Read Online Loving Mr. Daniels by Brittainy C. Cherry - Free Book Online

sister was the only one who really understood it, but no one else. She called it my golden.”
    “Your golden?”
    “Everyone has a golden. It could be anything—a song, a book, a pet, a person. Anything that makes you so happy your insides cry of pure joy. It feels like you’re on drugs but better because it’s a natural high. Shakespeare is my golden.”
    “I like how your brain works.”
    My cheeks heated up from his comment. Was he flirting with me? Because if there was ever a time I wanted a person to flirt with me, it was definitely while we were talking about reading. There was nothing sexier than a smart banmoy, especially when he was able to make my heart do cartwheels.
    “Your music made me smile,” I said, sipping at my water. “I haven’t smiled this much in a very long time.”
    Daniel laid his forearms on the table and laced his fingers together. He studied my face unvoiced for a moment. The smile he softly used filled the silence like a perfected speech. His eyes pierced my spirit before he tore his gaze away and lifted his beer up for a swallow. “That’s a real shame.”
    “Why’s that?”
    “Because when the world gives a person a smile like that, it should be the only activity those lips ever partake in.”
    My cheeks rose up and I ran my hands through my hair. Talking about my lips made me think about his lips, which made me think about things I shouldn’t have been thinking about. Time to change the subject.
    “So do all of your songs deal with different Shakespeare plays, or was I just being an over-the-top hipster while listening to the lyrics?” I asked.
    Daniel tilted his head to the side and his mouth parted. A look of amazement stayed on his face. I liked that look. Okay, truth was I liked all of his looks. “You’re the real deal, aren’t you? Most people don’t pick up on it, but yes. Every song is based on some form of Shakes’s works.”
    “That’s so nerdy and hot all at once. I’m not sure how to handle it all.”
    “What can I say? I’m a nerd-stud.”
    I giggled and sipped from my glass. “So there was Romeo and Juliet of course. Then there was…” I paused, trying to recite the exact order of his set list. “ Hamlet , Richard III , The Tempest , A Midsummer Night’s Dream , and Othello ?”
    Daniel’s hand flew over his heart and his back slammed against his booth. “Marry me,” he joked. I almost considered it, too. Daniel’s lips parted, and I swore I sighed just from the sight. “So tell me, no-name girl. What do you do for a living?”
    “What do I do or what do I want to do? Those are two different things, I think. I’m currently a student hoping to someday call myself an author.”
    “No way? Really?” He seemed honestly interested.
    “Really, really. Like, double really.”
    He laughed and I sighed at the sound of his chuckle. The way his smile stretched so far and wide made me think that I was actually charming. “Well, do it. Become an author.”
    It was my turn to giggle. “Yeah. Because it’s that easy.”
    His head shook back and forth. A somber look overtook him and he held his beer in the air. “I never said it would be easy. I just said do it. Besides, the best things in life aren’t easy. They are tough, they are painful, and they are raw. That makes the arrival to the final destination that much sweeter.”
    “Yeah it’s just…” My voice trailed off, yet Daniel appeared to stay invested in the conversation, never tampering off from boredom of my thoughts. “I had a co-writer.”
    “Had?” he questioned.
    “Yeah, and I can’t imagine finishing the book without her.” When my mouth closed, I began to grind my teeth against each other, trying to fight back the tears.
    Daniel took note of the emotion, and his hand moved across the table, taking my hand into his. His touch electrified me, sending waves of heat through my fingertips.
    “I’m sorry for your loss.”
    Five words. Five words from a stranger and a simple