Chapter 8
CHAPTER EIGHT
DECLAN
Ruby may have agreed to let Susie and I move in for the summer, but I know her distaste for me wasn’t cured overnight.
I grab a box from the kitchen and carry it out the front door, my mind scanning my memories to see if it can find what I did to her or to anyone close to her.
I definitely didn’t date any of her friends. We are too far apart in age for that. Now, sure, a woman her age is fine to date, but as kids, no way.
That’s out.
I wasn’t in a feud with her brothers. Heck, we barely spoke in junior high or high school.
So that’s out, too.
I jog down the steps, passing Luca and Miles, who are loading my couch into an enclosed trailer that I rented. They are arguing about how to place the furniture.
It’s my shit, and I should probably stop to end the debate, but as long as it all fits, I don’t care.
What I do care about is the fact that I’m moving Susie and myself into a house with a woman who doesn’t care for me all that much.
I know we are doing this for the kids, but I stand by my comment to become friends with Ruby by the end of the summer, and I feel like I should take this opportunity to mend things.
I grin as I approach her front door.
I don’t think Ruby is going to make it easy for me.
And to be honest, I wouldn’t expect anything else from her.
I kind of like that about her.
She doesn’t give her affection, or whatever you want to call it, away easily. You have to earn it.
It might kill me in the end, but if Susie can learn even an ounce of that from Ruby, it would be awesome.
“Dad!” Susie greets me. “We are downstairs—my room is on the left, and yours is on the right.”
I already know all this, but when the kids made it clear they wanted to be involved with moving day instead of playing in the backyard, Ruby gave them assignments.
Susie’s role is to make sure that all the things are sorted into the right room.
“Perfect, but this box here is actually plates, cups, and silverware, so I’m headed to the kitchen.”
She makes a waving motion with her arms. “Right this way! Please follow me.”
I hear Ruby’s laughter before we reach the space.
“I love how seriously you take your role, Susie.”
“Well, Dad and I like an organized house, and he told me that living with you is probably like living with a drill ser—”
“This is great. I can take it from here, kid.”
“Okay!” She bounces out of the room, stopping at the front door to wait for the next person.
“A drill sergeant?” Ruby asks, arms crossed and hip leaning onto the counter.
I slide the box onto the counter, ignoring her.
“It just occurred to me that moving my dishes here is pointless since your house is full of them. I’ll go put this in the trailer.”
“Smart.”
I move to grab the bottle of water with my name on, courtesy of Max, whose job is to make sure no one becomes dehydrated.
But Ruby moves left at the same time.
“Oops.”
Then right.
“Ah.”
Then left again, as if we’re in some sort of dance.
“Declan,” Ruby snaps.
I grab her at the waist with both hands and hold her still. Then I move her in the opposite direction of my goal, but of course, Max chooses that same moment to race into the kitchen, announcing that he needs a new water for Luca. He bumps me from behind, forcing me to fall into Ruby.
I’ve now got her pinned between me and the counter, my front flush against her. The moment my chest brushes hers, I glance down.
She gasps and looks up.
My hands are still on her, and we freeze.
I know I should move, but the way her green eyes look up at me, the way they lock onto mine for the smallest of a second with not an ounce of distaste in them has me in a trance.
She takes a breath, and like me, doesn’t move.
The tips of my fingers, the ones still holding her at the hips, tingle, and my heart pounds with a sickening feeling.
One that says if I don’t dip my head and press my lips to hers, I’m going to regret it.
But that’s crazy, right?
To have a feeling that consumes you this way.
To one moment be thinking of all the ways you can stay out of a person’s space to suddenly never wanting to leave it.
I know I’m not the only one who feels it, because it’s been a good thirty seconds and she hasn’t told me to fuck off.
I sort of wish she would so that I can walk away and laugh at myself for even letting these thoughts entertain me.
But still … nothing.
Maybe … shit … does she want me to kiss her too?
As if she can read my mind, she nods slightly. It’s so small that if I hadn't been giving my every piece of attention to her, I might have missed it.
My head barely moves before a throat clears behind us, breaking the spell.
She pushes me back so fast that I trip, but Miles reaches a hand out to assist.
“What’s going on?” he asks, not a sliver of emotion on his face as he looks between me and his sister.
“Nothing,” Ruby answers quickly.
A little too quickly, to be honest, but what do I know? I don’t even know what to make out of what just happened with us.
I’ve never … that’s never happened to me before.
I clear my throat. “Yeah, Max uh, he bumped me when he ran through the kitchen.”
“Yep,” Ruby says and walks out, leaving me alone with her brother.
He adjusts his stance, crosses his arms, and glares at me.
“Do you have something to tell me?”
“No.”
“That was a fast answer.”
“Because it’s the truth.”
He stares at me for another second, and I laugh. “Miles, it was nothing. I bumped into her and we touched. It’s nothing to worry about.”
I grab the box of dishes that brought me into the kitchen in the first place and move for the door.
“Declan,” Miles calls out. I pause and turn to face him.
“She’s …” His words trail off as he thinks them over. “Not like most women, alright. She’s …”
I nod. “I get it.”
“I don’t think you do. I’m not even sure what I’m trying to say.”
I shrug. “I still get it, and like I said, you have nothing to worry about. Ruby and I are just friends. If that.”
He nods and heads down the hallway.
As I walk down the porch steps and over the lawn to the trailer, his words play in my head.
She’s not like most women.
He’s absolutely right.
She’s not.
If Ruby had it her way, I’d be living across town, farther from her right now, and yet … I’ve never met a woman who made me feel the way I felt just now.
And I have no clue what I’m supposed to do about that.