The Best Friend Bargain(29)

And horny. So, so horny.

“God, I love your laugh,” he said quietly, his gaze drifting over her chin, her lips, her cheeks, her eyes.

Liv stopped. Giggling. Moving. Breathing. And thinking that they could go back to the way things were before they’d kissed on the beach and her world had turned on its axis.

She loved laughing with Danny. He’d always had a direct link to her funny bone. Her mind searched for the times Will had made her laugh. Once, maybe twice? In six months. How had she not realized that until now?

“Danny,” she said, whisper soft.

“I’m not telling you anything I haven’t told you before.”

True. He didn’t keep his compliments to himself, especially when her loud, high-pitched guffaw swayed others to laugh along with her. But the gleam in his eyes said he wanted to back up his statement with another kiss, and that had never happened before.

Time to stop looking at those twin pools of honey and reading things she wasn’t quite ready to tackle.

“Don’t read anything into it,” he added, like he had secret passage inside her head. “I’m just a guy telling his best friend she’s fun to be around.”

Seriously? He had to throw out movie star lines like that? Could he say the wrong thing just once so he pissed her off? Whenever he talked she forgot about keeping him in the friend zone. The only zone she wanted him in was the touchdown one. Doing a dirty dance with their hot, sweaty naked bodies entwined.

She leaned closer to him. “Then stop looking at me like that.”

“How am I looking at you?”

“Like you want to strip me.” She’d never imagined he’d look at her in a different light. After all the parts of her life she’d shared with him, the memories and confessions, however silly or messed up, she’d always known it would never change a thing between them. They were that close. That important to each other. But she was wrong. Because the look he was giving her right now was nothing but sinful trouble.

He stared, fixated, into her eyes. “Truth?”

She nodded.

“I do.” He canted his head so his mouth brushed her ear. “But I won’t. I won’t risk it until you’re sure it’s what you want. Because”—he cleared his throat—“there’s a chance I’ll hurt you, Liv. That I’ll decide I can’t do this anymore and hurting you would kill me.”

“Danny.” She pressed a soft kiss to his cheek, put her hand on his leg. “You could never hurt me. I wouldn’t let you.” No matter what he said or did, it always came from a good place.

His strong, warm hand covered hers. “If you don’t want me kissing you senseless in front of everyone here, I suggest you back away.”

It took effort, but she did as he requested. “Looks like bacon and eggs has put us in a mood,” she teased, blaming their flirting on playing dress up. “Breakfast for dinner tonight?” She slapped her hand over her mouth. That did not just slip out. She really needed to let her brain catch up before she talked. “I didn’t mean that,” she mumbled through her fingers.

Danny took her wrist and brought her hand away from her mouth. This time when he looked at her, it took away her last normal breath. “I think you did.”

“Actually, I have dinner plans. With Honor.” Dessert for dinner was legit in her new falling-for-my-best-friend-is-not-a-good-idea motto. She silently repeated the mantra. Twice.

“Okay, lovebirds, time to break it up,” Tango said. “We’re about to get this contest started.”

Liv scooted her chair away from Danny to eliminate further temptation, and smiled up at the big, burly, retired football player. Tango owned the White Strand Inn and Liv had met him when she’d stayed there while in town for Zane and Sophie’s wedding. He’d also had his handwriting analyzed earlier and had grinned like a five year old when she gave her impressions.

“Nice costume. I see you put a lot of effort into it,” Danny said, clearly poking fun at the Hall of Famer in his football uniform.

“You really want to go there, Ellis?” Tango teased back, looking Danny up and down before he turned his attention on her. “Olivia, sweetheart, say the word and this side dish is yours anytime.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” she said as Tango swept a hand down his extra large frame.

Tango winked and placed a sheet of paper on the table. “Here’s the list of contestants by age group. We’re starting with the youngest and ending with the oldest. Judging is on a ten-point scale and—”

“Oh my God!” someone shouted from behind Liv.