I was on such an adrenaline high after we went parasailing nothing could have put me in a bad mood in that moment. The four of us were laughing and chatting as we walked into the hotel and for a couple of hours I was able to push Declan out of my mind. Eric seemed to be a really nice guy and he was cute too, so that didn’t hurt. We were on our way back inside when I felt a shiver run down my spine. Someone was watching me. I glanced behind me and nearly dropped my towel as Declan’s sexy blue eyes stared back at me.
He motioned for me to go over to him and I turned my back. I knew that nothing good would come from me talking to him. I needed to just stay as far away from him as possible while we were in Mexico. I don’t know that I would have been able to control myself around him in such a beautiful setting away from our family.
A few seconds later I felt a hand on the small of my back and I quickly turned to catch Declan’s eyes sparkling at me. If only I didn’t feel like I wanted to melt into a tiny puddle of lust. He gently stroked my back and it took everything in me not to lean back against his hand. I liked his touch and that was not a good thing.
Everyone looked at Declan and Eric actually took a step closer to me, but he stepped back when Declan set his eyes on him. It was clear. Declan was definitely the alpha male between the two and I wasn’t surprised. He had an intimidating presence and all I wanted to do was feel that presence all over every single inch of my body. My hand flew to my mouth. I didn’t say that out loud, did I?
Next, everyone looked at me and Declan’s hand tightened around my waist.
“Everything okay?”
I pushed his arm off of me and took a big step away from him.
“I’m fine. What do you want, Declan?”
I narrowed my eyes at him hoping he didn’t notice how flushed my cheeks were. I was so annoyed that my body responded to him in that way when my head was screaming to stay away from him.
He held my gaze, a small smirk touching the corner of his mouth, thoroughly amused at how annoyed I was.
“I need to talk to you about family stuff.”
I instantly thought something had happened at home and panic set in. As much as my mom annoyed me, I did love her and I wanted her to be around for a long time.
“Is something wrong? What happened?”
“Calm down, everything is okay back home. I need to talk to you about some other family stuff. Do you have time right now?”
“If there’s no emergency at home, no I don’t have time right now.”
I turned away from him and told Sophie I was ready to go. I felt Declan’s chest against my back as he whispered in my ear.
“I’ll find you later.”
My knees nearly gave out on me. We walked away and I didn’t look back. I didn’t want everyone to see how much he got to me. I could feel his eyes on me but I refused to turn around. I walked off with Sophie, Eric and Paul and instead of doing our own thing, we decided to walk over to the mall across the street from our hotel with the guys. We spent the rest of the afternoon shopping for souvenirs and we grabbed dinner at one of the restaurants. I was having such a good time, I almost forgot that Declan was in Mexico. Almost.
After dinner Sophie and I went back to our room to take a nap and shower before meeting Eric and Paul later at the hotel bar. We literally fell into our beds and were out cold for a couple of hours. I woke up around 9:30 and stared at the ceiling, thinking about Declan. His hand on my back felt so good, so natural, and it pissed me off that I was so attracted to him. As much as I was enjoying myself with Sophie, and as much as I loved the warm weather, I couldn’t wait to get back to Chicago so that I could get away from Declan. At least there I didn’t have to run into him every second of the day. Sophie stirred and a minute later looked over at me.
“How long have you been awake?” She asked, her voice groggy.
“Just a few minutes.”
She propped herself up on her elbow and I saw the familiar sparkle in her eyes.
“I couldn’t say anything around the guys, but Declan is beyond, Brielle! I don’t know how you can stand to be in the same room with him without attacking him!”
I rolled my eyes and tried to downplay the whole thing. “Oh please, he’s not all that, Sophie. He is so full of himself it’s disgusting. Plus he goes through women like a steamroller, not giving a shit about who he leaves behind. Really, he’s an asshole.”
She raised her eyebrows and looked genuinely shocked.
“Wow Brielle, how do you really feel?”
“What? The guy is a self-entitled jerk, Sophie. I can’t believe he is here on my vacation. I can’t wait to get back home.”
She sat up when I said that and was clearly annoyed.
“Brielle, are you serious? We are in paradise and we have been looking forward to this trip forever. You can’t let a guy ruin your trip, I don’t care who he is. You need to get it together.”
I looked at her and realized she was right. I was letting Declan steal my fun and I was pretty sure he wasn’t even thinking twice about me. I shouldn’t let a guy ruin the trip that we had been so looking forward to. I gave her a stern look.
“We can’t go to his fight Thursday night, Sophie. I don’t want to be around him at all.”
She started to protest with a huge pout on her face. “We can’t just sit in the back of the room or something? He won’t even know you’re there.”
“No, we can’t. I really don’t want to know he’s here, okay? I want to enjoy the rest of our trip and that means no Declan. I’m serious, Sophie, I can’t go to the fight. You go if you want, but I don’t want to hear anything about it.”
“Well, I wouldn’t go without you, so I guess we’re not going.”
“Good, we’ll have fun doing other stuff.” I glanced at my phone and saw that Eric had texted me. “Eric and Paul will meet us downstairs at the bar in 30 minutes so we better get ready.”
I was happy that Sophie didn’t press me on going to see Declan fight. I really did not want to deal with him in any way. I wished he had never shown up, but I would just have to just pretend that he wasn’t there for the rest of my trip. I would soon find out that was easier said than done.