The Scorned Heiress: No More Mercy novel Chapter 776

The man practically tucked her in and would have stayed to watch her sleep if it were socially acceptable. To be so deeply cherished by someone so powerful and devoted makes Tara feel like her chaotic life has finally found its anchor. Her biological family might have been a disaster, but she has definitely hit the jackpot when it comes to love.

Lying comfortably in her tent, Tara feels an overwhelming sense of peace. The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of corporate sabotage and family drama. This retreat is supposed to be for her employees to decompress, but she realizes she needed this escape just as much as they did. Knowing the man she loves and relies on is sleeping just a few yards away fills her with quiet reassurance.

Just as she is drifting off to sleep, she hears a faint rustling right outside her tent flap. Always on high alert, her eyes snap open instantly.

The noise stops.

Curiosity getting the better of her, Tara sits up, unzips the entrance, and peeks outside. Sitting directly on her welcome mat is a small, transparent glass jar emitting a soft, pulsing glow.

She blinks, processing the sight before a wide smile breaks across her face. She picks up the jar, watching the dozen fireflies fluttering inside. A wave of suffocatingly sweet emotion crashes over her.

"That idiot. He stayed up just to catch bugs for me?" she whispers, though she knows exactly why he did it.

She brings the jar inside and zips the flap shut. In the pitch-black darkness of the tent, the warm, golden light spills across her blankets, illuminating the space just as Danny has illuminated the darkest corners of her heart. It makes her feel incredibly safe.

The man definitely knows how to be romantic.

Hours pass before she finally falls into a deep, dreamless sleep.

"Shut up," Coen shoots back, avoiding eye contact. "Since when did you become such a gossip?"

Seeing his friend's defensive posture—a classic sign of guilt—Danny scoffs in amusement. "It's fine. We all go through this phase right before we fall off the deep end."

Danny pops the cap off a beer and takes a long sip, looking entirely too smug. He speaks from intense personal experience. When he first got Tara's contact info, he spent hours secretly analyzing every single post on her feed. He read them over and over, never getting bored. At the time, he convinced himself he was just curious and killing time, completely oblivious to the fact that he was already fiercely in love with her.

"Don't project your romantic baggage onto me. I don't operate like you," Coen mutters, cracking open his own beer.

The two men sit in the cool night air, sharing a quiet drink.