“Hey, what’s going on?”
“Elsie and Grace were getting piercings,” Maya chimes in. Her gaze swings toward Declan and she grins. “Declandid Elsie’s piercing.”
Sean’s head snaps over to the man who’s studiously ignoring them both. We all watch while Declan wipes down the seat I just vacated. I’m probably the only one ogling the way his arms flex while he does it, though.
Scratch that – Grace is definitely ogling, too.
“You pierced Elsie?” Sean asks him, incredulous. I shift on my feet, uncomfortable with the way it’s turning into a wholething.
“Not a big deal,” Declan says, shrugging. “I had the time and I haven’t done one in a while. Don’t want to get too rusty.”
I don’t want to sit back and watch while someone else has their hands on you.
I don’t let on that I know therealreason, and that the BS he just fed Sean isn’t it.
“In-ter-es-ting,” Sean says, drawing out each syllable in a way that suggests he knowsexactlywhat Declan is up to.
“I’d better get back to work,” I say, desperate to be anywhere but here. “Thanks again, Declan. I’ll catch you guys later.” I throw a quick wave over my shoulder and grab Grace’s hand.
“Thanks a million, Eddie!” she calls out as I drag her toward the door joining our shops. “Holy shit,” she exclaims the second the door clicks shut behind us. Never mind that there are customers within earshot. “That was so fucking hot.”
“What was?” Noah asks, sidling up beside us and tucking his head in close. He, at least, has the wherewithal to try and keep our conversation private.
“We went to get ear piercings during our lunch, and when Declan found out Elsie was going to get one done, he was all, ‘That’s my woman. I’ll do it myself.’”
“He did not,” Noah gasps.
“He didn’t,” I assure him.
“He basically did,” Grace argues. “Eddie tried to insist that he could do it, but Declan wouldn’t let him.”
Noah’s eyes go wide as he scrutinizes my face. “How do we feel about this?”
I shrug, feigning indifference. Inside, though, I’m reeling. Every interaction with Declan just leaves me feeling more confused than the time before. Much as I’ve tried to deny it, there’s obviouslysomethingthere between us. Some irrational, all-consuming attraction that neither one of us seems to be very good at ignoring.
Noah leans in closer to Grace. “You know,” he says conspiratorially, “he was in here the other day and I thought he was going to rip my hand clean off my body just for touching Elsie.”
Grace groans. “You guys are killing me. Can you please just jump him already so I can live vicariously through you?”
A clattering noise across the shop snags my attention. Jodie, my favorite cashier at the grocery store in town, is fixing a chalkboard sign that fell off a shelf. I’d set it up just this morning to advertise a deal on potted calla lilies.
“Sorry,” she says sheepishly. “Bumped it with my purse.”
“Hi, Jodie. What brings you in today?”
“I’m looking for something to bring to my sister,” she explains. “She just got transferred to a rehab facility after her hip surgery, and the place is downright depressing. I’m hoping some flowers might help brighten up her room a bit.
“I’ve got just the thing,” I assure her, thinking about the arrangements I worked on yesterday with carnations and marigolds. To Noah and Grace I add, my voice low, “Nobody will be jumping anybody, okay? He and I are… friends.”
The words leave a bad taste in my mouth, like lies always do. Whatever Declan and I are,friendsisn’t the word for it. There’s nothingfriendlyabout the way my skin heats at his touch, or the predatory gleam in his eyes as they rake over me. There’s definitely nothing friendly about the way he all but told me that at some point,somethingis going to happen between us. We’re on a collision course I don’t know how to – or even know if I want to – escape.
We’re inevitable, Elsie.
“Sure,” Noah chuckles.
“Riiight,” Grace says with an exaggerated wink and a thumbs up.
As soon as I start to walk away, I hear one of them mutter, “Five bucks says they don’t last until the end of the month.”
