“You’re awfully uptight for a drunk Star Wars nerd.”
“Seeing you with another guy sobered me up real fast. And my niece is obsessed with Rey Skywalker,” he growls. “It’s impossible to have a conversation with her without at least a passing understanding of the Galactic Republic, Rebel Alliance, and the Resistance.”
“Sounds like my kinda girl. And you sound like a man who’s memorized the Star Wars Wikipedia page.”
He leans in even closer and whispers into my ear, “I’ve also memorized all of the related Wikipedia sub-pages.” He inhales my hair, and I’m sort of regretting that I don’t have it up tonight so he can yank it down again. “What are you doing here, Maddie?”
“Well, I was enjoying the show. Do you take requests?”
“You obviously don’t, because I requested that you stay away from me tonight.”
“Technically, you’re the one who didn’t stay away from me, because I was sitting all the way across the room from you.”
He straightens his arms, broadens his shoulders, and we’re eye-to-eye again, and maybe, just maybe, we’re finally on the same page. For now. And that page is straight out of my niece’s fanfiction, I think, or more like the Kindle book I was reading at dinner. His nostrils are flaring. He’s staring at my mouth. “You are always, always, always problematic, Cooper.”
“Right back at you, Mr. Cannavale.”
“Goddammit,” he curses under his breath, his face slowly inching closer and closer to mine. He cradles my face with both hands, dragging the tip of his thumb across my lower lip. “Cooper,” he whispers again, as if it’s a curse word. “Cooper,” he repeats, this time like a wish. And then he abruptly drops his hands, steps back, and walks away from me. Furiously dragging his fingers through his hair as he marches out of the bar, through the lobby. He’s not marching in a perfectly straight line, but it’s difficult to tell if that’s due to the remaining alcohol in his system or the amazing thing in his pants that I felt against my leg.
And I can’t believe the bastard is walking away from me.
Again.
Not tonight.
I march on after him. The lobby is empty. My heels click against the marble floor, and I can tell that Declan can hear me coming because his back straightens. Everything about that man is stiff, but he doesn’t turn to face me.
I slip inside the elevator with him just as the doors are about to close. When he finally turns around, I push him against the wall of the elevator, cup my hands around the back of his neck, and bring him in for a kiss. A furious kiss. I let my lips and tongue tell him all the things I’ve already told him with words, but I’ve had it with words. I’ve had it with this man, and I’ve had it with not giving myself to him.
His hands are in my hair, and he meets my exasperated kisses with calm, controlled kisses that are even more maddening. He tugs on my hair, pulling my face away from his, and asks, “Have you been drinking?”
“You’re going to drive me to drink even more if you stop kissing me right now.”
“I want you to want this, Maddie.”
“You’re covered legally, now that I’m attempting to seduce you as predicted,” I taunt. “What do you care?”
“Tell me you want me.” The way he says it, it’s an order, and for once, I am loving this bossy tone.
“I want you, Declan.” He loosens his grip so I can lean in and take his earlobe between my teeth, tugging and then sucking on it, and then I whisper into his ear: “I want you to do and say every filthy thing you’ve ever wanted to do and say to me.” The deep, guttural sound he makes is so satisfying. “And I’m going to do the same. To you.”
His hands are on my hips now. “Fucking hell, I’m going to split you in two.”
My hand slips to the glorious bulge in his pants. “Fuckin’ A. I’m going to ride you like a one-horse open sleigh.”
When the elevator doors open, he grabs my hand and pulls me down the hall, toward his room. “You should have let me walk away from you,” he mutters.
“You should have let me into your room this afternoon. I would have really given you something to sing about.”
“Oh, you already have. Believe me.” He slides the key card through the slot, so aggressively, way too quickly. The light turns red. “Fuck.” He does it again, with exactly as much force and speed. “Fuck.”
“Let me do it.”
“I got it.”
“No. You don’t.” I take the key card from him, slide it gently through the slot, and calmly hand it back to him. “Don’t you dare be that gentle with me tonight.”
He shoves the door open and pats me on the butt. “Get your ass in there, succubus. Now.”
I hiss at him like a cat as I pass by him, throwing my purse into the room.
He stares me down, just like he did with whatshisname at the bar.
When he shuts the door, he wastes no time tugging off his shoes and pulling his sweater off over his head, tossing everything to the floor. He is not wearing an undershirt. He is a God damn work of art.
Mentally, I am nodding and slow clapping like it’s the end of an 80s teen underdog sports movie. But my body language is very convincingly telling him that I see this kind of thing all the time. I cross my arms in front of my chest and frown. “Wow. So you have a naked torso. What else ya got?”
Seventeen
Declan
O COME, ALL YE FAITHFUL
Oh, I’ll show you what else I got, Cooper.
I start unbuckling my belt. I’m still just inside the door of this
