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“Come on, Elf. My legs are twice as long and I can do this all day with no effort, while you’re breathing awfully hard.”
“Only because the hideous smell of your aftershave is turning my stomach and I’m trying not to breathe through my nose.”
They went full circle before Declan finally stopped and put his hand out against her forehead, much like Nick used to do to her when they were kids. She glared at him all the while his green eyes twinkled like he was having the best time.
“First of all, I smell amazing and you know it. Second of all, are you aware you inadvertently called yourself a mouth breather?”
Holly grabbed his arm with a high-pitched huff of frustration and pushed it off her forehead. “I’ll buy you a new flipping phone, but you’d better spring for the extra tough case because if you break it again when I take you down, it’s on you, not me.”
Holly unlocked her door, ignoring the snakes and Declan, who followed her inside. She set her purse behind the counter and pulled out her checkbook. “You said a thousand?”
Declan shook his head. “I was kidding. Justin at Ubreak gave me a new screen for three hundred and it’s already fixed.”
Holly filled in the amount and signed it, ripping it out of the book with a rffft. She held it out to him, waving the check up and down. “My goal wasn’t to damage your personal property, so this makes us even on the phone.”
Declan seemed to hesitate and Holly huffed. “What’s the issue? I pay for your cracked screen, and we’re square. We can go back to being mortal enemies hellbent on destroying each other.”
“Destroying each other seems a little extreme,” he replied.
“Not after you just took ten years off my life with those snakes. It was crafty, but I’m going to have to do some recon in order to tip the scales.”
Declan took the check slowly, folding it in half and then slipping it into his jeans pocket. “I’ll be watching my back, then.”
“You better keep track of all sides because you never know which way I’m going to spring at you.” Holly dropped her checkbook back into her purse with a grin. “Oh, and Declan?”
“What?”
Holly pressed the button on her stereo and turned up the volume on “Here Comes Santa Claus.” “Have an awesome day.”
Declan’s eyes narrowed, but she could have sworn he was fighting a smile before he started to come around the back of the counter. Holly jumped into his path. “Hey now! No one but employees behind this line.”
Suddenly, he lifted her off her feet and set her on the counter, turning the volume down to a hum without looking away from her face. “If that music goes above twenty today, I’ll be back with my toolbox and this thing will end up in pieces.”
Holly stuck her chin out. “I’ve told you once and I’ll tell you again. You dismantle my stereo, and it will come back bigger, stronger, and with subs. You think my music is bad now? I’ll make the walls shake so hard, you’ll imagine—” Holly’s mouth snapped closed as she realized where that sentence was heading and who with. After the other night with Declan on top of her, and hard, and that kissable mouth…
Kissable?
Was it hot in the shop, or was it him leaning in, a gleam in his green eyes she didn’t like at all.
“What was that, Elf? I’ll imagine…what?”
His face was inches from hers, which meant his lips hovered within kissing distance, and her traitorous body swayed towards him, her eyes glued on that lush mouth. Declan’s beard looked soft, strokable, and her hand came up as if she actually meant to run her fingers through the dark strands.
Holly’s heart hammered in her chest, words failing her. She searched his face, holding his gaze, and for a second she could have sworn she saw hunger in those mossy depths. A hunger for her or simply for sex, but she squeezed her legs together as a drum of desire throbbed to life between her thighs.
No. No no no no, I do not want Declan Gallagher in any way, shape, or form.
Holly put her hands on his shoulders and pushed him back far enough for her to jump down from the counter, but that had their bodies pressed flush against each other.
“Nothing. I lost my train of thought.”
Declan took a strand of her hair and rolled it around his finger, giving it a gentle tug. “If you ever get it back, you know where to find me.”
“I have so many questions,” a teasing voice called from the front door, breaking Declan’s spell. Holly turned around to find Erica in the entryway, watching them curiously with dark brown eyes, one ample hip cocked to the side. “Also, did you know there’s a whole mess of snakes on the stoop?”
Declan leaned over her back and whispered against the shell of her ear, “See you later, Elf.”
It took her a moment to find her voice and just as he hit the door, she called out, “You better take those snakes with you!”
