Page 75 of Declan

She nodded and made her way across the room to grab her backpack. I was debating the merits of giving her that play—the change of subject, taking the topic to something mundane after the heavy one we’d had. Especially knowing what was about to come, but I couldn’t drop it when her body language was screaming that there was something wrong.

“Babe?”

“Huh?”

“You okay?”

“You’re better at this than me.”

“Better at what?”

“This sharing stuff. I’m trying to figure out how you went from grunting and one-word answers to…this. I know how to deal with the other Declan. But this Declan, the one that’s all flowery and open, I don’t know what to do with him.”

“Flowery? Never in my life has anyone accused me of being flowery or open. And you know you’re the only woman in the world who would think anything I just said was flowery.”

“Yeah, well, I’m also a woman who’s never had a man claim me in a way that felt good.”

Fucking Christ.

“Baby—”

“You know, never in my life did I think I’d want to belong to someone after what happened to me.” She paused and worried her bottom lip, something I’d learned she did when she was drawing up courage. Something she did a lot and always bested, therefore I waited for her to continue. “I don’t need the words, Dec. Words are meaningless. As a matter of fact, I don’t want the words, I just want you however you come. At this point, I don’t know much of anything, but I do know I spent three weeks without you and it hurt in a way I couldn’t deny. So, I’m ready to walk through fire with you. But fair warning, Declan, there may be times when I need to crawl.”

Sweet Jesus.

That slammed into my gut and my chest with equal measure. The pain so exquisite, I let it blaze a path until my body was engulfed in the beauty she’d just given me.

“And she says I’m better at this,” I mumbled. “Baby, we’ll run, walk, or crawl. There will be times I’ll carry you and times you’ll have to carry me. I am man enough to admit, I got problems and sometimes those problems weigh me down. But I’m also smart enough to know you’re strong enough to handle them. We’re a team, Autumn. You and me gotta work to make this good, to give the other what they need. We do that, we’ll find paradise.”

And there it was again, hope. Only this time it didn’t flash in her eyes—it overtook her entire being. A look so devastatingly beautiful, I’d fight and die to keep that look.

Chapter 25

With Declan by my side, we’d already cleared three security checkpoints and currently, his retinas were being scanned so the elevator door would open.

“If I didn’t already know the answer, I’d ask if Zane was paranoid.”

Declan chuckled and straightened. A moment later when the metal doors slid open, he gave me a gentle push forward.

“Though I’m unclear if he’s trying to keep his enemies out or his secrets locked in.”

“Both,” Dec answered. “Last time Zane checked, there was a ten million dollar bounty on his head.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep.”

I didn’t know what to say to that insanity so I didn’t say anything. Besides, I was more concerned about what was going on with Ash and why she wasn’t answering my calls. Surely when she “fired” me—though I didn’t work for her so in actuality she couldn’t fire me—she hadn’t meant that was the end of our friendship. So I was concerned but not overly so because I’d only called twice, and sometimes it took days for her to get back to me depending on where she was or what she was doing.

But I didn’t like that Declan told me something felt off. And I didn’t like she’d been watching. Not because I had anything to hide, but we were friends. If she was close, why hadn’t she stopped by? So now I was beginning to agree with Declan—something was off and I didn’t like thinking that.

Ash had been a good friend to me over the years, a good mentor, and even if I was seriously miffed she’d called Beth and—shit, why hadn’t I thought about contacting her earlier?

“I need to call Beth,” I announced. “She might know how to reach Ash.”

“Who’s Beth?”

“Beth’s an information broker,” I told him.