“Fine!” I called back, grabbing my boots and coat from the mudroom. “Just getting some fresh air!”
Fresh air. As if my urgent need to stop him from leaving had anything to do with the freezing, piney, snowy Vermont air.
I made it outside just as Declan was closing the driver’s side door, and the sight of him actually leaving, that he wasn’twaiting for me, made me panic in ways that probably weren’t entirely rational.
“Wait!” I called out, jogging across the snowy driveways in boots I hadn’t bothered to lace properly. “Where are you going?”
Declan lowered the window. “It’s fucking freezing. Get in.”
I clambered into the passenger side and immediately felt the warmth from the heating blowing onto my face.
“My parents asked me to look at a property about an hour north,” Declan explained, studying my face with the kind of careful attention that suggested my panic had been more obvious than I’d intended. “They’re considering a second home for vacations, and they want someone to assess the structural integrity before they make an offer.”
A property an hour north. Relief flooded through me, followed immediately by embarrassment that I’d reacted so strongly to what was obviously a routine family errand.
“That sounds nice,” I said, realizing how lame that sounded.
“Hmm. Are you okay?”
No. Everything was not okay. I’d just been offered an interview for my dream job back in Chicago, I was developing serious feelings for someone whose own life was in transition, and I was apparently so emotionally invested in his whereabouts that I’d run outside in a panic at the sight of him leaving.
But admitting any of that would require acknowledging that our careful professional distance was a complete fiction, and I wasn’t ready for that conversation.
“Could come with you,” I said impulsively, surprising myself as much as him.
“Come with me?” Declan repeated, looking genuinely confused.
“I need to get out of town for a few hours,” I said, which was suddenly and completely true. “Away from festival planning and family questions and everyone asking about our relationshipstatus after the other night. I could use some distance to think clearly.” I left out the bit about the job interview. He didn’t need to know that. Yet.
“It’s just a property assessment,” Declan said carefully. “Pretty boring, actually. Looking at foundation issues and checking for water damage.”
“I don’t mind boring,” I said, though what I was thinking was that spending a few hours in a car with Declan would be many things, but boring wasn’t likely to be one of them.
Declan studied my face for a long moment, and I could see him weighing the wisdom of spending several hours alone together when we were both working so hard not to rip each other’s clothes off.
“Okay,” he said finally. “But it’s supposed to snow later, so we might hit some weather on the way back.”
“Can you give me five minutes to grab my handbag?” I asked.
He nodded, and I leapt out of the car to race back inside.
“Heading out for a bit!” I yelled to Mom. “See you later!”
“Bye!” Mom called back, sounding suspiciously like she was in the sitting room, curtain twitching.
Seconds later, I was settled in the passenger seat of Declan’s car with the kind of nervous anticipation that came with making impulsive decisions that might turn out to be either brilliant or disastrous.
“Ready?” Declan asked, adjusting the heat and checking the GPS.
“Ready,” I said, though as we pulled out of our childhood driveways and headed north toward whatever property his parents were considering, I realized I had no idea what I was ready for beyond getting away from Everdale Falls long enough to think clearly about job interviews and growing feelings and whether I was brave enough to trust someone new with my carefully protected heart.
The snow started to fall in fat flakes that made the world look soft and romantic and slightly dangerous. Perfect weather for making impulsive decisions about road trips with hot men who, only a few minutes ago, you were fantasizing about in bed.
Apparently, this required a leap-of-faith moment, and I’d leapt without even thinking twice.
Twenty-One
DECLAN
