“Oh? That’s different,” I said.
“He is different,” Jason said.
“In a good way,” Amy added. “He’s a bit serious. But he’s respectful. Keeps to himself. He went to Afghanistan, you know. Story has it, he’s changed a lot. We’ve noticed it, haven’t we?” She looked at Jason who responded with a nod.
“He’s not married?” I asked.
“None of them are. Savanah has a different boy a month. Ethan’s a playboy, and Declan sees Cleo on and off, we think,” Amy said. “She’s here tonight. All over him. She’s a photographic model.”
That figures.
I glanced down at my watch. “I guess I should go in and help with clearing the table.”
“I’ll be there in a minute to help,” Amy said.
Just as I was stepping into the hallway, I nearly bumped into Declan and only just managed to avoid a collision.
“I’m so sorry.” An apologetic smile quivered on my lips.
Once again, his penetrating gaze paralysed me. He frowned as though trying to solve a puzzle.
My face burned and a dizzy sensation swept through me. No male had ever affected me like this. I’d never allowed myself to be charmed or become tongue-tied like my gushing girlfriends. That wasn’t me. At all. I don’t even think I blinked. I must have looked like a stunned rabbit in car lights.
Just as those sculptured, luscious lips parted to say something, his mother joined him.
“There you are. I need you to have a word with your father.” She glanced briefly at me.
Does she think I’m flirting with her billionaire son?
“One minute,” he said in a deep, resonant voice that made him seem even more powerful.
I wanted that job more than anything, so I scuttled away before falling into those aquamarine eyes again.
What was he about to say to me?
I entered the dining room where the conversation had grown a lot louder, and pushing a trolley along, I collected plates, looking down to avoid Declan, who at that moment was helping his very drunk father off his chair.
I loaded dishes with half-eaten lobster and all kinds of delicious untouched food that, had it been London, I would have taken home. That’s how I saved on grocery bills, by filling my bag with uneaten scraps.
But I’d already eaten what to me was a banquet of roast beef and veggies and a delicious apple pie dessert. Thanks to this new job’s generous conditions, my meals were provided for during my five-day- working hours.
And with that comforting thought warming my belly, I pushed aside nagging questions about the owner of those soul-piercing eyes and continued clearing the table.
As I leaned over to collect a dirty plate, one of the older guests groped my bottom. Jumping back, I gasped, and my teeth cut into my lip, close to drawing blood.
For some reason, I glanced over at Declan, who’d seen what had happened.
Before my next breath, which took a while to arrive, he pounced on the man, pulled the seat out, forcing Mr. Sleazebag to stagger to his feet.
The drunken guest lifted his arms up in protest. “I didn’t mean it. It was a slip of the hand.” He chuckled dismissively.
Having removed his blazer, Declan was all muscle, going on the rippling mounds clinging to his tailored shirt. I thought his muscular arms would burst through the fabric as he went into battle mode.
Sweat poured down my armpits.
What the fuck’s happening?
Even though I wanted to knock the prick’s teeth out myself, I had to play it cool.