Page 68 of Declan
One time before an awards show, someone had set off fireworks as a surprise, and Gideon hadn’t taken it well. He’d gone sickly pale, had started sweating, and hadn’t been able to talk for a few minutes.
I couldn’t imagine the shit that lingered in his head.
“I don’t know what the hell I’m doing, Gideon.” I moved my stare back to the freckled cutie soaking up the sun. “A part of me is screaming to push him away. But a bigger part of me says to hold on tighter.”
“I say listen to the latter,” he grumbled. “It’s not every day you meet a man like that.”
“It’s not every day I meet a man period,” I scoffed. “That’s the problem. I can’t…” My heart thrashed against my ribcage. “I can’t be the man he needs me to be. So, this is it. One last hoorah before I never see him again.”
“If that’s what you want.”
I snarled my lip at him before walking toward the sliding glass door.
“Hello again,” Kyler greeted, flipping around to beam at me as I stepped outside. The little shit was wearing my sunglasses. “The coffee tastes amazing here.” He held up his mug to emphasize his statement. “Can we, like, move here? I could totally get used to this.”
Thewein his sentence pleased me a lot more than it should have.
“Sure,” I said with a shrug, falling into the plushy patio chair beside him. “I’ll buy this villa and we can stay forever. But don’t forget that as Special Agents we have duties.”
“Yeah? What kind of duties?” Kyler poked his tongue between his teeth and lifted his eyebrows.
I grabbed the arm of his chair and scooted him closer to me before slipping an arm around his smooth waist. He was warm and smelled like sex and coffee. I had the sudden urge to lick down his throat, to his chest, and down farther to that sexy dip of his hipbone.
“Like having as much sex as possible,” I responded in a serious tone. “In all types of positions.”
“Hmm.” Kyler tapped his chin and lifted his mug to take a drink. “Can we eat breakfast first? I was browsing restaurants and found one that sounded kinda cool.”
He then told me about a restaurant calledEn Plowhich was located beside the harbor. It was open twenty-four hours a day and served breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The prices were reasonable, according to Kyler, and I told him—again—that I didn’t give a damn about the cost.
Anywhere he wanted to go, we’d go. Simple as that. He still chose to go there, though, and so he downed the rest of his coffee and walked back inside with me.
We showered in separate bathrooms because there was no way we could be naked around each other andnotfuck. We’d had a go at each other before getting out of bed that morning, and I didn’t want to wear him out too much before the day had even started. And after the constant screwing from the night before, I knew he had to be sore.
The drive into town was nice.
Over the years, I’d sort of become desensitized to visiting most places. I’d been to Greece before, to Paris, Scotland, Ireland, and Mexico. The views, while beautiful, no longer held the appeal they’d once had. However, experiencing Mykonos with Kyler made it different. His excitement seeped into me, as well.
I found myself staring at the architecture and seeing it in a new light.
The picturesque sight of Little Venice Bay made Kyler gasp and take photos with his phone. Most of the buildings were white, but there were a few orange ones and a green. We traveled a little farther before the car stopped, and the driver said that was as far as he could take us. The main part of town was closed off to cars and was traveled on foot because of the narrow lanes.
“I don’t mind walking,” Kyler said as we walked down the street.
“Me either.”
And fuck me, I nearly grabbed his hand.
Having him so close made the hairs on my arms tingle. Made my heart swell and my palms twitch. I ached to feel his skin on mine, to lock our fingers together and walk the narrow path in the romantic atmosphere.
I clenched my hand into a fist at my side and faced ahead.
The day was warm, but the air was light and dry, so it didn’t bog us down. We passed souvenir shops, chic boutiques, and an abundance of restaurants. Little Venice had all the trendy cafes and was where many of the party-goers frequented when the sun went down. During the day, though, it was charming and not as lively.
“We should party one night,” Kyler said, and I thought it was awesome how our brains had kind of linked. Both thinking the same thing. “I read that once the sun goes down, the streets of the capital are filled with people, all going to bars and nightclubs. Dancing until the sun comes back up the next morning.”
“Sounds fun. Not tonight, though.” I breathed in the smells coming from all around us. “I thought after we ate breakfast, we could walk around and do some sightseeing. There are some museums around here, right?” I glanced at him, damn near grabbing his hand again when his gray eyes moved to me. “You must’ve read about them on your handy-dandy Wikipedia page.”
“I didn’t use Wikipedia, thank you very fucking much,” he countered, sticking his nose up in the air. “All the info I’ve looked up is on the Mykonos travel page.” The corner of his mouth twitched with a smile. “But yeah, there’s an archaeological museum and a nautical one around here. Also a folklore museum.”
