Declan
Declan couldn’t stop himself. When he saw that tear, he had to hold her. He went to her and pulled her into his arms. “I know you do, baby, and that’s on me. I should have given you more time to work through things and end your relationship with him in a less painful way. I’m sorry I wasn’t that strong.” He buried his nose in her hair and breathed in her honey and vanilla scent. Her body molded against him, but even though he was aroused, she was so distraught that his protective side was in control. A sob escaped her and his arms tightened around her. He held her as she cried, and when the tears finally subsided, he let her pull out of his embrace.
Declan could feel where her tears had dampened his shirt. Fucking hell, her pain tore at him. He’d been the one to cause it, but it wasn’t like he could go back and change things. When she pulled back he released her then reached up and wiped the tear tracks from her cheeks. “I’ll back off, give you a little time, let you work through things in your head. But I’m not leaving, Lily.”
“Thank you. I just…You’re right, I do need time,” she admitted. “I need to get back out there; my break is almost over.”
“I know you do; that’s why I’m backing off a bit. I took advantage of the situation, and that wasn’t fair to you. I’m sorry for that, doll. Here, give me your phone.” When she gave him a confused look, he held his hand out for it. “Your phone, so I can put my number in it. How else are you going to let me know when you’re ready to talk, doll?”
“Oh, right.”
“I’ve got some things I need to take care of anyway, so this gives me time to focus on that and gives you time to sort through things in your head.” He reached out, tipped her face up, and pressed a soft kiss to her lips and then he left.
Lily
Lily hadn’t meant to cry, not in front of him, but the moment he wrapped his arms around her, the tears fell. She was a wreck; she wasn’t sure how to wade through the emotional upheaval she was dealing with, but for just a moment she let herself give in to the need to be held. She was surprised by how gentle, and how understanding he was being. When he got up to leave, a part of her wanted to beg him to stay.
Lily watched him go before she collapsed back in the chair. She buried her face in her hands and tried to get herself under control. She knew she looked like a hot mess; she was sure her eyes were red and puffy from crying, but there wasn’t much she could do about that. When soft footsteps reached her through the door, she knew it had to be her friend and coworker, Shelli. Emile was leaving soon and she and Shelli would be closing together. Shelli must have seen Declan leave Emile’s office and decided to come check on her. “Lil? You okay?”
Lily lifted her head from her hands and gave Shelli a weak smile. “Define ‘okay’.”
Shelli stepped in and closed the door behind her. “I just saw sex on two legs leaving, and it looked like he’d been holding someone who was crying. Judging from your eyes, that someone was you. What happened?” She took the seat Declan had been sitting in before Lily started crying.
“Gods, where should I start? Keith and I broke up. I cheated on him, Shelli, with Declan, and a small part of me doesn’t care that I hurt him. What kind of person does that make me? What kind of person hurts someone they care about and then doesn’t feel the remorse they should?”
“One who is confused about her feelings. Lily, honey, you told me about the connection between you and Declan. That has to have really thrown your emotions out of whack, and if you really were unaffected by hurting Keith you wouldn’t have been crying. What this tells me, though, is that as much as you cared about him, you weren’t in love with him. You’re feeling guilty and beating yourself up; you’re trying to convince yourself you’re a horrible person because you’ve realized you’re not perfect. Welcome to the real world, girlfriend,” she teased and winked at her. “You’re only human, well, okay, you’re a shifter, but the theory still applies. You’re not perfect. The important thing is you were honest with him, and yeah, it’ll hurt for a bit, but you can both move on from this and find the happiness you both deserve. I mean, really, Lily, can you honestly tell me that being with Keith filled every need you had?”
Lily glowered at her before she reluctantly sighed. “No, I can’t. I couldn’t share my wolf with him. If I went out for a run in the bayou, I had to go alone. Gods, if I hadn’t told him I was a shifter, and we’d gotten married…that might have turned into a huge mess if we had kids and they were able to shift. It’s not a guarantee when only one parent is a shifter but it does happen, and if the non-shifter parent is unaware…things can get ugly.”
“Well, there you go then. In the end it might have caused even more pain.”
“I suppose you’re right. Hey, what are you doing tomorrow?”
“Not much, why?”
“Well, for once we both have the same day off, and I’d love to introduce you to my other bestie, Emelise. The three of us need a girl’s day out. What do you say?” Lily really needed some ‘girl time’ to help her get her mind off things for a few hours.
“That sounds awesome. We could go up to Baton Rouge, to the Mall of Louisiana, for some shopping and then hit Red Stick Farmer’s Market.”
“That would be perfect. I’ll call Eme; we can all get together at Cafe Fluer-de-lis in the morning and have breakfast before we head out.” Lily rubbed her face. “We should get back out front so Emile can get home. I’m sure Marie would like to spend some time with her husband.” Several years ago Emile had charmed a woman fifteen years his junior, and the two had finally decided to make their relationship ‘official’ a few months back by getting married. They were still in the ‘honeymoon’ phase, and it was downright adorable to see them together. It was obvious they loved each other.
As soon as he saw them coming back out front, Emile headed around the counter. “Ever’ting okay, cher?” He could obviously see Lily had been crying.
“Not really but it’ll get there. Go on home, Emile. I’m sure Marie is waiting for you. Shelli and I can handle the rest of the night.” Lily made a shooing motion at him that had him laughing.
“Get on wit’ choo,” he said with a chuckle. “Adyeu, mon cheries.” He winked at them and left.
Lily shook her head and watched him go. Emile was certainly a character. In the time she’d worked for him, he’d become like a father to her. Maybe, if she ever got married, she’d have him walk her down the aisle. Goddess knew she and her real father butted heads so much it would probably be a chore if he did it. With a disgruntled groan she pushed that thought out of her head and focused on finishing up the night on a happy note. She had a full day of ‘girl time’ planned for the following day; there was no room for disturbing thoughts in her head tonight.
