Size 33x36.
Piercing blue eyes.
Brown hair with naturally lighter tips.
Sleeps on my couch.
“A list?Pft. Who keeps a list?” She swished hangers back and forth, pretending to look at polo shirts while she used the movement to fan her face.
He placed his hand over the top of hers and said quietly, “I didn’t say anything about a list.”
“You didn’t?” she rasped. Why was this store so hot? She’d have to complain to the manager or the trampy saleswoman if she dared show her face again. She’d better not. Daisy was not in her right mind. In fact, she was floating somewhere out of her mind where Beckett’s thumb brushed the back of her hand over and over with spine-tingling regularity.
“Nope.” He moved closer, making her tingle all over and fading everything in the store to some other dimension. Or maybe they were in the alternate dimension. That would explain why Beckett was looking atherwith bedroom eyes. Although, his eyes were less hungry than the saleswoman’s had been. They were full of yearning rather than lust. A yearning for her? Did Beckett really harbor some feelings for her from years gone by, or was this something new? Either way, it was all new to her.
“There you are!” Vivian huffed as she fell into the chair next to the changing rooms.
Beckett jerked his hand away and stuffed it in under his arm. He moved to the other side of the clothes rack. The temperature dropped dramatically, cooling Daisy’s cheeks to normal color in record time. She ducked her head, letting her hair curtain off her view of Beckett. “What took so long?” she asked Vivian.
“Jason called from school; he forgot his lunch. I had to talk him into eating school lunch.”
“Why’d you have to talk him into it?” asked Beckett. He’d had a quiet conversation with Vivian when she came in for work the day before and then spent all afternoon playing basketball with Jason after school. Not because he was trying to win Vivian over, but because he was a good guy. Still, it had thawed Vivian’s impression of Beckett immensely. The way to a man’s heart may be through his stomach, but the way to a woman’s heart was through her kid.
“They’re serving fish sticks. He’s convinced they make them out of fish brains because they’re soggy.”
Daisy exchanged an amused look with Beckett. His attention went back to Vivian as she recounted the conversation with Jason. She kept her eyes on him while aimlessly flipping through clothes. Whatever universe his touch took her to, she seemed to be the only visitor. Beckett didn’t show any signs of the charged moment they’d shared. She could have sworn he’d taken her there, but he was cool and collected as if he hadn’t set her skin afire.
“Should we ask someone to open a door?” Vivian said.
Daisy started back to reality. The thought of callingthat womanfor helpgave her the sensation of sleeping next to a snake. “No. I’ve got it.” She dropped to the floor and checked for feet, then crawled under the door of an empty dressing room, popped up, and unlocked it.
Vivian stared at her as if she’d lost her mind. The tips of Daisy’s ears warmed as she motioned Beckett inside. He nodded appreciatively at her resourcefulness as slipped past her, his arm brushing her hair and sending delightful shivers down her back.
The door shut behind Beckett and Vivian grabbed her arm, giving her a good shake. “What’s gotten into you?” she whispered.
Daisy pulled her arm free. “What?”
“You’re acting weird.”
Daisy glanced at the closed door and pulled Vivian farther away. “The salesgirl was all over him. It was so uncomfortable.”
Vivian refreshed her buttermilk lipstick. “For him or for you?”
“For him, of course.” Daisy twisted a lock of hair between her fingers.
Vivian waited expectantly.
Daisy shoved her arm. “What?”
“Nothing. I just think that, maybe, you have a little crush on Beckett.”
“What?!” Daisy shoved her harder. “Stop it.” Heat began to spread from her chest all the way to the roots of her hair. She cursed her fair skin, hating that her emotions played out like a movie in HD.
“You are so totally busted.” Vivian shook her head.
Daisy did her best to summon her dignity with a lift of her chin. “I may have thought he was attractive when we were younger.”
“And now?” prodded Vivian.
