9. Liz
LIZ
The next morning, I woke up surprisingly refreshed.
Wow. What a difference it made that I’d had one less shift yesterday.
Deep down, I knew I had to slow down. Honestly, I’d only burned myself because I was too tired to pay attention to what I was doing.
But if I could keep this up until I got my bakery up and running, that would be ideal.
And this girl still had a lot left in her kick-ass jar.
A knock at my front door startled me. Hmmm. I’d ordered some supplies from Amazon, but deliveries usually didn't come this early.
I opened it and only then realized through my morning haze that deliveries usually called from the gate first. I had to admit I was pleased to see Declan in front of me with two coffee cups.
"Good morning," he said. And my girlie parts woke right up.
"Good morning."
"I didn't catch you last night, so I thought I'd catch you today before you leave."
"Want to come in?"
"Sure. I was banking on the fact that if I showed up with two coffees, you wouldn't kick me out."
"Of course not. I didn’t kick you out when you were terrorizing me about my music either."
"Let's not go there. Truce?"
He was wearing a suit, and he had cuff links. Oh my goodness, all my thoughts left my head. My lady bits were already in overdrive while my pulse spiked to new heights.
"I'm already making you tongue-tied?" he asked with a cocky smile.
"Hey, it's not you. It's very early in the morning. Although, I will admit I do feel so much better. Missing a shift yesterday really did make a difference."
He watched me intently as we sat down at the kitchen table, sipping our drinks. Glancing at the wall clock, I realized it was just after seven.
"Why did you give yourself a one-year deadline?” he asked.
It warmed me all over that he remembered that part of our conversation. Very observant.
“I don’t want to postpone this forever. I’ll either make it happen or need to come up with alternative plans.”
His gaze grew even more intense. “You’re putting a lot of pressure on yourself. What made you decide to finally follow your dream?”
I cleared my throat, not intending to get into all this so early in the morning, then decided I’d give him the short version.
"Last year, I had an accident right before my thirty-third birthday.
I fell during a hike and had a huge injury to my abdomen.
I had to stay home and recover for six weeks, and I had a lot of time to think. "
He said nothing but was obviously listening so intently that it made me feel like he really cared.
"I remembered that I had all these dreams, and I always told myself that I’d do it someday, and something switched inside me. I didn't want to wait. I wanted to start working for my dream right away."
"And then you up and moved to Chicago and took three jobs."
“Two and a half,” I said with a wink, “but yes.
I quit my job back home, and I moved. I only had one and a half jobs when I came here, and then I found another one.
And obviously, now I'm in a bit of a chicken-and-egg problem.
I work so much that I don't have time to go real estate hunting as much as I would like to. But on the other hand, my capital is growing nicely, so I’ll be ready when I do find the right place.
The extra money will also give me some peace of mind once I open the bakery. "
I took another sip of coffee. I wasn’t a coffee person, but I was enjoying the hell out of this one.
Sitting here with Declan and telling him my dreams was the perfect start to a morning. He was really interested, which was nice.
“Oh, wait. How did your family dinner go?” I asked.
He laughed. “Ha! How much time do you have?”
Checking the time, I winced, rising to my feet and taking the coffee cup to the counter. “Crap. Sexy neighbor, you cannot make me late for work. On the other hand, I'm the one who invited you in, so I have no one to blame but myself."
He chuckled.
"What?" I asked. "Don't laugh at me."
"I'm not. You're cute when you talk to yourself like that."
I blinked. "Cute. Oh, okay."
"What?"
"Cute is a word people use when they don’t want to offend someone.”
"Right.” He rose too, carrying his cup to the counter. Our arms brushed, and I licked my lips for fear of releasing a moan.
“I think you're fucking sexy and amazing, but if we start that conversation, you're going to be very late for work."
I looked up into his smoldering eyes, and my body instantly went from relaxed to on edge. Warmth pooled between my thighs, and my nipples hardened against my bra.
"Then we’re not starting it. I need to go." And I did, especially because it took more time on my bike.
"I'll drive you."
"What? You don't even know where it is."
"It’s fine. I'll drive you."
"Why?"
"Because I made you late."
"I think we established that I made myself late."
"I'm taking you there. End of story. Why are you fighting me on that?"
"I don't know. You're wearing a suit and are all handsome and sexy, and I don't think it's a good idea to spend time in a confined space with you." Oh. My. God, Liz. Way to put it all out there. He’ll really think you’re ridiculous now.
"Why? You think you have so little self-restraint?" he asked, but his delivery didn’t seem to show offense.
"Actually, yes, I do," I teased, adding a wink to keep it light.
He flashed a cocky smile. "Come on, let's go."
I put my bag on my shoulder and felt his hand on my arm as he led me out of the house.
Heat coiled through me at his touch. Oh, sweet Lord.
I hadn't had this kind of reaction to a guy in forever.
I hadn't been with anyone since the surgery besides Dexter.
I hadn't had time, and, I hadn't trusted a guy enough to bare myself.
We got into his SUV. It was comfy, and I loved it. I didn't own a car because I didn't want to deal with insurance and gas and so on, and I did well on my bike and with public transportation. I'd see if I would need one once I had the bakery, but I didn't plan on doing delivery, so probably not.
"I have a phone call to make. Will that bother you?" he asked.
"No problem at all."
"Just type the address in the navigation system in the meantime." He put an earbud in his ear and said, "Morning. Let's talk about that account. It’s a quarter of a billion dollars, so I don't want to mess with it."
I blinked rapidly, shocked by his casual use of the word billion .
Up until now, aside from his dislike of music and my dancing, he seemed like such a normal guy.
But this was Declan Maxwell, after all. Not only was his family well off, but he was one of the most famous lawyers in the country.
Suddenly, I felt a bit intimidated. He was way out of my league.
The second his call disconnected, he focused on me. He could switch between cutthroat lawyer and professional panty-melter in a fraction of a second. This man had skills: delicious, dangerous, and sexy skills.
"We'll be there in six minutes. Told you it's not far away." Richard’s Catering was on the ground level of a redbrick building on Kingsbury Street. During my lunch breaks, I often walked up and down the North Branch Canal.
"No, but on foot, you would have needed at least twenty-five minutes."
"But I wouldn’t have been on foot. I was going to ride my bicycle."
That look in his eyes, my God. It was hot enough to make me forget why I had to get out of the car and couldn't just climb him right here, right now. Well, maybe in a dark parking lot, I could, so we wouldn't make a spectacle of ourselves. Then I remembered my bakery and how I needed these jobs.
“You were about to tell me about the family dinner last night,” I said, looking for something to distract me.
“Everyone was surprised. The whole family was there, but even so, it was a blow to Gran. She’s actually being a little too hard on herself, in my opinion.”
“What? Why?”
“Because she and my uncle have grown distant over the years. Uncle Harvey is actually distant from everybody, even his brother. But she blames herself. I told her she did the best she could. But I know her, and she’s going to think whatever she wants, no matter what I or anyone else says.
Now she wants to go to London after her granddaughter is born. ”
“You sound like you disapprove.”
“I do. She’s eighty-two, and that’s a long way for anyone to travel.”
“So what?”
He cocked a brow at me. “You sound like her.”
I laughed out loud. “Oh my God. Let me get this straight. You told your grandmother that she’s too old to fly?”
“Not directly. I implied it. And she figured it out.”
“You like to live dangerously?”
“Apparently so.”
I pressed my lips together. Oh, this man.
We arrived at Richard’s Catering just then. He stopped the car a few feet away from the entrance in an empty parking spot, and he got out of the car faster than I could unbuckle myself.
To my astonishment, he was coming over to my side.
Wait a second. Is he going to do what I…?
Yeah, he was opening my door. I’d realized I'd never met a true gentleman before.
"Why, thank you," I said, sliding out.
This was something I could totally get used to.
"Liz, how about dinner tonight? I’ll cook."
I winced. "Oh, Declan. I would love to, but I work the evening shift."
His eyes bulged. "Every night?"
I nodded. “I have no life. I moved to town and didn't know anyone, and I signed up for all the shifts no one wanted. I didn't predict that I'd meet a tall, handsome man who'd pop up wanting dinner and to get in my pants.”
"I didn't say that." His voice was deliciously thicker.
I smirked. "No, but it's right there in your bedroom voice.”
He threw his head back, laughing. "Well, well, well. What do you know?"
I was making him laugh now, but my stomach twisted because I had to face reality.
"Listen, Declan. The kiss was legendary, the type you read about in stories that wake up princesses from a deep sleep."
He stopped laughing, looking at me intently as I continued.
"But I work a lot, and once the bakery is up and running, it’ll probably be even worse. And you should be with someone you can take to dinner and use that bedroom voice on."
I unconsciously brought my hand to my belly, putting it over my scar.
"Liz, you think I'm going to back down because you don't have time for dinner?"
"Or time in general," I emphasized.
"I don't care. I'm good at finding solutions. Loopholes." He touched my cheek with the back of his hand.
Oh my God! The contact completely melted me. I felt his caress throughout my body as he touched my neck.
"Declan," I whispered.
"I’ll keep in mind what you said about the kiss." He stroked his thumb across my lips, and my insides completely melted. "I don't want to cook for anyone else. Only you."
Wait, what was that? The sound of my hormones going haywire, of my panties spontaneously combusting, of my desire? All three combined? I couldn't tell.
"Go to work, Liz. I'll find a way for us to get together. And for me to use the bedroom voice. Because you’re the only woman I’m interested in, and you’ll see that soon enough . "