Page 73 of Declan
Chapter 17
Kyler
Declan had been weird all day. He’d have moments where he was easy-going and having a good time. Then, there were instances where I caught him staring off in the distance, his brow pulled together and his green eyes unfocused on everything going on around him.
I’d tried to distract him from whatever he was struggling with.
We’d rented stand-up paddleboards and laughed as we battled to control it. The thing required a hell of a lot of balance. And when you were giggling and using your paddle to try to knock the other person off theirs, well, you tended to fall off yours, too.
“You asshole!” Declan yelled as he fell into the water.
I laughed and did a little dance on my paddleboard. A dance that was interrupted as Declan pushed against my board, made me lose my balance, and I joined him in the sea.
Gideon hadn’t rented one. No, the big grouch stayed on the shore and watched us with his large arms crossed. He’d stripped down into swimming trunks, though. So, while he still stood out like a sore thumb on the beach with his massive body, he didn’t look suspicious anymore at least.
Because really…who wore normal clothes to the beach?
Psychos, that’s who.
After we’d had enough of the paddleboards, we returned them to the shop and went back out into the water to swim. Other people were around, and so I couldn’t wrap my arms around Declan’s neck and straddle him in the water like I wanted to. My previous thoughts of him looking like a Greek god held even truer while actually in Greece.
Declan came up out of the water like Poseidon himself, flicking his head back as water trickled down his face, neck, and chest. He smoothed his fingers through his wet dark hair and his mouth popped open in a smallo. Perfectly sculpted body and a face to die for, he was my fantasy come to life.
It was as though I was watching him in slow motion.
Whatwasn’tslow was my damn quickening pulse as it spread through my veins like wildfire.
As exciting as the day had been, I was eager to get back to our villa. We could be ourselves there. I could kiss him without him worrying about someone seeing us. We could laugh and joke about stupid shit without him casting a nervous glance around like he’d done in the museum, making sure no one else was in earshot.
We’d done a lot that day; visited the museums, checked out some of the stores along the harbor and the ones on the west side of the island in the capital, as well as kayaking, paddle boarding, and swimming. We’d also walked through some of the small villages that rested in the island’s interior. I was exhausted, but in a good way.
It was only day two in Mykonos. There was still plenty of time to see everything else before the vacation ended. As for now, I wanted to be alone with Declan.
He seemed to sense the direction of my thoughts as we got out of the water and put on our shoes.
“We can order food to-go for dinner,” he said, putting on his sunglasses and ball cap. “Unless you wanted to eat in somewhere?”
“Nah, getting it to-go is fine.”
Since it was quick, we picked up some Gyros at a restaurant and headed back up the path to the north side of the island. Smelling the peppery meat, I ended up eating mine on the walk. Declan ate his, too.
The sunset was absolutely gorgeous. We were in the perfect spot to see the magnificence of the sun reflecting on the water and bouncing off the whitewashed buildings, so we stopped to watch it sink below the horizon.
And in our silence, Declan slid his hand into mine.
I couldn’t believe it at first. As the warmth of his hand warmed mine in turn, I returned the hold.
Sure, there weren’t a lot of people around. But we were still in public. In a romantic spot watching the sunset. It was like the sappy romantic scenes in the books I wrote. Only better because it was real.
My eyes watered and a few tears fell to my cheeks. I pretended to wipe sweat from my brow as I grazed the back of my other hand across them.
Declan released my hand minutes later, and we continued toward the villa.
I almost reached to take his hand again but stopped myself. I didn’t want to push him too far, and it wasn’t like it’d change anything. We weren’t a couple. We were friends that were casually fucking. Iffriendswas even the right word to use. Once we went our separate ways, I didn’t expect to talk to him again.
Once we were through the narrow streets of town, we could’ve called a car, but the walk was too nice. Both of us seemed to have a lot on our minds, too. The stroll helped.
When we reached the villa, Gideon walked ahead of us and disappeared into his room.
