Page 62 of The Secret Holiday Kiss

She laughed. ‘I want it to be spectacular. This isn’t about winning.’

‘Isn’t it?’

‘Maybe a little.’

‘I’ll up my game, then.’

They grinned at each other in the gloom, and even the faint scuttling in distant corners that was either mice or mice-sized spiders couldn’t dim Daisy’s mood. She tried to imagine what would have happened if she’d said yes to Lars and ended up at his swanky riverside penthouse. She knew she wouldn’t be enjoying herself as much as she was right now.

‘We should go back down,’ Avery said.

‘We should.’

He led the way down the ladder, then stopped at the bottom, a barrier between her and the landing. She thought how sweet he was, until his concentrated look turned cheeky and he said, ‘I forgot to tell you how great you look in your dress.’

Daisy clamped her legs together. ‘Are you looking up it?’

He laughed. ‘I can’t see anything. I promise.’

‘Good.’

He put his hands on her waist as she got near the bottom, and lifted her onto the carpet. Daisy didn’t often daydream about being treated like a princess, but that move left her breathless. ‘Thank you.’

‘No problem.’

When they reached the front of the house, Avery stopped. Daisy thought he was peering through the glass to look at the stars, and she went to turn the light off so he could see them properly, but then he picked up her copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles.

‘This is a beautiful edition,’ he said, turning it over.

‘One of your favourite books?’

He laughed. ‘My very favourite, actually.’

Daisy’s mouth fell open, and she snapped it shut. With everything that was going on, she had forgotten to investigate who had sent her the book. ‘It’s about a hell hound,’ she said. ‘You hate dogs.’

He ran his thumb over the gold-foil hound on the cover. ‘May bought me a copy – probably from your dad’s bookshop – when I was packed off to boarding school. I think she hoped it would stop me being afraid, considering the hound turns out to be – you’ve read it, haven’t you?’

‘I finished it a few days ago,’ Daisy admitted. ‘Then I went straight back to the beginning.’

‘It’s great, right? So, considering the hell hound doesn’t turn out to actually be from hell, she thought it would cure my phobia. It didn’t – as you know – but I read it over and over, because it reminded me that May was in my corner, thinking about me, and it stopped me feeling quite so alone.’

‘Avery.’ Guilt twinged deep in her stomach. ‘It sounds like you were so miserable there, and—’

‘Hey. Stop that. I wish I hadn’t told you.’

‘I’m so glad you did.’ I wish you would tell me some other things, too. ‘And I’m glad you had May.’

‘It wasn’t all bad, being at that school. It just wasn’t the best fit for me. But hey – I’m running my own build, and I couldn’t be happier with how it’s going. I have you.’

‘Me?’ She stepped towards him.

‘Yes. You.’ He snagged a finger inside the belt of her dress, pulling her towards him. He bent his head, and she tipped hers up, smelling the red wine on his breath, delighted anticipation shivering through her at the thought of his stubble against her skin.

‘Daisy? Avery? Are you up there?’ It was Sophie. ‘I thought you’d gone to get water.’

Avery let out a long, slow sigh.

‘We were in the loft,’ Daisy called down. ‘We’ll be there in a sec.’ Then, before she could make good on that promise, she pressed her lips to Avery’s, her kiss quick but by no means perfunctory, the spark between them stronger than ever. Daisy was looking forward to Monday night a whole lot more than she had been an hour ago.