Saving You (Love in June Springs Book 1)

Saving You -4-

           

Chapter 4

                Declan sat in Mark's living room nursing a beer in in his hand as Mark flicked through the channels. He'd hung around as his brother and Katelyn had finished whatever they needed to for the night, made sure Katelyn knew where she was going, and let her leave.

The fact that part of him had wanted to follow just to say goodnight was still confusing him.

Fighting off thoughts of how he'd love to drop her off at home, he watched as Mark flew through the nine hundred channels, the words blurring at the speed. Finally, he seemed to determine nothing was on, and he sat back in the recliner with a groan. "Of course when I actually have a moment to myself, there's nothing to watch."

                Declan just grinned. "Yeah, well, you're the one who decided to become practically the only vet in the middle of nowhere, Texas."

                "Yeah, yeah." Mark sent Declan a look, one that promise Declan wasn't going to like the next words that came out of his mouth. As a kid, it had meant trouble. "So... you seemed to like the look of my new receptionist."

                And there it was.

                Declan knew he had to be careful with how he answered the unspoken question; the wrong word would send Mark into either set-up mode or warning mode, and Declan wanted to avoid both.

                "She's attractive," he finally said with a small shrug, hoping the honesty and lack of concern about it would deter his brother. If only.

                "Yeah, even I could tell that. But you were practically staring at her the entire time we were talking. I'd be worried if I didn't know you."

                Declan could hear the undercurrents of one of the two situations starting and winced. "Relax, I'm not going to make a play for her."

                "Why not? She's attractive, and considering she spent half the time we talked flirting with you, I'd say she doesn't find you ugly." Mark smirked. "What's the worst that could happen?"

                Declan let out a groan, hating the little part of him that kind of liked the fact that Katelyn had been flirting; he hadn't even noticed, too busy wanting to get to know her. While he'd never been the type to settle down, he also didn't have a string of one-night stands in his past. Every relationship had been short, sweet, and to the point, and he was content with that.

                But there was something about Katelyn that just screamed permanent.

                "I don't know how to explain it," he finally told his brother, taking another sip of beer. Since Mark had decided matchmaking was the way to go, he threw him a bone. "I'll think about it when she's a little more settled, okay?"

                Seeming satisfied with that response, Mark nodded. "Fine, I'll back off for now. Speaking of, the whole reason I wanted to talk to her was to get to know her, but did you notice how she deflected everything we asked?"

                Declan nodded. "Yeah, it was kind of weird. We really didn't learn much. I feel like she learned everything about us without saying a word about herself."

                "I mean, we know she has a friend called Laney, and we know her uncle is Martin. We know she was born in March, we know she likes animals, and we know she has a degree in accounting. Still not sure why she's bothering to be my receptionist when she has that kind of degree, but I can't complain. Anything else?"