Page 27 of Stolen Sun

She walks away, leaving us in our vacuum a little while longer.

A few moments pass before he loosens hishold on me by looking away. Casting my eyes down, I drink my water as though it can put out the flames within.

“Where’s the next country on your list?” He asks, effectively giving us something to talk about.

My straw swirls around the ice cubes of my water. “I’ve only been to Italy so far, so next would be France,” I say just above a whisper. I clear my throat to get rid of the rasp in my voice.

“We still have the whole list to tackle?” The surprise is obvious in his voice.

My head shoots up at the implication. “Um…” I try to decide how to respond. Something in his eyes tells me to go with it. “I guess so.”

“Even better.” His smile spreads, showing off those damn dimples I'm such a sucker for.

“I was surprised to see you at the cemetery yesterday.” Unable to hold it in any longer, I broach the subject with him.

“Is that where you left the ring?”

I’m not so sure he needs to know the rings are locked away in my safe at home. Avoiding his question, I tell him what I've wanted to tell him since I saw him there yesterday. “I told him about you.”

“You don’t owe anyone an explanation, Noel.”

“Maybe not, but I wanted you to know anyway.”

Leaning closer to me from across the table, he clarifies, “You don’t owehiman explanation about me.”

Oh.

“Declan, I-,” I stammer, unsure what to say to him. “This is new to me.”

“This is not new. It was paused. Interrupted. But you were mine before him, and you’re mine now.”

My breath catches, and I’m paralyzed by his declaration. The pounding of my heart is so loud I’m sure he can hear it too. The promise sounds so irresistible that I almost forget the interruption he’s referring to was of his own design. Almost.

“Hm. Interrupted. And whose-,” I start.

Our server chooses now to deliver our meal and asks if we need anything. I don’t even remember what I ordered, so I shake my head. Looking down at my plate, I’m relieved to see a cup of soup and a sandwich.

“Eat.There will be plenty of time for rehashing the past later,” he says, guessing what I was going to ask.

We eat in silence, and I’m aware that Declan has yet to remove his feet from mine. Each time we’re together he finds ways to touch me. The gentle displays of affection are such a contrast to his no-nonsense personality that it makes me feel special. The fact that he has probably had a lot of practice wooing woman over the years isn't lost on me, and I have to remind myself that I decided to take a step forward to push the doubt away.

When we finish our meal, Declan leaves cash on the table and leads me out of the restaurant. His hand rests gently on my lower back, and my skin tingles beneath his touch.

“Declan,” a man calls out to our left when we get to the parking lot.

He grabs my hand as he stops walking to see who is calling him. When I look over, I tense as I recognize the man to be Isaiah, one of Nate’s friends. Isaiah has always given me a bad feeling that I couldn’t describe. Most likely, it’s because the only times Nate and I ever really fought was when he went out with Isaiah. He was just a bad influence. Now my stomach is in knots wondering if he and Declan are also friends.

Declan answers him with a polite, “Hey man, how’s it going?”

Isaiah stops to shake his hand then notices me. “Noel?” He looks at Declan then down at our hands. “Alright! Good for y’all. Guess the good guys do finish last, huh, Dec?” He pats Declan on the shoulder and laughs.

“Something like that,” Declan says in a strained voice. He pulls me closer to him with his arm in front of me, and I get thefeeling that Declan thinks of Isaiah the same way I do.

“See ya!” Isaiah calls out as he walks off in a hurry.

Declan wraps his arm around my waist holding me close to him, and runs his knuckles across my cheek. “Has he ever tried anything with you?” His touch is gentle, but his glare is deadly.

“No,” I manage to squeak out. “His dad and mine are friends, and he was close with Nate. Why did he say that about good guys finishing last? What does that mean?”

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