Page 12 of Daddy By Design

And I’d almost hurt her.

Those huge espresso eyes full of passion, and a fair bit of impetuousness, had been haunting me since last night. The fact that she turned up here seemed like a lot of damn coincidence. Maybe the universe was messing with me, after all.

I didn’t need her brand of crazy, no matter how soft and delicious she smelled. This time, there was no rain to dampen her attractiveness. Not that it had last night, either, which made me even more irate. First my truck, now she was in the vicinity of my house—and the damn thing had crashed around my ears.

Our ears.

Fuck.

Definitely the Universe taking a swing at me—again.

“Hey!”

I laced my fingers behind my head and stared out at the water, ignoring her.

“Don’t ignore me when I’m trying to say thank you.”

I turned to her. “Thank you?”

I couldn’t deny she kept me guessing. I never knew what she’d say next.

Nervously, she twisted her hair and draped it over one shoulder. “Yeah. I mean, it’s your fault I almost got crushed by a ton of masonry and rotted wood, but I won’t hold it against you, since you did push me out of the way.”

I bent at the waist as a laugh jerked out of me, almost without my consent. “You are something else, lady.”

“Dahlia.”

As if I could forget her name. Of course, she’d be named after one of the more intriguing flowers out there. Dark, almost prickly, and the blooms so fragrant their scent stuck in your brain. They also required a whole lot of work—and sunlight.

How did I know this?

I’d looked up the flower when I couldn’t sleep. Even with the drumbeat of the rain on the roof of my Airstream, I’d found myself scrolling far too late into the night.

She paused at the top of the hill and took off her shoe. She picked up a rock and whacked off the heel, then put it back on to match the other broken one. Then she resolutely picked her way down the rocky decline to my private beach. Her skirt was now ripped, showing off far too much leg for me to ignore.

Her arms were scraped up and a gash on her forearm was actively bleeding all over the rocks and sand.

“You’re hurt.”

She looked down. “Could be worse. That was a lot of porch that came down around our heads.”

I sighed. “Yeah.”

“If I wasn’t here, you might have been more hurt, you know.”

I shoved my hands into my pockets. “Is that right?”

“All that could have come down on your stupid head because you don’t know what you’re doing.”

I whipped off my respirator and tossed it on the bench I’d bought to look out on the water. “I’m not a complete novice, Hellcat.”

“Dahlia.”

I just arched a brow at her.

She rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky I came here.”

“So you keep telling me.”

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