‘See, Peaches. All the puppies are safe.’
Kira glared at him even as her mouth tipped up in the corner. ‘You’re off the hook for now, but you know it won’t be for long.’
Bennett slung an arm over her shoulder and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. ‘I know what I signed on for.’ He grinned and Kira laughed and Elliot thought they looked so damn happy and he wanted that, too. He wanted to put his arm around Daisy and adopt pets with her and kiss the top of her head and not have to worry that this thing between them was impermanent.
But he had to go back to work, and despite their most recent make-out session and their previous status of fake-dating, Elliot was at a loss for how to say goodbye to Daisy and not make it weird.
Luckily, Daisy planted a kiss on his cheek before petting Goldie’s head and saying goodbye to them both.
It was almost normal.
It was almost real.
It was almost perfect.
ChapterTwenty-Nine
‘What brings you guys in?’ Daisy asked, happy for the distraction from her swirling feelings.Damn, Elliot was a good kisser.
She’d somehow managed to put that out of her mind when she’d been doing the should-I-date-Elliot-for-real math, and now it would be all she could think about.
If Elliot’s distant cousin was half as good of a kisser as he was then she totally understood why Aunt D was about to give it all up in the back of that car. Or, in her and Elliot’s case, up against a door. Or on the floor of her shop. Or at this point, literally, anywhere.
‘Oh, yeah, I got so distracted by the puppy I nearly forgot why we came in!’ Kira said with a laugh.
Listen to Kira and get out of your head!
‘I wanted to check in with you about something.’
‘Okay, sure.’ Daisy tried not to get her hopes up that whatever Kira wanted to say had to do with a wedding she was hosting at the barn and maybe they needed a florist and maybe this person hadn’t heard about the curse and maybe…
‘David wants to book the barn for his wedding.’
And just like that, Daisy’s hopes plummeted.
‘My ex, David?’
‘Yep. I totally understand if you want me to say we’re not available for their date.’
‘You really don’t have to do that.’
‘But I can.’
‘Kira, I’m not having you turn down a wedding just because the groom is my ex. That’s a lot of money.’
Kira waved a hand at the thought of the money. ‘But why does he need to get married here? It’s weird.’
‘You need that money to feed all the baby goats,’ Daisy teased and Bennett nodded in agreement.
‘She’s not wrong, babe. Running an animal sanctuary is not cheap.’
Kira rolled her eyes at him. ‘We’re not running an animal sanctuary. We just have a few pets.’
Bennett scoffed. ‘A few pets?’
‘It’s really fine,’ Daisy insisted, interrupting their little argument. ‘If David wants to get married in your gorgeous barn, I totally get it. Your events are amazing.’
Kira furrowed her brow like she wanted to argue more. ‘I appreciate that, but I still think it’s weird. And kind of aggressive. Like, go find your own small town. This one is taken.’
