Furever Always (Furever Series)

by Meredith Clarke

  She knew she wasn’t remotely listening to Bryan anymore, but she couldn’t take her eyes off of Declan and the woman. Every time Declan laughed, every time the woman batted her eyes, Blair’s stomach twisted into even tighter knots. Finally, when the woman put her hand on Declan’s shoulder and squeezed, the white-hot jealousy that flared within Blair but couldn’t remotely explain overwhelmed her. She slugged down the last of her drink and looked at Bryan apologetically.

  “I’m sorry, Bryan, but I’m suddenly not feeling well. Can you excuse me?”

  Bryan had an expression on his face that could only be described as total bewilderment. As fast as her short legs could carry her, Blair ran back to her bungalow, where she made a beeline straight for the bathroom. She took a few deep breaths, then splashed cold water on her face, trying to gain control of her inexplicable emotions.

  “What is wrong with you, girl?” she said to herself in the mirror. With a head full of frenzied confusion, she decided to do the only thing that made any sense.

  It was time to call Scarlett.

  ***

  “Wait! Where are you?”

  Blair rolled her eyes and took a long breath. “I said I’m at Bear Ridge.”

  “Are you kidding me right now? How did you get to Bear Ridge? Why? What’s going on there? Have you met anyone? Is it still as lovely as the last time we were there?”

  “Scarlett!” Blair shouted into the phone to slow her best friend down. “Take a breath. They started this new match program thing, and I was lonely and slightly tipsy and the next thing I knew I was on a plane. So, here I am.”

  Scarlett laughed. “There are worse things you can do when you’re tipsy. You didn’t answer my question. Have you met anymore?”

  Blair groaned. “Yes and no. This matching system they had set me up with all of these guys and some of them are okay but some of them have been a total disaster. And then I met this guy who wasn’t on my match list and Scarlett… I’m surprised I didn’t just rip my panties off and throw myself on him right there in the bar.”

  Scarlett laughed so hard she spits out a mouthful of whatever she was drinking all over her phone. She had to take a minute to clean it off before she could come back to the conversation.

  “Well then! Who is this guy? Tell me everything about him!”

  Blair collapsed back on her huge king-sized bed and tried to shake away the spinning the started as a result of the drinks she’d been hammering down.

  “I don’t know much about him. He’s enormous and cocky, and kind of funny and incredibly handsome and everything about him tells me I should run the other way. But damn, Scarlett. He’s so beautiful.”

  Scarlett clicked her tongue disapprovingly. “Sounds like trouble, Blair. What’s his name?”

  “Declan. I didn’t catch his last name.”

  Scarlett went quiet for a moment. When she finally spoke, her voice was quiet and reserved. “Declan? Did you get a last name? Where is he from?”

  Blair kicked her shoes off the end of the bed and huffed. “We didn’t get that far. We only talked for a few minutes at the bar. I don’t know if I should take the time to get to know him better or what.”

  “Blair, listen. I don’t know if…”

  The tell-tale beep of Blair’s cell phone battery dying squealed in her ear, and she looked to see that her call with Scarlett had disconnected. With a frustrated grumble, Blair threw her phone across the room and curled up under the covers, still full-dressed. As she drifted off into a dreamless sleep, the last thing she saw was Declan’s face…

  Chapter 8

  Declan

  Declan rolled over in his massive bed with a frustrated moan. It was too early; the sun was too bright… And what was the infernal beeping noise that kept shrieking in his ear?

  With a growl, louder than he meant to emit, Declan started digging through the covers, worried that he’d accidentally brought somebody back to his room and they’d left their phone. Then he realized it was his emergency cell phone ringing, the one only Kurt had the number to, and that he was only supposed to call in the event of an actual emergency.

  Declan dug the phone out from under a pillow and answered it with a snarl. “Dude, someone better have been decapitated. Do you have any idea what time it is here?”

  Kurt snorted. “Do I care? You should be up and looking for a mate anyway. How is the trip going? Have you met anyone yet?”

  Declan collapsed back on his pillow. “Oh, sure. Blondes. Brunettes. Three redheads. You’ll never guess who I ran into.”

  “Your future mate?” Kurt asked, sarcastically.

  “Funny. No, my cousin Essie. She’s here for… similar reasons. Though hers are less urgent, I suppose.”

  “Essie? The tall, leggy brunette that you’d never anyone in the clan ask out?” The bitterness in Kurt’s voice was apparent, and Declan took a little pleasure in it.

  “That’s the one.”

  “Well, tell her I said hi. Anyway, have you met anyone?”

  Declan sighed. “Don’t you want to know how the food is or something, dude? The weather? Don’t you care about my feelings? My wants and needs?” Declan knew that Kurt was going to start getting annoyed in relatively short order, but he was growing weary of being ordered around by his Alpha where it came to his love life. He might not be able to get away with being a smart-ass for long, but he was going to enjoy it while he could.

  Kurt, however, was already done.

  “Grow up, Declan. This isn’t a game. Apparently, the situation bears repeating. You’re there to find a mate. Your bear isn’t interested in screwing around more. So, you either come back with a woman, or the clan will have to be done with you. I don’t think I can make it any clearer than that.”

  Declan stamped down his inclination to mouth of again and just mumbled, “Understood, boss.”

  “Good,” Kurt said, mildly pacified. “Make sure you remember it. You have less than a week and no time to waste.” And with that, he hung up, leaving Declan cranky. Animals can’t mate in captivity, he thought derisively as he got up to find a bathing suit and some sunscreen. Once he found the stuff he needed, he picked up the phone that held Bear Ridge’s matching app and saw it was lit up like a Christmas Tree. There were, even more, messages than there had been the day before, some of them from women he had already met, and sent packing…

  Lana: Let’s try again sexy!

  Nina: What are you doing today? Want to get a drink?

  Marissa: Why didn’t you answer me?

  Alana: I’m topless on the beach. Come find me.

  Sasha: Bungalow 14. I’m waiting for you.

  Declan raised an eyebrow at the last message. He was pretty sure it was the same message he’d gotten from the same woman the night prior, but he didn’t care. He didn’t plan on responding to any of them anyway. He only had one woman on his mind…

  Blair. And he was going to find her.

  ***

  Declan stalked out of his bungalow, probably looking exactly like a bear even though he was distinctly in his human form, and started for the beach. A few people dove out of his way, probably convinced he was on some sort of mission to destroy someone. He stopped once he reached the water and took a few long breaths. As much as he hated to admit it to anyone else, this place truly was paradise.

  After wandering up and down the beach for what felt like forever, he finally spotted Blair under a palm tree down by the water. She was wearing a neon pink bikini and had her long black hair swept up in a loose bun as she lay on a giant beach towel. A fruity blue drink was sitting next to her, and she had earphones in. Declan could see her toes bouncing along to whatever music she was listening to, and he felt a swell of… something. Affection? Lust? What the hell is this? he thought as he made his way over to where Blair was laying.

  Declan took a deep, cleansing breath as he grabbed a towel from the cabana stand and inched toward the end of the water. When he walked behind Blair, his shadow completely overtook her, an
d she pushed down her sunglasses to see what exactly had happened to her sunlight. She caught sight of Declan and smiled.

  “You’re blocking my sun,” Blair said with a grin.

  “The sun isn’t good for you in large doses. You’ll get skin cancer.” Wow. Way to keep things light, you jackass. But Blair just laughed.

  “You’re a ray of freaking sunshine yourself, aren’t you? Why don’t you throw your towel down and join me in the shade?”

  Declan silently congratulated himself for managing to keep his shit together and not offend Blair, so he tossed his towel on the ground with a self-satisfied grin. However, when he plopped down next to her, his weight was so heavy, he shook the beach, and a coconut fell out of a small palm next to them, and then crashed on the ground. Blair screamed, then burst out laughing.

  “You literally made the earth shake. I have to say, that’s a total first for me.”

  Declan felt like he might be blushing for the first time in his entire life. “Sorry. Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. You’re lucky I like coconut,” Blair said with a chuckle as she picked up the hard fruit and rotated in her hands. Declan took it from her with a smile, held it in both hands, then cracked it over his knee, breaking it open, so the fresh coconut milk splashed everywhere. But there was just enough left for Blair to have a taste, which she accepted gratefully.

  “Everyone should have fresh coconut once in their life,” Declan said as he enjoyed his half. He saw that Blair was at least mildly impressed, so he decided to keep talking. If he could keep talking, maybe he could convince her to fall in love with him.

  Wait, did I really just think that? What’s wrong with me?

  “So, where are you from, Declan?” Blair asked as she waved down a roaming waitress to ask for another drink. Declan ordered a gin and tonic to calm his nerves further, and hopefully put the bear at ease, because he was stirring nervously.

  “Well, I was born in Dublin. But we moved when I was but a wee lad,” he answered, exaggerating an Irish accent that had long since disappeared. “But I live in Colorado now. How about you?”

  Blair’s eyes lit up. “No way! My best friend lives in Colorado too. What city are you in?”

  Declan scrunched up his eyebrows in surprise. Are you kidding? If her best friend lived in Colorado, maybe she would be ok with coming back with him. The bear rumbled happily at the thought.

  “Boulder. You?”

  Blair lowered her sunglasses again, and surveyed him fully; then she shook her head. “I knew you looked familiar. I just knew it. You’re in Kurt’s clan, aren’t you?”

  Declan’s jaw dropped. “How do you know Kurt?”

  “Scarlett is my best friend,” Blair said with a long laugh. “You were at that engagement party they had, stalking around in the background. You didn’t stay long, but I remember you. You were with this redheaded girl who drank all of the spiked punch, through a vase at the wall, and then cried for an hour in the bushes outside of the compound.”

  Declan flinched. Nope, that’s exactly right, he thought to himself. He’d been at Kurt and Scarlett’s engagement party with Lucy when a VIP client had called, needing his services right away. He’d told Kurt and Scarlett about the situation, and they’d been gracious. Then he told Lucy, and she had gone absolutely mental. In the end, Scarlett said just to go, and that she’d take care of Lucy. He’d never asked anyone what had happened after he’d left, but everything Blair had said sounded about right when it came to Lucy’s behavior.

  “Yeah, that was my ex-girlfriend. Lucy was… a handful.”

  Blair snorted a laughed as she took a long sip of her drink. “I’ll say. I can’t say I’m surprised she’s your ex.”

  “I’m surprised she wasn’t my ex a lot sooner. So, how do you know Scarlett?”

  Blair brushed a stray hair away from her face, and Declan couldn’t stop noticing how pale and lovely her skin was. With her dark hair and hazel eyes and rosy lips, she almost looked like a real-life version of snow white, and he started to think that maybe he was falling for her. She had somehow enchanted his heart.

  “I’ve known Scarlett since we met in college. We’ve been friends ever since and ended up moving right down the street from each other again in Boulder. Until Scarlett moved in with Kurt, of course. How did a kid from Dublin end up in Boulder?”

  Declan huffed out a big lungful of air involuntarily. “My father was a louse and a gambler, and my mother decided to leave him on a bar stool in the Fatted Calf.”

  Blair raised her eyebrow, and Declan laughed.

  “The local pub. My mother got fed up with his crap and packed me up, then moved us to live with her brother in Boulder. It’s where we’ve all been ever since.”

  “I think I’d like your mother,” Blair said with a smile as she brushed some sand off her lap. “So, what brought you to Bear Ridge?”

  Oh, shit. What do I do? Declan thought nervously as he gauged Blair’s mood. How would she react to the truth? Would you respond well to knowing that he desperately needed a mate, and had come to Bear Ridge hoping to find just about anyone who would take him? No, no woman would find that flattering. I can’t tell her that.

  “Oh, you know. What brought you to Bear Ridge, Blair?”

  She gave Declan a look that made it clear she caught on to his not-so-deft pivot, but she let it drop. “I work. A lot. And my job is incredibly stressful. So, not only do I have a tough time meeting men, but I’ve been exhausted lately. This seemed like the perfect opportunity for a little rest and relaxation, while maybe getting to meet someone. You never know, right?”

  Blair’s eyes lit up, and Declan felt his heart start to race. His bear perked up again, and Declan had a feeling they’d already met their someone. But he didn’t want to push it and make her nervous.

  “You never know. Blair, I was wondering, would you like to…”

  She held up her hand. “Hold that thought. I’m going to run to the ladies’ room quickly. I’ll be right back, I promise.” Blair gave Declan a wink and then jogged off in the direction of some cabanas, leaving Declan alone on the beach. He couldn’t feel his bear start to stew, and Declan wasn’t sure how he was going to calm him down until Blair got back. When he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned around expecting to see that Blair had come back. But it was Essie. She was wearing a white, 20s style bathing suit, but she made it look so sexy that every male eye, and a few females, was on her.

  “Hey, cuz! Enjoying the sun?” Declan leaped to his feet and gave his cousin a hug. She shrugged and looked up and down the beach.

  “I don’t know. It’s fine. I’m not really meeting anyone. All of these men are fawning all over me, and it’s getting obnoxious. I’d leave, but I’m paid through the week,” Essie said as she swept her hair into a bun. Declan gave her a shoulder squeeze as he laughed.

  “Essie, if a guy held a door open for you, you’d call it ‘fawning.’ You have no tolerance for grand gestures. Maybe ease up and give a guy a chance, huh?”

  As soon as Declan finished that sentence, Blair walked up. She had a look on her face that made it obvious she’d only heard the end of the conversation and had misunderstood. For a moment, she looked like she was about to bolt.

  “I’m sorry if I interrupted something,” Blair said, as she tried not to make eye contact with Declan or Essie. Declan considered messing with her a little bit, but then he realized he didn’t want to look like a dick.

  “You didn’t! Blair, this is my cousin, Essie McCannon. I had no idea she was going to be here this weekend, and we keep running into each other.”

  Blair’s entire demeanor changed, and Essie just smiled, fully aware of what had just transpired between the three of them. Essie held out her perfectly-manicured hand to Blair. “Lovely to meet you, Blair. You are quite the beauty. What in god’s name are you doing hanging around with my moron cousin?”

  Declan grumbled. “Hey,” he muttered under his breath, and both of the women laughed. Essie gave anot
her cursory glance down the beach and sighed.

  “Well, enough of this. I’m going to head to the pool for a while. Maybe I’ll find someone there I can flirt with for a while. You two kids have a good time, okay?” Essie gave a wink and wandered off in the direction of the huge pool that took up an entire side of the resort, leaving Declan and Blair alone. Declan shuffled his feet like a little kid.

  “Blair, would you like to go for a walk with me? Along the beach or maybe through the gardens out back?”

  Blair lit up and grabbed her sheer, black cover-up from her beach bag. “I’d like that very much, Declan.”

  Chapter 9

  Blair

  Blair couldn’t believe how well things were going with Declan. She had prepared herself all morning to tell him that they weren’t going to work, that he just wasn’t right for her, that they couldn’t see each other again. But when he had walked up behind her, and she’d seen his beautiful, strong face smiling that awkward smile, her heart had melted. She’d almost forgotten about the woman from the night before, but then she’d come back from the bathroom, and that perfect Grecian goddess was standing with him again. And he was touching her. Blair would have stalked back to her room in a huff but decided to see what was going on.