Sydney Landon - Fighting For You

Beth groaned, Claire chuckled and Ella tried tapping her feet together under the table and telling herself, there’s no place like home . . . there’s no place like home. Dorothy must have been a liar because that had yet to work for her.

“Don’t sweat it,” Suzy continued, “You have us and we won’t let you suck in bed. Well . . .”

“Stop!” Beth and Claire both begged.

“Please don’t go any further with that statement.” Claire shifted toward Ella and said, “What Suzy is trying to say is that we’re all here for you if you need advice on anything. You shouldn’t worry about it though because it just comes naturally when you’re ready. But Suzy is right, you are very lucky that it’s a man like Declan. That’s bound to make it much more memorable than my first time.”

Ella looked gratefully at each of her friends in turn, even Suzy. “Thanks so much, you guys. I never really had many close friends growing up. My parents scared most of them away.”

“Yeah,” Beth laughed, “We know where you’re coming from there. By the way, speaking of friends, have any of you met Emma Davis? She’s Brant’s assistant.”

“Ugh,” Suzy groaned, “That must be a rough gig. Gray invited him over for drinks a few weeks ago and I thought my eyes would glaze over before he left. You would just expect someone that hot to be more interesting. He might look like Declan, but the man is a bore. I tried to inject some humor a few times to liven things up, and he looked at me like I was from another planet.”

“That’s pretty much what Emma says about him,” Beth nodded. “Anyway, I thought we could ask her to lunch one day. We talked a few times, and she doesn’t know anyone else at the office. The poor girl probably needs some comic relief to get through the day.”

“Come on, guys,” Claire said, “He’s not that bad. I admit, he seems to be all business, but Jason and Gray both like him.”

Continuing with her theory that sex solved everything, Suzy deadpanned, “Maybe he just needs to get laid. He could be going through a dry spell since he relocated here. He probably put his last few dates in a coma before dinner was over. If Emma wants a better boss, she should hire him a hooker or something.”

Ella giggled. Leave it to Suzy to think you could solve any problem by hiring a hooker. As uncomfortable as the conversations could get sometimes, especially when she was in the hot seat, she still loved her time with the girls. She had no doubt that the women at that table could take over the world if they set their minds to it.

Declan was nervous, and it was a feeling he hadn’t had in a long time. Even with hell breaking loose all around him in Afghanistan, he had never been nervous. He always lived his life by the motto, if you have a job to do, you do it . Somehow doing something as normal as a date seemed like a daunting task. The last date he had gone on was before joining the military. Since then, rather than dating, it was more like scratching an itch when his body demanded it. He wasn’t particularly proud of the fact that he didn’t remember many names of the women he had scratched that itch with.

Ella though, deserved better. A better man would have never started this with her, but now that he had, he intended to see where it went. If that meant feeling like a damn teenager on his first date, then so be it. He had been in meetings out of the office all day and hadn’t seen her since the night before. He had called briefly to confirm their plans for the evening, half afraid that she had changed her mind, but the happiness in her voice had reassured him that she wasn’t having second thoughts.

He still didn’t know how the hell he had ended up at her door. After talking to Nick at the office, the idea had taken root. Why should he give Ella the green light to date another man when he wanted her and she wanted him? If she was that determined to get some experience, then shouldn’t it be from someone who actually cared about her? The thought of another man putting his hands on her had been more than he could stomach. She was wildly eager and responsive for someone so innocent and he had no idea how he was going to control himself with her. Dating was probably the only thing that would save him because if they were alone for any time at all, he would have his hands all over her feminine curves.

Declan tensed as a knock sounded at the door of his apartment. Glancing at his watch in impatience, he noted that he only had about fifteen minutes before he had to leave to pick up Ella. When he saw Brant standing on the other side, he cursed silently. His older brother was constantly trying to bring what was left of their family together. He wished he would save all of his attention for their sister and leave him for the lost cause that he was.

Swinging the door open, Declan motioned him inside before shutting it behind him.

It was ironic that even though Declan had turned down a position working in the family business, he still ended up working with his brother and sister at Danvers. Stone Electronics manufactured a component that Danvers International used and Jason Danvers had been very interested in acquiring the small, but solid, company as a part of his company’s expansion. Gray and Nick Merimon had come on board at Danvers when Jason also acquired their company, Mericom. Declan thought that Brant and Ava were relieved not to be running the company on a daily basis any longer. Jason had kept the siblings on in vice-president roles since Danvers remained short staffed after its explosive growth and because they were damn good at their jobs. Declan’s grandfather, who started the company, would probably have another heart attack if he knew the company was no longer family owned.

He was surprised to see his brother looking visibly ruffled. “What’s up, Brant?”

“Do you have the folder for the Reynolds contract?”

Giving his brother a puzzled look, Declan asked, “Why would I? That’s your baby.”

“Yeah, no shit, but my new assistant has all of my paperwork fucked up. Did she pull the Myers file for you?” Declan nodded his head. “Where is it? I looked on your desk, but didn’t see it.”

“It’s in my briefcase. I grabbed it on my way out this morning, to thumb through later.”

“Can you look and see what you have? I think she mixed up the files and I’m flying out tonight to meet with Reynolds tomorrow.”

Declan rolled his eyes and walked over to his briefcase. Sure enough, when he sorted through the stack, he found the missing file. He almost felt sorry for the woman who had made the mistake. His brother was a perfectionist and would lose sleep over something like this for days. “So, what is this, like the third assistant to bite the dust since you’ve been at Danvers?”

Brant looked at him in surprise. “I’m not firing Emma over this. I’m not happy about it, and she will know it, but I don’t think it warrants termination.”

Now Declan was the one looking at Brant with a surprised expression. “Emma, huh? I’ve never heard you call one of your assistants by her first name. Maybe I need to come up for a visit and meet the famous Emma.”

“Screw off and stick to your own damn office.” Seeing Declan look at his watch again, he asked, “Were you going out?”

Declan shifted uncomfortably, “Yeah, I have plans soon. I’ll walk down with you.”

Seeming much too interested, Brant asked, “What kind of plans? Is there someone left in Myrtle Beach that you haven’t bedded yet?”

Declan slammed the door shut behind them and flipped off his brother. “Very funny. Don’t you have somewhere to be? I’d recommend going to the airport early, just in case your assistant booked you the wrong flight as well.” With a smile of satisfaction, Declan saw his brother’s face go white and he took off for his car at a fast clip. Declan laughed, unlocked his Porsche Cayman, and settled in the driver’s seat. It might be a bit of a stereotype, but he loved his car. Of course, he also owned a truck. Sports cars didn’t make that much sense other than the rush you felt when driving them. He was also pretty sure that if Ella wore one of those dresses that she usually wore, the odds were good that he might get an eyeful of leg when he helped her out of the low-slung car. Yeah, in the end, he was just a guy.