When it became apparent that he wasn’t going to elaborate further Suzy shook her head and said, “Wow, it sounds awesome. I never pegged you for a G-rated kind of guy, Declan, but hey whatever works. I’ve gotta get to work, maybe you all should try it sometime.” With that final parting shot, she was gone.

Declan released a breath that he hadn’t even been aware he was holding.

Gray gave him a smile of understanding. “She has that effect on everyone, don’t feel bad. I’m married to her and I still wonder what’s going to come out of her mouth next.”

Everyone drifted off toward their offices and Declan had to wonder why being social was so exhausting. He felt like going home to take a nap. At least it was Friday and he had another date tonight with Ella to look forward to. Although in the interest of taking things slowly, he probably should have waited a few days instead of asking her before he left last night, but he extended the invitation before he could think better of it.

He liked the way he felt with her. He didn’t remember ever enjoying talking to a woman like he did her. He was afraid it would be awkward taking things to a different level, but she was still his sweet Ellie and even if he had sat through Die Hard with a hard-on of his own, it had been worth it. When she had admitted to trying to seduce him, it was all he could do not to throw her down on the couch and take anything and everything she offered. The drink in the crotch was probably pretty well-timed. He had stood in a cold shower for several long minutes when he got home. One thing was certain, his water bill was bound to go through the roof until he finally slept with Ellie.

***

“Shut up! No, you did not!” Ella had to laugh at Beth’s dramatic reaction to her klutz fest from the night before.

“Oh, yeah I did. I practically mauled the man before he finally decided to run for his life. He mentioned something about me strangling him with my robe. He doesn’t even know about the container of powder I dropped in the bathroom.”

“What were you doing with powder?”

“Well, after I fell on the floor, I went to the bathroom and noticed that my face was shining. I looked like I had just run a marathon or something. So I took out a small container of powder and accidently opened it from the bottom. It exploded all over my bathroom and me. I was in there for like twenty minutes trying to beat the powder off my clothes. I used my hair dryer on low to blow it out of my hair and the middle of the floor, in case he needed to use the bathroom.”

“Oh my God,” Beth gasped, as she laughed until she looked about to cry. “Were you embarrassed?”

“Actually, it wasn’t too bad. If this had been the first time we had met it would have been worse, but I’m comfortable with Declan. He was a good sport and never made me feel like he was making fun of me.”

“Sooo,” Beth asked, “When are you going out again?”

Ella tried to contain her excitement, but failed. “Tonight! He asked me before he left last night.”

“Oh man, he isn’t playing around. Where are you going this time?”

“I’m not sure, he didn’t say. I think we can pretty much rule out bowling or anything that requires me to throw a heavy object. He will probably also want to skip sitting beside me when I’m drinking anything hot like coffee. That narrows down the field some.”

Beth giggled and nodded her agreement. “Yeah, you’re safe there. He might take you somewhere childproofed, like Chuck E. Cheese’s.”

Ella’s phone rang and cut their conversation short. “Ella dear, your father and I wanted to see if you could come home Saturday?” Without pausing long enough for her to answer, her mother continued on, “You could spend the night and go to church with us on Sunday. I know everyone would love to see you.”

“Oh, um . . . I can’t, Mom. I’m staying with Beth this weekend. Nick is going to be out of town.” Beside her, Beth shook her head and wiggled her finger.

She could hear her mother’s huff loud and clear. “You know I don’t approve of you spending so much time with that unmarried girl. Why won’t the father of her baby marry her, or is he not even the father?”

“Mom . . .” Ella warned. She was sorry that she had mentioned Beth. She had temporarily forgotten how vocal her mother was in her disapproval over her best friend’s marital state. She honestly couldn’t understand why her mother was so judgmental of others. Of course, she didn’t know why she was surprised. All of her mother’s friends were exactly the same way. Her mother’s behavior embarrassed Ella and she hoped she would never be tacky enough to hurt Beth’s feelings. “I’ve got to go, Mom, my break is over now.”

“Your break? I thought you worked in an office,” her mother huffed.

“I do, Mom, but we can’t stay away from our desks all day. I have to get back to work. I’ll call you tonight.” She could still hear her mother’s sputtering protests as she clicked to end the call.

Beth gave her a nod of approval. “Look at you, girl. Lying to your parents and making out with Declan all in the same week. Your training wheels are well and truly off now, aren’t they?”

Ella put her head down on her desk, groaning. “I love her, I really do, but she drives me crazy. She spends all of her time worrying about how other people view her and sadly, she is right to be paranoid because her friends are just as bad as she is. I’m a huge disappointment to her right now because she is being forced to lie about why I’m not at church every Sunday. Even worse, I seriously believe she is debating whether it would sound worse to just tell her friends that I’m gay or a single spinster.”

“Oh honey, you’ve heard the horror stories about my parents, so I’m right there with you. They are trying to behave a lot better right now, but Suzy and I both know that they would gladly trade us in for a couple of Harvard graduates. I think the only reason they are being halfway decent about the baby is because they hope it will be some kind of prodigy child and live up to their impossible standards. I would hate for them to know that their future grandchild moves like a pole dancer when “Baby Got Back” is playing.” At Ella’s smirk, Beth added, “Hey, don’t judge me, my gym plays a variety.”

After Beth left, Ella was surprised when Declan walked up a few moments later. “Hey, Ellie,” he said in that oh-so-sexy voice.

Fighting the urge to melt at his feet, she smiled and said, “Hey, yourself. Are you having a good day?”

“Not bad. I’m looking forward to seeing you tonight.”

The heated look in his eyes made the urge to melt even stronger. “I’m looking forward to it too. What are the plans? I could make us dinner if you like.”

“If you’re feeling brave, I thought I would cook for us. I know it sounds like a guy thing, but I grill a mean steak. You do like steak, right?”

“Oh yeah, I love steak, I’m a huge meat eater! Oh gosh, did I actually just say that? What was wrong with a simple, yes, steak sounds perfect.”

Declan seemed amused by her enthusiasm as he said, “Uh, yeah, good. I’m leaving now for a meeting so how about I pick you up at home around six?”

“I could just come to your place if you give me your address,” Ella offered.

Declan leaned closer and whispered so only she could hear him, “I don’t think so, sweetheart. I have been thinking of another kiss at your door all day. There is no way I would deprive myself of that.”

Before she could do anything—other than stare at him like an idiot— he gave her another smile and was gone.

The rest of her day seemed to drag as she repeatedly thought of Declan’s parting words. By the time she got home that evening, she was counting the minutes until Declan showed up. When he did arrive, she tried not to look like she had been standing at the door for fifteen minutes, after changing into another short dress and her best new Victoria’s Secret underwear set, courtesy of Suzy, Beth, and Claire’s advice.

Chapter Eight

“I like your apartment. It’s so . . . clean.”

Declan chuckled and said, “That’s all you could come up with, huh? I rented it completely furnished. I’ve been meaning to buy a house, but haven’t had the time for the hassle yet. Since I barely do more than sleep here, it hasn’t mattered much to me.”

Ella blushed, wishing she had been a little more complimentary of his home. Everything in it was top of the line and the granite countertops in the kitchen gleamed against the dark wood of the cabinets. The stainless steel appliances were sleek and modern. It was obvious that Declan paid much more in rent than she did on her small apartment. And his was spacious with three bedrooms and two bathrooms. She was a little surprised that he had such a big place for just himself. When she had asked him about it, he simply said that he didn’t like tight spaces.

When she offered to help with dinner, he pointed to the refrigerator and put her in charge of the salad. She had to give him credit, he had only paused for a brief moment before he handed her the sharp knife to cut the vegetables up. She was determined not to draw blood and reward his faith in her. “I like the music you have on, who is the group?”

Declan looked at her in surprise. “It’s Norah Jones. Haven’t you heard of her?”

“No, not really. My parents didn’t believe in any popular music. I rarely ever listened to the radio. I still don’t much now unless I’m with Beth. She is doing everything she can to catch me up on the Bon Jovi years and even though she tries to blame it on her gym, she also likes Justin Timberbake.”

Declan started laughing. “I believe you, Ellie, because it’s actually Justin Timberlake.”

“Oh . . . whoops. Don’t tell Beth, she would be so disappointed in me.”

“Your secret’s safe with me.” As he walked back toward the balcony, he looked over his shoulder. “I picked up a movie for after dinner if you’re interested. My sister recommended it.”

“That sounds good. I brought one as well so we can see which one looks the best.” Ella knew why he had the slightly embarrassed look on his face when she pulled his DVD out. Sleepless in Seattle, really? When he walked back into the kitchen she was trying to hide hers. She was sure that after their movie choice last night, he would know her tastes a little better. Apparently, he was still under the mistaken impression that she was a quiet, chick-flick-watching, girlie girl. Maybe it was better to let him think that. Her movie did have some romance in it though; didn’t she get points for that?

Looking over her shoulder, Declan asked, “So what did you bring?”

“Uh, nothing interesting. Let’s just go with your choice. It looks great.”

“Aw, come on Ellie, no holding out on me.” When she still wouldn’t show him her movie, he suddenly started tickling her. As she shrieked and jumped out of the way, he grabbed the movie and waved it in the air in victory. His expression was almost comical when he finally brought it down to look at it more closely. “Lethal Weapon?”

As she did whenever she got nervous, she started rambling. “It’s okay; we can watch your movie. Lethal Weapon 3 was really the best one anyway. I just loved Rene Russo in it. But I wasn’t sure if you had seen the first two so I didn’t want you to be lost or anything. We can watch mine another time. Maybe we can have a whole Lethal Weapon marathon.” As he continued to look at her without saying anything, the rambling got worse. “How about Jason Statham? You remind me of him, well, without the British accent. I love the Transporter movies or we could do something military for you. There is Black Hawk Down or the Expendables movie.”

Finally, Declan started chuckling and pulled her against his chest. “Oh Ellie, if I could clone you, every man in this world would be in heaven. You and I might not agree on everything, but we damn sure won’t have a problem deciding which movie to watch.” As Ella started to return his embrace, he suddenly pulled back and muttered something about checking the steaks before leaving the kitchen.

What the heck was that? Surely, Declan wasn’t running from her now. Did he think that because she watched action movies, she was going to attack him? Of course, she was still holding a knife so he was probably trying to protect himself from another mauling. Later, she planned to test his resolve. She felt like she had been waiting for Declan, or at least the idea of Declan, for a long time and now that they were sort of together, she wanted it all . . . now.

He, however, seemed to be moving at the pace of a turtle. For years, her mother had been telling her that men only wanted one thing from her and that she should guard against that. Well, when exactly did they want that one thing—because other than some hot kisses where he pulled away before they became too intense, she had seen no sign of him wanting or trying to get in her pants? Maybe she needed to wear different pants.