“The bar has been slow enough for me to take a couple of days off a week,” I remind him. “I can be lazy.” Kind of. “Why aren’t you working tonight?”
“Broken sewer line,” he says with a cringe. “Happens in buildings more than a hundred years old.”
“Yuck.” I shudder and glance to the empty room on my right. It’s between the library and music room. I’d open it up with wide windows and make it a sunroom, and spend every morning with my coffee in there.
And my imagination chooses now to wake up. Great.
Once in the kitchen, Declan says, “What would you like for dinner?”
“A big burger and Tavern Tots from Highland Tavern.” I sit in a stool and brace my chin in my hand on the island.
“I don’t know where that is.”
“It’s in Denver. I’ve been craving it like crazy.” I shrug. “Really good burger joint.”
“Huh, well, I can go grab burgers here, but it’s going to take time to get your Highland Tavern, and I’m hungry now.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere, and I don’t want you to go anywhere. Let’s just order pizza.”
He nods and circles the island, then just hugs me. “Sure you’re okay?”
“Yeah, I’m just thinking about the houses we saw today. I think I’ll pass on all three.”
“We’ll find you something.”
I nod and smile, tired of moping, and being a Debbie-downer. I do my best to shake off my mood and playfully grab Declan’s ass.
“I’m hungry too. Are you gonna feed me, or what?”
“I’ll feed you,” he says after kissing my chin. He pulls his phone out and dials the pizza place we both like, places our order, and reaches out for my hand. “Let’s eat and lounge upstairs. We can watch Netflix and be lazy.”
“Perfect. I’m gonna take my pants off.”
“That is an excellent plan,” he says with a laugh. The main stairway in this house is grand and dramatic. I’d refinish the banister and hang a more modern chandelier over the landing.
There are four empty bedrooms upstairs, and I’d love to knock down a couple of walls, make the spaces bigger.
Stop it! This is not my house!
I have to stop renovating Declan’s house in my head. I don’t live here, and I probably never will.
Declan’s right; I’ll find my place.
The pizza arrives faster than we expected, so he fetches it while I shimmy out of my jeans and climb in bed, under the covers and everything. I grab his pillow and bury my face in it, breathing him in.
I fucking love the way he smells.
“Okay, despite my better judgment, I had them add mushrooms because I know you like them,” Declan announces as he returns to the room. He stops on a dime, in the middle of the space, holding a big box of pizza, sodas and a bag of bread and just stares at me.
“What?”
“I—” He takes a deep breath and shakes his head, then walks the rest of the way to me. “You’re just beautiful. Sometimes you take my breath away.”
I blink at him, completely thrown. Declan is a mellow man, but he’s also an artist, and with his artist's heart comes a romantic side. He has a sweet habit of knocking me back a step with it because I never know when it’s going to show up.
“Thank you.”
***
“The show comes on in fifteen,” Adam announces and changes the channel on the big TV in the back of the bar to the Travel Channel.
“I can’t believe they were here only a month ago, and it’s already going to air.” The Odyssey isn’t packed this evening, and that’s okay with me. It’s a Monday, after all, and deep into autumn. I’m nervous about the show, how I’ll look, how the bar will look. Having a huge crowd here would only make it worse.
I grin down the bar at Declan. Of course he came to watch it with me. He calms me. I’ve never told him that, but I’m pretty sure he knows.
He checks an incoming text on his phone and frowns, replies, and lays the phone face-down on the bar. I cock a brow when he looks at me, but he shakes his head, as if it’s no big deal.