Danny smiled as he moved to sit back against the headboard beside her, taking a bite of the toast and chewing slowly. “It’s not bad,” he said. “Shouldn’t be too rough when it comes back up.”
Leah shook her head as she grabbed the remote from his nightstand and turned the TV on. “When you’re finished, I’ll accept your apology in the form of jewelry or designer shoes,” she said, and he laughed around his mouthful of food.
“Hey!” he complained as she flipped right past ESPN.
“Sorry, but it’s not gonna happen.”
Danny lifted his brow. “Isn’t this my television?”
“Yes, but I got the remote first. That was always the rule in my house. Besides, you don’t have to pretend you only watch sports. There are no other guys around. Judgment-free zone over here,” she said, gesturing around herself as she continued to channel surf.
“Hmm. That’s actually kind of a relief,” he said, turning back to the TV. “So…porn then?”
She scoffed, waving her hand at him dismissively just as he leaned over to put his plate between them, and the sharp crack of the remote hitting him square in the forehead was immediately followed by Leah’s panicked gasp.
“Oh my God,” she said quickly as she spun toward him, placing her hand over Danny’s where it was pressed between his eyes. “Oh my God, are you okay?”
“No porn. Duly noted,” he winced, and she pulled his hand away and replaced it with her own as she rubbed his forehead.
“I am so sorry,” she said through laughter.
“Well, you sound devastated.”
She laughed harder then, and his smile finally broke before he started laughing with her.
Leah ran her fingers over the red mark between his eyes before she reached down and handed him the remote. “You win. We can watch whatever you want. Porn. Sports. And I’ll pretend to love every minute.”
Danny took the remote as he said, “I get assaulted in my own home and my only compensation is control of the television?”
“Well, what would you prefer?”
He kept his eyes on the TV as he started flipping through the channels, but a smirk lifted the corner of his mouth.
“Right.” Leah laughed as she sat back against the headboard. “Because in your current condition, I’m sure you would rock my world.”
Danny reached for his toast. “Believe me, if given the opportunity to rock your world, there isn’t a hangover in existence that would prevent me from getting the job done thoroughly,” he said before taking a bite.
He placed the toast back on the plate and glanced over at her; she was staring at the screen, tugging gently on her bottom lip as her cheeks flushed a delicate pink.
“Well, your confidence is still intact, I see,” she mumbled, and he smiled.
It had nothing to do with confidence; it was just that he could picture what it would be like to have her, and he knew without a doubt that once his hands were on her body, everything else in the world would fall away. His hangover, his reservations, his past.
His future.
And as for being thorough? That hadn’t been bragging. That had been a promise.
“Stop!” Leah said suddenly, stilling his hand on the remote, and Danny looked up to see three overweight men in white coats standing in front of a tray of cupcakes.
“This?” he asked. “What the hell is this?”
“You’re kidding, right? Tell me you’ve never seen Cake Boss.”
“What the fuck is Cake Boss?”
“Swear jar,” she said, taking the remote from him and turning up the volume. “It’s a reality show about a bakery in Hoboken.”
Danny pulled his brow together as he took another bite of toast, his eyes pinned on the screen. “So you just watch these dudes bake for an hour?”
“First of all, they don’t bake. They create,” she said, and Danny brought the back of his hand to his mouth to stifle his laughter. “Second of all,” she continued, “it’s not just about them baking. You get customers’ back stories, you get a look at the lives of the guys who own the shop. Plus, the cakes they make are insane. I want to go there so bad.”
Danny grinned at her adulation as he brought the mug to his mouth. “So, why don’t you?”
“I will one day, when I have the time. It’s not like a normal bakery. It’s famous. People wait in line for hours just to get inside.”
“Huh,” Danny said, finishing his toast. “I wonder if people wait that long because they want to be on TV or if the shit they make is that good.”
“The shit is that good,” she said confidently, and Danny chuckled.
“What if you go and it isn’t? Are you ready for that level of disappointment?”
Leah rested her head back on the pillow as she turned to look at him. “I don’t mind a little disappointment now and then. It just means you’ve got high standards. I’d rather shoot high and be disappointed sometimes than just live in the middle with the illusion of being satisfied.”
Danny’s smile fell as he continued looking at her. It wasn’t the first time she’d done that: said something endearingly comical, only to follow it up with something so profound, it made him feel like the world had momentarily stopped while he absorbed her words.
She reached up then, placing her hand on his cheek as she ran her thumb over his forehead. “You’ve got a welt now,” she said softly.
He swallowed as a current of warmth trickled down his body, like a string of dominos that had been set off by the touch of her fingers.
Her eyes dropped to his mouth for just a moment before they flitted back up, and her hand slipped from his face as she sat up quickly. “Do you want more toast?” she asked, grabbing the empty plate between them and sliding off the bed.
“No, thank you,” he managed, and she nodded before she turned and headed out of his room.
Danny fell back onto the bed, blinking up at the ceiling as he exhaled the breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding.
Jesus Christ, he wanted to kiss her again.
When they’d kissed outside The Rabbit Hole—a memory that still made his pulse spike whenever he thought of it—Leah had been drunk. And he was almost positive he had kissed her last night, but of course, he had been drunk.
He wanted to kiss her when they were both sober.
But he couldn’t take liberties like that, not while he still harbored secrets. Right now she needed to be the one calling the shots. She needed to set the tone, dictate the pace. He couldn’t risk screwing up right now. Not when he knew how badly he’d be screwing things up in the future.
Danny closed his eyes and exhaled heavily, clasping both hands behind his head before he opened them.
“Holy fuck,” he said just as Leah entered his room, and she turned her head, following his line of sight. As soon as her eyes fell on the screen, she smiled.
“Told you,” she said, coming back to the bed. “Amazing, right?”
“That’s a cake?” he said, and she nodded.
“Yup. And every part of that is edible.”
“No fucking way,” he said, staring in amazement at the life-sized roulette table, complete with a functioning wheel. “You can eat the numbers? And the chips?”
“They’re fondant,” she said, moving to lie down beside him. “It’s like a malleable frosting. You can make it any color you want, sculpt with it.” She rolled onto her side, facing him with a sigh. “I should have been a baker.”
He smiled as he turned toward her, lying on his side as he mirrored her position, and his eye was immediately drawn to the delicate silhouette of her profile—her neck curving into her shoulder, her waist tapering into the swell of her hip.
It was one of the most sensual things he’d ever seen.
Danny brought his eyes back to her face, and she smiled softly. “Do you feel better?”
“I do,” he said. “I can’t believe I do, but I do.”
Leah lifted her brow. “You doubted me?”
&
nbsp; “For the first and last time,” he said, and a slow smile curved her lips.
“That was a very diplomatic answer.”
“Thank you. I’m exceptional at taking my foot out of my mouth.”
She laughed softly before dropping her eyes, and he watched her expression straighten as she bit her lip. Then she moved, pressing him onto the mattress as she rested her head on his chest.
“Is this okay?” she whispered, draping her arm over his stomach, and Danny closed his eyes as he brought his hand to her back.
“Yes,” he said, trailing his fingertips from her waist to the nape of her neck.
“I know we did this earlier, but we weren’t in your bed then, and I don’t want to…I just want to…”
She trailed off, and Danny nodded against the crown of her head before he whispered, “I know. Just this.”
Leah exhaled softly. “It just…it feels nice.”
“It does,” he said gently, pulling her into his side, and the channel changed suddenly as she rolled over the remote.
“Show me sand the floor.”
Leah gasped just as Danny pumped his fist in the air.
“Alright, Cake Boss is impressive, but it’s no match for The Karate Kid. We’re leaving this on,” he said.
“Totally,” she said emphatically as she tossed the remote behind her before snuggling closer. “This is one of the greatest movies of all time.”
Danny shifted slightly, looking down at her. “Are you being sarcastic right now?”
“Not at all,” Leah said, playing with the hem of his shirt as she kept her eyes on the TV. “When they did the remake of this with Jackie Chan, I took it personally.”
Danny laughed as he rested his head back down on the pillow. “Jacket on, jacket off!”
“What?”
“That’s how they did it in the new one. Put your jacket on, take your jacket off. That’s how he learns to fight.”
“Oh my God, I hate it even more now,” Leah said against his chest, and he smiled, running his thumb over the sliver of exposed skin on her lower back.
They watched in captivated silence as Daniel-san realized all the chores he’d been forced to do had taught him how to defend himself, and as he stared at Mr. Miyagi in awe, Danny nodded.
“There it is. Mind. Blown.”
“Right?” Leah said. “The first time I saw that scene, I’m not gonna lie, it gave me a little bit of a crush on him.”
“Yeah, well, it was good to be Ralph Macchio in the eighties.”
“I was talking about Mr. Miyagi.”
Danny burst out laughing before he pulled her a little closer.
She fit so perfectly. And not just physically, although he couldn’t deny that when she was beside him this way, it felt like she was just a natural extension of his body, as if they were two halves of the same whole.
But it was more the way she fit into his life. In a perfect world, he could see this being his existence. Spending lazy weekends cuddling with her on the couch, watching TV and cracking jokes. Wasting hours talking about things that were ridiculous and significant and sometimes both at once.
It was so easy to forget the ugliness of his reality when she was with him.
They spent the next hour watching the rest of the movie, and with absolutely no effort at all, she managed to claim another piece of his heart. The way she fiddled with the hem of his shirt without even realizing she was doing it. The way her hair smelled like spring with a little bit of coconut mixed in. The way the sound of her laugh made him laugh, even when he didn’t think anything was funny.
And by the time the credits rolled, he couldn’t resist anymore.
Danny used the tips of his fingers to brush the hair away from her forehead before he trailed them down over her cheek, and she lifted her eyes, looking up at him. He moved in slowly, and he heard her breath catch just as the end of his nose touched hers.
And then he stopped.
Her terms. It needs to be on her terms.
“Leah,” he said, his voice barely above a whisper.
He watched her throat bob before she murmured, “What?”
Danny lifted his chin so that their mouths were only centimeters apart before he whispered, “Can I?”
For a moment the world seemed to stop.
And then she nodded.
His mouth was on hers before she’d even finished, and she instantly leaned into him, surrendering her mouth as she allowed him to control the kiss.
He concentrated on keeping his lips gentle, parting them slightly and brushing them over hers, and she followed his lead, kissing him back with cautious reverence that made it feel like tiny flints were igniting in his veins.
It was too chaste to be dangerous, but far too sensual to be innocent.
He pulled away as soon as he felt his control slipping, and she immediately rested her head back on the pillow, exhaling shakily before she pressed the heels of her hands into her eyes. “You’re good at that.”
Danny smiled, blinking up at the ceiling. “I think we’re good at that.”
She ran her hands up into her hair and let out a puff of breath. “I think it’s time to take you back to your car.”
Danny nodded, raking his teeth over his bottom lip. “I think you’re right.”
They both lay there, unmoving, until Leah said, “Ten more minutes of cuddles. That’s it. And then we go.”
His lip slid out from between his teeth as he smiled. “As you wish,” he said, and she whipped her head toward him.
“Did you just quote The Princess Bride?”
“I did.”
She stared at him for a second before she curled back into his side. “Fine. Twenty minutes,” she said as she rested her head on his chest, twisting the hem of his shirt between her fingers.
Danny smiled into her hair. “Twenty minutes,” he repeated, knowing that if she asked him right now, he’d give her every single minute he had left.
“Wow,” Robyn said as she fell back against Leah’s couch.
“No shit,” Holly added.
“I know.”
“I’m excited,” Robyn beamed, and Holly sighed.
“I’m nervous.”
“Well, I’m both,” Leah said, “so I guess that works.”
Holly nibbled on the side of her thumbnail. “Slow, Leah. You need to go very, very slow.”
“She knows that,” Robyn said. “Don’t be condescending.”
“I’m not being condescending, I’m being cautious. I mean, he openly admitted he’s harboring some huge secret. That’s already starting off behind the eight ball, don’t you think?”
“Okay, but at least he told her about it, even if he’s not ready to talk about it yet. If he were some kind of shady bastard, he wouldn’t have said anything.”
“Guys, stop,” Leah interrupted. “Holly, I hear what you’re saying, and I’m gonna go slow with him. It’s just…” She shook her head. “I wish I could explain it without sounding like an idiot, but there’s something about him. He’s genuine. I can feel it in my bones.”
It was quiet for a beat before Holly said, “You also thought Scott was genuine.”
“Holly!” Robyn barked, and Leah dropped her eyes as Holly covered her face with both hands.
“I’m sorry, Leah. I just meant that—”
“No, it’s okay,” Leah said, her eyes still trained on her lap. “You’re right. I know you’re right. But this time…everything just feels different. I can’t explain it.”
And she couldn’t explain it. All she knew was that she felt oddly connected to Danny. There was something about him that spoke to a long-forgotten part of her—that awakened something dormant in her soul and made her want things again.
Ever since that first day at the Cheesecake Factory, something had changed for her. It was as if letting her guard down with him had somehow shaken her foundation, and every layer of resistance and detachment she’d built up for the past two years had crumbled in on itself
. And instead of panicking—instead of scrambling to pick up the pieces and rebuild—she found herself wanting to kick the debris away and breathe in everything around her.
Every conversation, every interaction with him, freed her a little more.
It was there even in the little things, like the way her body reacted to the timbre of his voice, or the simplest of his touches. The way seeing him in pain caused a lump in her throat, like she was the one hurting. Her connection to him felt mature, as if it was something that had existed long before she had felt it or acknowledged it.
What happened between them that morning only reinforced it; she had confessed her biggest disgrace, her most humiliating regret, only to have him wrap her in his arms without even flinching at her offense. Like he had known all along and had already forgiven her.
She could try to explain it to Holly and Robyn, but Leah knew they wouldn’t understand. Hell, she didn’t even really understand. But that didn’t make it any less real for her.
Holly moved from her spot on the floor, crawling over to where Leah sat on the couch before she rested her head in her lap. “I’m sorry. You know me and my big mouth love you and are just looking out for you.”
Leah smiled, running her hand over the back of Holly’s hair. “I know. And I will go slow. I promise.”
Holly lifted her head, smiling at Leah before she hopped to her feet. “Okay, should we put the movie in now? Ryan Gosling is shirtless in this, so like seriously, what the fuck are we waiting for?”
Leah and Robyn laughed as Holly walked over to the DVD player with the movie. She’d brought it over, along with some takeout from the girls’ favorite sushi restaurant, in honor of their last girls’ night before Robyn got married. But as soon as they’d walked into Leah’s apartment, the relentless third-degree interrogation took precedence over the food and entertainment. She’d known them too long, and they could see all over her face that something had changed for her. Within ten minutes of their arrival, Leah had told them everything, beginning with Danny’s drunken phone call and ending with her bringing him to his car earlier that afternoon.
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