Page 51 of Resting Beach Face
“I don’t?”
“I just meant, you know…hooking up?”
I tilted my head, trying to understand this baffling man. He said he didn’t want to date me because he couldn’t have the intimate relationship I would want. But he also seemed upset anytime he thought I was involved with someone else.
“No, Declan. Contrary to popular belief, I don’t hook up with people everywhere I go.”
“I didn’t mean?—”
I grasped his jaw, and strangely, he leaned into the touch, as if he craved more. I stroked my thumb along his cheek, dragging it over prickly stubble. “There’s only one man I’m interested in.”
He wet his lips. “I’m leaving though. And I can’t…”
“I know.” I dropped my hand. “Doesn’t mean I can magically move on as if my feelings for you never existed.”
“Feelings? It’s more than attraction?”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course it is, Declan. You’re totally infuriating!”
He huffed a laugh. “I’m aware.” He looked a little embarrassed. “And it’s really none of my business who you sleep with. You’re free to hook up with anyone you want.”
“Did it ever occur to you, Declan, that I might want more than sex?”
He blinked. “Uh, well…”
“I know you’re ace, and maybe itseemslike the rest of us are just sex-crazed fools looking to get off. But I want a relationship too. I want love and connection. Laughter and hugs and cuddles on the couch. All that good stuff, you know?”
“I’m sorry,” he said. “You’re absolutely right. I assumed—maybe unfairly—that sex was the most important thing to you. I mean, you’ve had alotof it.”
I started pushing the cart toward check-out, and he fell into step beside me.
“Hadbeing the operative word, Dec. I haven’t been having much of it at all for months now.”
“No?”
“Nope. Just me and my hand.”
“Oh.” He cleared his throat. “Uh, well, maybe I misjudged you. I admit it.”
“That’s okay. I sort of asked for it after all those visits to the B&B last year. I was…going through something, but I’m sorry it took me so long to understand why it bothered you.”
“Why do you think it bothered me?”
I sent him a smile. “Because, Declan, you’re totally into me.”
He started to sputter out a denial, and I laughed and left him behind as I rolled the cart into the line. Declan’s reaction today had told me something important. He might be planning to leave, and he might be unsure that I was relationship material, but Declan Sullivan liked me.
Hell, maybe he even more than liked me.
What exactly that meant to a guy on the ace spectrum? I wasn’t quite sure. But I intended to find out.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Declan
A few days later,I parked in front of The Dirty Hoe. Cash would start work on The Roost in two days—the first opening in his schedule—and I wanted to clear that overgrown path of brush and weeds, plus ensure it stayed cleared once I had.
The Dirty Hoe looked like an overstuffed garden shed attached to a greenhouse—a mix of the quirky and functional just like its owners. A wheelbarrow planted with a brightly flowering hibiscus sat just outside the door. Three sets of wind chimes dangled from an awning: silver metal fish, glass butterflies, and little brass birds with bells.
