Page 53 of Bond Strength

Done.

I was so fucking done.

“I don’t know, Brandon. It’s your business, so you’ll have to figure that out because I quit.”

With that, I hung up the phone.

My hands trembled, and I stared down at my phone. Oh, fuck. What had I done?

“So, sounds like you and the boss had a good conversation.” Declan took a sip of his tea.

An incredulous laugh bubbled out of me. This excess energy from the roller coaster I’d ridden filled me, and it just escaped me in themoment. The slightly hysterical laughter wouldn’t stop, and my shoulders shook. Shit, my whole body shook.

“Fuck.” I clutched tight to the coffee, the heat from the ceramic warming my palms. My mind whirled. “I don’t have a job.”

I loved working as a contractor, and I’d jumped into it when I was finishing high school. And since Brandon and I had been in school together, I’d joined the company he took over from his dad. However, over the past couple of years, the stress of it, the longer than normal hours, had been grating away at me. Especially when I was underappreciated. When I was expected to do more work than anyone else because I didn’t complain.

Declan pressed against my side. “That’s true. You don’t have a job.”

I shot him a glare. “Thanks. That’s helping so much.”

His lips curled into a soft grin. “But that doesn’t mean you won’t. You’re talented, Noah. I saw the work you did at my house. You’re thorough, skilled, and you have an amazing work ethic. You deserve to be at a place that values everything you have to offer.”

Declan’s calmness and his matter-of-fact words soothed something inside me. My heart thrummed faster than ever.

He continued speaking, even though he stared off to the wall, rather than looking at me. “I love you. At least, I think this whole heart-in-my-throat feeling is love. The way I want to be around you when normally I want to be away from people. How my whole body brims with awareness when you’re around. We’re in this together, Noah. So you might have lost your job in putting your foot down, but you sure as hell haven’t lost.”

Wait.

What had he just said?

Declan Brannon loved me.

Giddiness rose within me, mingling with the upset from moments before, and fuck, I wouldn’t be able to eat at brunch with the state my stomach was in.

“I love you too,” I blurted out, not wanting him to think he was alone in this. “Fuck, I’m so in love with you it’s ridiculous, Declan. You’re everything I dreamed of, and in the short time we’ve been together, you’ve helped me more than you’ll ever know.”

I set my coffee down, closed the distance between us, and crushed our lips together. He melted against me, and this kiss tasted like the first sunset on vacation. Like hope in its purest form. I lost myself in the way our lips met again and again, how we were just tongues, teeth, and lust in this singular moment.

When I was with Declan like this, those anxieties that sometimes roared were muted. For a few blessed seconds, I could breathe.

When I pulled back, Declan stared at me, a knowing in his eyes that pierced right through my chest. Fuck, he got me, better than anyone on this planet. As much as the room still spun around me, with him, I settled in the center.

“You’re going to be okay, Noah,” Declan reassured me. “There are close to 300,000 masonry jobs in the United States. Those are far better job prospects than most.”

I shook my head and pressed a kiss on the tip of his nose. Giddiness bubbled up inside me again. Declan loved me, and he was willing to weather this together.

Maybe that was all I needed.

“We can cancel the family brunch if that would make you feel better.” Declan got out his phone. “I’m never sad about avoiding social situations.” Chances were, we needed to head out soon.

I sucked in a shaky breath. “Nah. I’ve been waiting for this for a damn long time. I want you to introduce me to your family as yours.”

“My what?” Declan wrinkled his nose. “My lover? Paramour? My boyfriend?”

I shook my head. “Just yours.”

Declan snorted. “Well, that’s decidedly unclear.”

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