“You’re a lifesaver,” Ty tells me again, heading toward the door. “Noah, you’ve got my number now,” he says, andthatis news to me. “Text me if I miss anything good.”
“Oh, I will,” Noah promises.
“Hey!” I protest. “No ganging up on me.” I’m careful to keep my back to the window overlooking the shop next door while I pet Lucy, so I don’t accidentally make eye contact with Declan.
“Sorry not sorry,” Ty laughs, blowing me a kiss. He waves to Noah, then slips out the front door and disappears onto the crowded sidewalk.
Noah sighs, watching him go with a dopey, lovesick look on his face.
“God, I love this job.”
CHAPTER 22
Elsie
I manage to avoid Declan for two whole days. Every time he came around, I had something urgent to keep me busy. Cleaning the coffee maker, taking Lucy outside for a potty break, returning Mrs. Holloway’s call to tell her I’d love to make an arrangement for her booth at the Summer Sendoff, the festival that serves as the library’s biggest fundraiser each year. It’s also the festival where we’ll find out the winner of the Best New Business competition.
That call wasn’t my best idea, admittedly. Mrs. Halloway is hard of hearing and I’d had to yell for her to hear me properly, all while Declan was just on the other side of the break room door.
I’m watering my geraniums on Thursday evening when I hear a low, “There you are” from behind me. I jump, nearly dropping the watering can. Some of its contents slosh out onto my shoes.
“Shoot,” I mutter. I’d thought I was safe out here.
Over the last few weeks, my greenhouse has become my safe space. My solace. My little slice of heaven where things are calm andquiet, and I can pretend the outside world doesn’t exist. I’ve found a deep comfort in coming out here at the end of each day, checking on the plants and watering the ones that need it. Noah has offered to help, but he finally stopped asking after the first week or so. He knows now that it’s how I unwind at the end of a busy day. Although I love working with Noah, the peace and quiet helps soothe the noise inside my mind that never seems to turn off otherwise.
Right now, the silence feels heavy. Oppressive. Combined with the high temperature and humidity of the greenhouse, I’m suddenly finding it difficult to catch my breath.
Or maybe it’s because suddenly, I can feel the heat radiating from Declan behind me. I didn’t hear him move closer, but I canfeelhim there. Close enough that if I wanted, I could take a step back and be flush against his chest, a thought that sends my pulse spiking before I’ve given it permission to.
Sucking in a deep breath for courage, I move onto the next plant and continue watering, careful to move in a way that I don’t accidentally brush against him.
“What’s up?” I ask over my shoulder, feigning nonchalance. My heart is trying to sprint out of my chest and I have to actively stop myself from rubbing at the spot in an effort to calm it down.
Declan is silent for a few seconds, but I feel the weight of his gaze on my back. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“No, I haven’t.” I force out a laugh, like the notion is ridiculous. “I’ve just been busy, that’s all.”
“Right.”
My hand rests on the edge of the large planter box in front of me, and when a hand settles on top of mine, I gasp. With his other hand, Declan reaches around me to take the watering can and sets it on the ground.
“What are you doing?” I ask on a shaky exhale. Declan ignores me, tugging gently on the end of my braid. My heart nearly stops when I feel the backs of his fingers trail lightly down my spine, before his hand settles on my hip. He squeezes gently and I can’t help myself; I take that step backward, and the delicious heat of his body against mine is almost too much.
“Don’t hide from me,” Declan says, his voice a low rumble that makes my toes want to curl in my shoes. I’m tempted to turn and look at him, to see the hunger I know I’ll find in his dark irises, but fear keeps me rooted in place. Not a fear of Declan – nothing abouthimscares me. It’s what he does to me, the effect he’s had on me since our very first meeting, that has my pulse racing and goosebumps rising on my arms.
“I’m not hiding,” I lie.
“You are. Tell me why.”
I feel the press of warm lips against my bare shoulder and I shiver. Though we’ve only kissed once, nothing about this – his hands on my body, his lips against my skin – feelswrong. It sends my pulse skyrocketing and lodges my heart firmly in my throat, but it’s far fromwrong.
Being with Declan like this feels predestined, like a collision course we were always going to hurtle down, no matter how hard we tried to avoid it. There’s a deep sense of rightness about it all. Aboutus.
Maybe that’s what scares me most of all.
Declan pulls his hand from mine and slides the narrow strap of my dress to the side. When he kisses the spot where it had been, I gasp.
“The kiss,” I force out. “I didn’t know what you thought. What you wanted.”
