Her Wild Hero

She muttered a curse. If he thought she was going to let him walk away that easily, then he didn’t know her very well. She dug in her purse for her iPhone, ready to go through with her threat and call the police when the door suddenly jerked open.

Declan stood there barefoot, wearing a pair of low-slung jeans and nothing else. His hair was damp and he had the perfect amount of stubble on his jaw. He looked good enough to eat. The gashes that had covered his chest were so faint she could barely see them unless she really looked. And gazing at all that muscle right now was way too distracting. It was all she could do not to reach out and run her hands over him.

“I was in the shower,” he said.

“Uh-huh.” Considering he was half-dressed and his hair was slightly wet, he probably wasn’t lying about that. But she seriously doubted he had been in the shower the other times she’d stopped by. She looked pointedly at the muscular arm he had braced on the doorjamb blocking her way, then back at him. “Can I come in?”

Declan was still for so long that Kendra actually considered whether she could duck under his arm before he could stop her. But then he stepped back. That was a relief. For a minute there she had visions of him picking her up and putting her outside like Fred always did with the saber-toothed cat on The Flintstones. There wasn’t much she could have done except followed Fred’s example and pounded on the door…again.

She looked around. While Declan’s place definitely didn’t have a woman’s touch, it wasn’t the quintessential bachelor pad, either. The hardwood floor and neutral palette with its touches of blues and greens gave the place an outdoorsy feel that fit him.

“What do you want, Kendra?”

She turned to see him standing in the entryway, regarding her with his arms crossed over his chest. The cool, detached tone in his voice made tears spring to her eyes. But she kept it together.

“We need to talk,” she said.

“About what?”

What the hell did he think they needed to talk about? “About why you’re leaving the DCO.”

Declan scowled and muttered something under his breath. “Tate told you.”

“He shouldn’t have had to. I should have heard it from you, Declan.” She stomped across the room to stand in front of him. “I’m here now, so go ahead. Tell me why you suddenly decided to leave.”

He brushed past her. “It’s time for a change.”

She’d been working at the DCO long enough to know a lie when she heard it. She took a breath, keeping her gaze fixed on the door as she willed herself to stay calm. Getting into a shouting match with Declan wouldn’t do anything but make them both mad. But even if what he said wasn’t true, it was still hard to take. She’d risked her life to keep him safe in that damn jungle. She closed her eyes and counted to ten, then turned to face him.

“You were supposed to take me out to dinner,” she reminded him.

“I only said that so you’d eat that stupid power bar,” he growled.

She didn’t believe that. “Is that why you made love to me, too?”

He looked at her sharply. “You know it wasn’t.”

“Then how can you just leave?” she demanded, her voice rising. “If this is about Derek kissing me, it was nothing. He and I danced a few times at Ivy and Landon’s wedding…”

His eyes went wide.

Oh crap.

“You can’t tell anyone Ivy and Landon are married, Declan.”

“You know me better than that.”

“I thought I did, but now I’m not so sure.” She walked over to stand in front of him. “Declan, why are you leaving? I thought what we shared in Costa Rica meant as much to you as it did to me.”

She thought for a moment that she’d finally broken through the wall he’d rebuilt around himself, but then he shook his head.

“I’m sorry, Kendra,” he said softly. “It’s just better this way.”

She stifled a scream. Better? How could leaving her make anything better? She opened her mouth to ask him that very question, but then she remembered Ivy’s advice.

Tell him exactly how you feel and exactly what you want.

She ran her hand through her hair. “Declan, I don’t understand any of this, and if you really want to walk out on the DCO—and me—there isn’t much I can do to stop you, but I’m going to have my say before you go.”

“Kendra—”

“Dammit, Declan, I love you!” So much for taking the calm approach. “I’ve loved you since that morning I woke up on your chest in that cave. And I don’t want you to leave.”

She wasn’t sure what she expected him to say or do after a proclamation like that, but a reaction of some kind would have been nice. Instead, he just stood there, looking sad and forlorn. She steeled herself. Here it came, the part she’d feared, when he told her he didn’t feel the same.

“I’m sure you think you do, but it doesn’t matter,” he said quietly.

Kendra didn’t know which part of that sentence was more condescending—the part where he decided she only thought she loved him, or the part where he decided that laying her heart on the floor at his feet didn’t matter to him.