Page 42 of Wild Ever After
“Thanks.” I take a sip and then push it away and grab my water instead. Alcohol probably won’t make this easier. “How was paddleboarding today?”
“Good,” he says, nodding.
Okay, this is going to be harder than I thought. Declan is succinct in his answers, something I already knew, and understand. I don’t open up to people that easily either.
“Have you gone before?” I ask.
“Paddleboarding?”
“I’ve never been,” I share, in hopes it encourages him to say more.
“Yeah. A couple of times. It’s fun. You should try it tomorrow.”
“Maybe. If there’s time. I booked an excursion for our last day. Dune buggies. It sounded fun.”
His face lights up with his smile. “Really? I looked at a pamphlet for that today. It looks awesome.”
“You’ll come then?”
“Of course,” he says, like he’s up for anything I want. And I guess he has been. Some of my tension releases at that reminder.
“Is there anything else you want to do on our last day?”
He thinks for a moment. “Dune buggies and paddleboarding.”
“Determined to watch me make an ass of myself, huh?”
“Something tells me you’ll master paddleboarding like you do everything else.”
I hardly master everything, but I take the compliment and let the words warm my insides.
“Have you ever been here before with a girl?”
“No.” He takes a drink and then leans back in his chair. “I’ve only been to St. Lucia once and that was with Jack and a buddy that got traded after my first year with the Wildcats.”
“But you’ve gone on beach vacations with girls before?”
“Sure,” he says, holding my gaze. “What exactly are you trying to discern about me?”
The question doesn’t come with any irritation or hostility, but he seems to understand that I’m trying to learn what kind of a guy he is.
I decide to just ask the thing I really want to know. “How are you still single?”
He lets out a rough, hearty laugh.
“I’m serious. I know you said you don’t have time and it isn’t in the cards for you, but why?” I meant to get to this topic gently, ease into it. Instead, I dove right in, but I’m just so curious. Some morbid part of me wants to know all his deepest secrets, in hopes that he’s as messed up as I am. He feels like a kindred spirit, like he’s experienced things his teammates haven’t.
“I guess what it really comes down to is I haven’t made it a priority. Being a hockey player was my dream for so long. I’ve seen guys let their personal lives derail all their hard work in a blink of an eye.”
He’s right, of course. When Scarlett and Leo first started dating, the media around a player dating the coach’s daughter impacted his game. But it’s what Declan doesn’t say that makes me understand him better. Hockey is his dream, and when you’ve worked that hard for something you’ve wanted so long and you finally achieve it, there are two choices—let up or cling to it with everything you have. Declan holds tight to it, like it’s the only thing worth living for.
“What was your childhood like?”
His expression tightens immediately, and I know I’ve found a delicate topic. I guess I should have assumed that when he said he didn’t have family.
“It was…not always great, but it could have been a hell of a lot worse.”
“I get that.” I won’t push on this one. I don’t want to share my pain, so I’ll respect his. “And here we are on this beautiful island. All week it’s felt surreal.”
