“Totally.”
I take a sip of my drink. “I almost told him I love him during morning sex.” The confession falls off my tongue.
Charlotte looks at me with affection. “I’m happy you get to experience that—love, I mean. But I’m sorry it’s turning out like this.”
“Maybe it’s for the better that I froze and kept my words in. Makes this all easier, right?”
She shrugs at my thought.
I take another long drink and assess the room, only to return to the door, and my gaze freezes. “You didn’t tell anyone we would be here, right?” I check with Charlotte because this is too much of coincidence.
Declan walks into the club with a beautiful brunette by his side. He smiles at one of the barmen as if they’re familiar with one another.
“No, why?” Charlotte looks over her shoulder, only to scoff a disapproving sound. “Forget small town, seems Chicago isn’t big enough not to run into each other. Who’s the chick?”
I want to run to him and shove him into the wall from the level of anger boiling inside of me.
“Don’t know, don’t care,” I lie and quickly take a sip of my drink. “We’re not together, he’s free to do what he wants.” Bullshit too. Is this what his “timeout” looks like? Did he just move on? No wonder he hasn’t reached out.
Aggressively, I stir the straw in my glass and an ice cube falls out.
“Forget him, Violet. We can get out of here right now and go somewhere to forget him.”
“I’m not going to a sex club,” I protest.
“Okay, okay. Just throwing out options.”
I do my best to avoid glancing at Declan, but it’s hard as he’s a cross between business-Declan and Lake Spark-Declan, in jeans and a blazer.
“Damn it,” I curse to myself and down another long sip of my drink.
“His loss,” Charlotte reaffirms. “The audacity to go around town withher.”
I search for the bartender, ignoring Charlotte clearing her throat.
“Violet.” A warm deep masculine voice says my name, and it wraps around every fiber in my body.My Declan. His hand on my lower back molds to me instantly, a button pressed into the world we created.
My eyes flick up to Declan, and the room seems to stop.
“I see Brent, I’ll be back,” Charlotte mumbles then leaves. Neither Declan nor I take much notice.
“Declan,” I say softly.
His eyes drop then draw a line back up, and an approving smirk ghosts his lips. “You lookreallystunning.”
For a second, I nearly blush, giddy from his praise, but I know better. I search for the brunette but can’t find her.
“She’s my cousin.Blood-relatedcousin.” Declan seemed to notice my curiosity and answers my thoughts.
But I won’t melt to a puddle. “It’s okay, you don’t owe me an explanation. We’re on a break.”
His hand jolts me forward a step, closer to him. “Really, my cousin who studies fashion, the reason I knew which boutique to call when you stayed at my condo, that’s her. She’s in the city for a few days to meet up with friends. There is nobody else, understand?”
I barely nod because somewhere in that sentence a beacon of hope shot out at me.
“Why didn’t you let me know that you’d be in the city?” He looks pained.
I scoff a sound of annoyance. “Why haven’t you contacted me?”
