Page 59 of Shuttered Hearts

“What are you doing?” His voice is raspy with sleep, making me smile. Right now, I’m the only one who gets to know what that sounds like, and I love it.

“Taking your picture.” I lift my camera and take another with him looking right at me.

“Why?” He rolls onto his side, the sheets shifting slightly, almost exposing him.

I take another picture before responding. “Because I wanted to capture this moment and keep it forever.”

“Hmm,” he hums. “Well, what if you put the camera down and capture the moment in your head?”

“Where’s the fun in that?” I laugh as he reaches for me, grabbing the camera from my hands and turning it on me.

He laughs as I try to block him from taking my picture. “How do you like it?”

“Okay, okay! We can put the camera down.” He lets me take it from him as we fall back onto the bed. Declan is on his side, pulling me into his chest while I look at the display on my camera to see what pictures we took.

“Hmm,” Declan hums again, looking at the camera over my shoulder. “There are some good ones in there.”

“Thank you.”

“I was talking about the ones I took.” He tickles my side, causing me to squeal.

“Fine. I’m putting it away.” I laugh, pushing him away to put the camera on my nightstand. When it’s safe, I roll back to face him, and he immediately reaches for me, pulling me back into him.

“You sleep okay?” he asks quietly.

“Yeah, better than I have in a while.” I run my fingers over the stubble on his face. “What about you?”

“Someone wore me out yesterday, so I slept like a log.”

“Jerk.” I push him in mock annoyance.

“I’m kidding. I did sleep quite well, though.” His eyes close as he pulls me closer, bringing us nose to nose.

“Good,” I whisper, my eyes closing. We probably would have stayed like that, falling back to sleep, if it hadn’t been for a knock on the cottage door.

“Get up, you lazybones. It’s time for breakfast. Also, let’s never talk about the fact Declan is probably naked in your bed right now,” Caleb shouts from outside.

We laugh as we hear his steps move back across the porch.

“I guess we need to get up now,” I say.

“Probably. I’m going to need my shirt, though,” he says, unbuttoning the few buttons I had done to keep the shirt closed, his fingers trailing over the exposed skin.

I arch into his touch. “We can be a little late.”

“Glad you could finally join us,”Ava says with a smirk as we come in the open back door.

“How’d you get here?” Declan pulls her into a quick hug.

“We picked her up on our way.” Emily smiles knowingly from the stove where she’s flipping pancakes.

“Well, that was nice of you,” I say as I reach for an apple slice from the fruit salad on the counter.

“I could have walked, but I’m unsure if you noticed—it’s a little cold out there.” Ava grabs the plate of bacon and takes it over to the table where Max and Caleb are already sitting, talking to each other. “I called Emily to see if she would mind giving me a ride when I woke up and saw you never made it home.”

“Hey! There’s no need to continue this conversation.” Caleb sits straighter in his seat. “You already sent me to get them out of bed this morning. I don’t need any more reminders.”

“What’s wrong with them having a sleepover? Dad lets me sleep over at Ethan’s house,” Max asks, confused.

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