The Intern (The Dalton Family #4)(86)

If Dom, Jenner, and Ford passed, I’m not worried about us. We can run circles around those fools. :)





Me



Don’t be so sure of yourself, Mr. Cocky. It won’t be cute if you say that and then you don’t pass.





A new message appeared on my screen.

But this one wasn’t from my brother.

Declan



Get to work.





The temptation was far too strong, and I was on the verge of turning around when my phone chimed again, stopping me.

Declan



Best Danish I’ve ever had in my life. Thank you. I’m going to miss these breakfasts.





I’m going to miss you.





TWENTY-FIVE





DECLAN





I’d spoken to each of the Dalton brothers, and all three had given me their blessing.

Of course, Dominick had doled out plenty of shit before his came. Words I’d expected. Words a best friend would slap you with and break your balls over because you’d not only kept him in the dark, but the person of interest was also his cousin.

What helped with Dominick’s opinion, I assumed, was that he’d heard Hannah’s side first.

I hadn’t anticipated her doing that.

But when I had sat on the opposite side of Dominick’s desk and told him what had gone down between us, he had gotten it. He understood. And he hadn’t blamed me for what I’d done.

Even though he knew I was an asshole with quite the reputation when it came to women, he also knew Hannah was different to me.

She was mine.

And now that all that was behind me and I’d confessed the truth to her about the night at the bar, I felt zero guilt.

As for the emotions, those were growing by the goddamn day.

What didn’t help was that Hannah was giving me exactly what I’d asked for. But she was fucking everywhere I looked. When I peeked out my office door, she would be camped just outside at her desk. When I returned to my office after meetings, she would have breakfast waiting for me or lunch or more coffee. When I went home at night, I would find her things, like her sweater hanging over the back of my barstool, where she’d forgotten it the last time she came over. When I scrolled through social media before passing out at night, I would see her posts.

She wasn’t hounding me to talk about us.

She wasn’t blowing up my phone.

She wasn’t showing up at my house.

She was just making her presence known.

And I fucking felt it.

Everywhere.

The minutes now dwindling down to the end of her internship.

Once we reached that final hour, I watched her get up from her desk and come into my doorway. One arm raised high as she held on to the frame, the other at her side, clutching a notebook and pen. She’d removed her suit jacket, and her tank was tucked into her skirt, revealing the slimness of her waist and the definition in her arms.

“What can I do for you, Miss Dalton?”

The greeting made her smile.

Fuck, that sight was so gorgeous.

“I just wanted you to know that I gave all my passwords to your assistant in case she needs to access my email or the files I saved, and she knows she can always call me if she can’t find something.”

“You’re really leaving us …”

At the beginning, I’d fucking dreamed of this day. But as the weeks had passed, having Hannah here had turned out to be something better than I’d imagined. Since there was an us, even if things were slightly rocky at the moment, having her on my team probably wasn’t the best scenario, but having her in this building was.

She’d be back once she took the bar, working as a clerk until she passed. Now that our secret was out, I highly doubted she’d be a clerk on my team. Something told me she’d be assigned to Christopher.

Still, that was months away.

Months of not seeing her every day.

Months of her locked in her apartment, doing nothing but studying, bar prepping monopolizing every second of her life.

I knew the process.

It was hell.

And, goddamn it, I was going to miss her.

More than I already did, and she was standing right in front of me.

She took a seat in front of my desk, adjusting those beautiful legs so she didn’t flash me her pussy. “Declan, I have to.”

“I know.”

She didn’t reply.

She didn’t have to.

I saw every thought running through her head.

She wanted to know where we stood.

What the future would look like.

When she would wake up with my arms around her.

“Is there anything I can do before I leave?”

Her voice was eager.

Soft.

Sensual even.

I chuckled, pushing my chair back a few feet so I could cross a foot over my thigh. “Don’t ask me that, Hannah. You know what that will lead to.”

A wave of heat passed over her cheeks.

“You know, something I inherited from my childhood is this inability to forgive. I hold grudges. I’m not proud of that fact, but I’m learning—especially as I get older—that it’s something I struggle with. When someone pisses me off in a way that affects me emotionally, I’m done. I close that door, and I don’t look back. That’s why I don’t let anyone get too close to me.”