20. Declan
DECLAN
Once we got back from Milwaukee, Liz hit the ground running.
She still had three shifts left at the bar until the new person started full time.
I was incredibly proud of her work ethic, but that meant I saw even less of her, since she spent a lot of her free time prepping the bakery. It made me restless.
I liked seeing her in my house, sprawled in my bed, or walking around in my shirt. It didn’t matter what she was doing or what we were talking about. I needed her, and that was insane.
Milwaukee was everything I’d hoped it would be. Our evening at the Pfister was great. We’d stayed in that night, and I’d wined and dined her. She was over-the-top excited and appreciative, like no one had ever done anything special like that for her before.
I planned to spoil her again as soon as possible.
On the evening after her last shift at the bar, I decided to surprise her by planning a date.
I showed up at the bar, parking right in front of the entrance.
It was eight o’clock, but she’d only gone in for a couple hours to hand off everything to the new hire.
"And that's it, my last shift," Liz exclaimed as I opened the car door for her when she exited the building. She was smiling brilliantly.
"Come here, you." I pinned her against the car, kissing her without restraint, even though anyone passing could see us. I didn't care. Her joy was infectious.
She sighed against my mouth, her whole body going soft at my touch. Fuck, her reaction to me made me want to forfeit my plan and take her home.
"Someone was impatient for me to finish," she whispered.
"Hell yes. Now get in before I change my mind.”
She cocked a brow. “About what? Taking me with you?”
I groaned. “No. I might as well fess up. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“Oooh, tell me.”
“Get in the car first.”
Liz grinned. “Okay!”
Finally she climbed in the car, and I closed the door after her, going back over to the driver seat.
"What are we doing?" she asked the second I was inside.
"We're celebrating," I said.
“How?”
"That's the surprise."
She sighed. "You really do like your surprises, don't you?"
"Yes, when it comes to you. I’ve never been into them before.”
“So why now?”
I kissed the back of her hand. “Because I like to make you smile.”
“Oh.” She opened her mouth, then closed it again.
“So, on a scale of one to ten, how excited are you?"
She clapped her hands, shifting in her seat. "A hundred."
"Declan Maxwell, you are incredible."
I’d brought her to the restaurant inside the Crystal Gardens at Navy Pier. She’d noticed the glass atrium on a flyer and liked it, and I’d made a mental note to bring her here.
The tables were set between huge palm trees. As we sat down, I grabbed the bottle of champagne from the ice bucket.
“How is that already here?” she asked.
“I told them to prepare it for our arrival.”
“You like to be prepared. I want to pop it open.”
I shook my head."The staff will want to do it because of liability issues."
“Oh, I know, but I feel rebellious tonight.”
“Be careful.” I handed it to her.
She frowned, looking fucking adorable as she inspected the bottle, trying to figure out how to best unwrap it.
"Ready!" she said. "Three, two, one!"
Pop!
The cork flew right into a passing waiter’s face. She clasped a hand over her mouth, immediately rising to her feet. I got up too.
"Oh my God, I'm so sorry. Are you okay?" she asked.
"I'm fine, I'm fine," he said. "Careful next time. Your target might not be as laid back as me."
The kid was a little too snarky for me, and I didn’t like his attitude one bit.
“She apologized. Get over it," I snapped.
"Declan, come on. It was my fault.” She turned to the waiter. “Are you sure you're not hurt?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." He looked like he wanted to add something else, but I cocked a brow, and he scurried away.
Liz looked after him, biting her lip. “Maybe someone should check on him.”
“Liz, you hit his forehead, not his eye. It was an honest mistake. He’ll be fine. Relax.”
She grimaced, glancing at the bottle as we both sat down. “Should have probably pointed it upward.”
“Yes, next time.”
“It’s the first time I’d ever done it.”
“Here, I’ll pour.”
She handed me the champagne with a pout.
I filled our glasses before putting the bottle back in the ice bucket. We clinked the glasses together, and then she took a huge sip.
“Mmm… this is good. I can’t believe this was my last day at work and that I’m going to be self-employed from now on. It’s so exciting.”
“Think you’ll miss work?”
“I don’t know. I guess I’ll see. It was funny today at the bar. One of my coworkers actually asked me out. Can you believe that?"
"What?" I asked, not finding it funny in the slightest.
"Yeah, he basically said he couldn't work up the courage when we were colleagues but would now love to take me out."
"What did you say?"
She looked up at me with wide eyes. "I said no, of course." Shrugging, she added, "I told him we could go out as friends any time."
I stilled. "You think a guy who asked you out wants to be just friends?" I asked incredulously.
"I don't know. I thought it was a polite way to turn him down. I honestly don't think he’ll call. He looked disappointed."
"What will you tell him if he calls?" I insisted.
Liz took another sip of her drink, emptying it, then put it down, playing with the stem between her fingers.
"Declan, you can’t tell me who I can and can’t be friends with."
"That’s not what's happening here."
Her eyes glinted. She jutted her chin forward and put a hand on her hip. "Isn't it? Because that's exactly what it sounds like to me."
"What will you tell him?" I asked again.
"What does it matter?"
"It matters to me . The thought of anyone looking at you, wanting you… I can't stand it."
Her eyes softened, and she put her hand on my arm. "Declan, I would never do anything to hurt you or go out with anyone who wants more. That's a way of letting him down easy."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
I moved my chair closer to the corner of the table. She did the same. Putting my hand on her jaw, I leaned in and traced her lower lip with my tongue before kissing her hard and possessively. I wanted her to feel how much she meant to me.
When I felt her smile against my lips, I pulled back.
"What?" she asked.
I traced the contour of her mouth, enjoying the way her breath quickened.
"Since when does my kissing you make you laugh?"
"I was smiling," she pointed out, looking around. We didn’t have complete privacy, but I couldn’t care less.
"So I amuse you?"
"You've never kissed me this way."
"Which way?"
"I don't know. It's different from other times. I like it."
"And you respond by laughing?"
"Not laughing, smiling," she corrected me. “And anyway, that wasn’t the only reason I was in a good mood. It's a happy day."
"So now my kiss doesn't make you smile," I teased, although I was feeling off. The whole thing with that guy asking her out really got to me. That was not going to happen, ever.
"There's no winning with you, is there?”
“I will not answer that. It might give you too much ammunition."
Chuckling, she straightened up, pointing to the bottle. “Let’s drink some more of this. We don’t want to risk losing all the bubbles.”
“That doesn’t happen that fast.” Taking the bottle, I filled both our glasses. I watched Liz take a sip. She was enjoying the moment, but I was enjoying her .
Taking another sip, she closed her eyes and dropped her head back, humming. I leaned in, touching the side of her neck with my nose. She shuddered.
"Oh, I love this evening," she said. "Thank you for bringing me here. I was so busy running around that it didn’t even occur to me to celebrate."
“I wanted you to remember this day.”
“Thanks.”
A different waiter interrupted us, bringing bread and some spreads.
“Thank you,” Liz said. After he left, she cringed. “It’s not the same guy as before. Think he asked to be reassigned?”
“Liz, relax. He’s around somewhere, I’m sure.”
She downed the glass in two sips.
“Hey, not too fast,” I said with a laugh.
“Why not? It's my party, and I haven't drunk bubbly in years. I can already feel it going to my head.”
“I bet. Let’s eat some of this. It’ll help.”
Putting the glass down, she spread cheese on the bread.
I watched her intently, suspecting she was already too tipsy. When her butter knife skidded from her hand, smearing cheese on her wrist, I jumped in.
“Let me do that.”
“Oops. I only drank two flutes. How is this happening?”
“When did you have lunch today?”
She tapped her chin. “Umm… I think I skipped it.”
“See?”
I finished spreading the cheese on the toast, holding it up for her.
“You’re good at taking care of me. Just thought you should know,” she said after swallowing a few bites.
“My pleasure.”
“Really?” She blinked a few times as if that didn’t make sense to her.
“Yeah, babe.”
“Thank you so much for bringing me here tonight. You always know what I need.”
“I want to make you happy,” I said.
She smiled but then immediately winced, bringing two fingers to her temple and massaging the spot.
“I can practically feel it going to my head while it’s going to my head.”
I cleared my throat in an effort not to laugh. “You’re safe with me.”
“Oh, you're such a gentleman. I always feel so relaxed around you. Like I could say anything that's on my mind.”
“You can.”
“I do think you're my lucky charm. Since you came into my life, things turned around.”
I tilted toward her, but she closed one eye, pushing me away. “You can't come that close.”
“Why not?”
“Because I see you in double, and I'm getting nauseous.”
That time, I couldn't hold back the laughter.
“That was faster than I thought. You’re drunk.”
“Yes, I am. No point in pretending.” Liz didn’t look well at all.
“We have two options.”
She jerked her head back, then moved forward, narrowing her eyes before straightening again and pointing at my face. “Your eyes are glinting dangerously. Is one of those options a sexy thing?”
“Both of them are.”
“Oooh, overachieving as usual. Let's hear it.”
“We can wait here for you to sober up again and order a big meal, or I can take you home and take care of you there. What do you say?”
“And both those things end with sexy stuff, right?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm, I can’t decide. I sort of want a delicious, celebratory dinner. But I also want you. I know you’ll be delicious. I want to lick you all over—making a long pit stop at your cock.”
I instantly turned hard. Right there, in the fucking restaurant.
Clearing my throat, I opened my mouth, but all I managed was “Liz.”
She grinned. “Oooh, being drunk makes me a dirty talker. I’ve discovered something new about myself.”
“We’re in public.”
Her grin widened. “I know. Makes it so much more fun.” Tilting her head, she added, “You look like you’re in pain.”
“That’s because I am. Painfully hard.”
Liz’s mouth formed an O. And then the wicked grin was back.
“I vote we go home. And we can order takeout. Or raid your fridge. Or after I take care of that hard problem, I can even bake something.”
This woman was going to be the death of me, that was for sure.
I flagged a waiter and paid right away. As soon as Liz rose from her chair, it was obvious that she was going to fall asleep the second her head hit the pillow. I kept an arm firmly around her back, walking at her pace.
She ended up falling asleep in the car and didn’t wake up even when the gate opened, and that thing was extremely loud—I needed to get it fixed.
After turning off the engine, I leaned over to wake her but realized there was a better way to do this. I got out of the car, walking over to her side. Putting a hand under her knees and the other at her back, I lifted her into my arms.
She stirred, nuzzling my neck with her nose.
“What happened?” she murmured as I entered the house.
“You fell asleep.”
“Nooo, I can’t do that. You organized this romantic evening, and I’m….” Her words faded.
I carried her straight to the bedroom, putting her on the mattress and lying down next to her.
She sighed, holding my bicep with both hands. “Thank God tomorrow is Saturday.”
“That’s right. By the way, I forgot to tell you. My family will be coming for breakfast in the morning.”
She blinked her eyes open. “When are they coming? I'll be out of your hair.”
I put an arm around her waist. Her body was tense. “That’s not what I meant. I want you to meet them.”
Her muscles relaxed, and her eyes went from alert to soft the next second.
“You really are my lucky charm. I used to tell my sister that she was my lucky charm, but now our lives are so are different. We always dreamed about having kids at the same time.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. Oops. I think I'm talking a bit too much.”
I brought my mouth to her ear. “Tell me more. I want to know.”
She shook her head. “Then you might run away.”
I shifted over to one side a few inches, tilting my head so I could look at her, and touched her jaw, turning her head to me. “I promise I won't.”
I liked that she was telling me her most intimate thoughts and dreams. I wanted to know all of them.
And then I wanted to create more dreams of our own.