Page 43 of Meet Me at Sunset Cove

Hunter froze.

Daisy was dressed in her usual work attire. Those dang purple overalls again, this time over top a white turtleneck. Her hair hung down to her shoulders, kept away from her face by a black velvet headband. A few rogue strands hung around her face, and he wondered for a moment what it would be like to reach out and touch them.

Daisy smiled, a glossy sheen to her lips. “Is that extra cup for me?”

“What? No. Of course not,” Hunter blurted out, sanity seeming to take a back seat while self-preservation grabbed hold of the wheel. Hehadbought the coffee for her. But apparently, that was something only a lovesick fool would do. What was wrong with him?

Daisy raised an eyebrow. “Okay…?”

“You can have it,” he backpedaled. “I—Jill gave me an extra by accident.”

Amusement tugged at Daisy’s lips. “Okay.”

She accepted the coffee and took a sip. She let her eyes drift shut as she savored the caramel macchiato he had picked out just for her, and Hunter’s heart lurched.

Oh wow, he was a mess.

Daisy turned her attention back to him. “Ready to head up to the house?”

Hunter’s mind raced, trying to come up with any good excuse not to spend the day with her.

He came up completely blank.

“Ready.”

* * *

Why did it suddenly feel like the house was ten times smaller today? Like every hall they stepped into was cramped and tight. Like no matter how much he tried to avoid her, Daisy was just…right there.

Hunter winced, pulling his attention back to his project as another gust of steam stung his arm. The wallpaper he’d been working on bubbled, and Hunter peeled it away with his scraper. Just behind him, Daisy worked on the opposite wall, so close he could almost feel her back against his.

“We’ve been getting great engagement on the videos,” Daisy said, making conversation over the quiet tearing of paper.

“That’s good,” he said, trying and failing not to glance over his shoulder as she moved to a spot toward the front of the foyer.

“Yeah, I’m thinking, with our popularity, we might have a chance at winning theHOMENew Year’s Virtual Parade of Houses contest.”

“Cool,” Hunter replied distantly, his gaze trailing again from the rising steam off the wallpaper steamer to Daisy. To Daisy stretching for a higher section of wall. To Daisy biting her lip as she focused on peeling away a large section of paper. To Daisy beaming in satisfaction at the finished section. To Daisy as she turned and smiled at him, making his heart race again. To?—

“Hunter?” Daisy’s voice snapped him out of his thoughts. “Are you okay? You’ve been scraping the same spot for five minutes.”

“What? Oh, yeah. I’m fine. Just…being thorough,” he mumbled, quickly moving to a new section. He wanted to thoroughly put his head through the wall. What was wrong with him?

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Daisy asked again, closer now. “You seem a bit…distracted today.”

“I’m fine.” He scraped away another strip of paper, maybe a bit more aggressively than necessary.

From the corner of his vision, Hunter caught Daisy as she set down her steamer. A strand of hair slipped from her ponytail, brushing over her cheek, and there he was thinking about the almost-kiss again, about his fingers threading through her hair.

Focus, Hunter.

He set his gaze firmly back to the wall.

Daisy’s hand brushed his shoulder. Startled, he turned to face her. As he did, his boot caught in the steamer chord, throwing him off balance. His own steamer clattered to the floor as he stumbled forward, toward Daisy, and she instinctively stepped back, her back pressing against the wall. Hunter’s hands came up to stop himself, and he managed to catch the wall with both hands, bracing himself, with Daisy effectively trapped between his arms.

For a moment, Hunter simply stared at her, as though unable to understand what had just happened. He glanced down at his feet, still tangled in the chord, and then back at Daisy, who hadn’t moved, her eyes wide with shock, her hands lightly pressed to his chest.

“Um…Hunter?” Daisy said, pulling him back to his senses.

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