But almost as quickly, my rational brain takes over, and I shake my head at him like I’m about to make a case in a courtroom. “You don’t know that. We spent one night together, and it was amazing, but that doesn’t mean we know each other. For all we know, we’d be terrible together.”

Declan flashes me a devastatingly confident smile. “You don’t believe that.”

His hand moves down my arm to my wrist, which he takes in one hand and lifts to his mouth to kiss the tender underside. His lips barely touch my skin, but it’s still enough to ignite a fire inside me and catapult me right back to that night six months ago.

All at once, I feel his hot lips and breath all over my body, peppering it with kisses while he makes his way down my torso…

His mouth hovers above my skin, and when his hot breath breezes against it again, goosebumps ripple away from the source and drag me back into my body. It feels incredible, and at some level it scares me that something so small can have such a huge effect. But this is what he does to me. Ever since I crashed into him that night at Opal and Oak, ever since he kissed me the first time, I haven’t been the same, and I’m starting to wonder if I ever will be.

Maybe I don’t want to be.

Declan lightly kisses my wrist again, creating a fresh wave of goosebumps, and when I shiver, he smirks and raises his eyebrows at me.

“See?” He drops my arm and takes my chin lightly between his thumb and forefinger, gazing right into my eyes. “You can lie all you want, hummingbird, but your body can’t.”

My heart stutters in my chest. How the fuck does he see through me so easily? Somehow, this man knows me—can read me—in a way that goes far beyond our one night together.

The world seems to slow to a halt around me as the tension and truth explode between us like a supernova. And before I have any conscious awareness of what I’m doing, my body takes control.

I surge onto my tiptoes and crush my lips against his.

14. Declan

Chapter 14

Declan

The kiss catches me completely off-guard, but my body reacts instinctively, my arms wrapping around her.

It’s like I’ve been starving for months without knowing it and finally have a taste of sustenance for the first time in as long as I can remember. It’s like the first desperate breath of air after coming up from underwater. It’s like coming home after years away.