Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
The next day, Daisy and Elliot were on their first official date, browsing the stacks of books at The Cinnamon Bun Bookstore when Daisy heard a sound that made her blood run cold.
‘Wait,’ she hissed, grabbing Elliot’s forearm before he could leave the aisle they were currently perusing.
‘What is it?’ Elliot froze, turning back to her.
He looked cute today, slightly less disheveled, like he’d tried to get his hair in order.
They’d spent the last half an hour just sipping their coffees and looking at books, side by side in the stacks.
Every once in a while, Elliot’s arm would rub against hers or he would peer at her over the top of the book he was holding and smile at her.
It was peaceful and comfortable and … Daisy was pretty sure no one had noticed them except for Hazel.
But now, it was time for them to perform.
She had to sell it.
She was not cursed Daisy, not unlucky in love, not a person who caused marriages to break up with her bad vibes.
No, she was Daisy in love. Daisy in a perfectly healthy and functional relationship who now channeled all those romantic feelings into her work and sprinkled love around like some kind of Goddamn cupid … okay, she might need to tone it down a tad…
She shook off the anger at her situation. That wasn’t going to do her any good right now.
‘The book club is here.’ Daisy could hear the distinct sound of Jacob laughing and Nancy trying to call the meeting to order. If they needed to convince anyone in town that they were in love, it was these romance-reading fiends.
‘Okay…’ Elliot waited for her to explain, clearly not understanding the gravity of the situation. ‘And that’s bad?’
‘No, it’s good.’
‘If it’s so good then why are your fingernails digging into my arm?’ he asked, with a lopsided smile.
‘Oops.’ She loosened her grip, rubbing her palm over the place on Elliot’s forearm where she’d left little crescent moons with her nails. It was a nice forearm … long, lean muscle leading to a big hand with strong fingers…
‘Daisy?’
‘Right. Sorry.’ She pulled her hand away, letting Elliot’s arm drop back to his side. ‘I meant it’s good because we need more people to see us together and the book club will spread the news far and wide.’
‘Great.’
‘Yeah, but we need to be really convincing. They’ll be able to sniff out a fake from miles away.’
‘Daisy, they’re just a book club.’
‘Ha. Said by a man who is clearly not from around here.’
‘So, what’s the plan?’ Elliot tucked the books he was carrying under his arm, an amused smile on his face.
‘How about…’ Maybe they didn’t actually need to put on a play in front of these people. Maybe they could just … hint at it. Create the illusion.
Daisy stepped closer and Elliot’s eyes widened. She reached up and ran her fingers through his hair, mussing it up. It was thick and coarse between her fingers.
‘What are you doing?’ Elliot asked, his voice dropping low.
‘Messing you up a little bit to, you know … suggest what we might have been doing back here.’
He stared at her for a breath, his pupils blown wide and his cheeks flushed red, and she didn’t move away, keeping her fingers tight in his hair. She tugged a little and a quiet groan left his lips, the sound reverberating through Daisy’s entire body.
‘Fair’s fair, then,’ he said, setting the books aside. His arms came around her as he gently pulled the hair tie from her hair. When he ran his fingers through the strands, her breath came out in a shaky staccato.
‘Elliot.’ She hadn’t meant to moan his name, but it had been so long since anyone had played with her hair. His jagged sigh blew across her cheek.
He tugged her closer until she could feel his rapidly beating heart against hers.
Her arms were wrapped around his neck now, his fingers still twisted in her hair.
If anyone came around that corner, Daisy was sure they’d be convinced as hell that something very real was going on between her and Elliot.
So much for illusion.
She let her forehead rest on his sternum as he continued to mess up her hair. She pressed closer, her face tucked in the crook of his neck, and she had the insane urge to lick him there, to run her tongue over his fast-beating pulse.
Elliot hissed a pained breath when Daisy rocked her hips toward his. He dropped her hair.
‘I think that should do it,’ he said, his hands on her shoulders, holding her back.
Daisy blinked. She cleared her throat. ‘Right. Good. That’s good.’ Elliot stared back at her looking completely wrecked. ‘Very … suggestive.’
He nodded. ‘Very.’ He certainly looked like they’d been up to something back here in the stacks, and if Daisy’s racing heart and flaming cheeks were any indication, she probably did, too.
‘Okay, let’s do this.’ She grabbed his hand, and together they emerged into the center of the bookstore where the Dream Harbor book club was set up for their meeting. They were not so busy, however, to miss Elliot and Daisy holding hands and looking incredibly guilty.
‘Oh, look,’ Jacob cooed. ‘It’s Dream Harbor’s latest lovebirds.’
Nancy, Linda, Kaori, Isabel, Jeanie and Mac all turned to look at them, their eyes lighting up immediately. Daisy felt like a little mouse being sized up by the house cat. How much would they toy with her?
‘What have you two been up to, today?’ Mac asked with a knowing smirk.
‘Books,’ Daisy blurted out. ‘Looking for books.’
‘Together? How sweet,’ Isabel said, her gaze running over their red faces and mangled hair. Maybe they’d been too convincing. Daisy felt exposed. Nothing she and Elliot had just done had felt fake.
But she remembered her mission. Her shop.
‘We just love to be together,’ Daisy said, gazing up at Elliot and nudging her elbow into his side.
He blinked. ‘Uh … yes, we um … can’t seem to get enough.’
‘Wow,’ Kaori said, from her perch on a stool by the window. ‘We didn’t realize things were so serious between you two.’
‘Very serious,’ Daisy said.
‘It’s nice to see you so happy,’ Nancy said, her shrewd gaze still flicking back and forth between them.
‘Is it?’
‘Of course, dear. That’s what we all want for you.’
Daisy forced a smile. She held back the words bubbling up in her throat. If Nancy really wanted her to be happy, she would have referred The Daisy Chain Flower Shop to her niece, whom Daisy happened to know was getting married in six months.
‘Well, we are very happy.’ She didn’t realize how hard she was squeezing Elliot’s fingers until he gave a gentle squeeze back. She loosened her grip and peeked up at him. He winked at her, and she couldn’t help the way her forced smile turned real.
‘Is the shop open today?’ Mac asked, pulling Daisy’s attention back to the group.
‘Yeah, Lu is there all day.’
‘Why, Mac? Buying flowers for Annie?’ Jacob teased.
Mac just grinned like he couldn’t be happier to buy his girlfriend flowers. Maybe if the town was filled with a couple hundred Macs, then Daisy’s store would survive. ‘Of course.’
‘What’d ya do?’
Mac scoffed. ‘I didn’t do anything. Can’t I just buy my girl some flowers?’
Jacob crossed his arms over his chest, staring Mac down until the other man confessed. ‘Okay, I may have beat her at cards last night.’
‘Ha! She really hates to lose, doesn’t she?’
‘She really, really does.’
The book club descended into a conversation about whether or not Mac should always let Annie win for the rest of forever, but Daisy was tuning them out. She’d take any business she could get at this point, even if it was due to Mac’s poor decision-making and Annie’s inability to lose gracefully.
‘Should we go?’ Elliot’s words tickled her ear as he leaned down to whisper to her.
‘Yeah, let’s get out of here.’
They’d done what they needed to do. At the very least, they’d been seen looking like perverts who maul each other between the bookshelves. That seemed like as good a place to start as any.
Before they could sneak out the door, though, Jeanie called them back.
‘Wait! Estelle and Henry really want to help with your town research. Are you going to come up to the farm?’
Daisy hesitated. She was definitely still curious about her great-aunt, but she didn’t want to force Elliot into doing even more for her than he already was.
‘Definitely,’ Elliot answered before she could say anything. ‘I mean … I’d love to … we just uh … haven’t discussed our um … schedules yet.’ He looked at Daisy with a slight panic in his eyes like he’d somehow just blown their cover. She squeezed his hand, and he blew out a breath.
‘We’ll figure it out and get back to you,’ she told Jeanie before attempting to steer Elliot toward the door again.
‘You two are leaving already?’ Jacob asked with a little pout. ‘You should stay.’
‘We didn’t read the book,’ Elliot told him, as though that would get the book club off their back.
‘It’s okay,’ Jeanie said. ‘You’re still welcome.’
‘Yeah, it’s a good one this week,’ Jacob went on. ‘The Duke’s Fake Fiancée. It’s a marriage-of-convenience story.’
Daisy swallowed hard. Were they messing with her?
‘He has to marry her to save her reputation.’
‘That sounds … ridiculous,’ Daisy said, gripping tight to Elliot’s hand again. The poor man was going to have her fingernail marks all over him by the end of today.
Do not think about where else your fingernail marks could go.
Do. Not.
‘Ridiculously sexy!’ Isabel added with a laugh. Damn it, could everyone here read her mind?!
‘That part where she convinces him to give her lessons!’ The way Kaori said ‘lessons’ made it very clear they were not of the horseback-riding variety. And honestly, it was all reminding Daisy a little too much of the offer she made to help Elliot practice dating.
Not that she meant practice that.
She was sure Elliot didn’t need any practice with … not horseback riding.
He’d been married. She was sure he’d already had plenty of practice.
He was probably very good at it…
‘We have to go!’ She nearly shouted the words, and the book club looked at her in alarm. ‘I mean, we have plans.’ She forced another smile. ‘So, we should go. Now. Sorry. Maybe next time!’
She dragged Elliot from the bookstore like it was on fire. It may as well have been, with how hot she suddenly felt. Was it unseasonably warm today? It felt unseasonably warm.
‘You okay?’ Elliot asked with a bemused smile as Daisy stopped in the middle of the sidewalk to tug her sweater over her head.
‘Fine,’ she answered from inside it. She was all tangled up now, her left arm stuck, and she couldn’t get it over her head. She let out a little growl and then felt Elliot’s hands on her arms.
‘Hold still,’ he laughed. ‘Let me just…’ He pulled the sleeve, and the sweater came free, her hair flying up in a static-y mess around her head. Elliot ran his big hands over her hair in an attempt to calm it and instead set off little electric shocks zipping around her ears.
From the static.
Not from his touch.
It was science.
Shut up, brain.
‘There,’ he said, still standing too close, his hands resting gently on her shoulders. ‘All better.’
‘Right. Thank you.’
‘You sure you’re okay?’ he asked, peering down at her with concern. She must look insane dragging him out of there like that and then promptly getting trapped in her own clothing. Had thinking about sex with Elliot really gotten her that twisted? Yes, yes it had.
‘We don’t have to go up to the farm. I didn’t mean to agree without talking to you. It’s just me and my history-nerd stuff … hard to resist.’
‘It’s fine. I’m actually excited to go.’
‘Okay, good.’ His brow furrowed between his glasses, giving him a stern-professor vibe. Like, maybe she was in trouble. Maybe she had to stay after class…
What the hell was wrong with her?!
‘So, is there another reason you just got in a fight with your sweater and now you’re staring at me like I just grew horns?’
She laughed, sounding just as unhinged as she felt. ‘Nope! All is good! You do not have horns.’ She patted his head like an idiot and tried to turn and walk toward the pub to get their lunch, but Elliot’s fingers wrapped gently around her biceps, holding her in place.
‘Did I do something wrong in there? Was it too much … touching? I’m sorry about your hair and I think I got a little carried away and maybe held you too … close?’ His cheeks were flushed red again, and it was too adorable, and she was having a hard time keeping it together.
‘That was all totally fine.’ She cleared her throat. ‘It was really … good, actually. I mean, it felt nice.’ She flicked her gaze up to his and watched the smile bloom across his face.
‘Oh. Good.’
‘Yeah, good.’
‘Really good.’
Her smile matched his, and she didn’t realize they were just standing there beaming at each other until she caught the book club staring at them through the window of the bookstore. As soon as she turned and saw, they all lifted their books and pretended to be reading.
Mac’s was upside down.
She shook her head with a laugh.
‘Should we continue with our date?’ she asked, and Elliot grinned.
‘I’d love to.’
Daisy refused to acknowledge that the excitement she felt about spending the rest of the day with Elliot was not fake at all.