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“Gotta love a sore loser,” Blaze muttered, echoing my thoughts.
“Normally, he does the Stonebar market every week, and I just come down here. This way we’re…separate.”
“Harper.” Blaze faced me, his arms folded over his broad chest. “Don’t make yourself small,” he ordered with a harshness that wasn’t common for him. “You don’t deserve that, and neither does he.”
My breath caught, and I stared up at him, my eyes growing heavy because he looked like he wanted to kiss me—and I definitely wanted him to.
“Harper…”
There was a loud crash and we jerked apart. One of the other booths had slammed their folding table shut by accident. Everyone was laughing at the jarring sound—everyone but us.
Blaze cleared his throat. “Say the word and I’m happy to post that Honey Trap Farms’ honey tastes like dog shit.”
I covered my mouth, fighting off a laugh. “Thanks, but that’s not necessary.”
“Debatable,” he grunted and then added, “It would be easy to crush him.”
“A few weeks ago, I might’ve taken you up on that offer, but…it’s okay.” I looked across the way, accepting that I was nervous to be around Adam but not antagonistic. Even after everything he’d put me through. “I’d rather not be known for that.”
“What changed?” he asked, folding up the honeycombed tablecloth I’d placed over my table.
I stilled, and then confessed, “Paisley asked me the other day about having so many hives so close to one another and if they fight. Even though the hives are technically in competition, I told her that the bees in each hive don’t really bother with the others. They focus on finding more flowers and better patches to forage. If all they worried about was damaging other hives, they’d never get enough food to make enough honey for the winter.”
He made a low noise. “She’s good at that, isn’t she?” he asked, and when I lifted my head, he added, “Helping you remember a lesson you didn’t realize you already knew. She does that shit to me all the time.”
My smile broadened, and this time, I let my laugh go. “Yeah, she is good at that.” I took the blanket from him and tucked it into my tote. “In the end, you can’t build yourself up if you’re too busy tearing someone else down.”
“Even when it’s deserved.”
I paused. “Even when it’s deserved.”
We worked another few minutes in silence to get everything put away, and then he insisted on carrying all my bags and empty cooler to my truck.
“I can handle the rest of this, I promise,” I told him. “You can get going. I’m sure Paisley is anxious to get to the beach.”
“She’s just fine,” he said. “She insisted I come help you when she heard.”
“Oh, did she?” I smiled.
“Something about how we’re part of your hive, too.”
His eyes captured mine, and my smile faltered, tears welling instantly in the corners of my eyes. I quickly blinked them back. It was okay to appreciate the sentiment, but I couldn’t afford to let it root like a seed in my chest, one that would inevitably be ripped out once they moved out.
“She also wanted me to ask if you wanted to come to the beach with us? Lou told us to go to some place kind of near the lighthouse where it’s pretty secluded…” He trailed off when I started to nod.
“Yeah, I know where she means.” That beach was a secret among locals—and guests that Lou really liked. I knew exactly where it was, and that it would be a better place than here to have a conversation about last night. The weight of everything unsaid settled heavier on my chest
“So, is that a yes?”
“Oh, right.” I exhaled in a rush. “Sure, I mean, if it’s okay with you.”
He stared at me, the look in his eyes conveying something that made my stomach flutter. “I—yeah, of course,” he said, catching himself. “Pais will be happy.”
Chapter 21
Harper
“Look, the lighthouse!” Paisley gasped and pointed ahead to the jutting crag of coastline that supported the Friendship lighthouse.
