“I’m good,” Joey said with quiet loathing in his words. “Da—” He practically bit down on his tongue. “John’s home,” he corrected.
Wondering how often Joey called John ‘Dad’ when he wasn’t around, Danny’s gut twisted. Stella often encouraged it. She said it helped kids adjust to being part of a family again, even if the situation was temporary. It wasn’t as if saying ‘Dad’ was forbidden. Danny should tell Joey that. He should say…something.
But he didn’t.
“Hey,” John smiled as he came into the room. “What’s everybody up to?”
Refusing to let his good mood dwindle, Danny didn’t want to be in the dining room anymore. “Just grabbing a drink, Dad. You want anything?” he offered, then quickly made scarce to escape into the kitchen. His time with Cho couldn’t come fast enough.
ß
Itdidn’tcome fast enough, which was why Danny found himself walking into Cho’s apartment building almost twenty minutes early.
“Whoa! Careful, little guy,” Danny said as he was nearly plowed into by a young boy charging down the stairs from the second floor. He looked about ten, dark skin, closely cropped hair, and striking blue eyes—Water leaning. A pregnant woman who had to be his mother hurried down after him, looking frazzled. She had the same complexion but her eyes were brown.
“Sorry,” she smiled at Danny before hurrying on. “Michael, slow down!”
“No problem!” Danny called after them. He hadn’t seen anyone the last couple of times he’d been to Cho’s building. Considering some of the neighborhood, with Haven not too far away, Danny had expected a rougher crowd for Cho’s neighbors, but then his apartment was actually really nice for such an old building in a bad part of town. Danny hoped the woman knew what she was doing living in a place like this, with no idea that a supervillain lived a few doors down from her.
He knocked when he reached Cho’s apartment. This time they’d have dinner, and Danny would lay the groundwork for the rest of his plan. As long as things always veered to sex, Cho would be suitably distracted from guessing his true intentions.
Danny was distracted too, admittedly, because he did want the man—that body, that smirk, thoseeyes—but once Danny got this out of his system, he knew he’d be able to move on to someone better. Maybe then he’d be ready for something real. Maybe someday, the danger would be lessened enough that he wouldn’thave to worry about a girlfriend or boyfriend being bait for his enemies.
As Cho opened the door, Danny mustered the smile that had started to slip. The unimpressed eyebrow raise and the way Cho didn’t open the door completely to invite him in told Danny that he wasn’t pleased by the earlier home invasion. Or maybe he was. There was a hint of that smirk again.
“I only left the food and the note.” Danny held up his hands. “No peeping. I had some time to kill this afternoon and thought you’d think it was…cute.”
“Cute,” Cho repeated with his lilting voice. “Breaking into my house is cute?”
“You break into places all the time,” Danny said.
He had Cho there, and the man’s amusement betrayed itself, but he didn’t gesture Danny inside just yet.
“Plus, you steal things,” Danny pointed at him accusingly, “whereas I left somethingforyou. I think that should earn me some brownie points.”
“Points?”
“Yeah. How about we keep score as long as points can be traded for lewd acts in the bedroom?”
Cho’s paltry front dissolved in lieu of a grin. Stepping back finally, he opened the door the rest of the way. “You’re lucky you chose dinner from somewhere I like because believe me, Sparky, the points are in my favor at the moment, and I plan to cash in all of them later.”
Glancing down Cho’s body appreciatively, the last traces of the tension Danny had been carrying were forgotten. He slipped inside the apartment past Cho, feeling accomplished and more confident each moment he sparred with the man for verbal dominance. Hate him or not, he did enjoy their scuffles.
Cho was in jeans again and a thick, intricately-woven, heather-grey sweater. He really did look good in everything—and nothing. Seeing him in sock-clad feet was alluring too.
Danny toed off his shoes to appease the man’s rules but was once again struck by the apartment. He found himself staring, not only because of its general impressiveness but because Cho had dinner ready and waiting for him. The sandwiches were laid out on platters, with a plate for each of them at the kitchen island—Cho didn’t have a dining table—as well as the salad tossed in a nicer bowl and the cookies spread over a plate of their own. There was also a bottle of wine, not yet opened.
“Don’t flatter yourself too much,” Cho said as he crossed behind Danny into the kitchen and brought out two wine glasses. “You’re the one who insisted on buying dinner. Wouldn’t want your stamina to wear out later. Wine?”
“Please.” Danny smiled as he took up the stool he’d sat in before. Things were progressing even better than he could have hoped. Waiting for a nod from Cho, he started to fill his plate. “Buy me something expensive next time, and we’ll really have this affair in full swing. Wait…forget I said that. You’ll just steal something.”
Cho chuckled and took the stool next to Danny, passing over a nearly full glass of wine. “I do have money, Danny.”
“Money that comes from criminal activity, so it’s basically the same as stealing.” Danny never lost his smile as he took a drink to try the wine. Heady and delicious—just like Cho.
“Yet that didn’t stop you from eating my Thai food.”
“That was an emergency.”
