"You don't really know what my life is like," Declan said.

They were settled at a little wrought iron table on the side of the music building. She was surprised they were the only ones there. It seemed like the perfect spot to bask in the unseasonably warm October sunshine.

"Okay," she said, "so what's your life like?"

"I'm usually pretty insulated here. Reporters can't come on school grounds and everyone's more or less used to me being here." His lips twisted into a cynical smile. "Or at least they pretend not to care."

"O-kay. Still not seeing what you're getting at."

He took a long pull from his steaming black coffee. "Off campus, my life is different. I'm the son of a rock star."

"I know who your dad is, Declan," Duh, everyone knew who his dad was. As she had the thought, she started to see what he was getting at. "You mean you're famous, too. Famous for being the rock star's son.

"Not just any rock star. Sean Cooper, the guy notorious for hard music and hard living. My whole life has been lived under a microscope. And it's gotten even worse since I turned eighteen." He shrugged. "Since then it's like everyone is waiting to see if I'll follow in his footsteps. See if I'll turn into….”

"Your dad?" She asked softly.

He tilted his head toward her. "Yeah."

"Okay. I get that. But I still don't get what that has to do with having your picture taken with me."

"The paparazzi is relentless. All it would take is for one of them to get a hold of you in a picture with me, and they'd be all over you, wanting to know every last detail of your life."

Harper cringed at the picture he painted. The last thing, the very last thing she wanted or needed was a bunch of reporters digging for dirt on her. She'd been featured in the newspaper once as a kid as the poor orphaned daughter of a police officer killed in the line of duty. Somehow, knowing anyone who gave out information about her now would be passing on the worst of the gossip that had circulated about her through high school and college, she didn't think the press would put her in such a favorable light this time around.

Her heart stuttered in her chest. With clarity came the weight of knowing what it would mean exactly to be photographed on Declan's arm. She could only imagine what her life would be like if her relationship with Declan became national news. Medical schools probably wouldn't be beating down her door once she was portrayed as the gold-digging companion to the wild child son of Sean Cooper.

That meant she and Declan could never have a relationship. That thought made it hard to breath.

"But, I mean, we're already..." She gestured back and forth between them. "Together a lot. What if someone leaks that to the press?"

He shot a wry smile her way. "I don't think you need to worry. Right now we're just schoolmates working on a project together. My father's publicist could handle any unfounded rumors as long as we keep things low key."

She nodded and again found herself fighting off tears. She looked away, not really focusing on anything, as she blinked back the moisture in her eyes. Why was she being so ridiculous? It's not like he had shown much of an interest in her. Why was she having such a hard time dealing with the idea that she and Declan Cooper could never have more of a relationship than they had right now at this moment?

"Hey, you okay?

She shrugged and pasted a fake smile on her face. "Yeah, I am. I'm happy we straightened all this out."

He nodded but kept his intense gaze glued to her face. "You're sure we're good?"

She nodded and then realized she was doing it so hard she must look like a bobble head doll. "We're good. We'll just...keep our working together as quiet as possible. And when your experiment is done and I get accepted into my program, we can go back to the way we were before."

She was proud of herself for not allowing her voice to break.

He squinted at her. "That's not exactly what I meant, Harper."

His sharp voice caught her attention. "What are you talking about? You just said we can't have any kind of real relationship, or um," she stumbled trying to rephrase that so it didn't sound like she wanted more with him than they already had, "friendship. We can't...whatever. We need to keep this strictly business."

He stared at her, long and hard, and then he grinned. His full on, confident, annoying, totally sexy, Declan Cooper smirk.

"Wh-why are you looking at me like that?"

"You don't mean it."

"What? Mean what?"

"You don't want us to be strictly business."

Heat rushed into her cheeks. "Of course I do. And you just gave me a whole song and dance about why we can't ever have any kind of relationship."

"Harper, you have to know...what I feel about you goes deeper than a strictly business thing." His grin grew even wider, if that was possible. "And I'm beginning to think you want more than that, too."

"What-what are you talking about?"

"I'm talking about the fact that I've been attracted to you since I laid eyes on you two years ago." He slid his chair over until he was sitting right next to her, his thigh pressing against hers. "I'm talking about how I know I fucked up and I've wanted to apologize to you since about two seconds after I walked away from you at that party."

Words escaped her. She sat there, speechless as Declan Cooper leaned into her, his face mere inches from hers. She could feel his warm breath against her ear. She tried to make sense of what he was saying, but she was at a complete and total loss. She shifted, trying to put a little space between them, but he followed her, keeping them pressed together.

"Declan, I..."

He stopped her with a kiss. Not a simple, easy, gentle kiss. He dove right into her. His lips sliding over hers. His tongue demanding entrance. Heat pooled in her belly as he pushed against her a little harder, and suddenly she could hold herself back no longer.

She returned his kiss with equal force, opening her mouth to his tongue and meeting it with her own. He slid his lips back and forth over hers, nipping at her bottom lip.

A small moan escaped her as he twisted in his seat, pushing forward until he caught her legs between his. His mouth moved down over her cheek, moving towards her neck and she dipped her head back to give him better access. He licked and nipped and kissed his way to her ear.

"We can make this work," he whispered. "We just have to be careful about getting caught."

Harper froze, everything inside her turning cold and brittle. She pulled away from him, pushing against his chest to put as much distance between them as she could.

He dragged his head back, his eyebrow scrunched. "What's wrong?"

She stood, scraping her chair against the concrete in a shrieking whine. "I can't believe I fall for your bullshit. Every. Single. Time."

He stood. "My bullshit?" His voice had a hard edge to it.

"Yes. I'm not going to be your dirty little secret, Declan." She whirled around, snatching her bag off the back of her chair and striding away.

Thudding footsteps from behind her told her he wasn't going to give up easily.

"Harper, will you stop, please?"

"Go away, Declan." She sped up, keeping her head up. At least now she was too pissed to cry. Seriously, how many times was she going to fall for his crap? He obviously saw her as nothing more than a game, something to play. She was so done. "And find someone else to help you with your experiment."

From the corner of her eye she saw the bus chug to a stop at the top of the U-shaped road at the front of the quad. She started jogging and as she got closer, broke into a full out run. She slid on the bus just as the driver snapped the door closed.

Sinking into a seat, she couldn't stop herself from peering out the window. Declan stood a few feet from the bus as it pulled away. His hands were shoved in the pockets of his pants, his face expressionless. She stared at him until the bus turned onto the main road and she lost sight of him.

Harper stepped into the apartment and stopped to listen. The clatter of plates came from the kitchen. She sighed, not sure if she should be grateful or disappointed Jamie was home. She stripped off her jacket and dropped it, along with her messenger bag, in the chair by the door. She inhaled, letting her eyes fall closed. She needed to calm down. No way was she sharing her latest Declan drama. How many times did she need to hear Jamie say I told you so?

She popped her eyes open and turned the corner of the entryway into the open living room and kitchen combo.

"Hey," Harper said, keeping her tone light and friendly.

Jamie's eyes snapped to her and narrowed. "Hey. Everything okay?"

"Sure. The party went...well it went." She shrugged and slid onto one of the kitchen stools. "It wasn’t as horrible as I expected.”

"A stellar endorsement if ever I heard one," Jamie said and grinned.

Harper chuckled. "Well, I guess my expectations were rather low."

"Shocking. You, expecting the worst? Who would have thought?"

Harper rolled her eyes at Jamie's teasing. But then gave in to the giggle bubbling up. "I know, I know. But really, it was good. I'm not going to say I felt comfortable. But I did manage to string a few sentences together without totally humiliating myself."

"See, I told you. I think you build things up to be a lot worse than they are."

Harper bit her lip and traced a pattern on the counter, fighting off laughter. Even though Harper hadn't been complaining, Jamie still managed to fit an "I told you so" into the conversation. If Harper was Miss Doom and Gloom, then surely Jamie held the Miss Know-It-All title.

"You'll be happy to hear I even managed to chat with one of my professors," Harper said. "Even better, she remembered me acing her class and promised to put in a good word for me with Professor Costa."

"Harper, that's so awesome!" Jamie swung around the counter and hugged Harper. "Maybe this plan you and Declan concocted isn't so harebrained after all."

Damn. The conversation Harper most wanted to avoid. She sighed. There was no way around it. She was going to have to fess up. "No, I think you had the right idea about that. I think..."

She swallowed hard as her thoughts went back to the way his lips felt against hers, and the way she felt completely safe and ready to face the world when he folded her hand in his. She shook it off. That was before he'd opened his mouth and admitted he had feelings for her....feelings he had no intention of letting anyone else know about.

"What happened this time?" Jamie asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

She struggled for a way to explain what happened to Jamie without telling her too much. No, it would just be too painful to share that Declan thought of her the same way all those married men thought of her gold digging aunt--good enough for a quick fuck, but not good enough to take out in public.

"Nothing. Just...I guess you were right. The way he acted, I don't know. I finally got what you were trying to tell me. It was all just a game to him."

"Oh, Harper, I'm sorry." Jamie gave her a quick, tight hug. "I knew something was off with him."

A sharp twinge squeezed Harper's heart. Jamie meant well, but her words left Harper feeling like maybe she was that girl. The one nobody would ever want to be seen with. Someone's invisible little piece on the side.

She pulled out of the hug. "It's fine. No big deal. I made some headway. And it gave me some ideas about how to handle Professor Costa."

"What're you going to do?"

"It was actually talking to Professor Flaherty that helped. I guess I thought because Professor Costa had no clue who I was, nobody else would either." She shrugged one shoulder. "But maybe I have it wrong. Maybe some of the other's noticed me doing so well in their classes. It can't hurt for me to go talk to some of them and ask if they'll give me a recommendation."

Jamie clapped her hands and bounced in place. "That's a great idea! I can't believe we didn't think of that before."

"Well," Harper rolled her eyes up toward the ceiling, "I may have been a little...emotional about how things went the first time I talked to Professor Costa."

"You think?"

Jamie's sarcastic tone made them both giggle.

"Okay, okay." Harper held her hands out in front of her in a placating move and then turned them to give Jamie a "bring it" wave. "I know you're about to burst. Go ahead and say it."

"Say what?" Jamie sucked her bottom lip between her teeth and clasped her hands in front of her.

"Don't give me that. Come on. I know you're dying to say it."

Jamie's breath came out in an exasperated huff. "Fine. I may have told you so."

Harper cupped a hand around her ear. "What? I don't think I heard you. Can you repeat that?"

"I told you so," Jamie mumbled.

"Now, James, I know you can do better than that."

"Fine!" Jamie threw her arms out to the side and started to shake her booty as she said in a sing-song voice, "Told you so, told you so. I told you so."

Harper laughed as Jamie did her told you so dance around the living room.

Jamie jerked to a stop right in front of Harper and grinned. "Happy now?"

"Ecstatic," Harper deadpanned. "One of these days I'm going to make you do the I'm-sorry-I couldn't-have-been-more-wrong dance around the living room."

"Doubt it." Jamie twirled around and headed back into the kitchen to pick up where she left off doing the dishes.

Harper hopped off her stool and grabbed a dish rag, happy to be back in Jamie's good graces.

* * *

"Harper," Jamie knocked on Harper's bedroom door, "you sure you want to stay in? Again?"

Harper rolled her eyes at Jamie's tone and scooted off her bed. Throwing her bedroom door open, she spread her arms out so Jamie could get a gander at her in all her glory. "Do I look like I'm planning anything more strenuous than a trip to the microwave for some popcorn followed by a trip to the couch for some movie time?"

Jamie shook her head at Harper's yoga pants and baggy sweatshirt. "I can wait if you want to take a few minutes to change." Her gaze traveled up from Harper's outfit. "And, um, maybe pull a brush through your hair."

"And ruin this do?" Harper yanked on one of the messy knots she’d twisted her pigtails into. "I think not."

Jamie shrugged. "Suit yourself."

Jamie headed into the living room and Harper followed. One of these days she'd shock the hell out of Jamie by agreeing to a girls' night out.

But not tonight. She moved into the galley kitchen and shuffled through the cabinets while Jamie grabbed her coat from the entryway. She threw a bag of microwave popcorn in to pop.

"Last chance," Jamie said, tugging her long blonde hair free of the collar of her coat. "I could text Jenny and Lori and tell them I'm running late."

Harper had no desire for a night out after her trying day, but she felt like she owed Jamie something. "How about next time?"

The hand Jamie had raised to smooth down her hair froze in mid-air. "Seriously?"

Harper held up her hand, pointer, pinky and thumb raised. "Scout's honor."

"I think that one means rock on, but I'll take it." Jamie pointed a finger at her. "I have your word. Next night out, you're coming!"

"Yes, yes, I promise. Cross my heart and hope to die a lonely old spinster." Harper wrinkled her nose. At the rate she was going that probably wasn't too far from the truth. She shook off that depressing thought. "Now, go!"

"I'm going. I'm going." Jamie clomped towards the door, calling over her shoulder, "Tell Robert Downey, Jr. I'll catch him next time."

Harper grinned at the reference to her obsession to all things Iron Man.

"I might be getting a little predictable," she admitted to the empty room, as she snagged her bag of popcorn and snitched a bag of M&Ms out of the drawer where they kept their chocolate stash. She plopped down on the couch and grabbed the remote.

"Oh, Harper!"

Harper jumped a few inches off the couch, sending a large handful of popcorn flying. Her hand flew to her throat, and she yelled out, "I thought you left!"

Jamie poked her head around the doorway, catching Harper in a narrow-eyed glare. Harper sat up straighter. What the heck could have happened in the last second and a half to piss Jamie off so royally?

Declan appeared in the doorway next to Jamie.

"It seems you have a gentleman caller you forgot to mention," Jamie said.

Harper would almost swear she could hear Jamie's back teeth grinding together from all the way across the room. She blinked, staring at Declan and then moving her gaze back to Jamie. She blinked a few times, at an utter loss for words.

"You think I had this," Harper threw out a hand, waving it towards Declan, "planned?"

Jamie sighed and straightened, but her eyes failed to warm. "You know what? I don't know what to think. And I'm starting not to care. I'll leave this," her hot gaze shot daggers at Declan, "for you to handle."

Before Jamie could get another word out, the door slammed behind Jamie.

She turned her attention on Declan. "What are you doing here?"

Oddly, her earlier anger had left her, leaving only a vague sensation of sadness and maybe disappointment in its wake. She'd really started to believe Declan was different. But it was obvious her judgement left a lot to be desired. Maybe she'd have to have Jamie vet all potential friends and male companions in the future.

"Can I come in?" Declan hadn't moved from his spot in the doorway.

Harper waved him into the room. "I can't imagine why you'd come here, but by all means, come on in."

"You can't imagine why I'd come? Harper I don't really get what happened today. One minute we were kissing and the next thing I know you're taking off like a shot. I'd like to know what I did wrong."

Weariness filled Harper. She sank down into the couch. "Do we really need to go over this again?"

Declan shrugged off his jacket and tossed it on the overstuffed chair. He dropped down next to her on the couch. "Go over it again? Harper I have no clue what happened today. Please just talk to me."

She leaned her head back against the couch cushion, but turned so she faced him. "Declan, you basically told me that I'm the kind of girl you'll fool around with but not take home to meet your mother. How did you expect me to react?"

As soon as the words were out, Harper's mind danced with images of the women who would probably stand in line for the chance to fool around with Declan, no strings attached. She shook her head. That just wasn't her.

He scooted to the edge of the couch until their knees touched. She slid a millimeter back, breaking the contact. That's what got her in trouble in the first place.

"First of all, I wouldn't think of being introduced to my mother as something that makes you special. She's a mess." His head dipped down, hanging between his shoulders, and his hands dangled between his knees. "Harper, my family is...I know I explained some of this to you this afternoon, but I guess you didn't really get it."

She bit her lip. She wanted so badly to shove his jacket at him, shove him out the door, and send him on his merry way. This afternoon he'd made her feel like the cheap whore she'd always been accused of being.

But something about the tone of his voice and the way his whole body sagged, so different from his usual cockiness, held her still. Damn if she still didn't want to be with him, talk to him, hear about his home life.

"What didn't I get?" she asked softly.

"I think--I want..." He rubbed a hand over his head. "Since the first day we met, there's been something between us." He kept his head low, but turned to pin her with his dark stare. "Tell me you didn't feel it?"

She grabbed a pillow from the end of the sofa and held it in front of her, squeezing herself back into the couch cushions. She kept her attention on a thread on the edge of the throw pillow, tugging at it. Anything to avoid his probing gaze. "I did. Feel something." She turned her eyes on him. "Right up until the moment at that party freshman year when you listened to the lies Caitlin was spewing and turned your back on me."

"Caitlin? That was her name?"

She gritted her teeth, so pissed at the surge of happiness that shot through her at his question. Ever since that night when he'd handed Caitlin the beer he'd gotten for Harper and she clomped back up the basement steps in that frat house, an insidious fear had dug its way under her skin. She never let herself dwell on the thought for longer than a second, but there was always the idea somewhere in her head that he'd hooked up with Caitlin that night. That she was the girl he'd gone home with instead of Harper. For reasons she wouldn't allow herself to think too much about, the thought almost brought her to her knees.

Almost. She'd been fighting too long to give up on herself from that setback.

"Yes. Caitlin Capshaw. The girl who spent a large amount of our high school years thinking up rumors she could spread about me and turning everyone against me." She shrugged. "She had her reasons for hating me. But she had everyone in school too afraid to say even two words to me. Let's just say that seeing you walk off with her went a long way in killing any feelings I might have thought I had for you back then. And the last two years, you know where you ignored me and your friends kept up the rumors about me? Yeah, pretty much any hint of a feeling I had for you died back in that basement."

He fell back into the corner of the couch and rubbed his hands over his face. When he finally pulled them away, she didn't know what to expect, but the flashes of pain and anger and remorse floating behind his eyes wasn't it. Her breath left her on a gasp.

"Harper, you have to believe me, I am so sorry. For everything. I told you I wanted to apologize for that night for a long time. But I really believed the biggest favor I could do for you was to leave you alone."

"If today was anything to go by, I think you're right. You should leave me alone."

"I can't." He sat up and leaned closer to her. "I've tried, Harper. Believe me I've tried. Do you know how many times I've looked for you on campus the last two years, just wanting to catch sight of you so I'd know you were okay?"

"Wh-what?" She tripped over the word, unable to grasp what he was saying.

"Two years, Harper. Two years I've fought to stay away from you, but couldn't bring myself to stay away totally. I know..." Declan's voice lowered, a deep rasp conveying his emotion better than his words. "I know I'm the last thing you need in your life. But I don't want to stay away or watch you from a distance anymore."

His emotion seemed so real. How good an actor was he? She shook her head. She needed to stay focused. "Watch me from a distance?"

He chuckled without a hint of amusement. "Yeah, believe me, I know what a fucking stalker I sound like. But yeah, any time I saw you on campus, it was like I couldn't keep my eyes off you. And...shit, I can't believe I'm telling you this." He scratched his chest on the spot right over his heart. "Whenever too much time had passed since I'd seen you, I'd go find you. I had to know you were okay."

Harper hopped up, dropping the throw pillow. She walked behind the couch and clutched the back of it. "I don't know...I...how am I supposed to respond to that?"

He sighed and flopped back into the cushions. "I don't know. I shouldn't have said anything. But I figured you couldn't think less of me than you already do. I just want you to know I'm not thinking of you as a one night stand."

Well, he'd done what he set out to do then. If the plan was to convince her she was more than just a convenient fling, he managed it. Of course, now he might have to convince her he wasn't a stalker.

But if she were being honest, she would have to admit--though not to him under threat of torture-- she'd experienced the same with him. When he was walking across campus and she caught sight of him, her eyes followed him until he was out of sight. When she hadn't seen him in a while and she overheard a conversation about him, her ears perked up, half desperate for some small bit of news about him.

She unclenched her hands and smoothed out the sofa cushion she'd crushed. "Well, I get that maybe you weren't thinking of me as a one night stand. But, Declan, I've spent too many years feeling like a pariah. I'm not going to be in a relationship with someone who won't even walk across campus with me, someone who feels like he has to hide me. I'm done hiding."

As the last words left her mouth, she realized the truth of them. The one thing, the dream she'd held onto, through high school and college when she felt like less than nothing, was the dream of going to medical school. For years she'd planned and plotted the best way to do it, knowing she had nobody to help her with financial or any other kind of support. And in the last week, hearing that things might not go according to plan because she'd been pushed into hiding herself by things outside her control made her furious.

But right now, from this moment on, she was not going to let another rumor, fears left over from high school, Caitlin Capshaw, or her aunt keep her from getting what she wanted.

She knew without a shadow of a doubt that she wanted medical school and the mentorship was her fast track to getting there.

But what about Declan? Did she want him on any terms?

"Declan," she stepped back around the couch and sank down next to him once more, "I'm not going to lie. I'm not oblivious to whatever it is between us. But I just can't hide anymore. I've done it since I was twelve-years-old, since my dad died. And I'm done. I'm not going to...." She stopped and stuttered out a laugh. "I don't even know what it is you want here. To date?"

He leaned in and offered her small grin, even that small gesture making him too appealing for words. "Dating. For starters."

She held his eyes for several long seconds, and then she rubbed her palms on her pants. Looking down she wanted to plant her face in her palm. She'd be lying if she said she hadn't had a fantasy or two featuring Declan Cooper in the last two years. But never in her wildest imaginings had she pictured having him asking to date her while she was dressed in her raggediest sweats and her hair in two messy twists pinned to the back of her head.

"Define dating."

He lifted his hand palm up and then let it drop back down. "Dating. We hang out. We talk on the phone. Plot world domination. Maybe fool around a little."

He wiggled his eyebrows, but she wasn't ready to join the joke.

"How does dating work if you refuse to be seen in public with me? If we can't even hold hands walking across the quad?" She didn't give voice to the two thousand other questions racing through her mind: Did he really want to date her or was this all a ploy to get her to help him? Was he turning her into the butt of a joke between him and his friends? If she did say yes to a date, did he expect her to fall into bed with him? No doubt his past experience told him that's what dating meant.

And the one that seemed to be screaming loudest, much to her own disgust: While he was dating her, would he be "dating" anyone else?

"Harper, think about that question. You already have the answer."

She shook her head. Trying to push away the questions she'd left unspoken to remember what she'd actually asked. Dating. Being in public together. Right. How would she already have the answer to that?

She titled her head. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

"Holding hands in public. Does that really sound like something I'm afraid to do?"

She lifted a hand to rub her forehead. What the heck was he talking about? Holding her hand in public? She thought back over the women she'd seen him around campus with in the past. Nothing jumped to mind. In fact, she couldn't remember one time she'd seen him walking around holding someone's hand. She definitely would have noticed that.

Well, unless you counted the times he'd held her hand.

Her head snapped up, her lips parting.

"Ah, I can see the light's dawning." He leaned forward and grabbed her hand, enfolding it in his larger one and resting them on his thigh.

Her gaze followed their entwined hands and she realized how many times he'd done that in the last few days. Heck, Professor Costa had even commented on it. "You already hold my hand in public?"

"Yeah, Harper, I do."

"But you said you can't be seen in public with me. Why would you walk around holding my hand?" Her head throbbed.

"I didn't say I couldn't be seen with you. I just didn't want to have our picture taken together. And even that I don't mind if you and I are taking the pictures. I just won't risk having your picture being picked up by a national media outlet or some gossip rag."

"Oh."

"Does that clear things up for you?"

Did it? Maybe. A little. She bit her lip and stared at their hands resting on his thigh. Even through his jeans, she could feel the hard muscle and heat underneath. She wanted to turn her hand over and explore that heat and hardness.

She snatched her hand out of his grasp. What was wrong with her? She never thought about guys like this. She spent too many years aware of being called a slut and a whore behind her back. Hell, plenty of times it was said right to her face. Not to say she didn't have some fantasies, but in the past she tried to limit applying them to living, breathing guys.

"So when you said we'd have to be discreet, you didn't mean we couldn't go out at all?"

"No, just avoid giving the paparazzi a photo op." He shifted so he sat right beside her, lifting his black-booted feet to the coffee table. "Is there a reason I can't hold your hand here?

He turned his head and looked at her from under his lashes. His dark hair had that just rolled out of bed, totally sexy rumpled look, and a small, easy smile titled up the corners of his lips. But his dark eyes didn't look so easy.

His easy manner when she was feeling anything but easy about what was going on between them made her trust issues rise to the surface. But the myriad emotions swimming in his eyes gave her pause. It was only those emotions that made her decide to try out some honesty.

"I'm afraid," she said quietly.

"To hold my hand?"

She shook her head. "No...I mean, yes. To hold your hand. To trust you when you tell me you have feelings for me. I...I like you. But I liked you two years ago and that didn't turn out so well for me. And after the way your frat buddy treated me when I showed up at your house, I can't help but wonder if this is just...I don't know, some huge prank for you and your fraternity brothers to get your kicks."

He stayed exactly where he was so she guessed he wasn't too annoyed by her admission.

"I guess I can't blame you for feeling that way." He rubbed the bridge of his nose. "I just don't know how to convince you I mean it. I wasn't lying when I said I've never stopped being interested in you. But only you can decide if you're willing to give me the benefit of the doubt."

Was she? She probed his eyes, as if all the answers she wanted would somehow be revealed. She sighed and looked at her hands resting in her lap. It really came down to one thing--did she care for him enough to risk herself this one last time?

The answer came to her as clear as day.

Yes.

Tension she didn't know she felt eased out of her neck and shoulders. The answer was emphatically yes. It might be the stupidest thing she'd ever done. But what else did she have to lose?

Instead of telling him what she'd decided, she eased back into the couch, burrowing until her shoulder was pressed against his.

He smiled down at her. "Does this mean what I hope it means?"

She kept her own expression solemn. "It means I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. One last time."

His smiled deepened, but she went on before he had a chance to respond. "But Declan, I mean it. This is it. If I get even a hint this is a joke to you or feel like you're just using me, I'm done. For good. No more chances."

His face got equally serious. "That's more than I deserve. More than I hoped for."

She stared at him a moment and then nodded before she allowed a small smile to break through her solemnity. "So...we're dating?"

He sat up a little straighter and yawned, his mouth going wide. He lifted a hand to cover his mouth and then not so slickly slid it over and around her shoulders.

She rolled her eyes and giggled. "I never pegged you as being such a dork."