The temperatures were pleasant, the few cars on the road weren’t in a hurry, and the puppy was thrilled to be outside running from a rock to the edge of the sidewalk and then to a tree where he sniffed appreciatively. Daisy took a deep breath and closed her eyes, letting the sun warm her cheeks. Quiet moments were few and far between and she needed this. Her thoughts circled like a puppy chasing his tail. In the middle of them all was Beckett.
Quinton’s suggestion that Beckett was into her didn’t jive with Vivian’s recount of their conversation. The problem was that she had no idea which Beckett was sleeping on her couch. Was he the self-righteous jerk who looked down his nose at her channel, or was he the sweet guy from her past?
Determined to be honest with herself, she pondered which Beckett she wanted him to be.
That question wasn’t any easier to answer. If Beckett was the jerk, then saying goodbye in a couple weeks would be easy. If he was the sweetheart, then she didn’t want him to leave, because shewaslooking for a serious relationship and he was serious boyfriend material as far as his personal values. A relationship with someone who lived out of the country wasn’t going to be easy, and she wondered if it would even be worth it to try. She didn’t want to spend her life waiting around for him to come home.
That is … if he was interested in her, or dating, or a family or any of that stuff. She massaged her forehead. All this stress from Quinton’s one comment.
Without any answers, and feeling all that much more frustrated, Daisy finished a loop around the park and returned the pup to his family. He fell asleep in the corner, his muzzle resting on his front paws. She doubted she would sleep as well tonight knowing Beckett was in the other room.
Chapter Eleven
“Beckett?!”
Beckett rolled off the couch and was on his feet before he was fully awake. Daisy’s frantic cry had reached into his dreams and triggered his protective instincts. He snagged the closest weapon he could find—his phone—before the adrenaline coursing through his body propelled him down the hallway.
He fell through her door, barely catching himself on the doorframe. “What?” He scanned the room for danger. The bed was perfectly made, the seafoam-green vase was in place, and the door to the walk-in closet was shut. The only thing out of order was Daisy. She bounced up and down, her hair floating off her back in stunning red waves.
“We raised all $5000!” She punched his shoulder. “Take that, doubting Thomas. Ha!” She threw her hands over her head and sang “We Are the Champions.”
She had on a pair of raspberry-colored yoga pants and a tight white T-shirt. He ran his hand down his face to stop himself from staring at the way her body moved with happiness. “All of it?”
“And then some!” She put her arms out to the side and shook her booty. “I posted the episode less than an hour ago and the donations poured in—they’re still coming, too. We might double or even triple what we asked for.”
He grabbed her arms and made her hold still. Her dancing was putting all sorts of ideas in his head and he wanted to focus on what she was saying. She stopped suddenly, swiping an errant strand of hair away from her lips. Her chest heaved up and down, and he wasn’t sure if it was the dancing or him that stole her breath away. He hoped it was him.
“That’s amazing.” He grinned.
She pressed her lips together and brushed his hands away. “Not bad for a channel that talks about lipstick and hair tips, eh?”
Though it sounded like she was joking with him, there was a sharpness in her eyes, a challenge. And her brush-off was borderline angry. All at once, his conversation with Vivian came to mind. Although Daisy was nowhere around when he’d made that offhanded comment, Vivian could have told Daisy what he’d said. That was … bad. “I—” His phone blew up with “Hail to the Chief.” Knowing it was his boss, he yanked the phone to his ear. “Hey.”
Daisy blew her hair off her forehead as if she were upset at him for taking the call. Hopefully that was all it was. He wasn’t sure how to explain his attitude yesterday. He was still kind of bugged that something like buying the right T-shirt got more attention than starving children, so it wasn’t like he could claim he didn’t mean it.
Daisy leaned over the chair at her desk and scrolled through the comments section on her channel—ignoring him so he could continue the call.
“I just saw the post—the comments are amazing. Our website is going nuts. People want to volunteer and they want to donate big money—bigger than Daisy’s fund.”
“How did you see it so fast? It only went up forty minutes ago.” He’d stolen Daisy’s info on the timeline, which made him sound smarter than he actually was.
“I subscribed to her channel. She’s amazing—so positive and fun. I could totally be her best friend.”
Daisy pushed off from the desk and whispered, “Is that Kelly?”
Beckett nodded.
Before he knew what she’d done, Daisy had his phone cradled between her shoulder and cheek. He wondered if it would smell as wonderful as she did when he got it back.
“Hi, Kelly—it’s Daisy.”
“Daisy! Thank you so much for the lip balms. My lips have never been so soft.”
Beckett noted his in-call volume made it possible for him to hear every word of the conversation. He’d need to adjust that.
“You are so welcome. Thank you for working so hard to set up the secure account for our fundraising. You were so fast—it made the whole experience seamless.”
Beckett knew better than that. From what Vivian said, Daisy almost killed herself to put this together in such a short amount of time. Yet here she was, praising Kelly for her small part. He paused, noting the way his chest warmed at seeing Daisy’s innate kindness.
