She turns and waves backward over her head. “I love you both.”
“Love you too.” Danny and I say in unison. Neither of us moves until she gets through security and disappears into the depths of the airport.
I turn toward the car, my stomach clenched tight. An hour on the road. With Danny Jennings. And a whole summer with no Rachel as a buffer.
I swallow the knot of dread in my throat only to have it slide down to join the bubble of excitement waiting there.
Luckily, the dread pops the bubble. As it should.
This is going to be a disaster.
The moment my foot hits the pavement outside the revolving door, Danny drops his arm over my shoulders. “So, Moan-uh, where to?”
I pick up his hand and spin away. “Don’t call me Mona. It’s Mo, or even Lisa, but not Mona.”
“Whatever you say, Moan-uh Lisa.”
Somehow he makes my name sound like I’m a porn star. I resist the growl fighting to get out of my throat. I will not let him see how he gets to me. I won’t.
Fists clenched, I head into the cross-walk. Danny’s arm circles my waist, and he pulls me hard against his chest, yanking me backward. His citrus and sin scent envelops me.
I stiffen. “What are you—”
A car speeds past. Its side mirror misses me by only inches. My heart hammers against my ribs.
His breath tickles my ear. “Might want to watch where you’re going, Moan-uh.”
My hands grip his arm. I squeeze, signaling him to let loose.
He doesn’t.
Instead, he steps forward, his body pressing into mine. All that muscle wraps around me, his hard-on pushing—his hard-on?
I wriggle, trying to get loose. “Let me go, you perv.”
His chuckle reverberates through my chest. “Perv? I just saved your cute little ass. Don’t you think you should show a little gratitude, Moan-uh?”
He hangs on tight, walking me forward, his cock hard against my butt. I dig my nails into his arm and infuse steel into my voice. “Let go. Now.”
As soon as we step into the parking garage he lets loose and holds his hands high as if to surrender. “Just following Rachel’s orders. She did say to take care of you.”
“She didn’t mean you should man-handle me, or rub your—your thing against my backside.”
His grin sends an ice pick of fury through my brain.
He cups his crotch. “This? I wasn’t rubbing it on you. You’re imagining shit. Or maybe—yeah, maybe you’re wishful thinking. Could that be it? You subconsciously want me to rub my cock on you? I can make that happen, Sweets; just say the word.”
I did not imagine his dick against my butt cheek. I stomp my foot. “What is wrong with you?”
“Not a damned thing, Moan-uh. Not a thing.”
We head home, and silence envelops me. I wrap a protective cocoon around my mind as memories bombard me of the last time Danny and I were alone in a car.
Rachel, Danny, and I met Rachel’s date at the movie theater. Not exactly a double date, because Danny and I weren’t together, not like that. But after the show, Rach’s date wanted to take her for ice cream. Danny and I headed home, just the two of us.
Danny drove, the music played, and we talked like we always did. That is, until he pulled into the gates at the entrance to their estate. He stopped halfway to the house, instead of driving up the driveway. Parking in the road and turning the lights off, he cut the engine.
After only seconds, I asked, “Why’d you stop?”
He shifted in his seat, facing me. “I want to ask you something. Whatever you say is fine. I won’t be mad or anything.”
“Mad? About what?”
“Mo, you know I like you?”
The moon was bright on the horizon and his features were surprisingly clear, even inside the car. His expression was different—like he was excited and scared all at the same time.
My stomach fluttered. “Like me—how?”
He slid his hand over mine and pulled it out of my lap. When his lips brushed my knuckles, the flutter in my tummy morphed into a full-on uproar of nerves. I gasped and yanked my hand away.
He leaned back, but then closer. His warm fingers smoothed my hair behind one ear. “Sorry. I don’t mean to make you nervous.”
“I’m not nervous.” I chewed the corner of my bottom lip while his gaze was riveted on my mouth as though he couldn’t look away.
I swallowed. “Danny, I don’t—”
He placed the tip of his finger gently over my lower lip. “Shush. Just—please, listen. This summer has been good. Maybe the best of my life. With you and Rach—mostly you.”
I twisted my fingers together in my lap and nodded.
He moved toward me, his eyes intent upon mine. “I want to kiss you, Mo. Is that okay?”