Wholehearted by Cate Ashwood

Author:Cate Ashwood [Ashwood, Cate]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

DECLAN WOKE a couple of hours later, feeling restless and cramped. He wasn’t usually one to spend all day in bed—he rarely even slept in. He liked to be more active. The time he had spent lounging with Lucas had been enjoyable, but not his typical style.

But he refused to move. Lucas was in the same position he’d been in two hours earlier and Declan wouldn’t disturb him for anything.

He let his gaze fall on the sleeping man. The bruises on Lucas’s cheek were beginning to fade, having turned to a sickening green color that signaled the healing process. His split lip was still there, but even with all the kissing they’d done, the cut remained closed. He had always been beautiful to Declan, but now that Declan could see with his own eyes that Lucas was going to be okay, he could really begin to appreciate how gorgeous he really was.

The light-brown hair that was getting just a bit too long had been sleep tousled and messy almost the entire time Declan had known him. His eyes were shut, but Declan could imagine the blueness of them, ringed with the darker circle that made them dance when he was happy and devastatingly sad when he wasn’t.

He loved the strong nose and mouth with his lower lip just a little plumper than his top one. They made him want to press his lips to them, and kiss him awake.

Lucas stirred, a small smile turning up the corners of his mouth as he shifted and stretched against Declan. Declan pressed a kiss to his temple. “Hey, sleepyhead. How are you feeling?”

“Pretty okay, actually. It’s been good to be able to get some rest. I feel a lot better.”

“Good. You getting hungry at all?”

“Maybe a little. What did you have in mind?”

Declan thought a second. He hadn’t really had any concrete plans in place, but there was a part of him that wanted to get out of the house and show Lucas off a little to the town. Hope Cove was as much a part of him as he was of it, and it was important to him if he was going to ask Lucas to stay with him that Lucas loved the little community as much as he did.

“Do you want to go into town and grab something to eat at Dixie’s? She owns the diner in town and there’s a heated debate that rages among the community members here over whose food is better, hers or Oliver’s.”

“Uh,” Lucas hesitated.

“We don’t have to go anywhere if you don’t want to,” Declan interjected. He didn’t want Lucas to feel put on the spot; he just wasn’t used to staying home so much and was going a bit stir-crazy.

“I just, I don’t want to scare small children,” Lucas admitted.

Declan should have thought about how he would feel being out amongst a bunch of strangers so soon after being released from the hospital. “You’re not the least bit scary,” Declan reassured him. “If you don’t want to go, that’s totally okay.

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