The town has begun to talk, of course. Nate is in the shop nearly every day and after attending the dance together, the word is out about us. They act as though we should have a chaperone! You should have seen their scandalized faces when Nate showed up in his car to pick me up. It was the talk of the town meeting, I’m sure. But I don’t care about all that. I want to be happy. I should be giddy to have a man like Nate take an interest in me, but I can’t help but feel like I’m betraying William.
‘William again!’ Daisy said, looking up from the book. ‘She’s mentioned him before, but no explanation! I wish I had more than this one diary. I feel like we’re missing out on so much information.’
Elliot chuckled at her exasperation. ‘It is too bad we don’t have the whole series.’
‘It’s like my great-aunt didn’t even consider that we’d be reading this diary in the future,’ Daisy teased before getting back to the diary.
July 23, 1925
I will certainly have to burn these pages now because Nate kissed me, and I simply can’t leave that detail from this book.
‘Ooh’ Daisy squealed. ‘It’s getting juicy!’
Maybe my mother is right in calling his car a Devil’s Wagon, because I couldn’t resist him as we sat in the back seat after our night out. Maybe I should have but I didn’t want to, and I can’t feel sorry for it! This kiss wasn’t anything like the chaste kisses my William gave me before he left for good. This kiss… this kiss burned. It sparked. It made me want things, so help me for saying it but I would have done more. I would have given Nate everything, if he wasn’t such a gentleman.
His lips, his mouth, his hands, they set me on fire, and I’m afraid I don’t want to put it out.
When Daisy looked up her cheeks were pink and her eyes bright. At some point, she had drifted closer to him again, her knee pressed against his. Unable to resist touching her anymore, he reached up and traced her cheek, letting the back of his hand caress her jaw and down her neck. She shivered beneath his touch despite the warmth of the shop.
‘If that journal gets any more explicit, you’re going to have to stop reading it out loud,’ he teased and Daisy laughed softly, her face tipping toward his, like maybe she didn’t want to resist any more, either.
‘What’s this?’ she asked, her gaze flicking to his wrist. ‘Is this a hair tie?’
‘It’s um…’
‘Elliot,’ she said, running a finger between the elastic band and his skin. Her touch sent his pulse skittering. ‘Are you wearing my hair tie on your wrist?’
‘Maybe.’
Her grin was delicious.
‘For how long?’
‘Since our bookstore date.’ He was surprised she’d never noticed before.
‘The one where we pretended to make out?’
Just the memory of it, of Daisy pressed against him was enough to make him groan.
‘Yes.’
‘Why?’ her voice was barely a whisper now, her face so close to his, her finger still trapped under the hair tie.
‘It’s a little piece of you. I wanted it near me.’
‘Elliot,’ she breathed his name, tugging him closer with just her finger.
‘Daisy?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Can I kiss you?’
Her smile was positively edible. ‘Yes.Please.’
His heart thundered in his chest as he cupped her face in his hands. Her breath caught. It turned outthiswas actually the best moment of his week. Month. Year.
He leaned forward and his lips met hers. The sweet sigh that escaped her when he did was almost too much to bear.
