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"Yeah."
"Well, I know you don't want to work at this bar."
Declan grimaced. Was it that obvious? "I appreciate the job."
"I know. But you don't want it anymore. That's fine." Aiden grinned. "I also know you don't want to go back to being a cop."
"Now, that's not true?—"
"And I know you like this girl enough that she's worth pursuing."
Declan braced his elbows on his knees and looked at his friend. "I don't want sex without connection with her. I want it all."
Aiden grinned, a big shit-eating grin. "That's fantastic. Hell, yeah!"
Declan shook his head. "It isn't. I'm not ready for more, and I don't know that I ever will be."
Aiden nodded. "I get it," he said. "But the good shit in life usually doesn't come when you're ready. It comes before, and then you get ready in a hurry or you miss it."
Declan ground his jaw. "It doesn't matter if I want it or not. She doesn't want a relationship." But hell. He'd been cranky as hell ever since he'd agreed to keep emotions out of it.
"Right," Aiden agreed. "And then she proposed to you, slept with you, and won your heart. You really think she doesn't care?"
Declan stood up, pacing restlessly, thinking about that question. "All she wants is to get out of town. She deserves more than to have me fall for her and try to keep her here." He understood what drove her. He knew she needed to leave.
"Oh for hell's sake, Declan, that's just a bunch of excuses. You're fucking terrified. I get it. But you're a cop, man. Cops learn how to keep going in the face of fear. You going to run and hide, or are you going to step up and stop hiding like you've been doing your whole fucking life?"
He looked over at Aiden. "My whole life?"
"Yeah. It's time for you to start living, and to stop trying to do what you think your dad might like, or your mom might not like. Or what Diana might have wanted. Go out and live, Declan. I see that spark that's flickering right now. Don't fucking put it out. Just don't." He stood up. "You lost your chance with Diana. Don't lose your second opportunity. You're lucky to get a chance for love twice." Then he walked out of the office and yanked the door shut behind him.
Declan stared after his friend for a long moment, the words rattling around in his mind. Love her? Love Piper?
He wasn't ready to love her. Or anyone. He just wasn't.
Maybe he needed to get out of their deal. Call it off. Get out before he couldn't. Get out before he fell in love with her and wrecked everything for both of them.
End it?
Fuck. That didn't feel good.
He didn't want to end it.
Which meant that he needed to.
Now.
His phone dinged, and he pulled it out. A text from Piper.
He stared at it for a long moment, then opened it.
I'm at dinner with a potential client, and the bride's mom is being super hostile about Clark. Any chance you can swing by and charm her?
He closed his fist around his phone.
He needed to text her that he was out.
That was the only option.
