The Best Friend Bargain(43)

“So…” She pushed up onto her elbow. “I’m thinking the pancakes will taste awful now, but I can whip up some new ones.”

“How about I whip them up and you stay right here?”

“In your bed?” Her pulse did a tap dance.

He twirled a piece of her hair around his finger. “That is right here.” He sounded so calm. So cool. So sexy. Would he mind if she asked him to chain her to his bed?

“Okay,” she said, a little breathless.

“Okay,” he parroted again before kissing her on the mouth and standing. He made a quick stop in the bathroom before heading downstairs. Naked. Her tongue might have rolled out of her mouth as she watched him go. His butt should win awards.

Liv had only been inside Danny’s bedroom a few times and all had been brief, so with a request to stay put, and her sexy as sin best friend busy for the next fifteen minutes or so, she slipped her shirt back on and took a good look around.

Of course there wasn’t a thing out of place among the sparse furnishings. And not a speck of dust on his big, manly cherry wood dresser. She stepped toward shelves built into an alcove in the wall beside a high-back chair. Hard covered sporting books, paperback novels, and sports memorabilia took up most of the space, but centered on the second shelf sat a framed picture that drew her closer.

She remembered that day with perfect clarity. The photo of her and Danny outside their favorite seafood restaurant had been taken by a passerby the day before he started grad school at UCLA. She’d wanted to treat him to his last good meal before classes and studying became his life and he lived off eggs and pasta—the two things he knew how to cook. She’d worn her favorite black cardigan over a form-fitting white T-shirt with jeans.

Just before the photo was taken, Danny had bent to whisper in her ear and she’d hunched her shoulder in response, his warm breath tickling her neck. “Thanks for making me look like the luckiest guy in there tonight,” he’d said.

She’d been so stunned and pleased by his compliment that she’d gone totally still and mute, flummoxed by happiness.

Lifting the photo off the shelf, she studied the expression on her face and wondered if Danny saw the same thing she did when he looked at the picture. A couple.

Funny how she’d thought nothing of the sort back then. Only that Danny had noticed she’d taken care to look her best that night. But now she couldn’t stop wondering if maybe there had always been some underlying attraction neither of them had been willing to acknowledge.

She put the picture back and walked to the window. The sun had yet to break through the marine layer, dew clung to the leaves on the tree a few feet away. Down below, the garden bloomed fall flowers, and verdant foliage needed a trim. Next month she and Danny would be married standing on a patch of grass near the far fence.

Married.

To her best friend.

And now her lover.

Quivers competed with tingles in a race down her back and arms. She hurried to the bed, pulled back the comforter, and slid in between the sheets. She lifted the covers over her face, feeling like she needed to hide. From the delight making her cheeks warm. From the thrill of making love for the first time to a man she adored. From the fact that Danny had seen her naked!

He’d liked what he saw.

She was pretty sure he’d liked it a lot.

“I hope you’re not asleep under there because these are my best pancakes yet.”

His voice had her grinning into the soft cotton blend before she whipped the sheets down to her shoulders and peeked at him. She suddenly felt shy—until she saw what he had on, and she burst into laughter.

Tears leaked out of her eyes as she pushed up into a sitting position. She wrapped her arms around her stomach, giggled harder.

Danny put the food tray on the bed, his hands on his hips. “What?” he asked with a mischievous smile.

He was too cute.

He wore a blue apron over his naked body. That alone would be a fun sight, but this apron had words on it along with a big red lip stain. Kiss the Cock.

“Typos happen,” he said with a shrug. “Especially when your friends are drunk off their ass when they order it online.”

“You sure it’s a typo?” Liv managed to ask. She’d been with Zane and Bryce when they’d ordered the gag gift and yes, beer had been involved, but they knew exactly what they’d ordered.

Danny narrowed his eyes. “This is on purpose?”

Liv nodded.

Danny cracked up. “Of course those boneheads meant to do this.” He sat on the bed and handed her a plate. Their fingers brushed, and the simple touch sent sweet pressure building between her hips again. Maybe they could stay in bed all day. “So?” he said.