Page 104 of Declan

“Around five your time,” I answered, wishing time would move faster. It’d only been two days since I’d seen Kyler, but it was two days too long. “Maybe we can have dinner at Chase’s Diner.”

The mention of the restaurant brought back memories of the first day me and Kyler had hung out. Fuck, I’d been so nervous that day, trying to fight my attraction for him but not being able to stay away, either.

“We can go in to eat this time?” Kyler asked with a smile in his voice.

His thoughts were in the same place as mine. Crazy to think how far we’d come in the last few months. When he’d met me, I’d been so close to the edge. So close to throwing in the towel. I’d hated my life and I’d hated the man I’d been even more.

“I guess I can do that.” I grinned “Not because I like you or anything, though.”

“Oh yeah? Well you seem to like my dick just fine.”

“Eh.” Hearing him scoff, I laughed. He knew damn well that I loved his dick. “Talk to you later, ‘kay?”

“Have a safe flight, Agent Pecs.”

I met Gideon outside the dressing room and walked with him to the parking lot. There was something I’d been meaning to talk to him about, but I wasn’t sure how to approach it.

“Do you like being a bodyguard?” I asked after we got into the car.

Gideon stopped what he was doing and turned to me. The sunglasses hid his eyes. Not that I could’ve gotten a decent read on him even if I’d seen them.

“For you? Yeah.” He put the key in the ignition and clicked on his seatbelt. “Why? You thinking of kicking me to the curb, hotshot?”

“Not in a million years,” I answered with a light laugh. “I just know I take up most of your time. If you ever wanted to cut back hours or quit or something, I’d understand.”

“I have a life outside of taking care of your ass, Price,” he said, backing out of the parking spot. “Believe me. I’m good.”

His answer set my curiosity ablaze. I wanted to ask about his personal life. I didn’t, though, out of respect for our work relationship.

My flight wasn’t for a few hours, so I decided to stop in and see Dr. Warren while I was in LA. Mostly to talk about how I was coping with all the attention and express some of my concerns about the future. Not big concerns; just anxiety about the unknown.

Dr. Warren listened as I rambled about my worries. He said any kind of life change was difficult to process at first—a new job, moving to a new place, or having a new relationship. The newness of it was both exciting and scary, and it was normal to fret over something going wrong when you were finally happy.

Like Kyler had said the week before, though, the hard part was over.

Now, I could just beme.

I deserved love. Therapy had helped me realize that, but so had Kyler. As each day passed, I was learning to love myself a bit more. Learning to feel comfortable in my own skin.