The Intern (The Dalton Family #4)(76)

“That apple flavor?” Declan shook his head. “Amazing.”

“Don’t worry; there’s more apple to come.” She lifted the plates away. “For your second course, I went with something a bit more powerful—chocolate.”

“Yesss,” I moaned.

Alex laughed. “I’ll be right back with a heavy cabernet sauvignon that’s going to pair so well.”

Once we were alone again, I reached across the table, my fingers folding over his. Squeezing. “I love this. Every part of it.”

“I know.”

I took a deep breath. “I don’t know how to thank you, Declan.”

As he scanned my eyes back and forth, I felt him inside me, just like that first night in the bar.

“The way you’re looking at me right now, Hannah …” His voice trailed off. “It’s stronger than any words.”





TWENTY-ONE





DECLAN





“I had dinner with Walter last night,” Jenner said as he stood in the doorway to my office, his shoulder leaning against the frame.

My hands froze on my keyboard as I looked up, waiting for him to continue.

Three weeks had passed since we’d returned from Wyoming. In that time, I’d learned a lot about Walter Spade. One of the more prominent things was that he was a hard-ass, like me, and I could never predict what he was going to do or the words that were going to come out of his mouth.

“Yeah?” I inquired. “And?”

“He’s pleased.”

That wasn’t what I had expected to hear.

My team had been hard at work, building his case. In return, Walter had sent daily messages, showing his plans for the Jackson Hole hotel and his team’s internal progress—all not-so-subtle hints that he expected a victory.

That wasn’t something I could ever promise, but I sure as hell was going to try.

I crossed my arms over my chest and leaned back in my chair. “Is that so?”

“He’s disappointed that Hannah’s internship will be ending so soon. He likes the weekly reports she’s been sending him and requested that once she’s gone, someone will still maintain those reports and email them to him.”

The reports were just filler; they were of little importance. What really mattered was that I had a sound, experienced staff who was handling Walter’s case. Walter needed to stop focusing on the insignificant details, like the eye-pleasing intern I had on my team, and focus on the fucking trial.

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t relieved there was only a week left of her internship. Her working for me wasn’t sitting right, her position preventing me from really diving into our relationship.

That didn’t stop us from hanging out. We’d been on plenty of dates since we’d been back. Numerous overnights.

But still, something inside me wasn’t meshing.

I glanced past Jenner to where Hannah was seated at her desk. With her profile aimed in my direction, I watched her tug my favorite lip. Jesus, all I could think about was that lip bobbing over my crown, sucking the cum out of me.

“Declan?”

I cleared my throat. “There isn’t a goddamn thing we can do about Hannah’s internship ending. The girl has to graduate and study for the bar. What, does he want her to put that on hold for him?”

Jenner laughed, rubbing his hand over the side of his beard. “I don’t think he’s saying that at all.”

Really, neither was I. Something far larger was eating at me, but it was much easier to channel my anger to Walter.

Jenner stepped inside my office, his back now against the wall. “You want to talk about the elephant in the room?”

Hannah, goddamn it.

I was sure he was curious about why I hadn’t spoken to Dominick and why he hadn’t heard anything more about our relationship—if there even was one or if we’d fizzled out.

The reason he’d heard nothing was because I was dragging my fucking ass and because I didn’t think it was a good idea to discuss our relationship with Dominick while Hannah still worked for me.

And because I still hadn’t told Hannah the truth about the night at the bar.

I knew Jenner was just trying to be a good friend, but this wasn’t some random chick we were discussing. This was his cousin. And that made this conversation extra fucking messy.

“Nah, man. That’s a topic we can just glaze over for the moment.”

He turned his head, really staring me down. “Are you sure? You look … off.”

“You’re saying I don’t look good?” I glanced down at the light-gray suit I had on, the navy tie, the cuff links that had been hand-cut with my initials, piercing my perfectly starched shirt. “I think I look sharp as hell.”

“Asshole, I wasn’t talking about your fucking suit.”

I leaned over the top of my desk. “Then, what are you trying to say, Jenner?”

He shut my office door and took a seat in front of me. “Listen, in less than a week, you’re going to be sent an extremely detailed questionnaire that’s going to ask some invasive questions about Hannah’s internship. I need you to be honest. I need you to be unbiased. It’s an exit interview that’s going to HR. At the bottom of that document, there’s a question with two boxes. Would you hire the intern for a full-time position or not?”