“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?”
“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.