Page 90 of The Beekeeper

“Hold on,” Blaze ordered, hopping down from the last boulder onto the sand and then turning back to his daughter. “I’ll lift you down.” He held out his arms.

Glancing around, it took me a minute to find the path we normally took from the rocks down onto the beach. It was a little ways down, so Blaze’s route was definitely shorter but…

Paisley giggled as he picked her up and spun her safely to the ground, releasing her with a warning, “Don’t get too close to the water.”

She nodded and darted off, and I realized I should’ve kept moving because Blaze turned back to me and lifted his arms again.

“I’m fine,” I said with a weak laugh, the temptation to feel his hands on me right now was unfairly strong.

“Harper,” he said with a low rumble.

“But Paisley…” I trailed off, hoping the hard limit of his daughter finding out about our…arrangement would be enough to deter him.

“She’ll think I’m doing the same thing I did for her.” His eyes flicked over his shoulder. “If she even notices at all.”

Sure enough, Paisley was treading a cautious path along the water’s edge, keeping her steps in the dry sand where the rushing waves wouldn’t reach.

I took a bracing inhale and then lowered myself to him. My hands steadied on his broad shoulders as his bracketed my waist. Somehow, his fingers managed to find my skin underneath the edge of my shirt.

“Hold on,” he said.

Like that would save me.

And then I was weightless for an instant, held just in front of him—close to him—that sparks started to fly.

He lowered me, my body sliding down his hard front, my gaze anchored in his.

“Harper,” he said low, his pupils dilated, and in them I could see the man from last night. The one that was panicked and then…something more feral when he realized the condom broke.

My toes landed in the sand, and then our bubble was broken.

“Harper?” a small voice called to me.

I stepped back and spun so fast, Blaze had to steady me again so I didn’t fall.

“Yeah, Pais?” I called and headed toward her.

“Who lived there?” Her brow furrowed.

“Do you remember Kit and Aurora from the barbeque?” I asked, sinking down to her level.

She nodded.

“Kit lived there for a long time in the house part.” I pointed to the light keeper’s cottage attached to the tower. “He took care of the light and made sure it was always working.”

“Who does it now?”

I smiled. “A computer.”

Her smooth mouth rounded. “I bet it was cool to live there.”

“Oh yeah. Aurora got to study all the sea snails and sea stars and crawly creatures that live all over the rocks and in the water,” I told her and then squinted around the sand. “You know, I bet we could probably find some living close to the water here.”

Her nose wrinkled and she shuddered.

“No?”

“I’m a bee person.”