let their hair down.
At eight o'clock on the dot, Constance del Costa arrived, zipping into the drive in a spiffy little BMW. She unfolded her long, lean body from the behind the wheel, and grabbed a blue plastic shopping bag from the passenger seat.
"Salsa!" She declared, wiggling her dark brows at Daisy, who was standing on the front porch. She dashed up to the porch and engulfed Daisy in a hug, then pulled back and placed a smacking kiss on the top of Daisy's head.
Daisy and Constance were a study in contrasts. Constance, with her sleek waterfall of black hair, and dark gold skin, stood head and shoulders above Daisy, who was compact and curvy, a bundle of cheerful energy topped by constantly rumpled blonde hair.
Arms linked, they went inside, to Daisy's kitchen, which was painted a happy tangerine color. Tortilla chips, a mountain of them, sat in a big pink bowl, and beside them, a handle of Cuervo Gold.
"
Tia del Costa's
salsa!" Constance said, flourishing a Tupperware container of chunky, tomato-rich salsa.
"Heaven." Daisy rolled her eyes to the ceiling in appreciation with a sigh, as she made her way to the fridge. " Grocery store guacamole!" She brandished the plastic dish high, a self-deprecating smile on her lips.
"Appalling." Constance mock-frowned.
Daisy and Constance set out food, tequila, and shot glasses on a glass-topped table in the lime green living room.
"Do we need a plastic sheet?" Constance inquired, pointing to Daisy's sparkling white sofa.
"Nah β it's from Ikea." Daisy waved the question away negligently.
"Ah. Cheap." Said Constance, who had expensive tastes.
"Functional, cute, and affordable, if you please." Daisy sniffed, then perked up when she head another pull into her driveway. "Could it be our very own Earth Mother?" She wondered aloud with a wink.
Constance and Daisy stepped out onto the porch to meet their friend. Susan Quentin all but fell out of her neat little hybrid car, dragging a freckled hand through her super-short henna red hair.
"I need tequila!" She wailed, as she collapsed into Daisy's arms.
"Rough day at the clinic, Susan?" Daisy patted her back while Constance relieved her of her cloth shopping bag.
"You have no idea, Daisy." Susan sighed. "Con, there's vegan, organic cheese in that bag, and low-sodium chips."
"Low sodium? That defeats the purpose!" Constance declared, dumping the contents of the bag onto the kitchen counter.
As she arranged the cheese on a plate β this one cow-spotted-, and Daisy poured a glass of red wine for Susan, their last friend arrived, banging through the front door with her usual gusto.
"Ladies, I'm here, and I'm ready to be liquored up!" Gabriella Moretti announced, shaking out her mane of chestnut curls. Gabriella shrugged her toned arms out of her perfectly tailored charcoal suit, and collapsed onto the white couch.
By ten o'clock, the friends had a good buzz going, halfway into their tequila, and all the way through Titi del Costa's salsa. Billie Holiday crooned from the stereo, and Daisy lie spread-eagle on the hardwood floor.
"I'm lonely, guys. I'm ready for another relationship." She declared, out of the blue.
"Me too. A man who really fills out a three-piece suit." Gabriella mused from the big leather ottoman. She had lost her shoes at some point, and her strong feet, the toes painted fire-engine red, were tucked up under her.
"I'm just horny." Constance giggled from under the coffee table.
" It's so hard to find sensitive, socially-conscious men." Susan lamented, swirling her tequila on the rocks.
"Who cares about socially-conscious? I want a big man, with a big bulge, and a big truck." Daisy giggled.
Susan stood up, stumbled over to her briefcase, and pulled out a legal pad and a pen. "Alright, let's make a list, girls. What do we each want in a man?"
* * * * *
Chapter 1: Daisy
The next morning, Daisy awoke, inexplicably, under the kitchen table. Someone was pounding on the door, and she was drooling onto a sheet of paper under her cheek. She swore and jumped up, banging her head hard against the underside of the table.
"Shit shit shit!" She muttered, rubbing her aching head, before noticing that the sheet of paper was stuck to her warm cheek. Ignoring what could only be a madman knocking on the door β it was barely 10 am! βShe studied the sheet of paper.
Daisy's Manly Man
Tall
Big and strong
Dick no smaller than 8 inches
Trucks a plus!
Likes down and dirty sex
Tattoos also a plus
Fills out a pair of jeans
Faithful
"Hm!" She mused. The list looked about right β even given the drunken state it was penned.
The knocking finally got to her, and grumbling, she crawled to the front door, using the doorknob to drag herself to her feet. She opened the door with a yawn, and felt her heart skip a feet.
Standing on her porch was a man. No normal man, this was a capital M man β six feet four inches, 250 pounds of solid man. Solid, frowning man. He was wearing a crisp white Oxford shirt with a neatly knotted tie. A leather holster kept his big gun snug under his broad shoulder, and a badge was clipped to his black leather belt.
Oh my,
Daisy thought to herself.
"Ma'am, I'm your new neighbor. Detective Wes Colfield." He said in a low, deep voice. Daisy noticed that his eyes were green. She loved green eyes.
"Nice to meet you, Wes." She murmured, cocking her hip, and quirking her lips up.
Lord, she was a fine sight to see first thing in the morning, Wes thought to himself. She was a little bit of a thing β her head probably only reached his shoulders- and she was round and soft, with sexy, rumpled hair and clear, pink skin. Just Wes' kind of woman.
She was also wearing a pair of tiny silk boxers, a battered t-shirt proclaiming "Forty and Fabulous!" and one sock. He could tell she wasn't wearing a bra, her breasts looked small and perfect, and her little nipples poked out provocatively. Wes suddenly stopped frowning β he wanted to get to know his tiny neighbor much,
much
better.
"I'm Daisy Darling. Welcome to the neighborhood." She stuck her hand out, little like the rest of her, with neat pink nails. He took it in his own big and callused hand, and administered a firm handshake.
"Well thank you, Daisy Darling. I'm sorry to disturb you after what I assume was a wild night, but someone has blocked my truck in."
Daisy glanced over into his yard, and sure enough, Gabriella's red sports car was parked, rather crookedly, behind Wes' truck.
"Oh, I'm sorry! Friday night is tequila night." She explained with a smile. "I'll go wake Gabriella. Come on in." And with that nonsensical explanation, she retreated into the house.
Wes followed her cautiously into her sunny green living room, his cop's eyes taking in the candles burned down to nothing, the empty liquor bottles, the chip crumbs everywhere. And his man's eyes noticed the two scantily clad women sleeping on the white couch. Wes believed he was witnessing the morning after of a real life, honest to God
slumber party