“Right,” he says, nodding. It would be a lot more effective if that stupid grin wasn’t still taunting me. He steps closer, like he can’t help himself, like maybe this pull between us isn’t entirely one-sided.
I mean to take a step back, but somehow I find myself stepping closer, pulled into his orbit against my will. A force I can’t quite resist, even when my brain is screaming that it’s the logical thing to do.
Nothing good can come from whatever it is I’m feeling for Declan.
“If you’re good with it,” he says, close enough now that he has to tilt his head down to look at me. “I’m in.”
“Great.” Grace claps her hands together. “Gail is expecting us at Captain’s in a half-hour. We’ll meet you there.”
She loops her arm through mine and leads me back the way we came from. I know she’s probably dying inside, but she manages to keep her mouth shut until the door closes behind us. As soon as it does, she releases my arm and whirls around, blocking my path.
“You two arekillingme.”
“What does that mean?” someone male – probably Ty – calls out. I sidestep Grace and head over to the work table where Cam sits on a stool with Olivia perched on his lap, Ty leaning against the tabletop across from them. I grab the other stool between them and plop down on it, prepared to ignore all of them while they gossip about me.
Bunch of busybodies.
“You could cut the tension between Elsie and Declan like a knife,” Grace tells Ty. “Did Olivia fill you in?”
“I got the TL;DR version. Several hot, tattooed individuals work in the shop next door. One of them very clearly wants to defile our Elsie. All signs point to Elsie very much wanting to be defiled. Did I miss anything?”
“Liv did not call them hot,” Cam interjects, indignant. “Who said they were hot?”
“That about covers it,” Grace nods.
I pull out my notebook and set it on the table, flipping through the pages like I’m looking for something. Ty reaches over and plucks it from my hands, setting it out of reach.
“Hey! I need that.”
“Not right now, you don’t.”
I roll my eyes and cross my arms. I’m aware I’m acting like a petulant child, but I don’t care.
“Do you, in fact, want to be defiled by Mr. Tattoos next door? It kind of looked like it from here.” Of course they’d been watching through that stupid window, the bane of my existence.
“Nobody is going to be defiling anybody,” Cam butts in, going full dad mode. “Now, if Elsie, as a fully consenting adult, wants to, uh…”
“Fuck him?” Grace offers.
“Yes, that,” Cam nods.
“She does,” Olivia interjects.
“Great, glad we settled that.” Grace hops onto the tabletop beside me and swings her feet. “Ty, wait until you see these two at the restaurant. I swear, you can reach out and feel the tension strung between them like a bow. One of these days it’s going to snap.”
“I’m jealous,” Ty whines. “I haven’t gotten laid in, like, a month.”
“A month!” Grace yells. “Multiply that by… I don’t know,a lot. That’s where I’m at.”
Same. I don’t say it, though. I’ve never been as comfortable talking about my sex life as my friends. Grace will happily tell us about the length, girth and exact angle of every penis she encounters without blinking. Olivia’s a bit more reserved, but I still know about all the times Cam called her a “good girl” on their first road trip together, and the way he likes to take control in bed.
“Can’t relate,” Olivia says smugly, looping her arms around Cam’s neck. He buries his face in her neck, hiding his smile. They’re so sweet together it would make me a little bit sick, if I wasn’t so damn happy for my best friend.
“Alright, you two,” Ty admonishes. “We’d better get going. I’m ready for dinner and a show.”
I take a few minutes to close up, making sure the display arrangements are put away in the cooler and the coffee machine in the break room is ready to go for the next morning. Once everything is set I flip off the lights, lock the doors and join my friends on the sidewalk outside.
“Ready?” Ty asks, slinging an arm around my shoulder.
