Page 61 of The Bossy One

Declan smiled. “I should have known you’d pick the lavender.”

I raised my eyebrows in a question.

“You smell like lavender,” he said. “Your soap, or perfume, or… I don’t know, but you smell like it.” His voice lowered. “I like it. I have since the airplane.”

“It’s my lotion,” I said, my tongue thick. He paid attention to what I smelled like?

He leaned back lazily, a king at ease. “Do you put it on in the morning, right after you shower? Or at night, right before you go to bed?”

I felt flustered. “Why do you want to know?”

He smiled. “So I can fantasize. Obviously.”

I set the ice cream aside, feeling out of my depth. He was somuch. I thought I was used to his presence, but I realized I normally saw him when he was handling five things at once. His work, Catie, how best to help his sister. Now Declan was giving me his full focus.

It was heady, but confusing.

“Don’t make fun of me,” I said.

“I’m not,” Declan said, surprised.

“You know what I mean,” I said. “The effusive compliments, the jokes about fantasizing about me…you don’t have to do that. I don’t need the whole seduction routine. We know each other. You can just tell me what you think.”

Declan studied me, a faint frown between his brows.

Then he straightened, slowly and purposefully. I tried to look away, but he leaned forward, gently but firmly nudging my chin up to make sure I saw his face.

“It’s not a routine. Iamtelling you what I think, Olivia. I’ve been thinking it for some time now,” he said. “The fact that you don’t believe me makes me think you don’t know me as well as you think you do. Or maybe it’s yourself you don’t know.”

I looked up into his dark, haunting blue eyes, and swallowed. I’d never had a man be so open about his desire for me. I thought of the way his hands had gripped my hips last night, of the way his mouth hungered after mine, and shivered.

His expression shifted. “Are you cold,a ghrá?” He turned around and rummaged for something behind him, then twisted back around to drape a men’s cardigan over my shoulders.

It smelled like him. Warm and safe.

I thought that Declan wrapping me in his clothes might be my new kink.

“Doesa ghráreally mean friend?” I blurted. “Because you don’t say it like it means ‘friend.’”

“Ah.” Declan scratched the back of his neck, looking sheepish for the first time tonight. “That’s because it meanslove. I didn’t mean to say it the first time. It just…slipped out. So, I, er, lied.”

Something glowed warm inside me, as I finally started to believe his compliments.

Declan Byrne had been calling melove. He thought I was beautiful. He knew how I took my tea and noticed the scent of my lotion. He said he fantasized about me, and he kissed me like he was starving for me.

On impulse, I rose up on my knees, so that for once, I was the one who was looking down at him. I cupped his gorgeous face and kissed him.

If last night’s kiss had been a furious storm, this one was soft summer rain. His hands found my lower back, and he guided me into his lap while our mouths played. He tasted like wine, and man, and something intoxicating I couldn’t describe. When I nipped his lower lip, hegrowledand yanked me closer, so that I could feel his erection hard against my backside.

I can have sex with him right now, I realized. There was no reason not to, other than the ones I’d already ignored by going on this date in the first place. Catie was asleep. Declan’s backyard was private. We were alone under the stars.

Declan’s thoughts seemed to follow the same path as mine. “We don’t have to,” he said, his voice ragged.

“I know,” I said, and kissed him again.

Our embrace turned hotter. The cardigan slipped from my shoulders, and I unbuttoned his shirt far enough to run my hands over his firm, lightly furred chest, and clutch at those strong, broad shoulders.

“Is that…is that all right?” I panted.

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