Page 142 of Always Be an Us

He shakes his head. "No, we'll catch up with you two later. Emma and I have to do something first. But you can take Sandy with you."

"Okay." Amelia bounces over to hug her dad and then me. "See you guys later. And you'll tell me the big secret when you come, right?"

"Right."

She waves us goodbye, before flouncing out the door. Monty follows her.

I wait for the door to shut before I speak again.

"What's going on?" I ask. "Who do you have to talk to? Who do you think is behind this?"

But Declan shakes his head again. "A lot has happened in the past hour. There've been enough surprises for one day and I don't want to dump any more on you until I'm absolutely sure I need to."

"But Declan, if you know who broke into your office–"

"That's not my priority right now. My priority is protecting you from Xavier."

He turns to Cross. "I need you to go back to the Tiki Bar and see if Xavier is still there. Once you find him, stay on his tail and report anything strange. Okay?"

"Roger." Cross also rises and gives me a two-finger salute before walking out the door.

And now, Declan and I are alone.

We stare at each other for a few seconds, uncertainty hanging in the atmosphere. After a moment of hesitation, he finally walks to me and draws me into his embrace.

My resistance falls away instantly. I melt into his arms. His breath is in my hair and I shiver as he whispers, "God, I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," I admit and it's almost a relief to finally get it off my chest. No matter how hard I tried to distract myself these past few days, he was never too far from my mind.

"We have to talk," he says. "About us."

I shake my head finally gaining my resolve to push back. "I thought I was clear that there is no us."

"That's where you're wrong. Or maybe I was wrong. God, I don't know how to do this. But I have to tell you that I'm in–"

The phone rings, interrupting us.

I pull away reaching into my pocket, pressing the phone to my ear.

"Emma," Grandpa says. "You weren't just home, were you?"

"Um, no. Why?"

"I thought so," he says. "Didn't sound like you."

"What didn't sound like me?"

"The person upstairs," he says. "I think someone was just in your room."

Chapter Forty-Two

Declan

I watch panic jump into Emma’s expression.

"What do you mean?" she instantly demands of whoever is on the line.

She’s quiet as they speak, her head bobbing at intervals.

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