CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Three hours later, Declan carried me from his private elevator, not stopping until we hit the bedroom, where he carefully deposited me on his king-size bed.
It had taken longer at the hospital than we initially thought. The ER had an unusual influx of patients due to a multiple-car collision on the interstate.
Thankfully, Declan knew a few members on the hospital board, and after a few phone calls, he was able to arrange for more doctors and other emergency health workers to come in and help out with the accident victims. And my ankle, of course.
I suspected he might have offered them a generous donation for the personal request, though I was too out of it to grill him about it.
Still, thanks to his efforts, my ankle was now securely bandaged, and I was high off my ass on the strongest pain meds the hospital had to offer. The pain was barely noticeable now, and for reasons I’d yet to identify, I was giggling up a storm.
“All right, happy girl. Let’s get you ready for bed,” Declan coaxed, working me free of my clothes, only to get caught up in a tiny wrestling match with my hair, as he wrangled an old Stanford University t-shirt over my head.
“You went to Stanford?” I asked, then giggled, because why not? “I thought you went to Yale.”
Declan smiled. “Cassidy went to Yale. I went to Stanford for business school.”
“Oh, that’s right.” I giggled again. “You had a crush on your ethics professor.”
He chuckled. “No, love. That was also Cassidy, not me… Also, how often do you and my sister talk?”
I gasped. “You didn’t have a crush on your professor?”
He shook his head, and I was flabbergasted—confused and a little light in the head, but flabbergasted, nonetheless.
I wrinkled my nose in thought, trying to shake the memory loose from my drug-addled brain.
“Then who were you crushing on?” I asked, and this question seemed important for some reason. At least that was what my brain told me.
Declan simply smiled and crouched down to meet my eyes. “You, love. I have the biggest crush on you.”
“Aww, you’re just saying that because you like having sex with me.” I leaned in close to his ear and whispered softly. “I like having sex with you too!”
Declan winced and stuck a finger in said ear. “And now I’m deaf,” he said quietly, as he massaged his eardrum.
Oops.
It seemed my whisper wasn’t as quiet as I wanted it to be.
I leaned in again and said much, much softer this time, “I like having sex with you, too. But most importantly, I like you.”
Much, much softer turned out to be regular volume, and Declan simply shook his head and smiled at my incoherent mumblings.
I flopped backward into the cloud-like softness of his huge bed.
Declan said something—at least, I thought he had—but I was already sinking. And I was out before I could conjure up a rational thought.
◆◆◆
I woke to sunlight streaming through the many glass windows of Declan’s apartment, then winced as the bright rays almost fried my retinas.
My head felt fuzzy, like I’d spent the entire night drinking, but the dull throb in my ankle reminded me otherwise.
Slowly, ever so slowly, I lifted my head from the pillow and peered one eye open to glance at the fancy alarm clock on Declan’s nightstand, and damn near had a heart attack.
It was a little after ten, and I was more than a little late for work.
Panic shot through me, and I bolted upright, scrambling out of the bed.
In my haste to make it to the bathroom for the shortest shower known to mankind, I’d forgotten about my ankle. And the second my feet hit the ground, I shrieked in pain and went down. Hard.
Declan must have been close by, as he immediately burst into the room with a look of sheer panic on his handsome face.
His eyes desperately searched the room until they landed on my pathetic form crumpled on the ground, still rolling around in pain.
“Fuck!” he swore, hurrying over to help me up.
In one quick movement, he scooped me up into his arms and gently lowered me to the bed again.
“Quick,” I said in a panic. “Help me to the shower. I’m extremely late for work.”
“Oh, no,” Declan replied. “You’re not going anywhere. The doctor said to stay off that ankle for the next few days.”
“But—”
“No buts… Plus, I’ve already spoken to your department supervisor and emailed her your doctor’s note.
She sends her well-wishes, by the way. And thanks to her efficiency in processing your sick notice and getting someone to take over your class, you have the next couple of days off to rest and recover. ”
I stared at him, not sure if I understood all of what he’d just said. “You spoke with my supervisor?” was the only thing I could muster up.
Declan’s shoulders slumped, and his expression shifted to despair.
“Shit,” he cursed under his breath. “Did I overstep? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to.
It’s just that you were out cold, and when your alarm went off, I figured I’d let the school know you wouldn’t be able to come in today.
You’ve been through a lot. I just wanted you to get some rest. I’m sorry if I overstepped. ”
I grabbed his face and kissed him—morning breath be damned. He tasted like coffee and toothpaste, and I reveled in the taste, sinking into that warm, wonderful feeling that took over whenever we kissed.
No one, besides my mother, had ever put so much effort into my well-being before. And here this amazing man was, taking care of me in ways I didn’t even know I needed.
My heart throbbed in time with my ankle—one with pain and discomfort, the other was happiness and… love?
God, was I truly falling in love with Declan? Already? Wasn’t it too soon to be having all these feelings?
My lungs kicked up a protest, and I pulled my lips away from his to give my organs air.
Declan smiled, brushing his fingers across my kiss-swollen lips. “Does that mean I’m forgiven?” he asked, his smile sheepish.
“I was never mad, just… really grateful for you.”
He kissed the back of my hand. “Like I said, I’d do anything for you.”
I smiled up at him and brushed a lock of stray hair out of his face. Then something occurred to me. It was after ten in the morning on a workday, and Declan was home. I took in his attire: his usual gym tank and sweatpants.
I frowned at him. “Why aren’t you at work?”
He frowned back. “Are you kidding me? I’m not leaving you alone until I’m sure you’re okay.
Plus,” he took my face in his hands then, “you still haven’t told me what happened last night that led to your ankle being hurt.
” I tried to look away then, but he held firm, gently stroking my cheek.
“I promise I won’t judge. I’ll listen and understand. That’s what I’m here for.”
The sincerity in his voice broke my heart. How could someone like him—sweet and kind—want to be with a hot mess like me? But he did. He’d said it enough and proved it every day in his actions.
So I told him. Starting from the minute I stepped into the house to the moment he pulled into the driveway.
By the end of it, Declan was on his feet, pacing back and forth with restless energy.Silence settled over the room, and I’d never felt more small and humiliated than I had in that moment.
Having to admit that the person you willingly chose to marry, and at one point, loved deeply with all your heart, could hurt you so badly was no small feat.
“I’m gonna kill him,” Declan snarled, and I immediately swung my gaze to him. “Where can I find this bastard? Tell me right now so I can kill him.”
Sighing, I shook my head. I wasn’t going to do that. This was my mess, and I would fix it. Plus, I didn’t want Declan sullying his reputation with something like this.
“Leave him, Melodie,” he demanded. “I know you said you would, but you need to leave him. Right now.”
I huffed out an irritated breath, feeling inexplicably hurt by his demand. Though I didn’t know why.
“Right,” I scoffed. “Because what I need is another man with another ultimatum.”
Declan frowned. “Did you seriously just compare me to that bastard? He gave you that bullshit ultimatum so he could be selfish and live his life free of guilt and shame. I’m giving you an ultimatum for you. So you can be selfish for once, to live and love how you want to.”
I rolled his words around in my head, trying to get a better understanding. “And how exactly is that different from what he wanted? It’s still a decision that would likely be made by someone else and not me.”
Declan sighed, and when he spoke, his tone was calm and reassuring. “It’s different because he gave you an ultimatum for self-serving reasons. I’m giving you one for love.”
I stared at him. “A love ultimatum?”
He shrugged. “Yes, darling, a love ultimatum. One that would hopefully one day include me, but is and should only be centered around you loving you. In whatever way that looks like… As long as it’s not with him.”
I smiled then, his words finally finding purchase amidst my logical brain and fraying heartstrings. “Okay,” I said softly.
“Okay?”
I nodded. “Okay, yeah. I’m done with him.”
Declan’s smile was so bright it eclipsed the morning sunlight pouring through the windows.
Then he pulled me into his arms for a hug that was so soft and tender.
And somehow, it was exactly what I needed in that moment.
Not a kiss, not sex, not even one of his spine-crushing bear hugs.
This. Something gentle and calm and reassuring, with my face pressed against his chest, so I could count his steady heartbeats.
“Good,” Declan breathed, pulling out of our embrace. “Maybe I won’t have to kill him after all.”
Laughing, I shook my head. “Seth isn’t worth doing jail time over.”
“Says you,” he countered. “He put his fucking hands on you, and you got hurt. Whether it was intentional or not, you were still injured. And for that, he deserves to have his face kicked in.”
“You sound like a mob enforcer,” I replied, laughing at my own joke.
It took me a while to realize that Declan had essentially stopped breathing, and his expression had shifted to something I couldn’t quite understand.
“Would that be a problem?” he asked.
I chuckled. “What? You sound like a mob enforcer? I mean… it’s just an odd thing for a billionaire to say. People like you don’t go around kicking other people’s faces in. That’s just not normal.”
Declan seemed disappointed by my answer, and I wasn’t sure why. He opened his mouth to say something, but footsteps from down the hall caught our attention.
Cassidy’s frantic voice immediately followed said footsteps, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Then immediately wanted to kick myself for feeling anxious in the first place. Sure, I was a bit jumpy. But even I thought my reaction to mere footsteps was extreme.
Still, there was just something in Declan’s expression that had me… confused? No, intrigued. Something about the way he looked had me wanting to know more.
“Oh, my God!” Cassidy exclaimed as she rounded the corner to Declan’s bedroom. She did that whole flying squirrel thing again. And before I knew it, I had my arms full of an intensely worried Cassidy. “Are you okay? Declan told me that you got hurt, so I left work and came right over.”
“Cassidy, you didn’t have to do that,” I chided. “Work is important. Plus, I’m not too badly hurt.”
Her head popped up from where it was buried in my neck, and she squinted at me.
“Not badly hurt? You have a sprained ankle, that’s bad enough.
And of course I was gonna come. You’re family, Melz.
And McKenna’s show up for their family. Plus,” she giggled then.
“I have to be here. I’m a doctor. It’s not like my boss can fire me.
” She glanced over at Declan, who promptly rolled his eyes.
“You’re a doctor of pharmacology, Cass, not a physician,” he pointed out.
She shrugged. “Tomatoes, potatoes.”
I choked. “That’s not how—”
“Besides,” she added quickly. “If Orla can skip school because her favorite teacher won’t be there, I can skip work for my injured best friend.”
Declan scowled. “I thought I was your best friend.”
“Oh, you are. Until you piss off Melodie, then I’m definitely her best friend, and you’ll be in the doghouse.”
Declan gasped, feigning offense. “We shared a womb.”
“And I only regret not absorbing you while I was in there.”
Declan snorted. “Okay, that was dark, even for you.”
His sister smiled at him, then literally glided over me—taking care to avoid my injured limb—so she could wrap her arms around him. “How are you, baby brother? You sounded completely distraught over the phone.”
Declan shrugged his big shoulders, and she let him go. “Better, now that Melodie and I talked.”
“Good,” Cassidy cooed, apparently needing no further explanation. “Now, how about I make you both breakfast while you help her get showered and dressed?”
Declan nodded, and so commenced the day.