Declan's whole body does that subtle shift I've watched him perfect since media training. Years of hard-earned muscle rolling into camera-ready stillness.
"Yeah. That's me."
"Awesome, awesome. Mind if I grab a quick photo? For the Ledger's weekend spread. The rivalry game's got the whole town buzzing."
"Sure." Declan sets the posters down, and I step aside, out of frame, doing my professional PR-manager fade into the background.
The photographer snaps two, three photos, then lowers the camera, chewing his lip like he's debating something.
"You know," he says, glancing between us with a little too much interest, "you two would look good together. In the photos, I mean. There's a nice...chemistrybetween you."
"Oh, no. I'm just doing my job," I say quickly, my smile stretched thin because there's something in the way he says it that snags my ear like a fishhook. "He's the superstar."
"Nonsense! Get in there!"
Declan's eyes cut to mine, one brow lifting like a question mark.
Before I can overthink it, his arm slides around my shoulders, warm and heavy and terrifyingly familiar, and my body just... melts into his side like it's been doing it for years instead of weeks in stairwells and hotel bathrooms.
"Smile pretty," he murmurs beside me.
"Perfect," the photographer says. "That's the one."
Declan doesn't let go as he snaps a few more photos, glancing at his screen with a growing smile.
"Oh yeah. These are great. You two make a good pair. But I guess everybody's saying that."
The photographer lowers the camera before he steps forward to shake Declan's hand. He's gone before I can even lift my jaw off the boardwalk at what I just heard.
"Um. That was weird," I say slowly.
"What was?"
"Everybody's saying that?Who's everybody? And what are they saying?!"
Declan doesn't answer, but he's watching the photographer walk away with a careful glare.
And that's when I notice he's gone very, very still.
"Declan… what's wrong?"
He rubs a hand across his chin, scratching the stubble there. "Hmmmm, maybe there's something I should've told you. The night of the charity event, there was this reporter… Susie Wrath, from the Ledger. She cornered me during the auction stuff."
"The interview about the road losses," I nod, crossing my arms. "I read it. You did well."
"Yeah, except… She didn't stop at the road losses." His eyes find mine, and there's an apology in them before the words even land. "You see, Brooke was there too, I was signing some shirts for the auction. And so Susie, she asked about Brooke."
I swallow hard, starting to understand where this is going.
I'm hoping I'm wrong.
"She asked about us dating, but we swatted it away before she could make anything of it." He exhales, and I wait for the blow. "But then… she said there wererumors. About me being 'awfully close' toanother new hire.And she looked right at the bar. Right at… you."
The boardwalk keeps moving around us. The steel drums keep playing. Somewhere a kid shrieks with laughter on the carousel.
And I stand there feeling like the ground just shook beneath me.
"People are starting to work it out," I whisper.
