But damn, had it been worth it tonight.
Catching his eye, Danny grinned roguishly and leapt off the bed. He made quick work of using the bathroom across the room—disposing of the condom, washing his hands—and came back with a skip in his step.
Mal rolled onto his back as Danny crawled onto the bed with a predatory gleam in his eyes—was he still hard? Or hardagain? Danny was going to be the death of Mal. But before he couldreach him, Danny’s stomach rumbled loudly and he groaned as he fell forward onto his forearms.
“Hungry, Sparky?” Mal chuckled.
“Urg…starving. I didn’t finish dinner. I need at least five thousand calories a day—”
“Fivethousand—”
“And I used up a lot of energy just now,” Danny snickered. He looked up at Mal, a little pale and glassy-eyed but still alert. “Hey…that Thai food?”
There he was—the awkward, adorable kid beneath the cowl. “Leftovers in the fridge. Help yourself. I might need a minute.”
“I bet you do,” Danny said and leaned forward on his hands and knees to kiss Mal, gently this time, a light peck to his lips. “Good though, right?”
With a few words and a tender kiss, Danny summed up all the reasons why Mal trusted him enough to even entertain what they were doing. “Good. Can’t wait to pay you back for it.”
Another low giggle which, if Mal wasn’t so thoroughly spent, might have rekindled his desires right then and there.
Slithering from the bed, Danny redressed and left Mal to fend for himself. After a few moments, Mal heard the sounds of him rummaging in the kitchen.
Spreading out on the bed, Mal took a few slow breaths to still his pulse. His adrenaline and endorphins were sky-high. Only a good heist, a good fight, ever made him feel this blissful. Especially when those things included Danny. This added dimension to their relationship was a solid win. Mal would enjoy taking Danny apart next time as payback.
Slowly, he swung his legs off the bed and made his way to the bathroom to clean up. When he padded down the stairs a few minutes later, barefoot and comfortably dressed in grey cotton sleep pants and a long-sleeved navy T-shirt, Danny was situated on a stool at the kitchen island, digging into several of theremaining containers of leftovers. Mal had barely touched them last night. He noticed that the infamous shoes were now placed at the door where they belonged. Smart kid.
“So, to what do I owe the pleasure, Sparky? Thought you couldn’t meet until tomorrow night.”
Facing Mal somewhat sideways from the end of the island, Danny nearly dropped his fork as he shoveled noodles into his mouth. He finished swallowing his current bite, but his eyes darted to the countertop before he replied. A shadow of something fierce and angry flashed across his face, and the smile he forced when he looked up again didn’t fool Mal for a second.
“Plans changed. Needed a break. You sounded like a really goodbadidea.”
Mal smirked. Danny obviously wasn’t interested in divulging more. Fair enough. “That, I can promise you, will always be true.”
With a grin, Danny dug into another bite of noodles, then offered the container to Mal.
“I’m good, thanks. But tell me,” he crossed to his liquor cabinet, “this going to be an ongoing occurrence?”
“Me eating your leftovers?” Danny asked with a tease at the corners of his lips and a glance down Mal’s body. “Or fucking you better than anyone else you’ve ever been with?”
A shock of desire stirred in Mal’s belly as he pulled down his whiskey bottle and poured himself two liberal fingers; this version of Danny he definitely wanted to see more of. “That’s pretty bold for someone barely old enough to buy me a drink.”
“Fuck you, I’m twenty-eight. And you’re what, thirty-five?”
Thirty-seven. Maybe Dannyhadn’tdelved that deeply into Mal’s police records. Turning to face him without answering, Mal took a sip from his drink.
“Besides, I thought we had some promises to keep.” Danny raised an eyebrow at him and popped an egg roll into his mouth obscenely.
Mal eyed Danny sitting there in just jeans and a T-shirt stretching across his finely-toned chest. Those promises would be worth every risk now that he’d gotten a taste, but he had to ask, “What happens the next time I pull a heist?”
“Admitting you’re planning one?”
“Cute. But you can’t con me as well as you think you can. You overheard me and Lucy at Pronto. Well played with the spilled drink, Sparky, but you had a plan in mind from the start, didn’t you?”
Danny looked momentarily flustered. Setting his fork down, he summoned that cryptic, playful expression that made Mal want to bend him over the countertop, no matter how spent he was. “Maybe. As for your next heist, we have an agreement, don’t we? Same rules apply. If I find out or get called in, I’ll try to stop you, but I won’t turn you over to the police as long as you don’t kill anyone, don’t hurt any innocents, and don’t tell anyone my identity. Deal? There’s no reason that should interfere with this.”
Huh. Mal hadn’t expected it to be that easy. But then maybe Danny wasn’t thinking this through. He had such a strong streak of good in him, he’d likely have a harder time separating business from pleasure than he expected. “Deal,” Mal said anyway. He’d offered as much as he planned to about his upcoming score, and even if it all blew up in his face, he still had eighteen days to enjoy the ride.
