Excerpt of Crazy Daisy by Maggie Adams

She glanced around. Nothing much had changed except the
large exercise machine in the corner facing the window. All
the books, the old rugs, were in place; even the chess set
was still in front of the window. It even smelled the same
– slightly moldy, but redolent with the cherry vanilla
tobacco the Colonel had smoked, and the Pine-Sol he had
used to clean everything.

“Gideon? Where are you?” Daisy walked through the kitchen
toward the back of the cabin. Perhaps he had been hurt.
In concern, she quickened her steps. As she neared the
bathroom, there was what sounded like a groan. Truly
worried now, she opened the bathroom door and stood stock
still.

Gideon McElroy was stark naked and hard, his cock in his
hand.

“What the f**k? Woman, are you crazy?”

She heard him yell, but she was transfixed. Most of his
left side was crisscrossed with scars, like he had been in
a fire. Even his groin and chest looked like a roadmap. The
beard obstructed his neck and jawline, but the scars
continued up the side of his face and into his hairline.

And he was pissed.

Daisy mumbled an apology and frantically searched for a
towel. She spotted it on the vanity base and threw it at
him, backing out of the room as he tied the towel around
his waist and advanced on her as she hurried down the hall
into the living room.

She held her hands up to ward him off and began to babble.
“I’m sorry; I thought, well, the dog was missing, and the
door popped open and I wasn’t sure if you were hurt, or
even here and I wanted to…” She tripped on the leg of the
large armchair and fell into it. The sun was completely
blocked from her sight as Gideon closed the distance
between them. For a moment, she thought this must be what
Belle felt like when the Beast got in her face. She could
feel his breath against her cheek.

“Now I know you’re not blind,” he snarled. “But are you
deaf and dumb? I told you to leave and not come back. To
stay away. Now what part didn’t you understand? Or maybe
you’re just crazy like people in town say?”

That hurt. She had thought the name was because she was
crazy enough to take on the local VA hospital when her
David couldn’t get help with the PTSD he had suffered from
after Afghanistan; not that she was, well, crazy. Tears
began to fall, and she cursed inwardly. She hated that she
cried when she was angry. It was a sign of weakness to her
mind.

“F**k! Don’t start the waterworks.” Gideon flung himself
away from her. “I don’t care why you are here, I just want
you gone.” He looked around the room. “Where the hell’s
Samson? How did you get past him, anyway?”

“I, er, I don’t know. He wasn’t here. That’s why I thought
something was wrong.” She wiped her tears with her coat
sleeve. “I heard what sounded like a moan in the back, and
I came down the hall to make sure you or Samson weren’t
hurt.”

Gideon eyes lit on the basket of goodies Daisy had brought.
“You’re the f**kin’ welcome wagon?”

“No! Um, well, yes, I guess, in your case. I needed to make
sure Samson had, um, his shots and was chipped, so I
brought the basket and some of the cookies you liked when
we were kids.” Daisy shrugged. Now that she thought about
it, that did sound kind of lame - here’s some cookies.
Remember me?

He quirked an eyebrow and picked up the taser. “And if I
didn’t cooperate, you were going to taser me into accepting
the basket?”

“No!” she laughed. “The dog,” but as soon as she said it,
she knew she was in trouble.

“You were going to taser my DOG?” he roared, advancing on
her once again.