The Love She Craves: Selling Her Soul to Declan by Gemma Jenkins Page A

for?”
    “Yes. Absolutely. Thank you, sir.” She smiled widely at him then felt guilty for smiling when her whole life was in chaos. “The closest thing to fancy breakfast food we eat is when I make Elvis pancakes.”
    He glimpsed the fleeting smile and felt caught off-guard. It took him a moment to realize he couldn’t remember seeing her smile before. Surely, that wasn’t true. But if it wasn’t, how could he have forgotten the shape of her lips when she smiled? Her lips were naturally dark against her alabaster skin and her bottom lip bowed out in a pout that looked sexy as hell and revealed her white teeth and narrow jaw.
    “I’ve never even heard of Elvis pancakes.”
    “You put cooked bacon in your pancakes and heat your syrup on the stove with some bananas and peanut butter. I like to make it for the kids for their birthdays.”
    “You do like peanut butter. I wasn’t sure.” A crooked smile flashed across his face.
    “What do you mean?” She eyed him suspiciously almost knowing what he was about to say.
    “It took you two or three days to take home the jar of peanut butter I put in your locker.”
    She stopped dead in her tracks and stared at him. “That was you? You were the one putting food in my locker? It was embarrassing enough to think a teacher put it in there, I would’ve been mortified to know it was a student.” Even now, she could feel the shame of accepting his charity.
    “I couldn’t ignore that you were hungry. I’d see you in the cafeteria squirreling away food in your pockets. I always wanted to share my lunch with you, but I didn’t know how to do it without everyone finding out.”
    “I took the food home for Cody. After Mama disappeared, we never had food in the house. I didn’t mind going without, but I hated to hear him crying because his stomach was empty.” Nyxie turned her face up to him and smiled sadly. “Thank you. We ate like kings while the peanut butter lasted.”
    Declan compelled her forward and helped her into the Jeep.
    What could one say to that? A jar of peanut butter was hardly a food of kings, but it obviously meant a great deal to her. If he had known, he would have found a way to put a jar of peanut butter in her locker every time one showed up in their pantry.
    Had his father not been a coach, he might have skipped athletics after school and followed her home. But his absence would have been noticed. He couldn’t even fake sickness because his mom would have been all over him, hovering in her overbearing military exactness. And what would he have done if he had followed her home? If he knew about Cody, he might have increased the amount of food he put in her locker. But other than that, there wasn’t much he could have done.
    As Declan pulled out into the street, he noticed she seemed fascinated by the way he shifted gears and he suspected she had little or no experience with manual transmissions. “So, why did it take you so long to take it home?”
    “I couldn’t figure out how to get it home without everyone seeing me with a giant jar of peanut butter. I had enough problems without drawing more attention to myself.”
    “Ah,” he said nodding sagaciously. It never occurred to him, the food he put in her locker embarrassed her. Since his father worked at the school, he’d been forced to ride to school early with him. It afforded Declan time before most of the kids arrived to put the food in her locker. Usually, he’d just grab an extra cereal bar or package of cheese crackers out of the pantry, but he rarely waited around in the freshman hall to see if she found them. He didn’t know if she arrived at the last minute, or didn’t go to her locker first thing, but the few times he’d watched for her, he’d been late to class and that wouldn’t have cut it with his father. But everything would be gone the next day—everything but the peanut butter.
    “Dr. Declan, were you crushing on me in high school?”
    “If you’re just now