Page 101 of His to Protect

Epilogue

Trina

SIXMONTHSLATER

I scanned the full, but not packed, restaurant, and smiled. The lunch rush was over, but it was a Friday afternoon, and in the last several months, there had hardly been an empty table. With spring break starting soon, and the spring air bringing freshness and the hope of new beginnings, the Fireside Grill was doing better than it ever had, according to Declan.

My grin stretched larger as I finished bussing a table and headed back to the kitchen.

Declan was where I always saw him.

At the grill, flipping burgers and barking orders to the other cooks.

There was never a dull moment.

Declan would give me the credit for his increase in business, due to all the hard work I’d put into the advertising and marketing for the restaurant.

Some days, if someone came in and their eyes got slightly hazy when they met me or saw Declan, I still worried that some of the attraction was from what happened in the alley months ago. Most days, when I was able to forget, I believed Declan.

He never lied to me.

He still looked at me as if I was the most important and treasured thing in his life. He was still a bit bossy, he was still overprotective, but I knew his protectiveness came from a place deep within a soft and loving heart.

Needless to say, the last several months had not only been busy, but some of the best in my life.

Shortly after the media attention died down, I had tried one day to think about going forward with my plan to live on my own and move into Blue’s apartment. I knew, based on the look Declan gave me, that he’d let me. He probably would even have encouraged me to do it, because he always seemed to be willing to do whatever made me happy.

But then I’d gone to bed with him, fell asleep with his strong, muscular arms surrounding me, and knew that I was never going to leave. I loved him too much to want to spend a moment away from him. And I realized that I could still grow, I could still be me, and I could do it in Declan’s house, even if moving in with him after the drama we’d had and the way we’d met seemed crazy to some.

I quit caring what people thought and said about me the moment my photos were splashed across newspapers and magazines nationwide.

No one knew the full story except for those who experienced it.

And their opinions were the only ones that mattered to me.

Fortunately, in the last several months, I had also found a great network of friends who I now considered family. The girls I’d met on that girls’ night so many months ago were now more like sisters I’d never had and always wanted.

We still drank too much on Margarita Thursdays. We still laughed loudly enough to disrupt the entire restaurant, and Suzanne still ogled Declan every moment she could. Fortunately, I’d also spent a lot of time around her husband and Paige’s, and was fully assured that her jesting and teasing was all in good fun.

My life was perfect.

It was that thought that had me moving straight to Declan. I waited while he plated several meals, his movements so sure and quick that he seemed to do it all at the same time, and then I rolled to my toes, pressed my hand to his shoulder, and kissed his cheek.

“I love you,” I whispered, before moving away.

He didn’t let me get far.

His arm snagged me around my waist and he held me against him, looking down at me with dark eyes and a full smile. “I love you, too. How’s it going out there?”

I grinned. “Busy.”

“You still up for a night off?”

My grin grew. Declan was taking me out to dinner tonight, downtown. I didn’t know the restaurant we were headed to, but I had seen the dress he bought for me to wear laid out on our bed this morning after I woke up. It was black, lacy and satiny, fit me perfectly, and I couldn’t wait to wear it.

I had also seen a pretty, red-velvet ring box in the drawer last week when I was putting away his laundry.

I knew that tonight was going to be special. Declan would make sure of it.

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