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Declan rotated her way, his gaze shifting briefly over her shoulder before returning to meet hers. “Aren’t you two dating?”
Holly smothered a laugh. “No, we’re just friends. Although I don’t know how I feel about you kissing me when you thought I was dating Sam. Oh God!” Holly covered her mouth. “Did you think I was with Sam when I suggested we work stuff out of our system?”
“Yeah, I did,” he said, sheepishly.
“Wow, you thought I was a cheating hussy and you still kissed me.” She tsked. “What does that say about Declan Gallagher?”
“It was just a small peck. Barely worth mentioning.”
That stung. “Every kiss means something. It doesn’t have to be anything more than “Hey, your lips are pretty” or “I want to taste your lip gloss,” but you make a conscious decision to kiss someone. It’s not like in the movies where suddenly you’re kissing out of the blue. Thoughts and feelings led up to it and if you were just going to sweep it under the rug and forget it ever happened, why did you do it?”
He hesitated for a second before his hand came up, brushing along her cheek. “You’re right. It wasn’t random. I wanted to kiss you because I heard you defending me to Mr. James, even when I’ve been an asshole to you more times than I can count. I didn’t have any coffee or chocolates, and I guess I could have just given you a hug, but—” Declan cleared his throat, his gaze shifting away from hers. “I wanted to do more. We were having fun and then you took up for me, even though you don’t know the whole story.”
“What do you mean? With Theodore James?”
“Yeah, the guy hates my guts for something I did in high school.”
“What did you do?”
“He used to give me a hard time. Even tried suspending me for calling him a dick when I got sick of him riding me, but my mom came in and talked to the principal, and they transferred me to a different teacher, excusing me from PE.” Declan smiled sheepishly, motioning for them to sit and Holly dropped next to him on the roof, hanging on his every word as he continued, “The seniors on the football team wanted to pull off an epic end of the year prank and I suggested we find a wrecked version of Mr. James’s car and set it up in the front of the school as if it ran into the wall.”
“Oh my God, I remember that! Everyone thought it was real until they got close and realized it was a fake hole.”
“We got the idea from a news article we’d seen about a senior prank in Wisconsin and it took us over a month to plan. We had keys made to his car and took it in the middle of the night before the last day of school, parking it in the auto shop bay. He had to get a ride to school, and he thought we’d really driven his car into the side of the school building. No one ‘fessed up, but he came right out and said he knew I’d been a part of it. We cleaned everything up that night, so no one else was upset about it, they were actually impressed. But he’s never been a fan of mine.”
Holly shook her head. “That’s crazy, but honestly, I think he’s like that with anyone who doesn’t agree with his way of doing things. He’s the head of our homeowners association and a few years ago some of our neighborhood cats went missing. Turned out he was baiting and trapping them just to dump them in the woods. When the neighbors called him out on it, he told them it was in the by-laws that animals need to remain on your property or they could be deemed a nuisance and trapped. Several of the cat owners called the sheriff’s department and the trap went away, but he gives them a really hard time.”
“He’s an asshole. If he trapped my cat, I’d do more than call the cops.”
Holly hesitated, unsure if telling Declan of her suspicion, especially when he already disliked Theodore, would be a good idea. “I think he’s messing with me.”
“How do you mean?”
“I was going to tell you last night before you interrupted me with that kiss, but the way he keeps popping up and some of the things he’s said to me got me thinking. He wasn’t happy that I won the best display last year, something he’s been first at for years. Then the week the display is supposed to go up, everyone else’s houses are done but mine and the crew gets sick. Followed by every other crew being too busy and then him showing up last night to tell me I shouldn’t use you? He’s way too up in my business for my liking.”
“It seems like a lot of trouble over a contest.”
“You suggested someone must have got into my shed,” she pointed out. “And he freaked when I told him I’d had cameras installed. I’m telling you, I’m like Velma. I sense a villain.”
Declan took a lock of her hair, sliding it between his fingers. “Funny, I pictured you as more of a Daphne.”
“I’m no one’s victim.”
“Fair enough. I’ll keep my eye out if Mr. J comes around.”
“Thank you.”
“Just so we’re clear—” Declan leaned over and whispered, “I’m glad you aren’t dating Sam.”
“Why?”
“Because at least I didn’t sneak attack kiss a woman with a boyfriend.”
Holly shared his smile. “Sneak attack kiss is a new one for me.”
“You know what I mean. I didn’t exactly give you time to say no.”
“Or give me a chance to say yes before you were running out the door.”
