Fighter's Kiss: An enemies-to-lovers MMA romance (Irish Kiss Book 3), page 14
Declan
The Merrion Hotel had a gnat problem and its name was Seamus Barry Flanagan.
In the hallway of the top floor of the Merrion Hotel beneath the row of crystal chandeliers, he buzzed around me despite how many times I shooed him away.
“Alright, so Tina and Patrick from Nike will be sitting at table six.” He spoke as quickly as the flutter of a fly’s wings as he flipped through page after page on his clipboard. “Bollocks, you and River are at table five, but maybe if you arrange your seats you can butt up against them and—”
“I’m not listening, Seamus.”
“Yeah, yeah, that could work.” It was obvious Seamus hadn’t even heard me as he studied the layout of the ballroom, red pen held between his lips just beneath his bristling mustache. “Snag seats on the east side of the table. South would be alright. Definitely not the north. Jaysus, that would be disastrous. Did you get that?”
Leaning against the brocade wallpaper just outside the girl’s hotel room, I tugged at the collar of my starched white shirt. I hated these fucking suits. Always have. They were always too tight. Always too uncomfortable. Always just a little…off, like they belonged to someone else and not me.
“Declan?”
The gnat was back. I’d really have to inform the desk downstairs about their pest issue. It was getting out of hand.
“Declan? Hello?” Seamus circled around to shove his face up toward mine. “Did you hear me?”
“Yes, yes,” I grumbled irritably. “North side of the table.”
It took every ounce of strength to keep from grinning as Seamus exploded into an aggravated flurry of movement.
“East side, Declan!” he shouted as he flung his clipboard into the air. “Jaysus me fuck, east!”
I held up my hands, suit jacket already pulling at the seams. “Eh, eh, easy man, okay? I heard you, alright? I heard you.”
Seamus exhaled shakily to calm himself before he burst that pulsing blood vessel in his forehead. He leaned down to retrieve his clipboard from the plush hotel carpet and dragged a hand through his hair. “Sorry, sorry.” He sighed. “It’s just there’s a lot riding on tonight, and I really need you on your best behaviour; no messing around, right? It is imperative to snag some sponsors before your return fight.”
I clamped a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “Relax, man,” I said as I shook him a little. “I’ve got it, okay?”
Seamus sighed again. “Alright, alright.”
“Relax.”
He nodded. “Yeah, yeah, you’re right.”
The corner of my lip quirked up despite how hard I tried to stop it this time. “North side.”
“Motherfucking Christ!” Seamus exploded into another tirade in the hallway, but at that exact moment the girl’s door opened. “Motherfucker, motherf—”
Despite the wildly waving arms and frustrated pacing, I heard nothing more of Seamus when I saw her. I was transported out of the hallway, far from the hotel, away from Dublin, away from streetlights, away from cars and noise and concrete. She swept into the hallway and I was swept into a meadow of wildflowers in a small grove of delicate aspens alight with a full, bright moon overhead.
I could smell the intoxicating jasmine, primrose, and lily of the valley as she smiled at me from down the hall. The dress was unlike anything I’d seen in the windows of the city’s shops. A mesh the colour of the deepest port wine grazed her clavicle and hugged her arms down to her petite wrist bones. Etched all across it were little flowers with purple sequins that flashed like drops of dew in the hazy, warm midnight. The flowy, delicate skirt swept like a cool breeze to her feet.
Her hair was pulled up with soft curls falling down like gentle wisps to frame her makeup-free face. The twinkle of her eyes and the natural blush of her cheeks couldn’t be achieved by even the most expensive products in the city.
She was fully and entirely herself. She would bring sunlight to any dimly lit ballroom, soft moss to any hard, cold marble floor. To any crowd of women drenched in exorbitantly priced perfumes stinking of fake flowers…she would bring the scent of velvet petals bathed in starlight.
“Declan, are you even listening to me?” Seamus hissed.
I didn’t even look toward him when I answered, “No.” Without waiting for his response, I approached the girl, whose eyes quivered with nervousness as she searched my face.
She fidgeted with the delicate lace hem of her sleeve. “I wasn’t sure if this would be appropriate,” she started, mumbling quickly as her nerves took over. “I mean, I can put on some mascara, I guess. There’s a straightener in there if you think I need to straighten my hair or maybe the dress isn’t right. Maybe it’s too much. Maybe I should change. Maybe this isn’t a good id—”
“No.”
The girl blinked up at me. “No?”
I swallowed heavily, suddenly finding it hard to breathe. “No,” I managed to breathe out.
Her eyelashes fluttered innocently as she waited in anticipation. “No what?” she whispered.
Why couldn’t I breathe? What was wrong with me?
“No,” I repeated, voice low. “Don’t you fucking dare go back into that room.”
I noticed a little flutter of her chest like a butterfly, and her perfect lips pulled up into the sweetest smile I’d ever seen. She was beautiful, absolutely beautiful. I wanted to study every inch of her, from head to toe. I wanted to trace every petal on every flower of her dress even if it took till the early hours of the morning when dawn stretched its golden arms above the slumbering city. I wanted to—
“Limo’s here.”
I turned around to find Seamus waving at us from down the hallway.
“We’ve got to go.”
My heart beat faster than it ever had before, even the biggest of fights, as I reached for the girl’s hand. I felt her pulse in her small, soft fingers and found it easily matched mine. Her green eyes watched me as I guided her hand under my elbow and onto my arm. Her fingers hesitated slightly, hovering over the fine silk of my suit as she looked up into my eyes. I knew what she wanted to see—she wanted to see if she could trust me.
Looking down into her eyes, I brushed my thumb along her wrist bone and held back a smile as her hand came to finally rest comfortably on my arm.
“Ready?” I asked, close enough to her that I could make out light freckles dotting her nose.
She smiled and nodded. “Ready.”
With the girl on my arm, we walked together down the hall, and it felt right. In every way that the suit felt wrong, this—this—felt right.
Annoyingly, the gnat managed to follow us into the elevator. He was again flipping through his clipboard, and it was pissing me off because all I wanted to hear was the girl’s quickened breath as I held her arm tighter to my side.
“So I haven’t talked to you about the reps from Optimum Nutrition who are going to be there tonight yet,” Seamus droned on. “Protein powder is where the money is, so we really need to make those guys like you. Which, as you know, will be quite a challenge for you and your lovely personality.”
I rolled my eyes as the lights flashed on each floor as we descended.
“It would be best if I could sit next to you on the ride over to discuss this, Declan,” he continued. “So River, dear, you’ll sit up front in the limo and I’ll—”
“Seamus, you’re in front,” I ordered as the elevator doors opened with ding. “River sits with me.”
River
I’d always wanted to see Dublin, the narrow cobblestone streets, the ornate old-fashioned streetlamps, the cosy, bustling corner pubs, and it was all right there just outside my window in the limo, but I barely caught a glimpse of any of it.
I spent most of the drive through the busy city streets staring at the black screen dividing Seamus and the chauffeur in the front from Declan and me in the back. I would stare at it and stare at it, telling myself…
Don’t look.
Don’t look.
Don’t look.
Until, dammit, I couldn’t fight the temptation any longer. I’d glance over at Declan, quickly looking away before he caught me. Then I would go back to staring at the black screen in the back of the limo, promising myself that was the last time.
Until the next time…
And the next time…
And the next time…
It wasn’t my fault really, the fact that I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He just looked so damn beautiful in his black suit. If Declan, in that suit, climbed out of the water or stood on top of some skyscraper on my television screen and told me to buy some overpriced cologne, I would have done it. And I wasn’t even a man.
I just wanted to look at him. As I stared at the black screen again, I cursed myself for not bringing my camera along. If anything needed to be captured on film, it was Declan.
It didn’t help that despite the fact that there was more than enough room in the back seat of the limo for space between us, we sat pressed up tight to one another as if there were ten other people squished in next to us. It made my body burn, his thigh against mine, and I should have scooted over. The feelings it was giving me were not appropriate boss/employee feelings. I didn’t want to scoot over.
I wanted more. More touching. More closeness. More heat.
More, more, more.
I was reaching for a bottle of water to cool myself off when the driver announced through an intercom system, “Sir, we’ll be arriving in just a minute or two.”
Gulping down the water, I wiped my sweaty palms against my dress as nerves started to make me fidget even more. “I’m gonna trip,” I blurted out suddenly, unable to contain myself.
Declan turned to look at me, his piercing blue eyes twinkling in amusement. “What?”
I twisted a curl nervously around my finger. “I am totally going to trip,” I repeated. “What happens if I trip on the red carpet?”
Declan hesitated a moment before answering. “You won’t trip.”
“But what if I do?”
“You won’t.”
“But—”
“You won’t.” Declan laughed. “You won’t.”
I wasn’t entirely convinced as I eyed the long hem of my skirt gathered around my ankles. Definitely a tripping hazard. No doubt about it. “But what if I do trip and I drag you down with me? Right there on the red carpet in front of everyone.”
Declan chuckled. “You’re not going to trip and you’re not going to drag us both down.”
I chewed at my bottom lip nervously. “Is there anything special I should do?” I asked, mind whirling. “I’ve never walked a red carpet before.”
Declan shrugged. “Smile?”
I frowned. “Are you going to smile?”
“No.”
“Why?”
Declan pondered this. “Because I don’t smile.”
I glanced over at him. “You should smile.”
“I’m not going to smile,” he said firmly.
I grinned. “You might like it.”
Declan shook his head. “I definitely won’t.”
“You might.”
Declan rolled his eyes and sighed. “I’m not smiling.”
I winked at him. “We’ll see.” I was silent for a moment as I imagined what the night would be like. But then another question popped into my head and I asked it before thinking, like the biggest friggin’ idiot ever, “Is Dominic going to be there? Is Gis—” I clamped a hand over my mouth and whispered, “Sorry.”
Declan shook his head. “Don’t be. I shouldn’t let her have that kind of control over me. She…” Declan paused, “Giselle won’t be there tonight. She and Dominic are on vacation in the Amalfi coast celebrating his last MMA win.”
Well, at least that was a relief.
“We’re here, sir,” the chauffeur announced moments later.
Already, outside I could hear a large crowd of people, and I shrank back into my seat. “Maybe this isn’t a very good idea,” I whispered, hearing the chauffeur’s door open.
He’d be opening ours any second. The shouting and cheering outside only grew louder. I needed to get out of there. I needed to leave. I—
“River.” Declan laid his hand on my arm and my wild, nervous eyes found his. “I’ll catch you.”
We stared into each other’s eyes.
He squeezed my arm gently. “If you trip and fall, I’ll catch you.”
“And if I drag you down with me?” I whispered.
He smiled softly. “Then we go down together.”
The cheering and shouting, dulled by the frame of the car, exploded as the chauffeur opened the door.
Declan climbed out of the limo first. He reached back a hand for me to take that I barely saw over the blinding flash of dozens of cameras.
I blocked the glare with one hand as I took Declan’s with the other. He guided me out of the car and I wobbled before he immediately pulled me in tight to his side. People shouted his name as we started down the red carpet: kids calling for his autograph, reporters bellowing out questions, fans cheering.
“Who’s the pretty lady?” one man shouted, shoving a microphone at Declan.
Declan kept walking as if he hadn’t even seen him.
“New girl, Gallagher?” asked another.
“What’s your name, sugar?”
I flinched away from a reporter with a recording device held out to me. All it took was one glare from Declan and he slinked back into the crowd as we continued on.
It was chaos, and if it hadn’t been for Declan’s protective arm around me, I would have turned right around and climbed back into the limo. I think Declan sensed my discomfort because he traced little circles on my arm that nobody but I would have ever noticed. It surprised me, that kind, soft, gentle gesture. Declan was all rough edges and scowls.
Or at least that’s what everyone thought. I was starting to believe that there was something more under all that gruffness and all those intimidating muscles. I just wasn’t sure why he wouldn’t want anyone to see it.
As we were making our way down the red carpet, a particularly loud voice rose above the rest.
“You’re a has-been, Gallagher.”
I couldn’t help but look over my shoulder and search the throng of people for the source of the heckling, finding a man with a dingy baseball hat pulled over his eyes.
“Ignore it,” I heard Declan whisper in my ear.
We took a few more steps and again, the voice shouted over the crowd.
“Washed up piece of shite.”
I whirled around, escaping Declan’s arm, and pointed at the man in the baseball cap. “Instead of demeaning other human beings you don’t know even the first thing about, why don’t you go buy a bar of soap and wash up, you piece of shi—”
“Woah, woah!” Declan’s arms were around me, pulling me away from the heckler.
I tried to push away from him to go back and finish my business with that asshole, but Declan’s strong arms pulled me into a hug.
“Easy, easy,” he whispered against my hair, laughter in his voice as I struggled against him. “Easy, fighter.”
“No,” I growled, frustrated I couldn’t free myself. “That’s not right that he says that and he has no idea what you’ve gone through and—”
“I know, I know.” Declan held my head tight to his chest.
I could tell he was smiling, amused at my outburst. I’d gone through enough of his mail. Apparently, the sheer mountain of hate mail had started to affect me—the fan mail, marriage proposals, and unrequested naked pictures were an entirely different matter. The Declan the media knew was not the Declan I knew. It wasn’t fair how people treated him.
“It’s not right,” I protested.
“Hey, hey.” Declan lifted his chin so I could see him. “Watch, okay?”
I frowned.
“Just watch. Don’t go attacking people while I’m gone, alright?”
“Fine,” I said as I rolled my eyes.
Declan grinned and strode to a section of young kids clinging to the barrier, waving posters and pens to get autographs. Declan greeted them, chatted, and signed their posters before returning back to me. “Those are the only voices I care about,” he said, wrapping his arm around me again. “The rest I just ignore.”
“I don’t get how you can,” I admitted.
I’d found new respect for Declan tonight. What he did seemed impossible to me. Such a bright spotlight, such a high level of judgement always focused on him.
“I pretend I’m in the cage,” he explained as we walked farther through the crowd along the red carpet. “All these lights are gone and it’s just me and the cage.”
I was silent for a moment. And then I looked up at him. “Can I be in the cage with you?”
Declan stopped. “Just you and me?”
I nodded.
A small smile tugged up the corners of his lips. “You and me,” he said. “We’ll pretend it’s just you and me.”
I grinned. “You and me.”
Declan smiled down at me.
My eyes suddenly widened and I pointed up at him. “You’re smiling!”
Declan’s smile immediately disappeared. “No.”
“You were!” I laughed. “I told you that you would.”
Declan laughed and shook his head. “Nope, wasn’t smiling at all.”
But as he looked down into my eyes, a small smile was on his lips. And it stayed there as we gazed into each other’s eyes amongst the cheering and flashing of cameras.
“You and me,” I whispered.
Declan’s face moved in closer to mine and my heart leaped in my chest. “You and—”
He didn’t finish his sentence because someone called his name.
A female.
Declan
Some words are a slap in the face. Some catch you by surprise with a pop to your jaw from your blind side…leave your eye bruised and bloodied like a strong left hook.
Some words are a caress. Some brush against your cheek like the tenderest of touches. Or cause your eyes to flutter peacefully shut as you breathe in deeply and sigh contently, perfectly contently.
