Page 16 of Declan

She gives me an exasperated look, and I lean in slowly to see if she’ll flinch away. When she doesn’t, I press my lips to her temple, then move down and whisper into her ear, “You’ll see, doll face. You’ll see.”

I straighten just as there’s a knock on the door and step back a few paces as the door opens a crack, and somebody whisper-shouts, “Hello? May we come in?”

“Depends,” Issa replies. “Who are you, and what do you want?”

The door opens a good foot, and there stands Antoinette with Carolina right behind her, beaming smiles on their faces. Then Antoinette says, “We just want to tell you how wonderful the show was tonight. Definitely one for the ages. They’re gonna be talking about it for months.”

She rolls her eyes and mutters, “That’s what I’m afraid of.”

I walk over and open the door fully, motioning for the two women to enter and then closing the door behind them. I turn to Issa and say, “Allow me to introduce to you my sisters-in-law, Antoinette, and Carolina. The original reason why I showed up tonight. It wasn’t just to put you on the spot and piss you off.”

Issa rises from her chair and moves closer to the women with her hand outstretched, but in true Antoinette fashion, Antoinette ignores Issa’s hand and wraps both arms around her, giving her a squeeze in one of her aforementioned prisoner hugs.

Issa is a good sport about it and laughs with only a hint of awkwardness as Antoinette releases her, and Carolina steps in, shaking her hand and kissing her on both cheeks as if she thinks she’s still in Europe. Then Issa turns to me and says, “I didn’t know you had any siblings.”

“It’s not a well-known fact. Only one of them is my brother by blood, but the other one may as well, given what an asshole he is.”

The girls giggle in agreement, and then Issa turns to Carolina and gushes, “I’ve seen all of your films. You’re amazingly talented. I hope you’re planning on taking on more roles in the future.”

“Oh, thank you,” Carolina replies, her cheeks flushing at the compliment. “I had a pretty crazy ride there for a bit, but I’m not sure I’ll be doing anything else anytime soon.”

Issa tilts her head at Carolina, a pensive expression on her face as she asks, “Did you marry that guy from all your premieres a while back?”

Carolina laughs as she asks, “Darius?”

“Yeah, I think so. Tall, dark, and handsome. He looks like a beast of a man, for sure.”

Carolina and Antoinette howl, and Issa watches the two women curiously with a smile on her face, and then finally, she says, “I’m not sure why that’s funny. But that man is all-caps hot.”

They both laugh even harder, entirely at my expense, and I glare at them, my lips twisting as I turn my narrowed gaze onto Issa. She has a little twinkle in her eyes, and I’m immediately suspicious. I move toward her, not stopping until I’m only a few inches from her but not touching her, and then I lean down and ask, “Are you fucking with me right now?”

She gives me the most ludicrously innocent look I’ve ever seen and shrugs. I shake my head and whisper, “Very naughty, doll face. Very naughty.”

Now, all three of them laugh, and I step back with a sigh, suddenly wishing I had one of the boys with me because being this outnumbered by sassy-pants women is exceedingly uncomfortable.

Eventually, the women stop laughing, and Antoinette says breathlessly, “That guy is mine. But you are correct: he is very hot.”

I snort and roll my eyes, most likely giving off the air of a petulant child, and Carolina walks over and pats me on the arm. “Don’t worry, buddy. You’re hot, too.”

Antoinette laughs, and I glance at Issa, who’s also nodding in agreement, which makes me feel a little better. But still, I ask, “You think I’m hot, doll face?”

Her cheeks pink prettily, her eyes looking down at the ground briefly before lifting to meet my gaze. She shrugs and says, “Maybe. Maybe not.”

She doesn’t want to admit it, but I know she thinks I’m fucking hot. I see it in her eyes, in the way she unconsciously leans toward me, in the way her pulse beats synchronously with my own.

I want to touch her. I want to breathe her in. I want to push her back up against that wall and rub myself against her until she begs me for more. Her tongue peeks out, licking along her lips, and I want nothing more in that moment than to trace that same path along her lips with my own tongue and then sink into her and never let go.

A throat clears behind me, and I snap out of my daydream, quickly walking to the other side of the room and sitting on the sofa to camouflage my hard dick that’s attempting to escape the confines of my pants. It should be embarrassing how easily she gets me going, but I can’t find one fuck to give about my complete inability to control my physical reactions to her.

The door flies open, and Issa whirls around, frowning as she exclaims. “What the–”

Blowhard Bobby is standing there, a look of fury on his face that he quickly schools once he sets eyes on Carolina and Antoinette. His entire demeanor instantly changes when he sees that Issa isn’t alone—and also not alone with me—and the fake bullshit makes my skin crawl.

He enters the room and walks directly to Issa, throwing his arms around her and pulling her into an awkward hug as he says, “Great show, babe. The fans are eating up this shit with Declan. It’s gonna be a cash cow, for sure.”

I squash the growl that brews in my chest, along with my urge to snap him like a twig. Antoinette and Carolina are eyeing him suspiciously. If anyone could sniff out a rat, it would be those two.

He looks around them and meets my eyes, his lip curling in an ugly snarl, and I laugh as he says, “Oh, Hughes. I didn’t see you there.”

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