Declan casually leaned against his car with his arms crossed over his chest as he raised a brow at the sight of Nora’s twin brothers standing behind her.
“They’re not coming with us, are they?” Declan asked.
Nora simply glanced at her brothers as well. They both wore expressionless faces but their eyes glared coldly at Declan.
In the end, Nora agreed to Declan’s date—part because she did indeed need to go shopping for the charity dinner and part because of guilt. No matter how much she searched, the ring was gone. She even had Erika and Grant help search for it too, but it was permanently gone.
Fifty thousand dollars down the drain.
Besides, by the way he described the date, Nora had a feeling it was really just a way to have her tagalong to prepare for the charity dinner with Dr. Silverz.
“What?” Ace said in a curious voice. “We can’t?”
Declan pushed himself off his car and stood up straight. “Your sister and I are going on a date. We don’t have the time to chaperone two kids.”
Dane clicked his tongue before he took a fearless step towards the larger man. “Do you seriously think we’d let Nora go out with you alone? Who knows what’ll happen this time?”
Nora blushed and elbowed her youngest brother in the ribcage, but he didn’t even budge. Unlike Nora—who took after her small-framed mother—Ace and Dane took after their father, a large man with genetics men would kill for.
Sometimes Nora wished she could’ve taken after their father as well, but she reminded herself and her brothers of their mother. In each child was a little piece of their parents, and Nora was grateful for that.
“Nothing’s going to happen,” Nora said firmly before she turned around and glared at her brothers. “It’s just a little shopping trip. And you two are not going with me. You have to wake up early for school tomorrow!”
Dane scoffed. “We’ve stayed up later than this and still made it on time to school the next morning.”
“You don’t want us to go?” Ace asked. “So this really is a date, huh?”
“No, it’s not.” Nora sighed. “Look, I’ll be fine. You guys don’t trust me?”
“We trust you…” Dane gave Declan a pointed glare. “It’s that guy we don’t trust.”
Declan smirked. “And I suggest you continue to not trust me. I do plan on taking your sister for myself, after all.”
Nora closed her eyes and internally cringed. Declan wasn’t making the situation any better and simply continued to egg on her brothers purposely.
“That’s it,” Dane said with a sneer. “We’re going!”
>>>>><<<<<
“What the hell kind of dress is appropriate for a charity dinner anyway?” Dane asked as he stared at the assortment of dresses with furrowed brows.
“Who cares? It just has to look good on Nora,” Ace said with a dry tone before he spotted a dress on display. “I like that blue one.”
“Green,” Dane argued before he turned to the employee who stood at the side, waiting for their suggestions so she could find an ideal dress for Nora to try on. “Get green ones.”
“Blue.”
“Green.”
“Blue.”
“Gree—!”
“Champagne,” Declan cut them off. “And that’s final.”
Nora’s brothers sent Declan a dirty look before they finally ceased their arguing and the employee rushed off to find dresses.
“Aren’t you guys going to prom this year?” Nora asked. “This is the perfect chance to find a decent tux.”
“It’s the beginning of the school year, Nora,” Dane said flatly. “We have plenty of time to think about that crap later…if we decide to go.”
“It’s your final year in high school! You should take the opportunity to attend at least one school dance. And prom just so happens to be the biggest one!”
Declan observed the siblings as they continued to speak casually, as if they weren’t in the middle of the most famous and most expensive boutique in the city. He should’ve known better than to expect Nora to be impressed. In fact, she probably didn’t even know such details in the first place. All she cared about was finding a dress and spending time with her brothers.
Around her twin brothers, she always flashed a gentle smile. But in front of Declan, she held herself back and became reserved. It both amused and annoyed him. He and Nora weren’t strangers. They had a child together for God’s sake! Though the circumstances weren’t exactly planned, that didn’t mean Nora had to treat him as if he was a stranger—something she did far too often.
Especially since he was the one who brought her out here in the first place.
The employee of the boutique quickly came back with a rack of dresses that fit their criteria—long, not too lacy, limited amount of sequins, and champagne colored. Nora excused the worker and they were left on their own.
“They all look the same,” Ace said as he took out one and stared at it.
“That’s the point,” Nora snatched the dress from her brother’s hand and walked behind the curtain and began to change.
The curtain didn’t reach the floor, so Declan was able to see to the middle of her calves. Her slender legs stirred his memories and he remembered how her thin ankles rested on his shoulders. He wanted to bit the small tendon there, but the next moment, she had crossed them behind his lower back, urging him further on.
Declan raised a hand to his mouth and growled into it, trying to gain his sanity back. Good thing he stood at the back, or else her brothers would see him and immediately know what he was thinking about.
However, they were distracted by Nora and waited until she finished changing.
After she finished, she stepped out and showed her brothers—and Declan—the dress she tried on.
It had sleeves, but the material was see-through, exposing both her arms and shoulders. The dress flared from her hips and reached to the floor. Declan liked it. What he didn’t initially realize though was that the back was also see-through, exposing her entire spine to all eyes.
Even worse, the dress wasn’t buttoned all the way since she couldn’t possibly reach the buttons herself on the back.
Nora held the dress to her chest and turned around so Ace could do up the buttons instead. Declan’s eyes nearly popped out when he realized that she wasn’t wearing a bra. Neither of her brothers noticed. Even if they did, they didn’t mention anything. Not like such information would make them care anyway.
The back looked exquisite, but Declan could only imagine what the front looked like underneath the dress. No. He knew what the front looked like, but he just wanted a reminder.
If Nora’s brothers hadn’t been here, he would’ve already shoved her into the dressing room once more and had his way with her again. They helped keep him in check. Perhaps having them here was beneficial after all. Perhaps.
Once the buttons were done, Nora turned around and placed her hands on her hips.
“Well? How does it look?”
Ace and Dane stared at her with blank and bored expressions.
Even though they were seniors in high school now, Declan realized that they had absolutely no tact when it came to women—including towards their sister.
“Beautiful,” he said, filling the silence and the three of them turned to look at him. “You look beautiful, Nora.”
Her brothers glared at Declan, but he ignored their sharp looks and focused his gaze solely on the woman in front of him. Nora’s eyes widened, surprised that he actually gave her a compliment that sounded genuine.
“Should we leave then?” she asked.
“Try on a few more,” he said. “Maybe you’ll find one you like better.”
Nora pursed her lips and nodded before she took his suggestion. She took one of the dresses off the rack and entered the dressing room again. Ace and Dane shot knives at Declan, knowing their sister wouldn’t see to stop them.
Even though his date with Nora was ruined by a third and even fourth wheel, Declan still had fun teasing her younger brothers. They were so young, and thus, so easy to provoke. He could give her one look and they’d pounce as if he had slept with her…again.
“What’s the party you guys are going to for anyway?” Dane asked.
“It’s a charity dinner to help raise awareness to support and fund animal shelters,” Declan answered.
The twins exchanged glances before the older asked, “Are we allowed to go too?”
“No.”
“Why do you guys want to go?” Nora asked from inside the dressing room.
“Maybe we just want to go,” Dane muttered.
“Well…” Nora stepped out with another dress on. “You can’t. The dinner’s going to run late and I don’t want to put you in awkward situations with adults.”
“This dress looks exactly the same as the previous one,” Ace said blandly.
Nora turned around and looked at herself in the mirror. “Really? I prefer the first one. Besides, this material feels scratchier, so I don’t think I’d enjoy wearing this for a whole night.”
God, so many missed opportunities for Declan. If only her brothers weren’t here.
“Regardless, I’m going to try on some more.” When the twins groaned loudly, Nora simply laughed. “Oh, stop it. I rarely get a chance to go shopping for myself. You guys were the ones who wanted to come along.”
“Yeah, but we didn’t know you’d take this long,” Dane sighed.
“I’m on my second dress!” Nora laughed incredulously before she entered the dressing room with a new dress in hand.
Even though Ace and Dane complained, the two of them shared a smirk of amusement with each other. Their interactions reminded him an awful lot of him and Heath, his younger brother.
To others, they looked like real brothers since they both took after their father, Logan Bishop. However, they had different mothers. Declan only ever had one mother though—Ava. She was the woman he looked up to and he never knew who his real mother was. Declan never cared to look for her anyway.
Ava raised him since he was a toddler, and she gave him all the motherly love he ever needed.
Nora stepped out from behind the curtain with the new dress on. It was strapless and there was a slit up the side of her leg to the middle of her thigh. The dress opened into a deep V in between her breasts as well, exposing their curves beautifully. Any sane man would realize that Nora’s breasts were the perfect shapes and sizes to fit into his palms.
“No,” all three men spoke at the same time.
A surprised laugh sputtered from Nora’s lips at their simultaneous response. Without a single word and simply a smile on her lips, she walked to the rack and picked another dress to try on before disappearing behind the curtain of the changing room once more.
Declan released a heavy sigh he didn’t realize he was holding in. When he looked at the twins, he saw them giving him an accusatory look.
“Can’t have random bastards eyeing our sister with that dress on,” Dane muttered before he and Ace turned their backs to Declan once again.
They treated him as if he was some sort of pervert on the street. Declan wanted to laugh, but was conflicted on whether to feel offended at the same time or not.
>>>>><<<<<
In the end, Nora chose the first dress she tried on. Her brothers complained that there had been no point in her trying out the dresses after that one, but she enjoyed her time of dress up. Ace and Dane had previously gone shopping with her before, and they always complained that she took too long. But they always accompanied her again the next time she went.
Though they whined and complained, they still went with her, regardless.
Afterwards, Declan told Nora to pick shoes that would go along with the dress, along with accessories—which was also sold in the boutique they were in.
Since Nora was fairly short compared to Declan—and he was going to be accompanying her to the charity dinner—she decided to buy a pair of shoes that gave her a generous amount of leverage height-wise.
She decided on champagne-colored five-inch heels. As for the accessories, she allowed Declan to help choose since she didn’t wear much jewelry and didn’t know what would go well with her dress.
By the time they finished shopping for everything, it was nearly ten. Nora wanted to quickly get things over with so she could go home and rest for the night.
Just as Nora reached to take out her credit card to pay, Declan stopped her with his hand and quickly handed his own card to the employee. She quickly rushed away to pay while Nora gawked at Declan.
“What are you doing?”
He glanced at her. “Paying for the expenses, of course.”
“I don’t want to have to owe you even more money, Declan! Who knows how much this will cost, piled atop the fifty thousand I already owe you?”
“Whoa! Wait a minute! You owe him fifty grand?” Dane asked with wide eyes. “Since when? Because of what?”
Nora sighed through her clenched teeth before she turned to Declan. He stared down at her curiously, but his eyes shot wide open when she reached into his back pocket. His whole body stiffened from shock as she massaged his butt cheek.
No. Wait. There wasn’t any ass fondling going on.
She pulled back with his car keys in her hand. Then she tossed them to Ace. He easily caught it with one hand and stared at it in confusion.
“Go wait in the car.”
“Why?” he asked.
“Just go.”
Ace and Dane stared at their older sister with flat looks for a few seconds, but they eventually listened to her and walked off. Dane grumbled something they couldn’t hear under his breath before they exited the store.
“Your brothers are surprisingly obedient,” Declan said genuinely.
He and Heath never listened that efficiently to their own mother. He could only imagine how crazy they’d drive their older sister, if they ever had one.
Nora opened her mouth to say something, but she quickly snapped it shut when the employee came back with Declan’s card. She said her appreciation and told them to wait as they bagged the products bought before she walked away again.
Declan waited for Nora to say something, but she remained silent. He tilted his head to get a better look of her face and saw that she had puffed her cheeks and pursed her lips.
“…anks.”
“What?”
She shot him a look before fully facing him. “I said thanks.”
His eyes widened from her blunt appreciation.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t expecting the possibility that you’d volunteer to pay for me. After all, you were the one who drove me here in the first place.”
Declan suddenly had the urge to kiss her and take in all of her reluctant honesty. How could this woman be so cute? He described women as beautiful, sexy, mature—never cute. But that was the exact word to describe the woman pouting in front of him, declaring her bitter gratitude.
“So instead I’ll say thank you. And I’ll make sure to pay you back every last cent I owe you.”
“You owe me nothing, Nora. Just consider it a present from the father of your child.”
She narrowed her eyes.
“That doesn’t mean anything.”
“Are you sure? So you’d fondle any man’s butt just to grab a pair of keys?”
To his relief, Nora blushed, but she did her best to act as if she hadn’t.
“We’re not strangers to each other’s bodies. As the mother of your child, it shouldn’t matter if I touch you a little, should it?” she threw his words right back at him.
“No. Just as it shouldn’t matter if I kiss you a little.”
Nora nodded, glad that he agreed. Then she stiffened and looked at him with furrowed brows.
“Wait, wha—?”
Declan leaned down and silenced her. Nora brought up her hands to shove him away, but he held them firmly to his chest. He kept her hands immobile, but her body close enough to deepen the kiss. He sighed against her lips just as Nora gasped for breath.
Before she could recover, he kissed her again, slipping his tongue into her mouth. She swallowed and a small noise rumbled from the back of her throat. The pressure of those two combinations on his tongue nearly undid him right there in the middle of the boutique.
He immediately pulled back before that could happen and stared down at Nora. Her eyes were closed and her lashes flared out against her flushed cheeks. Her lips were also as red as strawberries, and he suddenly wanted another taste.
Nora’s eyes shot open before he could do so though and she immediately pushed him away. This time, he allowed it. She glanced at the employees and Declan did as well to see that they were acting as if they hadn’t seen.
But they definitely had.
“I’ll take that as the payment for today,” Declan said before he walked to the front desk, where they had Nora’s items bagged and ready. “Let’s take you home.”
He could wait for another day to bring up the topic of their marriage again. After all, kissing Nora and having her respond was an accomplishment in of itself.