Chapter 16 #3
“Hi,” he says cautiously. When he raises his hands up to chest level in a show of innocence, I nearly laugh. “I’m Noah.”
Declan studies him before responding. I watch as his dark eyes rake over Noah: the perfectly styled, dark blonde hair.
The white button-down, jeans and loafers, the most casual outfit I’ve seen Noah in to date.
Declan’s eyes snap back to mine and he raises an eyebrow just slightly, so imperceptibly that I might have missed it if I wasn’t watching him closely.
There’s an accusation there, and I wonder — not for the first time, or maybe even the hundredth — what he’s thinking.
Noah lowers his hands and holds one out for Declan to shake. After a few beats of awkward silence, Declan steps forward and clasps Noah’s hand in his own. All the while, his eyes — those dark, brooding eyes I haven’t been able to stop thinking about — never leave mine.
“Declan,” he says. “I work next door.”
“I know. I’ve seen you through the window. Elsie keeps telling me she’ll introduce me to everyone, but we keep getting swamped every time we even think about it.”
Declan doesn’t respond. He just keeps watching me.
“Did you figure out what’s leaking?” I ask, pretending I’m not about to jump out of my skin from the weight of his eyes on me for so long.
“Loose connection between pipes,” he says. “I got it tightened back up, but it must have been leaking for a while. The whole shop is under an inch or two of water.”
“Goddamn,” Noah mutters.
Declan’s eyes snap over to his, as if just remembering he’s still here. “Yeah,” he says slowly. “Goddamn.”
“I’m, um, going to just…” Noah backs away slowly, hitching a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ll go grab another coffee. Give you two a chance to chat.”
Before I can stop him, he turns and hurries out of the shop. The door bangs closed behind him, and then it’s quiet – too quiet.
I look up at Declan and there’s a look on his face I haven’t seen before. It’s predatory, almost. Possessive. Hungry.
Instinct has me taking a step back, but I bump into the table behind me. Declan, seeing an opportunity, closes the distance between us and plants his hands on the table on either side of me, effectively caging me in. My heart skips a beat, then takes off to the races. He’s so close.
Declan leans down so I don’t have to tip my head back to meet his eyes. “Are you dating him?”
The question is so out of left field, all I can do is blink for a few seconds. “What?”
“Fucking him?” he taunts.
The word fucking out of Declan’s mouth like that has me blushing. “Who?”
“Mister clean cut with the fucking khakis,” Declan practically growls. So he’d been watching us last week, too. “Are. You. Fucking. Him?”
Maybe I’d laugh, if my nerves weren’t strung tight like a bow and my heart was thumping at a normal pace. This kind of proximity to Declan is like a drug. One hit and my senses are gone. I want to reach out and grab him by the shirt, pull him close and finally find out what he tastes like.
“Answer me, Elsie,” he commands, his voice low and lethal.
Right, he’d been questioning me about Noah.
As if he has the right.
I want to taunt him, to tell him it’s none of his business if we are hooking up, but something stops me. Maybe it’s the hard set to his jaw, or the glaring eyes that have barely left mine since he stepped foot into my shop.
God, he’s hot.
“No, Declan,” I say softly. “We’re friends.”
“That’s it?” he asks, his jaw working to the side again.
“We did go on a date once,” I admit. Declan sucks in a breath through his nose and from the corner of my eye, I see the tendons in his arms flex as he grips the tabletop. “It was months ago. We realized we were better off as friends and left it at that.”
Jesus, why am I even explaining this to him? “Are you jealous?” I ask. I’d meant for it to be a challenge, an accusation, but my tone is more incredulous than anything.
“That’s one way to put it,” he says, and his honesty nearly knocks the wind out of me. I still don’t know what’s happening between us, but I think I’m equal parts terrified and excited about the possibilities.
“We hardly know each other,” I point out.
It’s a lame effort to pump the breaks on whatever this is.
He can’t just storm in here, act like he has some kind of claim over me and scare Noah off.
Rationally, I know that’s insane behavior – even if my traitorous heart is doing a happy dance inside my chest.
He leans in closer, so close that I think – hope? – he might actually kiss me. Instead, he leans to the side and tucks a strand of hair behind my ear. His warm breath on the sensitive skin of my neck makes me shiver, and I know he notices.
Declan chuckles and leans closer. He inhales, like he’s breathing me in, trying to consume me the way my body is screaming, begging for him to do.
“Neither one of us stands a chance against this,” Declan says, his low voice so close I feel it like a caress. “We’re inevitable, Elsie.”
With that, he takes a step back, winks at me and leaves.