‘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…suggestwhat 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.
