AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“So, you love him?”
Daisy shrugged. “I don’t know. I thought so. Is it possible to fall in love in under a week?”
“Sure,” Emma said. “It only took Lucy and Jack five minutes.”
“Yeah, maybe. Even if I did, he doesn’t feel the same. He skipped out while I was at the after-party, and I haven’t seen or heard from him since.”
Emma’s brows knit. “That’s weird. Did something happen after we left?”
Daisy frowned. “I can’t think of anything. Bryson, the guy who won the male category, came over and asked if I was heading upstairs.”
“Could Noah have misread the sitch? Maybe he thought he’d be a third wheel.”
“Huh,” Daisy said. “I didn’t consider that. I suppose it’s possible. But if that were the case, he should have said something. Asked me about it.”
“Is that the kind of relationship you have?”
“No,” Daisy conceded. “Probably not. When he asked what sleeping together meant to me, I lied and told him nothing.”
“What if it meant more to him, and you hurt his feelings?”
“Eh. I doubt that. He readily agreed the sex was just for fun. I think we just weren’t on the same page. Which doesn’t surprise me, considering we’re as different as night and day.”
“I don’t know,” Emma said. “He seemed into you. You gonna call him before you head out again?”
“No. I’m sure he’s busy getting back to business and all that. He had a big presentation coming up, and I doubt he got very far trying to prepare for it while we were on the road.” She shrugged. “I was just a job to him. Don’t worry, I’ll get over it.”
Emma gave her a dubious look. “Maybe youcan, but do you want to?”
Daisy waved a hand, done talking about it. “I can’t wrap my head around all of you getting married and having babies. Seems like only yesterday we were fighting over clothes and boys and bathroom time.”
“Ah, yes. The good ol’ days,” Emma said.
Dirk came in and sat next to Emma, grabbing her hand. “Am I interrupting? I can take some laps around the neighborhood if needed.”
“No,” Emma said. “It’s fine. I told her the news, but she’ll keep it a secret.”
Dirk smiled, and Daisy’s heart warmed for him. He’d lost his young son and wife in a car accident a few years ago. This would be a new beginning for him.
She said her goodbyes and returned to her tiny apartment to pack. It wasn’t much, but it was home for now. Business had blown up since her win. That meant new sponsorship offers and more ad revenue. A lot more. She planned to allocate it evenly toward savings for a home, a retirement account, and reinvesting in the new business.
Adam said he could have the remodel done in a few weeks. Until then, she’d do her travel videos and make money promoting products. Earning thousands of dollars for wearing shoes and eating protein bars seemed obscene, but she wasn’t about to complain.
She lay in bed, thinking of Noah and pondering how long it would be before he wasn’t the last thing she thought of before drifting off at night.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
Noah berated himself for sneaking out on Daisy. It had been a chickenshit move, but he sucked at goodbyes. Especially goodbyes that involved a complicated woman, and an equally complicated relationship.
He spent all day Sunday in taxis, airports, and airplanes. Not having preplanned tickets was a pain, and for the millionth time, he wondered how Daisy got along just floating through life with no plan. When he finally made it back to New Bern, he’d taken a cab to the Parkers’ to retrieve his Range Rover. Once home, he fell into bed and stayed there until Monday morning.
“Welcome back, boss,” Janet said. She handed him a mug of coffee. “Thought you could use this.”
“You’re the best,” Noah said, sipping carefully at the steamy goodness.
Janet sat across from him. “So, how’d it go? How’s your arm?”
“It’s fine.” He’d been checking in periodically, so she knew most of what he’d done up until Friday. He filled her in on the excitement of the weekend—Daisy being kidnapped, him rescuing her, her winning the award.
