Page 46 of Fighting for Daisy

“There’s a ton growing over by those trees.” He shrugged. “It’s no big deal.”

Noah doing something sweet and spontaneous? Yes, it was a big deal. A very big deal. She knew better than to make it a big deal though.

“He loves me.” She plucked one petal off and threw it out the window. “He loves me not.”

“I wouldn’t have picked them if I thought you were just going to destroy them,” he said.

“You’re right,” she said, abandoning the petal plucking. “They’re beautiful. Thank you, Noah.”

She leaned across the console of the car and planted a kiss on his cheek. Then watched as he blushed.

They pitched their tent well out of range of the tide, and at dusk, Noah lit a fire. An hour later, they sat around a roaring bonfire, listening to the waves and stargazing.

“I love nights like this,” she said. “No phones, no lights, no distractions. It’s so peaceful.”

“This is nice,” he mused. “But we can’t let our guard down.”

“I’m still having a hard time wrapping my mind around the fact that someone wants this so badly they’re willing to kill over it. But, sure, we’ll be careful. Don’t want to be like the stupid girl in a horror movie who walks right into danger.”

“Thank you.”

“I emailed the contest organizers to tell them what happened at the fair. They said they would let the police investigating Vanessa’s car accident know, but really, what can they do?”

“Cancel the award ceremony.”

“That’s not gonna happen. There are a lot of other awards besides the one I’m up for. That would be overkill. They did say I could prerecord an acceptance speech instead of showing up. If I win, they’ll play it. If not, they’ll delete it.”

“I don’t suppose you would consider that option?”

She shook her head.

“I figured. When does the voting end?” Noah asked. “There wouldn’t be any point in hurting someone if it didn’t affect the outcome.”

“People can vote until noon the day of the ceremony. They tabulate votes right before, so no one knows ahead of time who’s going to win.”

They lapsed into a comfortable silence, the waves and crackling of the fire singing a soft lullaby.

He was lying on his side, long legs outstretched, holding his head up with his hand, and staring into the flames. The firelight bounced off clear green eyes, and he could not have been more tempting. It was going to be a long night.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When Noah woke, Daisy was no longer beside him. The tent flap was unzipped and he could see her sitting in the sand, facing the ocean. She had her knees pulled up to her chest and her hair wadded up in one of her promotional baseball caps. The sun was poised to break above the water.

Quietly, he emerged and sat next to her. She hummed a hello but didn’t take her eyes off the horizon. They sat together in silence while the sun made its daily debut.

“These are the moments that make life worth living,” she said reverently.

“Yes.”

After a few minutes, Daisy stood and brushed the sand off her butt.

“Now what?” he said.

“I don’t know about you,” she said. “But I’m going back to sleep for a couple more hours. Sunrise may be amazing, but it also happens way too early.”

Once they’d gotten a little more rest and decamped, they stopped for breakfast at a local diner. It was the kind of place where the waitress called everyone honey and everyone knew everyone else.

Over omelets and French toast, they agreed to take some time that day to work. Daisy posted the beach videos as they headed out of town, and after driving a couple of hours, they found a hotel with free Wi-Fi and checked in.

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