Page 15 of In this Moment

Guilt flooded through him. Declan hated to hurt people. Especially people as sweet and wonderful as Evie. In fact, that was exactly why he was doing what he was doing. He didn’t want to hurther.

He took two steps across the floor and put his arm around her slight shoulders. “Evie.” His voice was soft. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to…well, I didn’t mean to upset you or hurt you. I just can’t—”

“No.” She slipped away from him and sniffed as she wiped at her eyes. “It’s okay. You had no idea what I was going to ask, and now I don’t think I should ask at all, but…” She turned and put her hands on the counter behind her as she dropped her head. “I just don’t know what else todo.”

Wait?

She wasn’t going to ask himout?

He was relieved. But more than that, to his surprise, he was disappointed. If things were different, he’d already have taken Evieout.

But he couldn’t worry about that now. Whatever she was going to ask him was obviously important. Important enough for her to cry over it. If it wasn’t a date, then whatever it was, he couldhelp.

He’d do anything in his power to help. And he told her asmuch.

“What were you going to ask me?” Declan reached out for her shoulder and squeezed gently until she turned around again. “I’m sorry, Evie. I just thought…well, it doesn’t matter. If you need help with something, please. Let me helpyou.”

“Really?” Her eyes lifted. “You would helpme?”

He chuckled a little. “It’s kind of what I’m known for.” He shrugged. “I help people. It’s what Ido.”

“But you don’t want to go out withme?”

Declan inhaled deeply, letting his chest rise and fill with air. He exhaled slowly and made an effort to explain. “It’s not that I don’t. In fact, I think you’re beautiful and smart and sexy and…well, any man would be dammed lucky to go out withyou.”

“Just notyou.”

“It’s not that I…Evie, I like you. A lot. I just don’t think it would be agood—”

“Marryme.”

Declan dropped his hand as if it were on fire. He took two steps backward, crashing into a rack of clothing. He didn’t bother looking to see whether he’d knocked anything over. He scrubbed his hands over his face. Had he heard her correctly? Before he could ask, she was talking again.

“Not really,” she said. “I mean…just for pretend. I need you to be my fiancé. Just for a little while. Just until…well…” She dropped her head. “This is such a mess.” Her hands covered her face and her delicate shoulders started to heave withsobs.

Declan looked around desperately. For what? He wasn’t sure but he was less sure as to what was going on in front of him. He’d gone from bringing Evie a cinnamon bun to declining a date to being proposed marriage. To say it had been a confusing ten minutes was putting it mildly.

He took a breath and reached for Evie again. “Hey,” he said softly, giving her a gentle shake. “What’s going on? I can’t believe you actually want to marry me. I mean, I know I’m a pretty awesome guy and all, but…”

That elicited a small giggle from her, just the way he’d been hopingfor.

“And if I was the marrying kind, I wouldn’t hesitate to marry you for a second, Evie.”

Why had he saidthat?

Her head whipped up. “Do you meanthat?”

Declan swallowed hard, but he nodded. “Absolutely. But Evie, I’m not the marrying kind and I don’t believe you really want me to marry you. What’s goingon?”

“It’s Jonah. His dad isback.”

“His dad?” Of course Declan had assumed that Jonah had a father, but he’d never stopped to think about what that looked like for Evie or what his involvement was in his son’s life. No doubt it was complicated. At least, judging by how upset Evie was, it was clearly complicated. “What does thatmean?”

So they wouldn’t be interrupted, Evie once again flipped the sign on the door to Closed and led Declan to the seating area she had by the changing rooms where she proceeded to tell Declan all about Tony, Jonah’s dad, and how he’d returned unexpectedly to make a bid for custody, ending with how she’d just lied to her lawyer about being engaged to Declan.

When she was finished talking, Declan leaned back in his seat, stretched his arms over his head and took a deep breathin.

“Say something. Please, Declan. I know it’s a lot and I know it’s absolutely crazy, but…I’m just totally out of options and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know why I told Russ that we were engaged. It’s just I saw you standing there and you’re such a good guy and…well…”

“It’s okay.” He sat up and looked her in the eye. He’d never seen Evie look so ruffled before. She always looked so calm and perfectly put together in her easy, natural style. Seeing her so upset was worrying. But then again, it was her child and his future on the line—of course she’d be upset.

He’d built a career on helping people. It was what he did. Granted, those people had usually been the victims of some natural disaster, and he helped by providing shelter and clean drinking water, not marriage. But this was Evie. And she neededhim.

“I’ll doit.”

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