I wandered over to the window, hands in my jeans pockets, trying not to look impatient.
Declan had given me a new watch the day before. Not for any particular occasion, just because. I’d taken it back this morning to fix the slightly loose clasp on it, and the manager of the store had asked me which item I needed help with. A few pointed questions later, and I found out Declan had also picked up a ring.
And he hadn’t told me about it.
Of course, maybe he’d bought it for himself—and maybe pigs would fly, because Declan never spent that kind of money on frivolous things for himself.
And maybe he wanted to wait to give it to me.
But waiting…again, not my strong suit. His chair creaked, and I turned. Definitely not waiting.
“Mmm,” Declan said, pulling me into his arms and nuzzling my throat. “I missed you.”
It’d been three hours since he kissed me goodbye and left for work.
And I’d missed him too.
“That’s why it’s time for lunch.” My arms snaked around his waist. Fuck, he felt good. Solid and warm and perfect to weigh me down between my legs…keep it together, Blake. “Right now.”
He nibbled the side of my neck. “It’s ten.”
“Okay, brunch, whatever. Fuck, Declan that’s—it doesn’t matter that it’s ten, we’re not going to be eating anyway.”
He chuckled and lifted his head, smile widening into a wicked grin that made my breath catch. “Speak for yourself.”
My heart sped up even more. “I have plans for my mouth today, too, actually.”
Declan raised an eyebrow. “Brunch, huh?”
“Brunch.” I pushed my hips into his, tipping my head back in submission.
His eyes darkened and started to glow all at once. “I’m convinced,” he growled, and started pulling me toward the door. “I’ll be back when I’m back, Laura,” he said as we passed, and she sighed the sigh of the long-suffering.
I couldn’t help thinking about the time Walter had appeared right as we’d tried to leave Declan’s office for an early “lunch,” and everything that’d brought on. Fucking Walter. He wasn’t there to stop us this time; he’d been moved, last I’d heard, to a maximum-security magical/supernatural prison after trying to murder his cellmate in the last facility. And I genuinely hoped I’d never have another update.
I forgot all about Walter as Declan tumbled me into the elevator, kissing me like he’d been starving for me. I felt the same hunger, but I couldn’t relax into it the way I normally did, when I simply let him take control and let myself go.
“What’s the matter?” Declan pulled back and pinned me against the wall of the elevator. “You’re all twitchy.”
A ring. He’d bought a ring, even though he hadn’t bitten me at all since he’d rescued me and brought me home. Apparently he didn’t believe I was happy enough, or something?
Or he’d changed his mind.
But he’d bought a ring.
Fuck it.
“You bought a ring,” I blurted out, my cheeks going red-hot and my palms starting to sweat. “I went to get the watch clasp fixed and talked to the jeweler. And you bought—a ring.”
“No,” Declan said slowly. “I had a ring resized. Two, actually. This one was my grandfather’s, it was too large for me. I also had my grandmother’s resized. Picked that one up months ago. That one was too small.”
I blinked at him, letting all of that settle in my brain.
His grandfather’s ring had been too large forhim, which meant that the one he’d picked up months ago was intended for someone else.
He hadn’t bought a ring. He’d collected the matching one to the ring he’d had for me for…
“You’ve had my ring for months?” I demanded, voice rising to a pitch too high and loud for the elevator. We both winced as it echoed. That didn’t slow me down. “You haven’t bitten me! You haven’t even asked to bite me! You haven’t—did I do something?” Sudden, crippling terror hit me like a blow. “I did something, didn’t I? You got the ring, and then I—was it when I kicked that guy out of the casino? I know I didn’t have any actual authority, but security backed me up, so—mmph!”
