“Wait!” My heart swerves when he jogs down the stairs. Danny yanks open the front door and marches into the tangerine sunrise. I chase after him, bounding free from the house. “Danny. Wait.” I stop short of jumping onto him like a koala when he halts with his back to me. “I’ll be patient. Don’t let things get all icky and weird. I’ll tell you my favorite book, if you like?” His head rotates first, with a simple, sexy smile tugging at his lips. Then he swivels his entire body around and blinds me with his good looks.
“It’s not as meaningful as yours, but it's the one book I’ve read multiple times.” My heart beats gallop, and my sentences snake into each other. “It’s totally embarrassing. And you might think differently about me after I confess.”
“Tell me.” He crosses over the path and puts his hands on my cheeks. “You owe me three answers.”
The way he says it, in that husky timbre of his, makes me giggle with nerves. I find it incredibly difficult to focus when his lips are moist and lingering a breath away. “Okay... well... we haven’t explored all the sex position options yet, so I can’t pick a preferred one. However, I look forward to trying out a few more, so I can make an informed decision.” I shiver when he smirks. “My favorite color is amber, the exact golden tint of your eyes, to be precise, and I’ve read Lady Chatterley’s Lover over thirty-nine times.”
“Thirty-nine times?” He repeats. “It must be an excellent book. Look, Viv, what I said upstairs about falling for you, I meant every word.” His chest rises and he rolls his shoulders. “When I was at college, I was involved in…”
From out of nowhere, a car horn honks, interrupting his intensity. A burgundy minivan rolls to a halt at the end of the driveway. The window lowers. “Danny Rocco, you sly dog.” The driver hangs his arm out.
I recognize his cute grin and floppy blonde hair. It’s the paramedic who drove us about in the ambulance. He grimaces when an ear-piercing screech rips into the atmosphere from the back seat.
“Johnny.” Danny nods and slings his arm around my shoulder. “Viv, you remember Johnny, my work buddy.” Another squeal makes Johnny press his forehead to the steering wheel. “And his twin boys,” Danny adds.
“It’s mine!” The two boys wrestle over a toy.
“Milo, give your brother the blow up chicken before I stick my car key in it.”
“It’s my blubber clucky!” one of the boys protests with flying arms and legs bolstered into a child's booster seat like a sea turtle.
“You left yours at home, buddy. That’s Max’s blubber clucky.” Johnny grips the wheel and takes a deep breath when Milo wails. “These guys have been awake since the first light of day. Literally, the second sunlight hit the curtain, and Milo bounced on my head. I’m letting Tara sleep before I have to leave her alone with these rascals. So—” He waggles his brows. “Are you guys official? You have a G friend?”
Behind the idling engine, one child whimpers, and the other lets out a yelp. I take a silent breath and wait for Danny to give his interpretation of ‘us’. We’re together, casually, that was until he left for Texas. What exactly are we doing? Am I a girlfriend? Even now, after our first fight?
“It’s definitely a thing,” he confirms, squeezing my shoulders. “We’ve been together for…” Danny’s brow creases. “Wow. It’s been over four weeks.”
Johnny smacks the wheel and winks. “Sounds to me like you pair are the real deal.” His brows waggle.
“We’re keeping it casual.”Casual. There’s that horrible insignificant word again.
“Buddy, four weeks isn’t casual. Why didn’t you tell me?” Johnny cocks an eyebrow in my direction like he’s expecting me to agree with him. Clearly, it's not only me he doesn't confide in. “You guys are in the dating zone. That’s big news.”
Danny’s boots shift. “Okay, Johnny.” He stills, and the arm around me pulls me in that bit tighter. “I’d like you to meet my girlfriend. She’s the best thing that’s ever happened to me,” he says it in one breath.
My heart hammers while my mind simultaneously spins. Girlfriend. He wants me to be his girlfriend. I swallow back the excitement and fake glare up at him. “Excuse me? You haven't asked me yet?”
Danny let’s go and widens his stance. He folds his arms, then rubs his bottom lip with his thumb while staring at me from under dark lashes. “Viv, would you like to be my girlfriend?”
The sincerity in his eyes wipes out the world around me. I could never refuse him, and he damn well knows it when I stutter, “Eh... sure... yeah. No problemo.”
“Phew, it's getting hot out today,” Johnny chirps up, breaking our spell. “Hey, I have an idea.” He taps the outside of the vehicle like he’s just thought up a master plan. “We’re having a cookout tomorrow. You two should come.” He leans further out of the window with his eyes on me. “I’ve asked this guy a hundred times to come to my house, and he never commits. So, what do you say, Viv?” he asks, before rotating one hundred and eighty degrees and snatching a deformed inflatable rooster from a small boy. “Daddy has the damn clucky chicken thing now. Got it?”
Danny glides a hand down my spine, resting his hand on my hip. I peer up at him, patiently waiting for his response. In a beat, he meets my gaze and smiles. “Are you free tomorrow evening?” he asks.
“Maybe.” I shrug, glancing down to my bare toes. I shiver when a gentle tug of my ponytail guides my gaze back up to his. Amber flecks twinkle. Locked in this unspoken moment, I select a wish and pick the brightest speckle.Please let this work out.
The corner of his mouth twitches, and before I have time to accept, his mouth descends, covering mine with a tasty sizzling kiss.
“Damn, what I’d give for pre-kid sex.” Johnny groans. “My house is a few blocks down. You can walk to it from here, Danny.”
“I’ll drive,” I suggest. “I’d rather not hang on for dear life on that unstable thing.” I point to his motorcycle.
“We’ll walk.” He smiles tightly.
“The guy doesn’t like cars. I know that much.” Johnny stares into the rearview mirror, spying on the suspiciously quiet twins. “I’d better do a few more laps around the block before my shift. See you at Sunnyville General, buddy. Viv, it was a pleasure to meet you again. Tara will be pumped to have you guys over.”
A finger smudged window glides closed. The minivan jerks and takes off down the street. “Well, that was interesting.” I giggle. “Girlfriend, huh? What happened to casual?”
