Read Online Declan + Coraline by J.J. McAvoy - Free Book Online Page A

have preferred to come all the way here and wait in line for an hour?”
    He had a point and he knew it. I agreed.
    “Fine. You’re not an asshole to me.”
    “Perfect. Now tell me about the idiot who broke your heart.”
    I groaned as I glanced out at the pier. Why had I brought that up? Oh right, I was worried that he would’ve walked away for good, and I didn’t want that.
    “Coraline, you said you were jaded, but we all are,” he whispered.
    “Two years ago, while at Stanford, I met this basketball player, which really should have been the first red flag. I knew he liked to party a lot, but I thought he was different, and I thought we were dating, but as it turns out, he only acted like we were together when we were alone and it was great. But around his friends, or at his games, he acted like I was just another girl he knew. Then the season got really intense. I knew that other girlfriends would sneak to their hotels during away games. So I decided to surprise him.”
    “And he was with someone else?” he asked like this was the most common story in the world, but then again it felt like it was.
    I smiled. “He was with two other girls. I stood there staring in shock before I turned and ran—I’m a runner in case you haven’t noticed. He did chase me down an hour later, I’m guessing after he was finished with them. He told me that I was his long-term chick , the girl he would bring home to mom and that I shouldn’t be bothered by the other girls, that he was just playing around before we got too serious. That’s when I punched him and took the bus home. The end.”
    “Did you love him?” His eyes were soft, and he looked my face over like he was trying to read me.
    “Yeah. I think so? I’m not sure. I think I was in love with believing in love.”
    “So after that, you just cut yourself off from any sort of affection whatsoever?”
    I didn’t want to go this deep into my emotions.
    “You said we’re all jaded, so tell me, who hurt you?”
    He smiled, and under the light of the Ferris Wheel, he looked sinful and devious.
    “I’ve never been in love before.”
    “But you said—”
    “I said we are all jaded. But not everyone is jaded by love, Coraline. I’ve never given my heart anyone, which should prove that there is something wrong with me. People should fall in love and deal with heartbreak, I think it’s healthy.”
    “But…”
    “But I’m not going to force myself to love anyone or anything. When it happens, it happens.”
    “Then what makes you jaded?”
    “My past. My present. My future.”
    “Sometimes I feel like you’re trying to tell me something without really telling me anything.”
    He snickered as he pulled off his gloves. “I like you, Coraline. I have no idea why, but I do, and I want to get know you more because I feel like it’s happening…at least for me anyway. I’m going on a trip in a couple days, so come with me. And promise to make sure you have fun from the moment we get there.”
    “Okay.”

FIVE
    “And she was terribly aware that she was alive. Not just living and breathing, but ...alive.”
    ―Mary Balogh

DECLAN
    “I would like to remind you that you only met this woman a week ago and you’re already bailing out on our plans,” Liam said over the phone.
    “Aren’t you in bed with a model right now?”
    “That’s beside the point,” he said. “We don’t ditch each other for women.”
    “In all honesty, I’m tired of seeing your face, Liam.”
    “You know what? I hope she breaks your heart into ten thousand pieces.”
    “I’m hanging up, ass.” I hung up before he could reply.
    I pulled up in front of the WIB cooperate office just as she came out dressed in a cream-colored jacket, jeans, and flats. I’d offered to pick her up at home, but she said she had a quick errand to run at the office.
    “Hey,” I said as I stepped out of my car and walked towards her.
    “Sorry to make you drive all the way downtown. I didn’t want to