Page 57 of Only You

“Yeah. Why?”

He shoved his hands into his front pockets. “We?—”

“We?”

“Seamus was by the restaurant. We had the news on since it was so slow, and we saw you sticking it to Carmichael.”

That had brought her some joy. That asshole had tried to ambush her and Eddie when they left the precinct. Sticking it tohim on TV had been worth the annoyed text she got from the captain.

“Yeah, we watched you. I take it you had a tough day?”

She nodded. Eileen knew she shouldn’t do it, shouldn’t show weakness, but she couldn’t help herself. “Wanna come in?”

Relief filled his expression. He had been worried she wouldn’t want to spend time with him.

“Only if you feel up to it.”

She blinked. Was he leaving the ball in her court? This was new for her.

“But I do need to talk to you.”

And there it was.

“Come on.”

She unlocked her door, and he followed her into her house. It was warm inside, but she was chilled to the bone. It had nothing to do with the weather but with whatever BS Declan was going to give her. At least he was doing this in person.

It was only one glorious night, and he saw her on TV and realized he wasn’t up for it. Some guys would get off on the notoriety. She had already gotten tons of texts from friends and family about it, and she was sure the few unknowns she had ignored came from reporters. It would only get worse before this was over.

She closed the front door, then walked into the kitchen, setting the package down on the counter.

“What do you want to talk about?”

“What’s wrong?”

That had her glancing over her shoulder at Declan. He was so big and beautiful, and dammit, she wanted to keep him. She yearned to come home to him, to share her day with him. To just be with him.

Oh, dammit. No, this was wrong. Her dependency wasn’t a good thing. All men leave. Her father was different, but shedidn’t seem to attract the kind of man who wanted to deal with her job. Or her. He had a lot to deal with.

She studied him as panic clawed at her throat. Eileen knew it was a stupid thing to do, but apparently, over the last few months, she had been falling in love with Declan.

What was she going to do about that?

“Now you look sick. Come sit down.” She was so stunned by the silent admission that she didn’t fight him when he took her by the arm and led her to one of the stools at her counter. He eased her into it.

“I bet you haven’t eaten since lunch, have you?”

She shook her head.

He was muttering under his breath as he opened her refrigerator. “How do you survive?”

“Sarcasm and coffee.”

Pausing his perusal of her fridge, he sent a narrowed-eye glare over his shoulder. “That is not enough.”

“Declan, you said you wanted to talk to me.”

He shut the door to the fridge and then faced her. “I didn’t like what you did tonight.”

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