Page 84 of Declan

My dad was still reserving his judgment, though he’d liked how protective Declan seemed to be. Neither man had gone into extreme detail about the meeting but my dad didn’t know the half of Declan’s protectiveness. Something I was surprised I liked. I’d been on my own for a long time. I was in charge of me in all ways, and if I was being honest, which I seemed to be doing a lot of these days, I liked sharing the load. I liked knowing Dec was there to take my back if I needed him.

Then my dad told me that he and my mom were staying in a hotel nearby and they were having breakfast with Thad and Emmy and of course there was an open invitation if Declan and I wanted to join them. As gently as I could, I declined. My dad didn’t push and Declan said not one word. He knew I needed to speak to my sister but I needed to do that in private and I still wasn’t ready. But I did agree to meet with them at some point the next day and Dad promised he’d explain things to Emmy so her feelings weren’t hurt.

Now I was lying in bed, Declan next to me, and I was staring at the ceiling. We were not touching. He was on his side, I was on mine, and it fucking sucked so bad I wanted to scream.

These sleeping arrangements were not discussed. We’d gotten into bed, Declan had given me a toe-curling kiss, this one not as gentle as the others he’d given me, but he’d definitely held himself back. I could feel the tension in his body, not to mention his hands shook as he cupped my face.

It sucked.

Not the kiss, the kiss was out of this world.

Declan holding back sucked, and what’s more, his sleeping away from me sucked huge.

But I didn’t know what to do.

I was debating getting up to find something to occupy my thoughts. I’d rather scrub toilets than endure the torture of having him so close, yet so far away it made me ache.

“You all right, babe?” Declan’s sleep-rough voice sent chills over me.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you,” I whispered into the dark.

“That’s not an answer, Autumn.”

Shit.

“Yeah, I’m okay.”

The bed shifted and suddenly a soft glow bathed the room. I blinked as my eyes adjusted and then Declan was up on an elbow staring down at me.

But still not touching me.

God, it sucked.

“What woke you?”

“I don’t know. But really, I’m fine. I’m sorry if I was moving around.”

A slow soft smile transformed his sleepy face and I took in a deep breath. Man, he was sexier than his normal sexy when his face was sleepy and gentle.

He leaned down and brushed his lips against mine, but before I could do anything, he pulled back. That sucked more.

“Whenever you’re ready, baby, you say the word.”

Whenever I was ready? I was ready now, dammit.

“How did you know?”

“You want the truth, or would you rather I tell you I have amazing reasoning skills?”

I narrowed my eyes and answered, “The truth.”

“Right. I knew you were disappointed when I kissed you, didn’t take it further, and put you to bed.”

“And you figured that out with your amazing reasoning skills?”

“No, baby, I figured that out because you were grinding your pussy on my thigh. My amazing reasoning skills, not to mention logical deduction came into play when you woke up, tossed and turned, and squeezed your legs together looking for relief.”

“You’re full of shit. You were on the other side of the bed. You have no idea—”