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She shook her head. She didn’t think so.
“But my heart is still healing. I want to be honest with you, Craig. I’m still getting over him and it will take me some time. So, I’ll understand if you’d rather blow this whole thing off. I know you didn’t want to ask me out. Forget I said anything.”
She slipped her feet in her heels under her desk and pushed out of her chair. She needed to get out of here. She grabbed her bag and walked in the door's direction. Craig halted her as he stepped in her way.
“I’m picking you up at seven on Friday. We’ll do something fun. Okay? We’ll take things slow. But I can’t let you walk out of this door without giving us a shot.”
Bree’s cheeks heated when Craig leaned in and gave her a soft kiss on her lips. She tilted her head to get better access and they bumped noses.
“Oomph, sorry,” she said.
Bree placed her fingers on her lips.
He smiled at her. “No worries. I’m sure sparks will fly on Friday.”
“Why didn’t you tell Emmy to hold the onion rings? Yer always stinkin’—”
“Shut your face, Dec. And while you’re at it, take a walk. Against the nearest tree,” Caitlin said.
She slammed the passenger door to their patrol car shut. Declan winced. He had to stop baiting Bree’s oldest sister. It wasn’t Cait’s fault Bree wanted nothing to do with him.
It had been almost a week since that night he showed up at her apartment. Bree still ignored him and had asked him for some space.
Cait shifted in her seat and buckled up. After rummaging around in the green takeaway bag with the yellow Lucky logo, she handed Declan his shot of cholesterol.
“Thanks.” He unfolded the foil and bit down into the warm bun. He closed his eyes and groaned at the rich taste. Ever since his cousin Emmy worked as a chef at his family’s pub The Lucky Irishman, Declan and his partner Caitlin detoured several times a week to grab some lunch from Lucky.
The grease of the juicy hamburger trickled down the corner of his mouth. Declan wiped it away with his thumb and licked it clean.
“Why can’t you eat a hamburger like a normal person?”
Declan laughed with his mouth full.
Caitlin’s sneer warped into a wide smile as she watched him make a fool out of himself by dropping some pickles from his mouth onto his lap. Luckily, they fell on his napkin. He took the pickles in between his thumb and index finger and slurped it into his mouth.
“I never understood what Bree saw in you.”
Cait joked, but it soured him right up. He wrapped his half-eaten burger back up in its foil. She placed a hand on his arm. “Sorry.”
“I’m sorry too for causing this whole situation. I know I’ve said I wanted to avoid all talk about Bree. But I need to know, since she doesn’t let me in anymore; how’s she holding up?”
Cait’s light blue eyes shifted from his to the windshield and back to him. “I… I’m not sure what to tell you, Dec.”
“You can answer my question.” Declan took a sip of coke from his white straw and eyed Cait as she bit her fingernail.
“Well… erm, yeah.”
“Ah, spit it out, Ryan.”
Caitlin rolled her eyes. He knew she hated it when he called her by her last name like everyone else at their precinct did. Perhaps because they grew up together, it seemed distant somehow.
“Okay,Mills.You asked for it. Bree is going out on a date with Craig.”
He sucked in a breath and waited for the sudden nausea to pass. His throat felt tight and his heart pounded against his chest.
“Craig? Who’s Craig?”
Caitlin shifted in her seat to grab her drink. She sure took her time answering as she slowly brought the straw to her lips. She reached the almost empty bottom of her drink, making slurping sounds that irritated the fuck out of him.
