Shattered Defenses

Valerie stared at him blankly.

Declan's handsome face under the streetlight remained calm and serious.

She recalled the night on her seventeenth birthday.

Declan at that time was just like he was now, calm yet serious, and there was a faint trace of tenderness in his brown eyes.

He never used sweet words, but when he crouched in front of her and softly asked, "What's wrong?" she would be ensnared