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“Sounds good. Looking forward to seeing you both.”
Declan gave his mom a hug and his dad a friendly back slap before walking out, taking the left out of the store. It was nine-forty-five, so he knew the front door of Holly’s shop would be locked. He knocked gently on the door pane, listening for her footsteps as she approached.
When it opened, Holly leaned against it, her gaze traveling over him playfully. “Hmmm, I like a man with soft hands.”
“As opposed to someone who pounds on the wood with meat paws?”
Holly laughed, waving him inside and closing the door behind him. “Sometimes a pounder can be fun.”
“I’m trying not to hear that,” Erica called from across the shop.
“Put your earmuffs on then, ’cause I’m about to kiss my man,” Holly said, throwing herself against him. “What did your dad say?”
“Wait, where’s my kiss?”
She stretched as far as she could, and he leaned down, just out of reach until she grabbed the hairs of his chin and gave them a sharp tug.
“Hey, gentle.”
“I will be when you give me what I want.”
“So demanding,” he murmured, giving her what she was asking for in the form of a long, slow kiss. “How’s that?”
“Pretty good. B minus.”
Declan swatted her butt. “Your brother’s right. You can be a brat.”
“You’re about to earn yourself a one-way ticket to spare bedroom city,” she said, lips twitching as she stepped away.
“Kicking me out already?”
“Not if you tell me what happened with your dad before I have to open the door and let people in.”
He leaned against the opposite wall, folding his arms over his chest. “I told him I didn’t want to run the store, and he let me know he was selling it.”
“Did you ask him about the gallery?” Declan shook his head and Holly sighed. “Why not?”
“’Cause I don’t want to go back to suits and ties and schmoozing. I’ll figure out a way to get my art out there, but I’m going to spend the next year getting Gallagher’s Handy Works off the ground—”
“I don’t know about that name, babe.”
Declan’s chest squeezed at the pet name. “It’s a work in progress. Like me. A lot of what I thought about my family and what I wanted for my life turned out to be wrong, and I want to take some time to figure out what my life is going to look like. And with my parents selling their house too, I was wondering how you’d feel about me renting from you indefinitely.”
“Of course I want you. And Leo.”
Declan frowned. “Sometimes I think you’re using me for my damn cat.”
“No, I want you both, but you do not have to pay—”
“Oh, I’m paying,” Declan said, pushing off the wall. “You bought your house with your success, and I am so proud of you, but it is yours. Even if I convince you to spend the rest of your life with me in the future, that will stay yours. I never want anyone thinking I love you for anything other than who you are. My beautiful, kind, funny, adventurous, culinarily challenged Elf.”
Holly took a step closer to him, her eyes shimmering. “Did you just tell me you love me?”
“I did.”
“He also said you can’t cook,” Erica chimed in.
“Can I fire her?” Declan asked.
