Page 107 of Holding You
“You two have been getting along a lot better lately. Livingtogether and now sharing a room…” His sentence lingers in the air.
I know what he’s implying, and he’s not wrong. His timeframe of when it started might be, but yeah.
“Oh, no, you’re not denying it this time,” Linc says in a whisper.
Luca just stares at me, and Dutton chuckles behind me.
“I … it’s not like that. I told you. We are becoming friends. That’s all.”
Fuck is it ever.
Shay walks by, and Luca jumps up.
He points at me. “This conversation isn’t over.” Then he follows Shay to wherever she’s headed.
Whatever happens in Vegas stays in Vegas. While she didn’t say those exact words, that was Ruby’s mindset last night, and she’s not wrong to have it.
There is no way I can go back to Lovers and not touch her again, knowing what I know now, but I have to. My focus needs to be on finalizing this deal. Distractions mean delay, and delay means … old habits that I never want to see again.
I know myself well enough to know how easily I could forget the goal and repeat the past. As I said before, Ruby deserves actions, and once this deal is done, I can give them to her.
Her and Susie both.
Not to mention the connection she and Max have to my competition.
It seems cleaner if we keep this to just the weekend.
But we still have another night here, so I'm not done with her yet.
The hairs on the back of my neck tingle. Ruby is looking right at me.
She bites her bottom lip and then smirks, slowly moving herattention back to the girls. Grace’s hands are waving about a mile a minute as she tells whatever story she has going on.
Fuck.
Finally, a reaction that Ruby didn’t forget last night.
“Whoa, earth to Declan.” Dutton waves a hand in front of my face.
“What?”
“You can’t deny anything is going on between you and Ruby and then stare at her just minutes later the way you were right now.”
“I wasn’t looking at her in any sort of way.”
Linc moves to Luca’s seat. He swings his legs over to my side and leans closer to me, his forearms on top of his knees.
“You’re looking at her the way Hudson would look at my sister back when they denied it, too. I know the signs this time around.” He shakes his head. “You are crushing on your friend's sister and denying it. Bold and bad move, man.”
“I … it’s complicated.”
“I knew this was going to happen.” Dutton is now mimicking Linc’s position, and I'm still just lying back on my lounger between them. “I knew there was no way you two could live together and not start something. I mean, if I can feel the tension between you, it has to be electric at home. Then I saw you last night at the club and?—”
“You saw us?” I snap up and look at Dutton. “When?”
“When I sure as shit shouldn’t have seen you. I’ll deny it if you tell anyone, but I think you two are a good match.”
Linc and I are both silent as Dutton nods.
