Danny had been smiling a lot tonight. He was happy and more relaxed than Tom could ever remember seeing him, which was weird. He’d been on edge for days about the three of them spending the day together, telling Tom repeatedly that he would go somewhere else so Tom and Carmina could be alone for the holiday. But Tom wanted Danny here as much as he wanted Carmina. Tom was beginning to realize that his feelings for Danny went way beyond friendship. Which was all kinds of fucked-up, because Danny didn’t feel the same way. But it was what it was and Tom would make the best of what he had. And the thought of Danny alone on Christmas broke his heart. What had changed Danny’s attitude? It had to be Carmina. She had the same effect on Danny she had on Tom. Everything suddenly seemed right with the world when she was around.
“You’re quiet,” Carmina said to him suspiciously. “What’s going on?”
“I’m just enjoying how much you two are enjoying the dinner I cooked,” Tom told her honestly. “There’s satisfaction in knowing that the people you cooked for appreciate your efforts.”
“I appreciate your efforts,” Danny said. “If that’s the price of a meal like this, then I appreciate it hard.” Carmina laughed, and when Danny looked at her and smiled, Tom knew. Danny was falling for her, too. Then why had he backed off? Because of Tom? He didn’t need to. There wasn’t another guy on the planet that Tom would share her with, but somehow having Danny feel the same way about her seemed natural. They’d been inseparable for months. Why should bringing Carmina into it change things? It shouldn’t. He resolved right then that he wasn’t going to let Danny play the martyr and walk away from a great woman like Carmina. And if that meant Tom had to back off of Danny, or maybe press him a little harder, then he’d do it. Tom knew that sometimes a man had to play dirty when he was determined to win.
Chapter 25
“I should have brought you a tree,” Carmina said as they sat down in the living room after cleaning up the dinner dishes. “I didn’t know you didn’t have one. Not that I have one, either.” She’d been too preoccupied to get one. And too depressed. Funny how having sex with two gorgeous guys can make you forget about being depressed.
“A tree.” Tom stopped right in the middle of sitting down, his ass hanging in the air. “I forgot to get a tree.” He looked askance at Carmina. “How would you have gotten a tree home? You can’t drive.”
“Why can’t you drive?” Danny asked. Carmina blushed at the question and cursed her damn fucked-up head again.
“Because of my head injury,” she said. “I can lose my balance without warning. And some other stuff could happen, too. It’s not safe.”
“Oh,” Danny said, frowning at her. “I’m sorry. I forget what happened when I’m around you, because you seem all right.” He couldn’t have said anything better as far as Carmina was concerned. But she just shrugged. “So how would you get a tree home?” he asked curiously. “The nearest tree lot is miles away.”
“Uber,” she said. “There’s always someone willing to transport just about anything for the right price.” She smiled.
“Uber isn’t safe,” Tom declared. “Next time you need a ride for any reason you call me.”
“Uber is perfectly safe,” she told him impatiently. “Don’t be Sam. I had this conversation with him, too.”
“I’m not being Sam,” Tom said. “I’m worried about my girlfriend. I can be worried, right?” Carmina couldn’t answer the question because she was so taken aback at his casual reference to her as his girlfriend.
“He’s right,” Danny said, his frown as ferocious as Tom’s. “A woman alone needs to be careful.”
“Okay,” she said, still shocked at Tom’s declaration. She supposed that’s what she was. She wanted to be his girlfriend, even though the idea terrified her. She was so not ready for that, but she still wanted it.
“We need a tree,” Tom declared.
“Good luck,” Danny said. “It’s almost seven o’clock on Christmas Eve.”
Tom pulled out his phone and began typing. “I’ll ask everyone where we can get a tree.”
“Everyone?” Carmina asked.
“On Twitter, Facebook, my contacts. Someone has to know.” It took less than a minute for his phone to start chiming with responses. “It’s my mom. She wants to know why I don’t have a Christmas tree.” He looked up and he was blushing. “She follows me on all my social media stuff. It can get awkward.”
“No kidding,” Danny said sarcastically. “At least she made you stop posting embarrassing pictures of me.”
“I’m telling her Carmina wants a tree.”
“Your mom knows who I am?” Carmina asked, surprised.
“Of course,” Tom said. “I told her all about you.” He read something on his phone and laughed. “Now she’s all, ‘Go get that girl a Christmas tree!’ ” He shook his head. “She’s already half in love with you.”
“I’ve never met her!” Carmina exclaimed. “How does she know she’ll like me?”
“Because I do.” Tom’s simple answer took her breath away. Part of her knew that this thing with Tom was going pretty fast, maybe too fast. But another part of her was enjoying it too much to put on the brakes. Carmina hadn’t mentioned Tom to her family at all. Her papa would be on a plane as soon as he hung up the phone. He didn’t even like her friendship with Sam. There’s no way he’d accept Tom without a thorough inspection. In person. And she was so not ready to see her papa yet and deal with all that baggage. Needless to say she hadn’t mentioned Danny to them either.
“There’s supposedly a place over on I-65. A bunch of people just sent me the link. Let’s go.” Tom jumped up from the couch, startling her.
“Right now?” Danny asked, looking as surprised as she was. “We’re seriously doing this?”
“Yes.” Tom grabbed her hand and pulled her up from the couch. As he was passing Danny, Tom reached down and grabbed his hand, too, dragging him behind them. “Grab your coat,” he told Carmina. He turned to Danny. “We’re taking my truck, for obvious reasons.”
“Shotgun,” Danny said. Carmina laughed.
“I assumed I would be in the middle,” she said. She suddenly realized how that could be taken and looked away, her face flaming hot with embarrassment. But they weren’t going there. They were going to get a Christmas tree and she needed to get her mind out of the gutter.
After they were in the truck, it was even harder to keep her mind from going there. Both men were big and warm on either side of her, their arms and legs touching hers, and they smelled so damn good she got lightheaded. It was only natural that she began to imagine what it would be like to be pressed between them naked. Making love. She made a fist and dug her nails into her palm to stop her thoughts from straying in that direction.
Before he pulled out of the parking lot, Tom turned on the radio and found the Christmas-music station. “Now we’re ready,” he said.
“I feel like we should all put on our Ray-Bans or something,” Carmina said. Danny looked at her like she was crazy.
“It’s dark out,” he said.
“Blues Brothers,” Tom said, laughing. “Man, haven’t you ever seen it? With John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd? Classic film. I love it.”
“Oh, shit, I forgot that movie,” Danny said laughing. “That is good. We’re on a mission from God.”
“For God,” Tom corrected. “We’re getting a Christmas tree. It’s close enough.” He started to sing along with the radio and pretty soon Carmina and Danny were singing along with Tom and Bing Crosby.
Tom’s phone rang and he hit the answer button on his steering wheel. “Hello?”
“Is Carmina with you?” Sam barked into the phone.
“Why, hello, Sam,” Tom said. “I’m good, thanks. How are you guys?”
“I’m here,” Carmina said quickly, not wanting to antagonize Sam on Christmas Eve.
“Why aren’t you answering your phone?” Sam demanded.
“Because between you and my father, it’s been blowing up all day, and a
s much as I love you both, I need some me time.”
“You’re not having me time,” Sam told her, irritation in his voice. “You’re having Tom-and-you time. That’s different.”
“Hey, Sam,” Danny said. He grinned at Carmina and she rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Smith?” Sam said in a strangled voice. “Where are you? What’s going on?”
“They’re getting a Christmas tree,” someone called out on Sam’s end of the line.
“Who was that?” Tom asked. “Ty?”
“Yeah,” Sam said. “They released him and he and Randi are spending the holiday with us at my mom’s. He can’t travel yet.” His voice lowered. “He’s pretty stoned on painkillers,” he whispered into the phone.
“Is he okay?” Tom asked, clearly concerned.
“He’ll be fine.” There was more yelling, and then they heard Sam telling someone he’d be right there. “I’ve got to go,” he said. “Answer your phone from now on so I don’t have to track you down.”
“Quit checking up on me every half hour,” Carmina told him. “From now on, you get one phone call a day.”
“I don’t call every half hour,” Sam said. “You’re exaggerating.”
“Whatever. Once a day,” Carmina told him. “Give King and Jane my love.”
“And give Ty and Randi my love,” Tom called out. “And King and Jane. And you can have some, too.”
“Ain’t nobody getting my love,” Danny said under his breath. He winked at Carmina and she laughed. Sam hung up without responding.
“So, you and Ty are close, aren’t you?” Carmina asked. She wondered how close.
“We are,” Tom said. He glanced over at Danny and the air was suddenly charged with something Carmina didn’t understand.
“Did you know him before you came to Birmingham?” she asked.
“No,” Tom said. “We just connected over the summer, at minicamp. We have the same sense of humor.” Danny was watching him with a weird look on his face.
“Okay,” Carmina said slowly. “What am I not getting?” Danny’s gaze darted over and met hers before he jerked around and faced front.
“Nothing,” Tom said nonchalantly. “Okay, maybe Ty and I fooled around together, and he’s the one who made me realize that I liked guys, too. But that’s it.”
“Oh, that’s it,” she said sarcastically. “Well, then.”
“Does that bother you?” Tom asked, sounding worried. “He’s with Randi and Brian now, and we’re just really good friends. I mean, we were never together like that, like a couple or anything.”
“No, it doesn’t bother me.” And it didn’t. Carmina was looking at Danny surreptitiously out of the corner of her eye. He kept sneaking glances at her and Tom, while trying to pretend he wasn’t listening. She didn’t care if he heard, though. “You know I get that you’re into guys, too. It was just the way you mentioned what must have been a pretty complicated and life-changing realization, as if it was no big deal.”
“So you don’t care if Tom’s with guys?” Danny asked, finally giving up the pretense of not listening. “You’re okay if he sleeps around on you?”
“Whoa,” Carmina said. “Who said anything about sleeping around? Wait, are you?” she asked Tom. They’d never actually discussed what this thing between them meant. When he said he wanted to give it a try, did he mean exclusively?
“No,” he answered. “Not around. No.” He glanced over, but not at Carmina. At Danny.
“Maybe we need to…to say what this is,” she said, fighting panic and losing her words. She tried not to get frustrated. “Between us. I don’t have to be your girlfriend. So you can be with other people.”
“I don’t want to be with other people,” Tom said, sounding a little panicked himself. “I want to be with you.” He hit the steering wheel with the palm of his hand. “This is getting complicated.”
“We don’t need a tree,” Carmina said, trying not to cry. Well, it had been nice to be his girlfriend for about an hour.
“Tom and I fooled around the other night,” Danny blurted out next to her. “He was trying not to tell you, to cover for me. We haven’t done it before. I mean, we didn’t do it. I don’t do guys. I don’t know what happened.”
“Whew,” Tom said with evident relief. “I am so glad you told her! I was going crazy trying to figure out how to be honest about it without giving you up. You saved me. Thanks.” Danny glared at him. “What?” Tom asked. He didn’t look nearly as confused as he was pretending to be. Carmina would bet he’d just expertly manipulated Danny into revealing that.
And what about that? Carmina was trying to process what they’d just told her. Shock was setting in. So she’d done it with both of them, and now they were doing it? Or not, according to Danny. What did he mean by fooled around?
“So…you two are together?” she asked tentatively.
“What? No,” Danny said firmly. “No. I was just sore and feeling down after the game, and then we were talking about what happened between you and me and we both got horny and Mr. Happy Dick over there decided to jump me. That’s it.”
“But you won,” Carmina said, unable to take in all that he’d just said in such a rush. “Did you get hurt?” She looked him over and he seemed okay. He’d worked out today.
“That’s what you’re worried about?” Danny asked incredulously. “Out of all that?”
“It’s hard to say no to Tom,” she told him pragmatically. “Did you want to say no?” She looked back and forth between them. Danny was tense but Tom was…Tom. He seemed to take everything in stride.
“I did say no,” Danny said. “He ignored me.” Carmina blinked, not sure what to say. She looked at Tom, frowning.
“His mouth said no, his dick said yes,” Tom said with a shrug. “I listened to his dick.” Danny groaned and covered his face with his hands, dropping his head back on the seat.
“Okay,” Carmina said. “As long as it was okay with him. I don’t like thinking that you forced him.”
“He didn’t force me,” Danny said from behind his hands. “Can we just drop it? Tom doesn’t want to be with anyone else. We went a little crazy the other night and that’s it. Okay?”
“If you two want to be together like that, I’m okay with it,” Carmina said, surprised to realize she meant it. “Trust me, when it comes to you two, I get it.” As soon as she said it she wished she could take it back. “I mean, you two are so close,” she said, trying to backtrack and cover up what she just said.
“Sure,” Tom said. “That’s what you meant.” He elbowed her and she elbowed him back.
“We do not want to be together like that,” Danny said. Sitting up and staring straight ahead.
“I would,” Tom said. “Just thought I’d throw that out.”
“I ain’t catching it,” Danny said.
“Hey, here’s the Christmas-tree place,” Tom said, turning into the drive marked by a big, lit-up sign. “Let’s focus on Christmas. The other stuff will work itself out.”
Carmina wasn’t so sure. Suddenly it all seemed so complicated. How could she and Tom work if he wanted Danny? For that matter, how could they work when she still wanted Danny, too?
Chapter 26
“Which one do you want?” Danny asked Carmina as soon as they got out of the truck. He regretted his sharp tone as soon as he said it. “It was your idea. You get to pick,” he said in a softer voice. It wasn’t Carmina’s fault that Tom was a horndog who wanted to fuck them both. Then again, he got the distinct impression that she wanted to fuck both him and Tom, too. Which Danny would totally be into. But he was afraid that if he and Tom got naked and busy with Carmina together, Tom would take it too far and be all over Danny, too. And Danny didn’t want that.
He absolutely, totally, without a doubt did not want that.
Seriously. No matter how good it had been the other night in Indianapolis, he did not want to get involved with Tom that way. They were best friends. Danny was the older and wi
ser one, so it was up to him to keep them on the straight and narrow. Well, as straight as Tom could be steered, anyway. What if it didn’t work out? What if Tom went somewhere Danny didn’t want to go and it came between their friendship? Because Danny didn’t think he could handle being fucked, not even by Tom, who must be pretty good at it, considering how many people came back begging for more.
“I don’t know,” Carmina said, in answer to his question. She looked around at the few remaining piles of cut trees and the rows of growing trees available for cutting. “There are so many. How much room do you have in your apartment?”
“As much room as you need,” Danny told her. “For whatever tree you want. I want you to have a perfect Christmas.” The smile Carmina gave him made his heart beat faster and his palms sweat.
Why had he said that about the perfect Christmas? Just because he meant it didn’t mean he had to say it. He didn’t want Carmina to get her hopes up. Danny was so confused right now that he wasn’t a good choice for anyone, and especially not Carmina. He could see how she struggled sometimes, that she was just as scared as he was of starting a relationship. And what about Tom? Always Tom was in the middle, wanting both of them. And he seemed to be the only one of the three of them who had his shit together. He was pulling them both into his orbit so damn hard, and neither of them had the strength right now to resist. But dammit, Danny was going to try. This whole thing had train wreck written all over it.
“Over here!” Tom called out to them. He looked around, unable to see Tom. Carmina was a few feet away, looking at some cut trees, and she turned around with a frown, searching. When she met Danny’s look, he shrugged. Suddenly he saw Tom jumping up and down several rows down from where they stood. He pointed to Tom and Carmina turned to look.
“What are you doing?” Carmina called out to him, laughing.
“I’ve found it,” Tom called back. “The perfect tree!”
Carmina started to jog over and then stopped. She turned back to Danny and held out her hand. “Come on,” she urged him.
Danny didn’t want to leave her hanging, so he took her hand even as he cursed himself for a fool the whole time. Her hand slipped into his and her grip was strong, despite seeming small and dainty compared to his. She pulled him along behind her as she headed for where Tom was.
Misconduct Page 18
