Page 20 of The Cupcake Cottage

Maverick was nodding slowly. He had a strange look on his face and she couldn’t tell if he was trying to school a smile or if he was deep in thought.

“It would help Landon,” Maverick said. “He needs a deal. Cassandra—his girlfriend—her son needs heart surgery and she can’t afford it.”

“Cassandra McTavish? Alexa’s sister? From Blueberry Creek Ranch?” Daisy-Mae felt panic like it was her own son. “Dusty’s sick?” The boy was just starting school. He had so much life ahead of him. Or at least, he should.

“Yeah. Landon would like to help, but he has a lot of debt and she won’t let him. If he had a big deal, she might say yes. But I don’t want—”

“Okay.” Daisy-Mae’s voice was so firm Maverick stopped talking.

“Okay what?”

“Maverick, hon, if you’ll take me, I’m officially your girlfriend.”

CHAPTER 4

Maverick’s side, where Daisy-Mae was leaning against him, felt as good as though the sun was shining on him. They had finished eating and were now strolling along the Riverwalk area downtown, the evening stretching out around them. Lights strung through the branches above twinkled as they entered under the canopy of oak trees. It was romantic, quiet.

Daisy-Mae gave him a sweet smile.

“Hey, you,” he said softly, stopping on one of the wooden footbridges arching over the slow, winding river below.

She snuggled closer, tucking into him, her expression peaceful. Back in the restaurant, he’d said yes to her dating idea, of course. And so now Daisy-Mae Ray was his girlfriend. He’d had a good feeling about tonight, and so far it was exceeding his wildest dreams of what a first date could be like.

They’d agreed to a real-fake relationship where they’d stick together for several weeks or months. He didn’t think anyone had ever wanted bad press and a poor reputation to last so long as he did right now. He wouldn’t sabotage their efforts to help the team, but he would milk every moment to show her he thought they were meant to be together—for real.

Across the river, a similar string of lights to those hanging above them lined the edge of a restaurant patio where people were having drinks. Maverick sensed a stir, their attention turning toward the bridge where he and Daisy-Mae were cuddled together. He shifted so his back was to the group as soon as the first phone lifted to take a photo.

Daisy-Mae, sensing something was up, peeked around his shoulder. “What are you doing?”

“Habit.”

“You’re hiding!”

“Like I said, habit.” He didn’t move.

“The whole reason we’re doing this is so people will see us and take photos.” She shifted him so their profiles were facing the group, renewing the stir of lifted phones.

Maverick kept his focus on Daisy-Mae, the reminder of the fake element of their night stinging like a wasp.

“Sorry,” he said. “It’s instinct to shield you.” Janie had hated the publicity of dating him, and even though they’d broken up more than four years ago, the habit of shying away still ran deep. Having bad press for the past year hadn’t helped his desire to avoid being front and center, either.

But with Daisy-Mae it was more that he wanted to keep their relationship private so it could grow naturally. It was too important to him to let the public mess it up.

However, that wasn’t part of the deal.

He sighed, giving in, turning to smile at the cameras. “Is this better?”

He peeked down at her. She was playing with his shirt, smoothing it, resting her hands flat on his chest, looking up at him, smiling. Posing.

“Maybe we should kiss.” She blushed, her teeth softly capturing her lower lip for a brief second.

“I don’t want our first kiss to belong to everyone else.” He wanted it to be just them sharing that moment.

Her body softened against his. “You’re pretty romantic for a real-fake boyfriend.”

“I try.”

She gave him one of those sunshiny smiles that made life feel as though everything was possible. He’d never figured out why Myles hadn’t tied Daisy-Mae down the first chance he’d had as a teen. It wasn’t like marriage straight out of high school was unheard of around Sweetheart Creek. And she was the kind of woman who caused a man to stop thinking, make poor decisions, and let out their inner caveman. You’d swear until you were blue in the face that you’d never get married. Then she walked by and it was all you could do to slide your ring on her finger before anyone else could.

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