Page 156 of See You Maybe
A knock on the window had her shifting to the side, off his lap. Declan cracked the door open and accepted a bundle from the man outside.
“We will have a convoy of armored vehicles on the ground ready to meet you,” the man informed Declan.
Is this really my life? Olivia knew she should feel afraid. A car had literally blown up in her driveway, and there were conversations around her about how many men were necessary, and armored convoys...
She snorted, and then laughed harder when Declan looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “Did I break you?”
Another fit of giggles overtook her, but she shook her head, gasping for air. “No, I’m just thinking how absurd this whole thing is.”
Declan watched her for a long moment, and then grabbed the back of her neck, pulling her in for a rough kiss. When he finally lifted, she was gasping for air, and his eyes burned. “I think, with you by my side, I could take over the fucking world.”
Declan opened the bundle that had been handed to him and revealed a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. He pulled the hoodie over her head, and she lifted her hips to shimmy into the pants, wincing when the fabric rubbed against her cuts.
“What about you?” she asked, looking at his ruined suit.
“I have clothes on the plane.”
Declan insisted on cleaning and bandaging the cuts on her feet, before Olivia finally insisted he let the medic, who had just arrived, treat the injuries to Declan’s own legs.
At one point, someone handed Declan a phone, and he made call after call. Olivia only half listened, the image of his burning car in front of her. She could have lost him. Permanently. Her body shook, as the horror of how differently this morning could have ended played in front of her.
“I’m taking her to Connecticut. My estate there is secure.” Declan told someone before ending the call.
“We’re ready,” Rhodes said, appearing at their window.
When they left the car, Olivia was surprised by how stiff and sore her muscles felt. Placing Oscar in her arms, Declan scooped her up and carried them both to the plane.
“I can walk,” she muttered, looking at the thick socks he’d pulled over her bandaged feet.
“Let me,” was all Declan said, and she sighed, relaxing against his chest.
He placed her in a buttery soft, leather seat and buckled her belt around her. Oscar squirmed, wanting to get down, and she set him gently on the carpeted floor. He shook his bandaged paw twice, before seeming to accept the annoying inconvenience, and sniffed around the cabin.
Olivia leaned her head against the back of the seat as the engines whined to life.
“I’d make a comment about him peeing in my jet, but since Oscar saved my life, I’ll guess I’ll give him a pass.”
Once they were in the air, Declan disappeared to the back of the plane. When he returned, he wore black slacks and a soft gray sweater. He’d washed his face, and if not for the clotted cut above his eyebrow, Olivia could almost imagine nothing had happened.
“Still cold?” Declan asked, tucking one of the throw blankets around her legs before taking the seat next to her. Declan glanced at Oscar, curled up on a matching throw blanket on the seat across the aisle. They were alone in the cabin, a new security team waiting for them on the ground at their destination.
“Who was it?”
Declan didn’t pretend to misunderstand. “I don’t know.” His lips flattened. “And that bothers me. It feels too sophisticated to be your ex-husband or Alan Carrol. He was angry yesterday, but he wouldn’t have had time to arrange a bomb of that magnitude.”
Bomb. The word ricocheted through her head.
Declan came within seconds of dying. If Oscar hadn’t slipped out the door…
Unbuckling her seatbelt, she climbed over the armrest and straddled him.
“What are you doing?” Declan asked. His hands hovered over her back as she attacked his belt buckle.
“I need you.” Her voice was hoarse as his zipper loosened, and she slipped her hand into the front of his pants and wrapped her hand around him. Declan’s head tipped back with a groan as her fingers stroked over him.
Olivia could still smell the smoke in his hair, and it only made her more desperate. Her pulse raced, and she felt her eyes fill with tears. She needed to be as close to him as physically possible. Olivia’s lips swooped down and covered his lips with almost bruising force.
She could feel Declan’s hesitation, but her thumb brushed over the head of his erection, and like a switch had been flipped, he kissed her back with the same ferocity, his tongue sliding urgently over hers.