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Declan didn’t stir.
So, I got up, got dressed, and ran like hell before his roommate woke up.
It’s what I’m best at when things get too serious. When feelings try their damnedest to get involved. Running.
It’s better this way.
Now our desire for each other has been sated. And Declan can move on and find a woman who actually wants to settle down.
“Mind if I join you?” Celia Maxwell, Declan’s sister-in-law, slips into the chair opposite mine. We haven’t talked much, outside of some small chat at the wedding a few weeks ago. I did notice her at the grand opening last night, but she was preoccupied with her husband. Damn these Maxwell genes. They’re too potent for anyone’s good.
“Hope you had a good time last night?” I say, hoping to keep the small talk broad and to a minimum. I should go back home. When I stopped by to change earlier, it seemed that Great-Aunt Ester was still on her date. I would have had the house to myself for a little while longer before I have to return to The Book Cellar and prepare it for this evening. But thanks to her coffee maker taking a crap two days ago, I ventured out. What was I thinking?
“Had a great time, actually.” She smiles over the top of her coffee cup before taking a sip and setting it back down. “Did you get any sleep last night?”
Sleep? What was sleep? Even after Declan passed out hard in his bed, I was wide awake tossing and turning. Warring with feelings I did not want to have. I vowed to steer clear of men for the foreseeable future, but I promised myself to keep the hell away from anything resembling love indefinitely. Yet, there I was, crying on his front steps last night. Worried sick about the man fighting a fire. Yearning to take care of him.
This will not fucking do.
“I’m pretty tired,” I say, lifting the coffee in evidence. “But it was worth it. A dream come true.”
Celia lifts one corner of her mouth. “Which part?”
Damn this small town and its ability to spread rumors faster than any fire. I slide out of my chair, quite done with this inquisition. I know what Celia is after. “I better go clean up the bar. Have a nice day, Celia.”
“It’s worth it, you know,” she calls after me.
I stop and turn against my better judgment, because dammit, I want to hear the rest of what she has to say so badly it hurts.
“Love. It’s worth it all.”
I nod before running out of the coffee shop like I’m being chased by my eight-legged nemesis.
I make it halfway down the block before I see him.
Declan.
He shouldn’t even be awake right now.
He marches straight toward me from the opposite side of the block, his lips pressed into a tight, straight line. I take a deep breath and brace myself for whatever lecture he has planned for me, and continue toward my bar. I make it all the way to the door, key in the lock, before he catches up to me.
“You left,” he growls behind me, his body so close to mine I can feel the heat swirl between us. There’s a shameless part of me that wants to lift my skirt and show him I’m not wearing any panties. Hope he’ll fuck me right here against the front door. But the sensible part of me remembers I have to protect myself. Plus, there’s the whole not wanting to go to jail thing.
“I told you,” I say without looking back at him. I shove the door open and march inside. “I don’t do commitment.”
“The hell you don’t,” he growls, that animalistic side of him he showed me in the shower flashing in his eyes now as he cages me against the wall. Damn the man for causing slick heat to trickle down my inner thigh. Damn me for wanting Declan to lick it off with the tip of his tongue.
“I—I can’t,” I whisper-pant.
“Can’t or won’t?” His hand gathers the edge of my skirt until its bunched at my hip, revealing my lack of panties.
“Our washing machine is broke.”
His finger traces a line right through the wetness on my inner thigh. “That why your legs are crying for me, sweetheart?”
“It’s lust, Declan.”
“Is it really, sweetheart?” He slowly runs his finger through my wet folds, teasing my sore entrance. My belly quivers with need of him. It’s more than fucking lust, and I know it. He can see the truth in my eyes as his finger slips into my channel. “Is this just a fun fuck for you?” He eases in a second finger. “That why you were sitting on my steps waiting for me?”
