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He readjusts my hair for me, and my heart gallops in response. “We should get going.”
“Hold on. You forgot this.”
His brows pull together as I step forward and grab the ends of his bow tie. I pull on one side before passing the longer end into the neck loop. He releases a shuddery breath as my fingers brush his skin, and I look up to catch his gaze fixed on me. The way he looks at me feels…
Devastating.
I hurry through the rest of the steps before I do something crazy like pull his lips down to mine. “There.” I readjust the sides so the knot is centered.
I move to step away, but he grabs my hands and holds them hostage against his chest. “Thank you.”
My slow blink gives me a moment to process. “It’s just a bow tie.”
“I mean for everything. The fake dates…”
“The broken laws.”
“And noses.”
I laugh. “That was all you.”
His lips curve into a seductive smile that makes my kneestremble. He reaches out and traces my cheek with his thumb, and my stomach does a betraying little flip that terrifies me.
No matter how tonight goes, one thing is clear: Declan isn’t going to back down. If anything, our kiss made him bolder. I’m not sure how I am going to survive tonight without doing something stupid.
God help me.
* * *
Declan and I make it to the gala without kissing, fighting, or talking. It isn’t until he steps out of the car and holds out his arm for me to take that he finally speaks.
“How long do we have to stay here?”
I clutch onto his hand and exit the car. “We haven’t even gone inside yet.”
He huffs. “You know how I feel about these things.”
“I might knowhow, but notwhy.”
His eyes seem to roam over me before landing back on my face. “I have my reasons.”
“Do they have anything to do with you painfully pretending you like other people for two hours straight?”
“If only it were that simple.”
“What would you do if you didn’t have me around to save you from hours of small talk?”
“Death by a butter knife would be most appropriate given the setting.”
I lean into his side as I laugh. He wraps his arm around my waist, and I look at him with wide eyes and a smile that has yet to fall. His lips part as if he is about to say something, but our moment is cut short by a flash of a camera bulb. Someone shouts Declan’s name. It sobers me enough to take in our surroundings and the different people mulling about the red carpet, interviewing each person who walks by.
I give him a reassuring pat on his chest. “Let’s get this over with. The sooner we go inside, the sooner we get to leave.”
“You don’t need to tell me twice.”
I laugh again, and his hand on my waist tightens.
Does he like my laugh?The idea seems comical given Declan’s preference for silence.
