“You’re an amazing man, Danny. Your heart has the capacity for so much compassion, so much love. Every day I’m grateful that we met. I love you.”
“Thank God for that. Thank God.”
Even though they’d made love before their conversation, his reply melted her insides, charging her sated body for another round of play. When she placed a wet kiss on his lips, he got recharged as well.
Chapter Twenty-Two
This IS Home
“MERRY CHRISTMAS, YOU guys!” Julie’s greeting rang through the bar.
“Ho, Ho, Ho.” Danny pulled out three small boxes and placed them on the mahogany countertop.
“Who you callin’ a ho, Danny?” Ashley’s eyes sparkled as a giggle pealed out of her.
“I’m thinking he was addressing you, Spicy.” Kyle chuckled.
More than two years had passed since the feisty young woman entered their lives, and in that time, she’d become like a daughter to Danny and Julie. If he was being honest, even though Max and Kyle weren’t as young as Ashley, he and Julie still looked at them as family…sons. Max, Kyle, and Ashley were the reason Danny’s on Main had turned into the success it was. Sure, the bar had done well before they were employed, but it was doing ridiculously well now. There was a magic between the five of them that Danny didn’t think could be replicated, and for that, he was grateful.
Therefore, when he and Julie had discussed Christmas bonuses, they knew money wasn’t enough.
“They treat our bar as if it’s their own,” Julie had said over a candle-lit dinner she’d prepared one Sunday evening a few weeks earlier.
“I know. They work their asses off, above and beyond what’s expected.” Danny rubbed his hand over his scruff. He’d noticed a few gray hairs mixed in with all of the dark ones and wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Julie had noticed too, and based on her lust-filled eyes, wet lips, and rocking blow job the night she pointed out the first few, he decided he was just fine with the grays.
“I’ve been tossing around an idea, so let me know what you think.” Julie sipped her wine. “About two weeks ago, Kyle had to get his car from the parking lot—he’d left it there when he went home with one of the bar bunnies after work. I have no idea what he sees in those women…don’t look at me that way, Dan. He could do some much better.”
“But he couldn’t do easier, babe, and that’s what he’s looking for. Get back to the topic, or we won’t make the eight-thirty movie.” When she rolled her eyes, Danny’s pulse quickened. “So glad you just did that, honey. I’ve been looking for a reason to fuck you in the office when everyone’s around. Pump my dick into you knowing full well that you can’t make a peep. Looks like tomorrow’s the day.” His cock twitched in his jeans at the mere thought. “Next time, don’t roll your eyes at me. It’s rude.”
He leaned in and touched his lips to hers. Her moan told him that her punishment would be pleasure for the both of them.
“Now, let’s get back to the Christmas bonus idea,” he said.
Julie licked her full bottom lip, exhaled, and continued. “Anyway, he had been a bit drunk and a lot hasty to leave after his shift, and he mistakenly left his car keys in the bar. It was freezing that night. Sleet, crazy winds, and the guy couldn’t get into his car or into the bar, being that it was three thirty in the morning.”
“Shit, what did he do? And why is this the first I’m hearing about it?” Danny’s gut clenched at the thought of his boy stuck in the cold.
“Max came and got him, drove him to Kyle’s apartment because all of his roommates were too intoxicated to answer their cell phones.” Julie sipped her wine. “The whole situation got me thinking. Those three, we treat them like family, and they treat us the same. They respect our bar, treat it like home. Would it be so bad if we gave them each a set of keys in case of an emergency?”
The idea floated before it settled into his brain. “No, honey, I think that a brilliant fucking idea.”
With the five of them gathered in the empty bar closed for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, love floated through Danny’s veins. In that moment, it didn’t matter what was going on in the world outside; his little family stood there before him, and he felt content.
“Danny, give them their gifts.” Excitement seeped from Julie’s pores as Danny handed out the envelopes and the boxes.
“Oh man, this is unnecessarily generous,” Max muttered when he lifted the check from the envelope.
“Shit, you two keep upping the bonuses, and I’ll have my own spaceship by next year.” Kyle’s wink made Julie laugh, but Danny wished he could buy that boy the happiness he deserved.
“Oh…my…God. This is…” Ashley had opened the box and pulled out the key with the note card attached. Tears filled her eyes, but none of them fell as she seemed to contain them by sheer will. “I don’t know what to say about this.”
Danny looped his arm around his wife as they both watched Kyle and Max open their boxes and pull out their keys. Kyle’s brows shot together as if he couldn’t make sense of the words, “You never knock on the door of your own home.” Kyle mouthed the words a second time before lifting his head and staring first at Julie, then at Danny.
“Is this the key to Danny’s?” His voice trembled as the question left his lips.
“Our bar, not our home,” Julie answered.
Kyle looked at Danny, who simply nodded.
“This is home,” Ashley said, apparently speaking for the three of them by the way they all nodded. “Thank you for giving me—us—a home. This is the greatest present I’ve ever gotten.”
What Max, Kyle, and Ashley didn’t realize was their arrivals into Danny and Julie’s lives were three of the greatest gifts they had ever received as well. It may not have been the loud Christmas Danny wished for once upon a time, but there in his bar stood his little family. He was a happy man.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Ashley and Ryan
JULIE AND DANNY were in the kitchen, discussing recipe changes with the cook, when on the monitor, they saw a man enter the bar and approach Ashley. They couldn’t hear what was said, but they saw the way Ashley’s body froze.
“Don’t like that at all. I’m going out there,” Danny announced.
“No, wait.” Julie grabbed her husband’s arm and stared at the screen. Her head tilted from side to side before her brow rose with understanding. “There’s something interesting going on between those two. Something familiar. Give them a few minutes, babe.”
Her tone clearly implied that her request was not a request at all, hence Danny backed away from the door. They stared at the screen, transfixed, tranquility practically hugging her husband. Ashley’s voice broke the barrier of the kitchen door.
“Hello? You still in there?” Ashley shouted at the man. “I asked, why the hell are you in my bar?”
Tranquility gone. Danny snapped into action.
“Oh really, so it’s your bar now is it, little girl?” Danny’s voice held humor as he swaggered into the main bar to address Ashley, Julie right on his heels.
So that’s Ryan Baker, Julie thought after being introduced to the handsome younger man. The Ryan Baker. Ashley’s one true love. Over the years, Ashley, through tons of Julie’s prompting and patience, had opened up to Julie and Danny about her past. They’d learned of her brother Leo’s passing and the horrific circumstances surrounding his death. Ashley had explained her relationship, or lack thereof, with her parents, and after a while, she told them minimal details about her one true love. Looking at the gorgeous, dark-haired, tattooed, modelesque-man whose eyes barely left Ashley, Julie could understand the difficulty in moving on from him.