There had to be an explanation, which meant it made no sense to worry. I turned my attention to Randy. “How is your son doing?”
“Not bad. It’s been a good couple of weeks. I’m hoping with this new insurance we’ll be able to get him in to see the doctor again and see if there’s another treatment plan available.”
I opened my mouth to tell him that we could talk to Declan. That I could talk with Declan. If anyone could help Randy’s son, it was Declan’s team of scientists. But I was already getting myself in too deep with everything else. I didn’t want to promise something I had no place to promise. Instead, I said, “That sounds like a good idea. Let me know if there’s anything I can do to help.”
In his usual cheerful voice, Randy said, “You’ve already done so much for me, Ro—I mean Miss Patterson. With this job, I won’t have to work two jobs and spend so much time away from my family.”
My heart filled. Any uncertainty I had about taking the next step with Declan was forgotten at that moment. He had done this for a decent man who deserved it, but he’d also done it for me. I was sure of it.
Once we pulled up to the building, Randy got out to open my door for me, making me smile. “Very professional,” I told him.
He grinned. “Just doing my job, Miss Patterson.”
He escorted me to the door and made sure I was inside the building before he walked back to the car.
If I’d been nervous about seeing Declan before, now I was a downright wreck. My heart fluttered in my chest as I rode the elevator to the top floor, anticipating seeing him in his three-piece suit and making my mouth water. Images from the weekend came back to me, catching my body on fire. Declan had touched me with so much passion and yet so much reverence, I craved more.
When the elevator doors opened, I turned automatically for Declan’s office. I stopped in surprise when I saw him standing at the front desk, his arm resting on the surface, looking casual and heartbreakingly gorgeous at the same time.
“I trust you made it in safely,” he said, his face giving away nothing.
I nodded and greeted Brittany. “Good morning.”
She smiled. “Good morning, Miss Patterson.”
I blinked when she called me by my real name. Shit. I’d forgotten that no one here knew who I really was. But if she knew my name, then I bet Declan told the others, too. He’d probably fixed it all while I was at home debating on whether or not I wanted to give him a chance.
Declan beckoned me to his office. I followed him. It was just a dozen steps but each one made me more nervous. Every second he didn’t say anything made me rethink my decision to come in this morning.
He opened the door for me, and a rush of air escaped my lips when I felt his hand brush just slightly on this small of my back.
“Were you waiting for me?” I asked.
Declan shut the door and then turned to face me. His eyes locked on mine. “Always.”
It was just one word, but it rocked me to my very core. Declan took a step closer and I felt my shoulder blades hit the door. If I had any doubt about his continued interest in me, it was dashed away with the intensity of his stare.
“When did you get here?” I asked.
Declan held my gaze, steady and unblinking. Then his lips curved in the most charming and devastatingly handsome smile, my knees nearly buckled. “Small talk,” he murmured. “I can do that.” Then he tucked his hands behind his back.
It frustrated me at the same time it relieved me. I also wanted to take things one day at a time. But I’d already gotten a taste and I wanted more.
“I’ve been here since four,” he said easily.
“This morning?”
“This morning,” he said with a smile. “You’d be amazed how much work you can get done when it’s quiet and nobody else is bothering you.”
“Aren’t you tired? It was a long weekend.”
His lips curved again, and this time when he took his hands from behind his back, he moved a step closer. He was close enough that I could feel the heat radiating from his body. “I don’t get tired. Not like that.”
“Like that? Meaning…”
“I don’t need to sleep.”
“At all?”
Instead of answering, he reached out, his fingers curling around a strand of my hair that hung over my shoulder. He could probably tell by now I was stalling.
But that wasn’t all of it. It was what he’d just told me—and a dozen other things. I needed those things, those bits of knowledge if I wanted to start a relationship with him. Declan was still a mystery to me even if I seemed to know him better than most and certainly more intimately than most.
But then his other hand moved and traced its way down my arm and over my hip, moving precariously close to my ass. And suddenly I was lost in his kiss.
His tongue was persistent, urging me to open for him. When my lips parted, he groaned quietly and backed me to the door. It was just like the first time he’d kissed me, with so much uninhibited need I couldn’t think.
His hands wandered restlessly over my arms, my sides, and down to my hips before he hauled me against his hard body. His erection pressed into my hip, shocking me and turning me on at the same time.
When I was able to come up for air, I wedged my hands between us, setting my palms flat against his chest. “Hold on.”
