Page 40 of Maid For Each Other

14

Pinned

Declan

She wasn’t home.

I’d walked the entire apartment, and Abi wasn’t there.

Talk about déjà vu.

Only she wasn’t on the balcony this time.

Which was fine, I supposed, since we didn’t have to leave for another thirty minutes, but I would’ve expected her to mention she wouldn’t be there when we’d texted earlier.

Then again, I was a fool for expecting her to do something thatwasexpected.

I took a quick shower, then as I ducked into my closet to grab a tie, I heard, “Are you in the closet?”

I turned just as she stepped in the doorway, looking stunning in a black off-the-shoulder sweater, black leather skirt, and tall black boots that made me actually forget my name for a second.

And something about the all-black outfit made her hair look like shimmery copper.

I cleared my throat, fully aware of how I shouldn’t think she was gorgeous.

“Oh, my God, sorry,” she said, blinking fast and turning her back to me like she’d walked in on me buck naked. I noticed her hand was holding the back of her sweater together as she rambled, “I just thought—”

“I’m wearing pants,” I said slowly, because I was dressed, for fuck’s sake; I was wearing the slacks that went with my charcoal Armani suit. “You’re fine.”

“Okay, good,” she said, nodding, but she didn’t turn around.

“You can turn around,” I said, wanting to laugh at this unexpected shyness from my lack of a shirt. “I’m decent, I promise.”

She turned around and said, with her eyes dialed in on my face, “I was just looking for a safety pin.”

“Come,” I said, walking over to the drawers that were built into the wall. “I’ve got an entire bin full of them in here.”

I heard her follow me as I opened the top drawer and pulled out a container of safety pins. When I turned to hand them over, though, her eyes were on my chest and…well,shit, nothing was good about the way she looked at me and the way it made me feel.

“Do you need help?” I asked.

“Hmm?” Her eyes were back on my face, and she looked confused. She blinked fast and said, “What? I mean, with what?”

“Pinning something,” I said, and I was impressed with how calm I sounded when her interest had been…interesting. “The part of your sweater you’re holding together, perhaps?”

Especially when she looked likethat, with those smooth shoulders out for the world to see again.

“Oh,” she said. “No, I think I can do it.”

“You sure?” I asked, knowing I shouldn’t be offering my services but unable to stop myself.

“Well,” she said, craning her neck to look at her back. “It’s just a little big and I don’t like when it slides, so I just want to do a little interior tuck thing to ensure it stays in place.”

“I’m happy to help if it saves you from stabbing yourself in the back.”

“Okay,” she said, looking like she also thought it wasn’t a good idea. “That’d be great. Thank you.”

She turned so I was looking down at her back and the part of her sweater she was clutching, and I grabbed a safety pin. “Don’t let go until I say I’ve got it, okay?”

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