Page 84 of His to Protect

My feet paused and I faced Declan again, allowing thankfulness to shine in my enamored expression. “Thank you,” I whispered with a choked voice. “I’ve never had this. Never had friends and this kind of life. Thank you for giving that to me.”

Declan’s gaze went to his friends—our friends—and then returned to mine. That line between his eyes disappeared and several more appeared at the edges of his eyes as they crinkled. He laughed softly and pulled me to him, brushing his lips across my forehead and then down to my ear. “They’re not here for me, honey. They’re here for you, because you’re you.”

A full body tremble rolled through me. I took a moment to let that soak in.

Was it possible these people were all there because of something good I’d given them—after only a few meetings, at most?

My chin quivered and I pressed my forehead to his chest, allowing him to wrap his arms around me.

“Come on.” He curled his hands around my shoulders and pushed me away from him, reaching out to tip my chin up. “Let’s go celebrate a good day and pray like hell this brings in some money.”

I looked around the restaurant and saw the tables packed with customers, mostly women, and laughed. “I think it’s working already.”

He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and spun me toward our crowd of waiting friends. “Let’s fucking hope so.”

“That’s another dollar.”

“I don’t give a shit.” I looked up to see him grinning. He flashed me a wink before he led me toward the bar and had Charlie hand me a glass of white wine.

I sipped it slowly while the girls came and congratulated me on what appeared to have been a successful day for the restaurant. I got sucked into conversation with everyone, and didn’t think anything of it when I saw Tyson pull Declan off to the side and begin speaking to him in a hushed voice no one else could hear.

I was sure it had something to do with me.

Possibly Kevin. But I didn’t want to think about him today, refused to allow him to spoil a good afternoon spent with even better people, so I turned away and found myself face-to-face with Aidan and Derrick.

They were almost mirror images of each other, with their square jaws and tall frames. Though he was only thirteen, I could already tell that Derrick was going to grow up to be just as tall, if not taller, than Aidan, who was clearly over six feet. Their black hair was exactly the same, as was the friendly sparkle in their rich-brown eyes.

“Hi,” I said, jumping slightly. I hadn’t realized how close they were to me until I almost smacked Aidan in the chest with my wine glass.

His gaze moved from somewhere over my shoulder to meet mine. “Looks like you had a good day today.”

I shrugged, still unfamiliar with having this many compliments tossed in my direction. “We’ll see if it brings repeat business, I guess, but it was fun.”

He nodded as if he understood, and his eyes returned to someone behind me. I didn’t have to look to know who he was looking at.

I sipped my wine and tilted my head to the side. “Been on any more dates lately?”

He coughed and shook his head. One hand scrubbed the back of his neck. “Ah, no.” He blinked and dipped his chin. “That’s not a frequent thing for me, Trina. I want you to know that.”

“It’s none of my business.”

“No, I suppose it’s not.”

“However.” I grinned slyly. “If you’re interested in one of my new friends, then I can promise you that not only will I not tell her how we truly met, or what you were doing that night, but that it makes me feel good to know that she’s not interested in a player.”

He blinked rapidly several times and then his eyes flickered back behind me. I laughed softly and regained his attention.

“Chelsea?” he asked, almost stunned.

“See, Dad?” Derrick said. “Told you she wants you. She always gets this funny look on her face when she sees you.”

I chortled into my wineglass.

Aidan speared his son with a glare. “Don’t you have a videogame to play?”

Derrick scowled. “You grounded me from them when I didn’t clean my room.”

“Right. Then call Shane and go skateboarding or something.”

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