Chapter 13

Declan stretched out on his bed and opened the reading app on his phone. Ebooks were the best invention. Maybe not ever—there was beer and porn. But it was pretty damn cool. If Tyler ever knew what he was reading, he'd never hear the end of it. This way, he could read and let his friends think he was watching porn on his phone.

He settled against the pillows and returned to the book he'd started after Renee's book club meeting. He'd discovered the author not only had a shit ton more books, but she'd written a series. The duke he'd read about with Renee had a younger brother. Declan didn't understand all of the lingo. Nick, the duke's brother, kept calling himself the spare. Declan assumed it was like being the red-headed step-child.

He was also a fuckboy.

Declan could get behind that. Nick had just met the chick he was gonna fall for. Not that Nick was aware. They sniped at each other every time they were in the same room. She was all prim and proper and he kept making fun of her.

But deep down, he admired her because she was smart and didn't put up with anyone's bullshit.

Declan knew a few women like that. He was caught up in the banter the characters used to hide how horny they were for each other. He was so focused on his phone, he didn't notice Renee standing in the doorway until she knocked on the open door.

"Hey," she said, glancing at the black TV screen.

"What's up?" he asked, dropping his phone on his bare chest.

She blinked a couple of times and then huffed out a breath. "I don't want this to sound rude, but I can't figure out a different way to ask."

"What? You wanna know how I fend off all the women who are after this awesome physique?"

Her cheeks flushed and she shook her head. "Do you have a suit to wear to the wedding?"

He smiled. "I'm getting one."

"Let me know what it costs. You shouldn't be on the hook for a suit you don't need."

He chuckled. "You can save your pennies. I'm borrowing a suit from Gavin."

She tried to hide the relief on her face, but asked, "You sure?"

"Yep."

"Okay. Thanks." She turned away and paused again. "The TV does work. You don't need to stare at a blank screen."

"I'm reading." He held up his phone. "No TV needed. Did you know the author from book club has a whole series?"

"Uh, yeah. How do you know that?"

He waved the phone at her. "What do you think I'm reading?"

"Oh! Is it good?"

"So good. Have a seat." He patted the mattress beside him. "I'll catch you up."

She eyed the bed.

He swung his arm around. "It's not like there's other furniture. I promise I won't bite."

When she still hesitated, he added, "It's about the younger brother."

"Nick?"

Declan nodded and patted the mattress again.

The lure of the book was too much. Renee crossed the room and sat on the bed. Declan tugged at her to get her to lay back. When she was settled—albeit stiffly—he asked, "You wanna read?"

She shook her head. "No, you go ahead."

"Okay." He kind of wanted her to read. He liked the sound of her voice when she fell into a story. He gave her a quick rundown of what he'd read, knowing his summary was nowhere near as good as the one she'd given him when he'd asked about the first book.

Before he picked up the phone again, he asked, "What's the deal with Nick calling himself the spare?"

"Oh, uh. The first-born son of a family is the heir. He'll inherit all of the land and responsibilities for the family. The second son is the spare—you know, in case something happens to the real heir."

Declan let that sit for a minute. He wondered if Ronan had felt like the spare. Of course, Brendan wasn't in charge of the whole family, even though he liked to think so.

"Spares are fun because they're usually the rakes. No one takes them seriously because they don't ever want the responsibility that their big brother has."

Declan felt that. Not being taken seriously was tough. Sure, he'd set himself up for it, but...

"And then things change. Usually because of a woman. He falls hard and has to prove that he's a different man. That she can trust him and rely on him." She laughed. "I love watching them fall." As she spoke, she turned so she was on her side, one hand tucked under her cheek.

"I think you're getting a little too much pleasure out of it."

She poked his arm. "Just read."

He read the story, enjoying the characters. It was the first time he could remember reading something that didn't have a huge action plot to keep him interested. This was all about the people. He read for almost an hour and things were heated between Nick and Sophia. Nick had already decided he wanted to have her, but she was still fighting everything. They'd had two near kisses which was frustrating for everyone, even Declan.

He looked down and Renee's eyes were closed. A wavy lock of her reddish hair lay across her cheek. He turned to his side and studied her face. She was relaxed and peaceful in a way he didn't get to see her during the day. She was always worried about something. He reached out and swept the hair back from her cheek, rubbing the silky strands between his fingers.

Fuck, now he was starting to sound like the characters from the book. This wasn't how he approached women. Her eyes opened.

"Why'd you stop?"

"You fell asleep."

"No, I didn't. I was listening. It was like watching a movie."

"Sure it was. And the screen was the back of your eyelids."

"Of course," she said with a smile. "But I was listening. Nick's hand brushed Sophia's and they both got that shock of awareness, and then she rushed off. He followed and had her cornered, thinking about how much he wanted to taste her."

Her voice was low, just above a whisper. They were in their own little cocoon. And when she looked at him, all soft and sleepy, but spoke about being tasted, Declan lost his mind. He leaned forward and brushed his lips against hers.

When she didn't recoil in abject disgust, he held her hip with one hand and kissed her like Nick wanted to kiss Sophia. He tasted Renee and enjoyed every second.

Her fingers stroked his pecs and he rolled closer, his dick getting hard. She moaned a little and then froze.

Her eyes popped open and she gave his chest a little shove as she pulled away. She was at the edge of the bed and the movement caused her to lose her balance. She practically rolled off the mattress.

His grip on her hip was the only thing anchoring her, and she jolted back but then sat up. With her fingers on her lips, she asked, "What was that?"

"Sweetheart, if you can't recognize a hot-as-fuck kiss, someone's been doing you wrong."

"This isn't funny. We can't do this."

He sighed and sat up. Loose, relaxed Renee was gone, and the practical version was back. "Sorry. I didn't mean to take advantage of you or do something you weren't into."

Her eyes widened. "It's not that. Obviously, you weren't alone in the kiss. I mean, we... can't."

"If you're into it as much as I am, why not?"

"Because you're Declan."

He was sure his look showed his confusion.

"You live here. And you're my brother's friend. It's..."

"Still hot."

She smiled and gave his shoulder a nudge. "We're friends. Doing anything else is asking for trouble."

"A little trouble can be fun."

"As a parent, I need to avoid trouble. Sadie comes first and I don't want her to get hurt."

"I would never do anything to hurt Sadie."

Renee sighed and got off the bed. "I know you wouldn't intentionally. But she's young. She doesn't understand complicated relationships. I don't want her to get confused."

The conversation they'd had when Sadie told them to date reverberated in his head. He was a complication she didn't think was worth putting up with. She didn't trust him to not fuck up her life.

Maybe he and Nick had more in common than he'd thought.

"I get it. I'm not relationship material, and that's what you want. I'm not looking to be her father."

"It's not that. I don't want to screw up our friendship." She looked at him for a minute, and he was pretty sure she wanted to crawl back into bed with him, but she wouldn't let herself. "Good night. Thanks for the story."

"Anytime." And he meant it. Renee might not think he was good enough for a relationship, but he'd take what he could get because he felt good when she was around.

When she left the room, she closed the door behind her, and he closed his fist around his dick, seeking release while he thought of her soft curves and deep moans.

Renee spent the next few nights sleeping restlessly. She and Declan had continued reading together at night, but in the safety of the living room. It was wonderful and awful all at once. They laughed and joked and discussed the characters and plot like she would with any friend, but now there was an undercurrent of tension, much like she enjoyed reading about between characters. When she was living it, though, not so much fun.

The wedding was looming and she couldn't stop thinking about kissing Declan. While she never would've made the first move, the fact that he had made her head spin. She thought the attraction she felt was one-sided, a manifestation of her own fantasies because her love life was sad.

But that kiss was anything but pitiful. And now she was supposed to spend a whole weekend with him. Away from home. Away from all the responsibilities and stress. And he was supposed to be her date.

They would be expected to dance together and she didn't know how she could be in his arms without letting another kiss happen.

So what if it did?

The thought came so quickly, that she blushed. It would be bad. Like bad, bad. It couldn't end well. She would lose a friend, as would Sadie. It might cause problems between Declan and Tyler. And she'd be back to square one with trying to get things done on her house.

For the last two days, Declan had shown no signs of the kiss they shared having an effect on him. Maybe it was as one-sided as she'd thought. But every now and then, while he was scraping the wallpaper from the dining room wall, she'd catch him looking at her. But she couldn't quite decipher what the look meant.

Late Friday morning, her mom arrived to spend the weekend with Sadie. When she walked in, Sadie ran to her for a hug.

"Grandma! We're gonna have so much fun while Mom's gone. We're gonna have a spa day!"

"I can't wait," she said as Sadie pulled her through the house. She stopped in the dining room. "What's going on here?"

"Hey, Geri," Declan called from on top of the step stool he was on trying to remove the last few stubborn strips of wallpaper. He climbed down and gave her a huge hug. "It's been a while."

"Too long. You should come around more often. What are you doing here?"

"Mom, I told you Declan is helping me get some stuff done on the house." Renee double-checked her purse to make sure she'd packed her phone charger and the makeup she'd need for the wedding. Then she glanced at Declan. "Are you packed?"

"Yep."

"You two should head out now. Go have a nice lunch at one of those cute little restaurants and check into your room. Then you can rest up before facing?—"

"Okay," Renee blurted. Her mom was not great at censoring what she said about Graham, and Sadie didn't need to hear people talking shit about her dad. Even if it was warranted. "You sure you can get Sadie to school on time?"

"Yes. And I'll even remember to pick her up. Go. Have fun." She leaned closer to Declan and added with a wink, "But not too much."

Renee followed Declan toward his room. "Are you sure you don't want me to see if someone can bring you tomorrow?"

"Yes, Renee. I'm fine with coming with you now. Are you trying to get rid of me?"

"No. But this evening, I have the rehearsal for the wedding and I don't know how long it'll take, so you'll be on your own."

"No big deal. I have Nick and Sophia to keep me company."

"You're going to read without me?"

"Think of it as an incentive to hurry back." He grabbed a duffel bag and a garment bag. "Just kidding. I wouldn't read without you. They're about to fuck and I absolutely want you to be there when it happens."

His voice was low and husky. She swallowed hard. There was more of that tension she'd been trapped in. It was gonna be a long weekend.

"Come on. Geri says I get to have lunch with you all alone. No chicken nuggets today."

After a round of goodbyes, they were settled in her car and heading to the highway.

Renee drove in silence all the way to the highway. It was about a two-and-a-half-hour drive to Galena. That gave her plenty of time to stress and freak out. This was such a bad idea. After that kiss, how was she going to spend the weekend with him?

What if it happened again?

Did she want it to?

Hell, yes, she did. But she'd learned a long time ago that just because she wanted something didn't mean she should get it. She had a lot more to consider now—all the reasons she listed for Declan. Plus the ones she didn't.

Like how would Ty react to her dating his best friend?

Declan had said nothing about dating. It was a kiss. One that promised more, but still just a kiss.

And there was the fact that she was older than him. People would look at them funny. Her damn book club friends called him a cabana boy. As if she was a cougar. She winced at the thought.

"Everything okay?"

Declan's question pulled her from her overwhelming thoughts. "Yeah. Just a lot going on in my head right now."

"Anything I can help with?"

She swallowed, thinking again of how good that kiss was. "No. I'm stressed about the wedding."

"Because of Graham?"

"A little. We've managed to remain civil when we see each other, but we only see each other when we're dropping off or picking up Sadie. We're not assholes in front of her."

"I've never seen you be an asshole."

"I get plenty bitchy towards him. I can't help it. He pushes my every last button." She released a pent-up breath. "I think this is the first time I've seen him outside of Sadie time."

"Are you saying you won't be able to control the bitch?"

She shrugged. "Depends on whether he goes out of his way to annoy me. And that's not fair to Mariah. It's her day. The last thing she needs is two divorced people airing their shit for public consumption."

"Then maybe he should've thought of that before deciding to go to your friend's wedding."

She shook her head. "That's just it. He doesn't think about those things. He does what he wants." He always had.

"Well, I can be your buffer for the weekend. Whenever he's around, I'll pull you away. I'm a great distraction."

She couldn't help but smile. "Thanks again for doing this."

"It's not like it's a hardship to be with you. Come on." He tapped her thigh. "We're gonna have a good weekend."

He turned on the radio and began to sing along in an obnoxious voice. For most of the rest of the drive, Declan's lightheartedness eased the tension she'd been carrying and they did have fun. As they neared the bed and breakfast, she had another awful thought. Graham and his date were probably staying at the same place.

"How about lunch before we check in?"

"Sounds good. I'm starved."

"You should've said something. We could've stopped earlier."

"It's fine."

"What do you think you want?"

"I've never been to Galena."

"Neither have I." She pulled over on a side street and picked up her phone. She Googled restaurants. "There's a Cajun bar and grill, Mexican, Italian?—"

"We live in Chicago and can get Mexican and Italian all the time."

"How about a Brewpub? They do tastings and tours and they have food. Might be fun."

"If you're good with that, sure."

She hit the directions to get them to the brewery. When they got there, they discovered they had plenty of time before the tour, so they decided to eat first.

Once they placed their order, Renee said, "Thank you again for doing this. Just having you here is making everything seem a lot better."

"No problem. You're plying me with alcohol now, there's probably an open bar tomorrow. Plus music, so I can convince you to dance with me. What's not to love?"

"It's still a wedding with no one you know."

"Sometimes that's the best kind of party."

The server delivered their beers. "So how are things with your family?"

"What do you mean?"

"You haven't mentioned anything about them, even though you were working with your brother earlier this week."

"Ronan is fine. He's getting really serious with Chloe. Nessa's been laying low for a while, so she might be hiding some new guy. You saw Gavin when he painted the mural." He shrugged.

"How are they all taking the news about your dad?" As soon as the words slipped out, she clamped her jaw shut. "If you don't want to talk about it, that's okay. It's just that you listen to me talk all the time and you never say anything about your life or family."