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“Probably because I was the first man, besides her father, to actually admire her determination and grit,” he answered. “When she told me that no man deserved the love of a woman, I agreed. Instead of trying to put her in her place or defend men everywhere, I validated her opinion with the truth.”
That had me opening my eyes, looking over at him as he sat on the toilet. “And you really believe that? That a man doesn’t deserve a woman’s love?”
“I do,” he answered honestly. “We’re flawed creatures, and if we’re lucky, we’ll find a woman that’s willing to put in the effort to fix us. However, she’ll be fighting that fight for the rest of her life because we’re stupid at the heart of it all. So, yeah, I agree with her.”
“So, what’s the payoff for all that hard work?”
“Our utter love and devotion,” he answered.
“Kasen Sartori is right,” I said. “It doesn’t sound like a fair trade off.”
“It’s not,” he replied seriously.
Getting off the depressing subject, I asked, “So, what’s the plan when the police come asking questions about Cooper Donaldson?”
“We’re still sticking to the story that we concocted earlier. However, we’re adding that we got into a fight when we got home, so that will account for why neither of us could be reached.”
My brows furrowed a bit. “How does that explain that we couldn’t be reached?”
Declan’s blue eyes sparkled as he said, “After we fought, we ignored our phones to make up, and we were making up all damn day and night.”
“I don’t have any missed calls,” I informed him.
“Neither do I,” he replied. “Which tells me that they’re making sure to have all their ducks in a row before they question us. In fact, I suspect that we’ll be the last ones that they question, so that they can try to catch us in a lie.”
“And are we going to talk to them, or do we have lawyers?” I asked.
“We’re going to talk to them until we feel like we need our lawyers,” he answered.
I leaned my head back against the porcelain, then closed my eyes again. “I’m not marrying you, Declan.”
“Oh, but you are, lass,” he countered.
“I don’t think so.”
“Keavy, this isn’t up for debate,” he said. “As soon as this shit dies down with Donaldson, we’re getting married.”
“I’m not marrying a man that I barely know.”
“I’m afraid that you are, baby.”
Deciding to save this argument for another time, I said, “I’m going after Klive Simpson.”
Declan was quiet long enough that it made me open my eyes to look over at him again. His blue gaze was glittering with a look that always seemed to be reserved for me only, but there was no denying that it looked good on him. Anyone from the outside looking in would think that Declan O’Brien was the easygoing sort, but he wasn’t. Honestly, if you were in a room with him and Noah, you’d almost believe that Noah was the head of the O’Brien organization with the way that they played off each other. However, it was in these rare moments-when Declan’s eyes were flaring the way that they were-that you saw why Declan was the one in charge. Declan O’Brien’s cunningness snuck up on you, and the worst thing that a person could do was underestimate his ‘easy’ intentions.
“That’s not how this works, baby,” he said softly, and the low timber in his voice had me more concerned than when his accent came out in anger.
“That’s not how what works?”
“Keavy, there isn’t anything that I don’t know about you now,” he said, making me sit up straighter in the tub. “That’s how I found the cabin.”
“And, exactly, how did you find out so much about me?”
His chin went up a little. “I owe the Sartoris for everything that I know about you.”
I could feel my eyes widen at that. The fact that Declan would seek out the Sartoris for a favor seemed unfathomable to me. I couldn’t imagine how unsettling it must be to know that you owed your enemy, and knowing that Declan had crossed that line to find me had me feeling like I’d been wrong about everything since the moment that I met Declan O’Brien.
Pushing that newfound information to the back of my mind, I asked, “So, what all do you know?”
