the beautiful woman riding him now with such abandon? Impossible.
Chapter Eighteen
“Alright, where did you go?”
Ella knew she must be giving Beth a blank look but she had no idea what she was talking about. Beth rolled her eyes, “That’s about the third time you’ve zoned out on me. I even told you my vagina was on fire and you didn’t even blink.”
Ella felt herself blush. She was supposed to be helping Beth with her wedding plans, but instead she was obsessing over Declan. “Do you think it’s weird that Declan didn’t invite me to meet his family today? Evan was spending the day with him at his place and Brant and Ava were coming over to meet him.”
Beth dropped the bridal magazine she had been holding in her lap. “Oh honey, I don’t think so. You know how weird men are.”
“You met Nick’s parents really early on didn’t you?”
“Well sure, but they are also Gray’s parents so it was kind of hard not to and, heck, those two are more like buddies than parents.”
“I know it’s silly,” Ella signed, “but he acted almost guilty about it, like he was intentionally keeping me away. We went to dinner and a movie last night. We went back to my place, which usually leads to . . . well, you know. Instead, I got a kiss, just one, and then he focused on some point past my shoulder and told me he had to get going because he had an early morning since Evan was coming over for the day. We had been talking about taking him to the zoo. When I mentioned that, he got all shifty, and mumbled something about his family coming by to meet Evan instead. Then he actually said, ‘See ya, babe.’”
Nick must have caught the last line as he came into the room, because he quickly started to back out. “Whoa, where are you going?” Beth asked.
“Anywhere but here. This sounds like a conversation I could lose my guy card over.”
Beth rolled her eyes and waved him back in the room. “Just answer a question and we’ll let you off the hook. When do men usually introduce the woman they are dating to their family?”
“Like never,” Nick deadpanned, “Unless they are thinking long-term. I mean really long-term here. In dating, your family is the Holy Grail and you don’t let anyone make that trip until they are worth it.”
Ella felt her bottom lip tremble. “So, I’m not good enough for the Holy Grail? I’m not a long-termer.”
Beth shot Nick a dirty look. “Oh, shit,” he moaned. “I knew I shouldn’t have stayed in the room. Why couldn’t you just let me leave?” To Ella he said, “I didn’t mean you. I was a bastard when I was single, so you can’t go by anything I say. I’m sure Declan doesn’t think you’re a short termer. You probably have weeks or even months left together.”
“Oh my God,” Beth groaned. “Please just stop and go away.” Nick took off at a fast clip, obviously relieved to be dismissed before things got worse. “Ella, honey, he doesn’t know what he’s talking about. That was just his off-base opinion. I’ve seen the way Declan is with you and he isn’t just sleeping with you. He cares about you a lot. He probably thought that it would be uncomfortable for you to meet his family. He doesn’t know how they’re going to react to meeting Evan.”
She gave Beth a weak smile of reassurance. “That’s probably it. I’m sure I’m just making too much out of it.” She didn’t believe what she was saying any more than Beth was probably buying it, but at this point she knew that her friend had enough on her mind without worrying about her love life. If Declan didn’t want her to meet his family, she couldn’t exactly blame him. Look at how well both meetings with her family had gone. She should just count herself lucky. If another person besides her mother called them fornicators, she wasn’t sure she could take it.
“Where’s your girl?” Mac asked.
Declan knew it was useless to play dumb with one of his oldest friends. Mac could read him like a book. He had arrived ahead of the others and they were sitting on the deck outside, while Evan played with his toys in the doorway. “I thought I would spare her from this painful family hour today.”
Mac tapped his thumb against his thigh, looking off into the distance. “I see. I was surprised to hear you had gotten involved with someone. It isn’t your usual MO.”
“No, it’s not,” he admitted. “It just happened before I realized it.”
“So where do you think it’s headed?”
Declan shot him a look of surprise. “Nowhere, you know that. Just because we’ve been together more than one night doesn’t mean I’m picking out china patterns. I’m not settling down, and Ella damn well deserves better than some fucked-up mess like me.”
“Don’t you think that’s her call?”
“What about you?” Declan snapped, “I don’t see you making any life-changing decisions. How many years are you going to waste, hung up on my sister?” Declan sat back and waited for Mac to explode. Usually anything to do with Ava was a sure trigger with him.
Instead, Mac settled back in his chair and took a moment before replying. “Yeah, you’re right. I’m not exactly a great example, but at least it’s not from lack of trying. I’ve loved Ava since we were kids and I know she loves me in her own way. Sometimes it’s just not enough. I’ve . . . been thinking of moving on with my life. I’m not getting any younger.” Pointing to Evan, he added, “and I wouldn’t mind having one of those at some point.”
Surprised, Declan said, “That was about the last thing I expected to hear from you. I never thought you’d throw in the towel there. Maybe you should talk to her before you do that.”
Giving him a sad smile, Mac said, “Why? For years she’s kept me—and every other man—at arm’s length. She’s . . . well, she’s like you, Dec. She has sex with a guy, and then moves on. She doesn’t do it near as often as you, but it never happens more than once.”
“You can’t know that for sure.”
Smirking, Mac said, “Come on, I run a security company. You should know I’ve kept a tail on her for years. I hate like hell to read those reports sometimes, but I won’t let anyone else hurt her, man, I can’t. Even if I hadn’t promised your grandfather to watch over her, I would have anyway. She’ll always be mine, even when I move on.”
Declan tipped his beer back before replying. “Is there anyone normal among us? I guess Brant is about it, even though he’s as strange as they come.”
Mac grimaced. “Boy, that’s just sad isn’t it? So what about you? When will you finally move on?”
“I don’t have anything to move on from. No long lost loves or anything.”
“Dec, give me some credit for knowing more about you than the average person you bullshit. You may not have an Ava in your past, but you damn sure have a Craig, which is probably worse. When are you going to deal with all that baggage and move forward? You know he wouldn’t want this for you.”
“I’m fine. I was the way I am years before Craig came along.”
“You might have had some of the usual issues, but Craig changed you. We were all there, Dec, and everyone hated it like hell. You just took everyone’s guilt though and carried it. Nothing you could have done would have saved him. If it hadn’t been that day, then it would have been another one.”
Declan jumped to his feet which made Evan give him an uneasy look. He gave him a reassuring smile before lowering his voice. “Craig had a family waiting for him. I promised I would get him back home to his wife, and I failed her and him. How am I supposed to move on with my life when I ruined someone else’s?”
“You need to go see Amy.”
“Amy? As in Craig’s Amy?
Nodding, Mac said, “Yeah. I still check on her and the kid on a regular basis. They’re both doing really well. She went back to school and finished her teaching degree and now she teaches kindergarten. She asks about you every time we talk. She really appreciates the money you sent them.”
Declan stared off into space, thinking of the woman and child that he barely knew. Craig had wanted them to have their own place and not have to depend on her father. It had been important to Declan to make sure that dream came true for Amy after Craig died. “She doesn’t want to see me. She probably hates my guts.”
