“Shhh,” Declan says.
We get to his driveway and jump in the Jeep.It’s about a fifteen-minute drive over ranch roads to my cabin.And the whole time, I’m fuming.
If they don’t already know, they’ll know soon.Fuckered up is right.
As we crest the hill, I see my log home in the distance, outdoor lights sparkling in the snow.It makes me smile.
It’s such a sweet little place, and it’s all mine.It looks just like a greeting card.
We pull up.“Thanks for the ride,” I tell Declan, and hop out.
But he’s not going anywhere.He hops out too and follows me inside.My horses are down at the stables, so I’ve got nothing to do but relax and enjoy my home tonight, and I thought I’d be able to do it alone.
I take off my boots and leave them by the door.While Declan does the same, I go back to my bedroom and slip out of my clothes.I put on my favorite flannel pajama bottoms and the rodeo sweatshirt I won in my first barrel racing event when I was thirteen years old.It’s as soft and thin as a piece of felt after all this time.I don’t mind the stains and tears.
I return to the living room to see Declan putting the finishing touches on a fire in the fireplace.
“What are you doing?”
“Spinning plates on my nose.What does it look like I’m doing?”
“It looks like you’re making yourself at home in my home, instead of going toyourhome, where you live, and where you’re supposed to work on getting an annulment.”
“About the annulment thing…”
CHAPTER 34
Summer
I plop down on my yellow couch and bring my knees up to my chest.“Let me guess,” I say.“You’re about to explain to me that there’s a glitch in the matrix.And for some reason, ours is the only Las Vegas marriage in the world that can’t be annulled.”
Declan sits on the coffee table in front of me and pulls my legs out straight, sending me back against the cushions.I’m about to complain when he rests my feet on his lap, and begins to massage them.
“That’s not fair,” I tell him.
“That’s the whole point.”
He’s very good at massage, which shouldn’t surprise me because Declan is supremely talented with his hands.
And all his other body parts.
“Don’t stop,” I tell him.He arches his eyebrow at me and smiles a wicked, sinful smile.
A warm wave washes through me and settles in my core.Damn this sex business.It seems that once my body got a taste of it, now it wants it all the time.How am I supposed to put an end to this marriage when I like having sex with my husband this much?
“This isn’t so bad, now is it?”he asks.
“It works for me.”
“You and me.We’re like Forrest and Jenny.”
I stare at him in disbelief.“You mean fromForrest Gump?She died of a tragic illness!Can’t you come up with a better example of a romance?”
“I didn’t mean the sad part,” he says, continuing to massage my feet.“I mean the peas-and-carrots part.You and me are like peas and carrots.”
“Declan MacLaine, you know I hate both those vegetables.”
He drops my feet, hops up, and in one swift movement he’s next to me on the couch, turning me to face him.“We’ve been friends a long time, Summer.Close friends.And now we’re even closer, and, I mean, the sex really isn’t allthatbad, is it?”
