Page 40 of A Second Chance in Seabury
‘What…?’
‘Close your eyes and hold out your hand,’ he said.
Hannah raised an eyebrow, wondering if she was about to be on the receiving end of something slimy.
‘Go on, you can trust me,’ he chuckled.
Hannah did as he said, and two seconds later, something landed in her palm. Cracking her eyes open, she stared down at a plastic farmyard animal. A sheep.
‘No way?’ she laughed. ‘It’s Bernard!’
It had to be a plant.Did he have this in his pocket all along?
‘You didn’t just find…?’
‘Told you there’s all sorts of treasures down here,’ said David with a little shrug.
Hannah grinned at him, holding out her hand so that he could retrieve his first find of the day.
‘You keep it,’ he said. ‘Something to remember us by.’
‘You doing okay back there?’
Hannah nodded, carefully navigating the thorny bush on the way back up to the truck. It was a lot harder with her hands full—but there was no way she was going to leave behind her chief treasure of the day. She glanced down at the beautiful sea urchin shell cradled in her palms and smiled. Getting this back to the house in one piece was almost worth missing out on the chance of holding David’s hand again…
Almost.
‘You know what the only problem with spur-of-the-moment beach quests is?’ said David, pausing to wait for her to catch up.
‘I do, actually,’ said Hannah, her pockets jingling with handfuls of shells and sea glass. She glanced at her sea urchin again… anything to help her keep her eyes off his bum.
It was a very nice bum!
‘And…?’ said David.
Hannah blinked, trying to drag her mind out of the gutter. ‘No time to pack a cuppa!’
‘Precisely.’ He turned and gave her a crooked smile over his shoulder.
Hannah’s knees wobbled for what must have been the millionth time since they’d arrived at the beach. It was official—Bee Daddy had a funny effect on her. So much so that she’dspent the last hour trying to talk herself out of leaping on the man and kissing his face off.
‘Well, I’ve got a surprise for you in the truck,’ she said, suddenly remembering the bag of cinder toffees she still hadn’t handed over.
‘Sounds promising!’ chuckled David.
‘I don’t want you to get your hopes up,’ she laughed. ‘It’s just a bag of sweets, but you’re welcome to come back to my place if you fancy?’
For some reason, Hannah’s heart was hammering. What was the big deal? It was only a friendly offer to make a cuppa for her neighbour…
It was way more than that, and she had a feeling they both knew it!
Hannah swallowed nervously. ‘If you want to, I mean. I’ve still got some birthday cake… though I have to warn you, the place is a mess. I’m somewhere in between packing, unpacking, and deep cleaning.’
She promptly shut her mouth to stop herself from auto-wittering.
‘I wish I could,’ David shook his head, looking disappointed. ‘I need to head down to the King’s Nose to check in with the bees.’
‘Oh, no worries,’ said Hannah, forcing herself to give an unbothered little shrug, even as her heart sank. ‘It’s a standing invitation, by the way. While I’m here.’
