Page 43 of Only You

He didn’t take long to return with two glasses of water and her phone. “I thought you would need this nearby.”

“Thanks,” she said, setting it on the bedside table. “So, you don’t mind having me stay the night?”

“No,” he said, then his lips curved as he looked at her. He was still completely naked. “I’m not done with ya.”

“Is that a fact?”

He nodded, then said, “Why don’t I show you?”

Eileen was laughing when he dove back on the bed.

Nine

Buzzing woke Declan. It wasn’t uncommon for his irritating family to wake him up with phone calls or texts. What was unusual was the warm woman next to him.

Eileen.

She had been more than anything he could have imagined. He had taken her another two times during the night. No. He had taken her once, and then she had taken him. Equal. He smiled at that.

The buzzing stopped. He pulled Eileen closer, enjoying her clean feminine scent. For a woman who spent her days in the darkest muck Baltimore had to offer, she reminded him of clean spring breezes.

He was just drifting back to sleep when the buzzing started again. He was going to kill whoever it was, especially when Eileen stirred against him.

Declan grabbed his phone from his nightstand and realized it wasn’t his that was buzzing.

“Is that mine?”

“Yeah, love, it is.”

She sighed and opened her eyes. The flutter of her lashes…then those brilliant eyes. God, he would never get used to seeingthose. He knew one thing: he would like to see her wake up every damned morning for the rest of his life.

He blinked. What the hell? Why was he thinking like that? Because she’s important. She had been since the moment he’d met her. That had to be why he took his time before asking her out.

With considerable effort—and a little grumbling that he found cute—she reached over to grab her phone.

“O’Reilly.”

Then she was silent as she listened to whoever was on the phone. Declan decided it was the perfect time to lean forward and kiss her shoulder. She shivered and glanced back at him.

“Get bent, Eddie. It’s the middle of the night. I was sleeping.”

She was silent as she listened to her partner talk, but he knew something bad had happened. Of course, it did. It was before three in the morning, and she was a homicide detective. Pretty sure it was a bad sign when your partner called you under those circumstances.

He watched as the warmth in her gaze dissolved into cold, hard detective eyes. It was…well, a little scary, but also hot as fuck. This woman was a bundle of contradictions that kept him on his toes. All sides of her personality called to him, from the sweet woman who laughed at his stories and praised his food to the vixen who drove him insane last night to the hard-edged detective.

He wanted it all.

“Okay, I’ll meet you there.”

She clicked her phone off and sighed. He could feel the tension vibrating through her body.

“I gotta go.”

“I figured.”

She glanced back at him once more. “Sorry.”

He shook his head. “Don’t be. It’s your job.”

---