Cant Stay Away – Dani McLean

The point-two is less an encounter with him and more a prolonged swoon from the register while Benji helps unload slabs of wood from a delivery truck. “Just go,” Skye says, spinning on a stool beside me. It’s her day to man the register. “We both know you want to.” “I was just there at lunch.” “Oh no,” she deadpans. “Then he might think you like him.” She slumps over the counter. “I’m begging you both to please stop dancing around each other.

It’s been months since you met.” Three months, two weeks, and five days. But who’s counting? Once the truck leaves, Benji wipes the sweat off his brow with his forearm. His hair is messy and gorgeous. I want to follow him inside and ask him if I can run my hands through it. I keep staring until the moment he disappears back into his shop. “And my plight continues,” Skye groans.

I jab a finger in her side, and she yelps. Things with Benji are good. We’re taking it slow. He gets quiet sometimes, dark, but he always says he’s fine when I ask him about it. I haven’t pushed, even though I want to, because as comfortable as we are with each other—disgustingly so, if you ask Skye— things are still new between us. But we’ve got plenty of time. I push away from the window. “I’m going to get to work on that Unicorn Bliss order.

If I start now, it’ll be cured for the post office run tomorrow.” Skye flops across the register. “Ugh, fine. But I’m only letting you hide in the back because it’ll stop you moping at the window. It’s scaring the customers away.” “At least I don’t yell at them.” “That was one time.” I giggle as I walk into the studio.

One time this month. “Hey,” Skye calls out an hour later. “How would a snake even hold a newspaper anyway?” I’m mid-pour, so all I can do is yell back, “Should I know what you’re talking about?” There must be a customer because Skye doesn’t appear, instead continuing the conversation from the other room.

“People own snakes as pets, right? So, do you think they teach them the same tricks as dogs? Stay. Roll over.” She laughs. “That one would be easy. Fetch?” I smile down into the wax. When it reaches an inch below the full height of the glass, I start the next one. “How would they hold anything?

First edition: June 2026 No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. No AI was used in any part of the creation of this work. No part of this book may be used for training AI or digested by AI for any means. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. Editor: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing, www.unforeseenediting.com Cover Illustrator: Elen Bushe Cover Designer: Brenna Jones Design Photographer: Dani McLean 1kitap1.com/en For anyone who had their heart broken via text. They’ll never meet another you. I hope Benji’s naked grovelling heals you as it did me.

1kitap1.com/en Content Note While this story is a lighthearted contemporary romance, there are elements that may be difficult for some readers. This book contains: —explicit language —explicit sexual content, including public sex The protection of your safety and mental health is crucial to me. Please do what you need to look after yourself. 1kitap1.com/en Prologue 1kitap1.com/en H Chapter One PAIGE otel Bellwether is famous for many things, but LoveTM is what it promises you, so when Skye—my cousin and platonic love of my life, also cofounder of our shop, Calm Candles—discovered that one of my New Year’s resolutions was to date again, she wasted no time in making me sign up for The Belle’s weekly speed-dating night.

Anytime I need a holiday, I come here. With the crisp ocean air, soft sand as far as the eye can see, Playa de Oro always carries the sense that anything is possible if you want it enough. And, boy, am I hoping that works in my favor tonight. “Scope out any hotties yet?” Skye asks. I press my phone closer to my ear, just in case. I’m here ten minutes early and not entirely sure I shouldn’t escape before it starts, which is why I called her.

Baby steps. “Um …” The ballroom is split in two—a lounge area, where I’m loitering at the edge, and a dining room. In reality, it’s a few sofas, a cash bar, and a rug on one side, then rows of two-seater tables, lined up neatly with numbers, on the other.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

Book Information

• Unique ID: 6210477865adf407
• File Extension: .pdf
• File Size: 2,610,967 bytes (2.49 MB)
• Title: –
• Author: Unknown
• Pages: 137
• Language: English (en)

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• Estimated Reading Time: 189.44 minutes
• Total Words: 37,889
• Total Characters: 200,203
• Average Words per Page: 276.56
• Average Characters per Page: 1461.34

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