Page 51 of The Beekeeper

“Why wouldn’t I tell you?”

“Because you never say, honey,” Gigi said, tsking me. “You were too busy trying to make sure Lou was okay to worry about yourself.”

“Some things don’t change,” Frankie murmured loud enough to make sure I heard her.

My smile withered.

“It’s a good thing to put others first, just not all the time,” Gigi said, patting my arm and digging into her purse. “Sometimes, you’ve got to look out for number one.”

“Also what I’ve been telling her,” Frankie teased as Gigi held out her hand—and a jar of jam to me.

Oh no.

My cousin gasped dramatically. “Is that…” Frankie rushed closer to take a peek.

“For Harper, why yes, Francesca, it is,” Gigi scolded and tucked the jar safely in my hands where my cousin couldn’t see my fortune.

It used to be a joke in the family about Gigi’s premonition preserves, but when they all started coming true, beginning with my oldest cousin, Jamie, falling for his wife, Violet, everyone had no choice but to take them seriously. First, it was Jamie. Then Kit. Then Frankie. Then Lou. Then my brother, Max. And now…I gulped.

“Thanks, Gigi,” I murmured, though my heart didn’t feel grateful, it felt heavy. I couldn’t even bring myself to look at it right now, opting to shove it in my bag for later.

“Of course, honey.” She reached up and cupped my cheek, smiling before turning her attention back to my cousin. “Now, Francesca, about this Memorial Day party.”

“I’m going to get going,” I said, scooting toward the exit.

“Harper.” Frankie stopped me with a hard stare. “Contract.”

“I…” My face turned an offensive shade of beet red as Gigi squinted at me. “I’ll think about it.” I fled the room before Frankie said anything else; the last thing I needed was my grandmother learning about the sex—No Strings Attached contract I was considering offering to Blaze.

Was I considering it?

Was it desperate?

Or was it the only solution?

“Daddy!” Paisley’s squeal stopped me in my tracks. I’d just reached the edge of the trees, but ahead of me, in the wildflower field, Blaze had thrown Paisley up in the air. Somehow, time seemed to stop at that final moment before she came back down into his waiting hands.

He brought her feet to the ground and then she was off, running through the field and dragging her hand through the flowers. Not looking back.

When I’d returned to the house after leaving the Candle Cabin, it was empty save for a note on the table in Blaze’s scratchy handwriting. At the hives.

What a difference a few weeks had made—what a difference being somewhere where she and Blaze weren’t looking over their shoulder, waiting for a camera to invade their privacy.

I lifted my hand to my throat, measuring the quickening of my pulse as I watched them. Okay, watched him. The smile on his face…God, I wasn’t sure I’d ever seen him smile that big even when he was being paid to do it. His gaze trailed his daughter, and I wondered if he was seeing the same thing I did.

I could’ve stayed there like a fly in the field observing them all afternoon, but I didn’t even get another minute before Blaze’s eyes found mine, the flower field rippling as though it suffered from the snap of the hot current that locked between us.

My throat bobbed, and I quickly broke our eye contact, reminding myself, what happens during a blackout stays in the blackout.

Unless… No.

“Harper!”

I smiled and waved when Paisley saw me, having no choice now but to head their way. My skin prickled the entire time—a new symptom that cropped up since the blackout. Like all my senses were on edge, waiting for…something. Waiting for him.

Which was never going to happen. It just wasn’t and Frankie’s suggestion was…crazy. Crazy to think Blaze would ever consider agreeing to a short-term, no-strings fling. Crazy to think I would consider it, knowing how easily—and coldly—he’d crushed any kind of connection we’d had before. I knew what I told her—that I’d never let my heart get involved. But that was a lot easier to say than put into practice, at least for someone like me. So, no, there was no way I could consider Frankie’s suggestion. There was no way Blaze would consider it either. Contract or not.

“Sorry, she wanted to come out here,” Blaze muttered once I reached them.