Page 43 of One Night Only
“For telling Annie and Paul and yourmotherabout us even when I asked you not to?”
“Oh,” he says. “That. To be fair, you did shut the door in my face.”
“Only because you didn’t leave like you were supposed to. Anddon’tlook at me like I’m crazy,” I add. “That is a known thing.”
“Not to me.”
I scoff. “Like you’ve never had a one-night stand before.”
“Nope.”
“You…seriously?”
“Well, obviously now I have but before you…” He shakes his head. “So you’ll forgive me for not knowing the rules. Look at it from my point of view,” he continues when I start to respond. “You kicked me out after what I thought was a pretty spectacular night. You make it clear you don’t want to see me again only to flirt with me a few hours later—”
“I wasn’t flirting, you left your watch behind.”
“And then youfollowme across an ocean.”
“You arrived after me!”
He grins as my voice gets louder and I sink lower into the chair, scowling at his teasing. It’s like his favorite game is trying to rile me up. Probably because he finds it so easy.
“Would you believe me if I said it was me and not you?” I ask. “I didn’t mean anything personal by it. I’m just not looking for anything serious at the moment.”
Or ever.
I frown as the thought echoes in my mind.
It’s not that I planned for my life to turn out this way. But Annie’s right. I don’t do second dates. And therefore, I don’t do relationships. I haven’t since Josh.
Josh.
God, talk about a mess. It’s been two years and it still hurts to think about him. We met via an app and had our first date on a very cold, disgusting November day. I’d been insanely attracted to him. As in electric sparks, lose-my-mind, take-me-now attracted. While I’d had a few casual boyfriends before, I’d never felt anything like what I had with him. And I thought that meant something. Meant something to him. You’d think watching my dad go through mom’s affair would have taught me something about boundaries, about protection. Instead, I let my guard down.
I swore to myself it would never happen again.
After Josh, my approach to my love life became to stop it before it could start.
Just sex. Nothing more.
It’s the safest route for everyone.
“It’s not like we can ignore each other forever.”
I take another sip as Declan’s voice pulls me from my thoughts.
“Can’t we?” I ask.
“We have a mutual friend group now. And I’m going need to get my watch back.”
“I’ll drop it in the mail. Or no doubt my roommate will hand-deliver it. I’m pretty sure she has the hots for you.”
“Well, she has excellent taste.”
“Then I’ll be sure to send her your way.” The words come out a little sharper than I intended. The mere thought of the two of them together makes me uneasy.
Declan doesn’t respond and again, I have a horrible feeling he can see right through me.
