Changeling Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nExcerpt 4:<\/p>\n
In the morning, Holly woke early to cook for her family and the guests since Gabby was hung over. It was better for everyone if Gabby just slept in. Holly was surprised when Declan and his legendary appetite didn\u2019t join them for breakfast. When he returned from his run, he went directly upstairs.<\/p>\n
With the breakfast dishes washed, her family and friends gone, and Gabby finally awake enough to work, Holly changed clothes and went to join Declan on the third floor.<\/p>\n
She found him checking out the oversized refrigeration unit toward the end of the hall. \u201cHey, you\u2019re not hungry this morning?\u201d Holly asked as she approached him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI grabbed something at the cafe down the street. Isn\u2019t this a weird place for a freezer?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. I thought so, too, but I guess it\u2019s been here forever. It\u2019s been upgraded lots of times, but it was one of the first in-home refrigerators ever used. The original owner of the house was a scientist or doctor or something like that. I guess he had it installed to keep supplies cool for his experiments. Gabby and I have always joked that he might have been a mad scientist and stored body parts. We\u2019re having it upgraded again and plan to use it for frozen food storage.\u201d<\/p>\n
Declan turned from the refrigerator and said, \u201cI\u2019m going to finish sanding the walls in the last suite.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSure.\u201d She studied him carefully.<\/p>\n
He was acting cool again — distant. Maybe he was embarrassed about last night, but he shouldn\u2019t have been. If anyone was entitled to have an anxiety attack, it was Declan, after all he\u2019d been through.<\/p>\n
Declan left and Holly set to work changing burnt out light bulbs in one of the bathrooms. She climbed up the ladder and realized she had grabbed the wrong screwdriver.<\/p>\n
\u201cHey, Declan! Can you bring my toolbox in here?\u201d<\/p>\n
A moment later, he appeared with the toolbox and placed it on the toilet.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks. I forgot the — ah!\u201d Her foot slipped on the ladder and she thought for sure she was going to hit the floor.<\/p>\n
Declan caught her. Snug in his arms, Holly locked her gaze with his. He held her close to his big, hard body, and a spark ignited in his dark eyes. She felt his breath against her face, and again it smelled of toothpaste instead of cigarettes.<\/p>\n
\u201cDeclan,\u201d she said softly.<\/p>\n
His mouth covered hers, and Holly melted against him. Her arms tightened around his neck and her breasts pressed against his hard chest. She knew she should pull away, but she didn\u2019t want to. If only his kiss could last forever.<\/p>\n
Declan broke the kiss, though his lips hovered over hers. \u201cI should apologize, but I don\u2019t want to,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, Declan, I really — I can\u2019t do this. It\u2019s not right. I can\u2019t start a relationship with an employee.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI understand.\u201d<\/p>\n
Disappointment washed over her. \u201cYou do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYeah. I quit,\u201d he said and kissed her again.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[924,3],"tags":[926,669,449,794,476],"class_list":["post-7561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-demons-grotto","category-excerpts","tag-dark-fantasy","tag-erotic-horror","tag-erotic-romance","tag-featured","tag-paranormal-romance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7561"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7561\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7616,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7561\/revisions\/7616"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kate-hill.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}