Chapter Twenty Danny
I could have spent the rest of the day—hell, the rest of the week—lying on my bed staring into the endless blue of Taryn’s eyes. Being allowed to touch her, hold her, kiss her? All my dreams were right beside me.
Kissing her when she was all in, when I hadn’t surprised her and freaked her out, was a revelation. She’d only kissed two other guys? Unbelievable. Her response to me had absolutely blown the top of my head off. Hottest. Fucking. Kiss. Of. My. Life.
It had been more than five years since I’d had sex with another person. I’d come perilously close to embarrassing myself when she’d dry-humped me while we were ravaging each other’s mouths. I’d probably have blue balls for a week, but I’d worry about that later. I’d meant it when I said I wanted it real private the first time we made love. That racket going on downstairs had only reinforced my good decision to wait to love her in her quiet little shoebox of an apartment. With it being located on the second level of the building, right on the end, she could moan as loud as she wanted to when I pleasured her, and no one would be the wiser about what we were up to.
Unlike my place. Knowing my girl and my roommates the way I did, I couldn’t set her up to put up with their bullshit if they happened to storm into the house in time to hear us getting busy. Neither one of us needed that. The noise echoing up the stairs only proved my point.
Introducing her to them was going to be torture enough—especially with Bax and Finn who as far as I could tell mostly liked to entertain jersey chasers, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t try to put a run on my girl. Callahan had something going with his cute, curly-haired study partner, so I wasn’t too worried about him.
“Time to go, T,” I said as I reluctantly disentangled myself from her and sat up.
When she joined me on the edge of my bed, she pulled her phone from her pocket to check the time. “Wow, how did that happen?”
I smirked. “What? Time?”
“I have class in fifteen minutes. I was going to look over my notes since I have a quiz.”
“Sorry, babe. But what happened here this afternoon was important.” I dared her to contradict me.
A secret smile flickered over her lips. “Yes, it was.”
She stood and stretched. Looking at that gorgeous curve of her spine and her pretty rack in her tight sweater as it lifted to the ceiling left me half-hard again. Willing my dick to calm the fuck down, I stood beside her and clasped her hand in mine.
“Looks like you’re going to meet my roommates,” I said as I tugged her with me to the door.
“You don’t sound too happy about it.”
I opened the door and stepped out into the hall. “They’re a bunch of cocksure football players who like women,” I said in a tone that conveyed everything I didn’t think I needed to add.
“They sound like your kind of guys.”
The smirk in her voice had me narrowing my eyes at her.
“Finn will probably say something awkward. Bax will be wearing one of his signature T-shirts.” I grinned. “Callahan will be suave, but he’s got a girlfriend, so he’s safe.”
We dropped down to the living room and ran into Bax who walked out of the kitchen, gnawing on a slice of cold pizza. He swallowed and gave Taryn an appreciative once-over that had me involuntarily squeezing her hand—maybe too hard judging by the way she flinched and tugged at my hold.
“Helloo, Danny. Is this your friend?” he asked.
“This is Taryn. My girlfriend.” When I emphasized the second part, a warm glow radiated over my chest. “Taryn, this is Wyatt Baxter, but everyone calls him Bax.”
After wiping his hand down the side of his jeans, he stuck it out to her. They shook, and she grinned. “Nice shirt.”
He glanced down at his thought for the day and smirked.
Though I rolled my eyes, I couldn’t help but grin too at the bright white lettering across the chest of his black T-shirt that read “So when is this ‘old enough to know better’ supposed to kick in?”
“Good one, huh?” He chuckled and took another bite of pizza.
“What’s a good one?” Finn asked as he walked out of the kitchen and almost ran into Bax.
“Today’s T-shirt.”
Finn shook his head.
“Finn, this is my girlfriend, Taryn Hamilton.” Catching her wide-eyed blink, I added, “Finn’s a D-end, but off the field, he’s harmless.”
Bax chuckled at Finn’s snort of rejection. He clearly didn’t agree with my description of him.
Ignoring both Bax and me, Finn reached out to Taryn, shaking her hand. “Pleasure to meet you.” Returning his attention my way, his mouth turned down. “The pretty boys always get the hottest girls. It’s not fair.”
“All semester Callahan has been warning you about hanging out with the jersey chasers. Maybe if you listened, you’d have a better chance at finding your hot girl.” I shrugged. “Catch you guys at practice.”
As I turned to walk Taryn toward the foyer, Bax piped up. “Hey! This mean you’re gonna have your shit together tonight?” He not so subtly pointed between T and me.
I flipped him the bird and continued walking to the door.
“Nice to meet you guys,” Taryn said over her shoulder.
“Likewise.”
“Nice to meet you too.”
“What did Bax mean about practice?” Taryn asked as I backed my car out of the driveway.
“I might have had a bad one last night,” I mumbled as I wheeled us around the roundabout to head back to campus. “My fault, T.” Sliding my hand off the gearshift and onto her thigh, I added, “We have the advantage of our friendship, but I know I have some making up to do. I’ll get it right. I promise.”
Covering my hand with her warm palm, she said, “Just be honest. No head games.”
“I can do that.”
“I don’t know who lit a fire under you, Chambers, but I’m glad to see you back in form,” Coach Wiley said as I trotted over to the sidelines after catching one of Patty’s long balls on a post route in practice.
“Thanks, Coach.” I shot back some electrolytes from a squeeze-bottle one of the managers had handed to me.
“Whatever was going on with you yesterday, next time if you need help, you let me know.” Though his words were nonthreatening, the seriousness of his tone said he wanted me to hear the subtext.
Got it. Loud and clear. Let Coach know when I’m having a bad day .
Right.
Like I’d ever tell him I’d fucked up with my girlfriend and nearly ruined everything I’d been working toward from the minute I first saw her after I returned home.
After the starters had run a couple more plays, Coach sent me back out on the field. We set up for a pass play, but it was a decoy to open a lane for Jason Taylor, our backup running back, to run through. Somehow, I ended up having to take on Bax. Channeling attitude at the way he’d checked Taryn out back at the house, I stood him up and pushed him back a couple of yards. From his shocked expression behind the face guard of his helmet, I could tell he didn’t expect me to give him some game. When Coach Ellis called the play dead after Finn got one of his big paws on Taylor and stuffed him into the turf, I let out a chuckle and patted Bax on the chest.
“Not bad for a pansy-ass flyboy, huh?”
“Your head had better be on a swivel next time you actually run out of the slot,” he growled.
“Promises, promises.” I laughed. “You’ll have to catch me first.”
Another growl followed me as I ran back to the second-team huddle where we waited for Coach to send in the play. Sure enough, it was a pass play with me breaking out of the slot to run a skinny post on Bax’s side of the line. After I made him look silly with my mad blocking skills, no doubt he meant it about coming after me at the next opportunity.
LeSean Call, our backup QB, gave the signal, and I lined up in my spot. When he yelled, “Hike!” I sidestepped like I was going to block again and shot through the gap. In three steps I was out of there and running to my spot on the field. Bax made a beeline for Call behind the line, so I improvised, giving him a better target. He let the ball fly right as Bax grabbed his jersey. Lucky sap—linebackers were under strict orders not to take down the heart of the offense. That wasn’t the case for any of the rest of the skill players.
I came back for the pass, secured the ball in my hands, and turned it upfield. Taco Hernandez, our star safety, drew an angle on me, but after trash-talking my roommate, I had something to prove. A little hip shimmy forced him to whiff when he launched himself at me, and I was headed for pay dirt.
After I crossed the goal line, I trotted back to the bench and handed Coach Wiley the ball. “See, Coach? Everything is under control.”
With a kind of exasperated shake of his head, he said, “Get your ass back out there, Flyboy.”
Grinning, I trotted back to the huddle.
“Way to make us look good,” one of the O-lineman said.
“They’re going to come at us harder now,” another said.
“Good,” Taylor chimed in. “I want a turn at what Danny did to ’em just now.”
If Tarvarius could have seen the fire in Taylor’s eyes as he said that, he’d probably be headed to the weight room to put in some extra reps to be sure Taylor didn’t muscle him out of his starting position. As it was, he managed to gain twenty hard-fought yards on the next play before Coach Ellis called practice for the night.
“Glad to see you figured something out between yesterday and today,” Callahan said as we dressed in our street clothes after listening the coaches’ end-of-practice directives and showering.
“Turns out Danny’s ‘friend,’” Finn interrupted with air quotes, “is a dark-haired hottie with the wildest blue eyes I’ve ever seen. Bet all that hand-holding back at the house had something to do with your fired-up play today.” He chuckled at my glare.
“Figured it had something to do with a girl,” Callahan said as he pulled a hoodie over his head. “She’s not going to get in your head again, I hope.”
Before I could call him out, Finn did. “Kinda hypocritical coming from you, ’Han.”
“What he said,” I echoed.
“Don’t you all worry about me. Jamaica and I are just fine.” He followed up that pronouncement with a secret smile it didn’t take a rocket scientist to interpret.
“The fuck, Chambers. You been doing some overtime lifting or something?” Bax asked as he joined the three of us. “Good thing you didn’t dump me on my ass out there. No telling what you’d find in your mess of a bed when you climb into it tonight.” His smirk was pure evil.
“Maybe you need to wake up earlier and add Wheaties to your breakfast, old son, ’cause I won’t hold back next time.” I hitched my duffel bag over my shoulder and returned his grin.
“You hear that, Bax? Danny was taking it easy on you out there.” Callahan laughed as he grabbed his duffel bag from the floor and closed up his locker.
Bax fell into step beside me as the four of us headed to the parking lot. “Seriously, dude. You’ve been holding out on us, on the field and at the house. I get it now why you’ve been ditching us for your ‘friend.’ Day-um. She’s a certified smoke show.”
“Keep your eyes to yourself, Baxter,” I growled.
My roommates’ rich laughter echoed over the parking lot.
“Kinda territorial, this one,” Bax said sotto voce to the other two.
“Can’t say I blame him,” Finn added as we walked up to our vehicles. “Not only is your girl hot, but she also seems like a nice person.”
“I’m looking forward to meeting her,” Callahan said as he opened the backseat door to his truck and tossed his duffel bag in. He turned to the other two. “When did you guys meet her?”
“When we came home before practice today. He’d snuck her in while the rest of us were in class.” Finn’s tone was accusatory. “How many times have you had her over behind our backs?”
Laughter snorted out of me. “Finnegan, you make it sound like a personal affront that I had my girlfriend over. When you all went over house rules, I don’t remember anyone saying anything about not bringing girls by.” After tossing my duffel into the back seat, I slammed the passenger door on my car shut and walked around the front of it. “Callahan has had Jamaica over pretty damn often since Homecoming.” I shot ’Han a side-eye, but all he did was shrug. “And I’ve come home to you entertaining jersey chasers on a couple of occasions, Finn.” I shot him a censorious look, and he had to the good grace to duck his head. “So I’m not sure why your shorts are in a knot because Taryn and I were at the house this afternoon.”
“Taryn, huh? Pretty name,” Callahan said. “Finn’s shorts aren’t bunched because you had your girlfriend over, Danny. They’re bunched because you have a girlfriend.” His eyes danced as he glanced at Finn, who flipped him the bird.
“Yeah, well, speaking of girlfriends, I’m heading over to see mine. Catch you all later.” With a wave over my head, I slid into my Mustang and fired it up.
A few minutes later, I was pulling into my usual spot beside T’s ride in the parking lot behind the Coffee Kiosk.
Since it was an hour till closing, there were still a few people seated at tables around the shop. I stepped up to the counter, and Hailey, Taryn’s pushy coworker, materialized at the register.
“Hi, Danny. What can I get you?”
The way she pulled her braid over her shoulder to draw attention to her rack was kinda funny the first five times she did it. Now it was just old.
“Grasshopper steamer.” I bent down to check out what was left in the pastry case and added, “And an egg sandwich.” As I pulled my wallet from my pocket, I asked, “Is Taryn around?”
A shadow crossed her face before she flipped a switch. “She’s in the back taking inventory, but I’d be happy to sit with you.”
I paid my bill and dropped a couple bucks into the tip jar beside the register. “That’s all right. I have a test to study for.”
Stepping down to the end of the counter, I waited for her to make my drink and grab my snack. I wasn’t even subtle about trying to see T in the back room, maybe catch her eye to encourage her to come out to join me. After a minute Hailey seemed to catch on to what I was doing and deliberately blocked my line of sight. Rolling my eyes, I pulled out my phone and shot off a quick text.
Me: Okay if I join you in the back room?
Hailey set my drink and sandwich in front of me. “Here you go. What are you studying? Maybe I can quiz you.” This time when she started playing with her braid, she threw her shoulders back and stuck her chest out. If not for the counter between us, she probably would have shoved her boobs directly into my face.
“Calculus.”
Her shoulders slumped. “I’m an elementary ed major. We don’t have to take calculus.”
“Hey, Danny.” Taryn’s soft alto came from somewhere behind her coworker. “The answer to your question is not tonight.” When she stepped around Hailey, her eyes teased me.
“So that means you’re open to it on another night, huh?”
“Danny.”
The warning in her tone tugged a laugh out of me. I sipped from my steamer, which was a little too sweet.
“What time are you off tonight?”
She glanced at the clock on the wall above the menu board and back to me. “In thirty minutes.”
“Actually, Taryn, I was hoping to go early tonight.” Hailey spoke to my girl, but her eyes remained on me.
Conspiratorially, I leaned in, gesturing for her to join me. “It’s your turn to close, isn’t it?” I asked.
“Yes, but—”
“Great. Then Taryn will be leaving with me in thirty minutes.” I stood up straight and saluted her with my cup. “Nice talk.”
Smirking, Taryn turned her face away, but I let my attitude show loud and clear in my expression.
With a sniff Hailey spun on her heel and went to work washing pitchers and glasses and whatnot. Good thing all the utensils were made of plastic and metal with the way she slammed them around. Taryn glanced up from where she was stacking cups beside the coffee machine and smiled. I smiled back and found a table near the counter.
Thirty minutes later the shop had emptied out of half the customers who’d been there when I arrived, and no one had come in to replace them. Clearly, Hailey would have no trouble closing up.
When T came out of the office without her apron on, I was ready to go. My sandwich and drink had barely made a dent in what practice had taken out of me.
“Wanna go grab some real food?” I asked hopefully as we headed out to our cars.
“I made chili over the weekend. I bet there’s enough left over if you want to come over.” Her expression hovered somewhere between teasing and shy.
As if I’d pass up homemade food. “I’m all over that. I’ll follow you.”
After I’d parked behind her on the street outside her place, I grabbed my backpack off the passenger seat and followed her to the stairs. The sweet sway of her ass as she climbed the steps to the landing outside her apartment left me hungry for more than food. Truth be told, I was starving for her, but this change in our relationship was too new. After the way I’d hurt her when I dragged her behind Reed Hall, I’d learned my lesson. We were a thing, but I still needed to take my time, ignore my nature, and not push.
I dropped my backpack on the floor near the catch-all table beside the door and kicked off my shoes. Then I followed her to the kitchen area of the open-plan space that served as a front foyer, living room, and kitchen. Taryn had positioned her couch as the divider between living room and kitchen, and as much as I wanted to just hop over it and land behind her where she was already rummaging in the fridge, I held back.
Skirting the end of the couch, I pulled out one of the two chairs tucked under her teeny dinette table and sat down.
“What else would you like with your chili? I have a bag of salad in here, and cheese and bread for toasted cheese sandwiches.”
“Sounds great.”
Straightening up, she turned and stared. “All of it?”
Lifting my hands up in a what-can-I-say gesture, I said, “I played hard in practice today, and it’s been a minute since lunch.”
“But you had a sandwich at the Coffee Kiosk.” She laughed. “Never mind.” A second later she was assembling ingredients for dinner on the one square foot of available counterspace between the fridge and the sink.
I would have helped her—wanted to help, in fact—but short of standing on top of her, there wasn’t much room for two people to work. She put the chili in the microwave above the stove and set a pan on the burner. Then she sliced some cheddar and mozzarella, buttered the bread, and set two sandwiches in the pan. While the hot food cooked, she shook the bag of salad into a bowl and set it and a jar of homemade ranch dressing on the table. She hummed a little under her breath and sneaked glances at me.
I could have sat there all night watching her prepare a meal because she looked so happy, like cooking something for me was fun. One of these days when my roommates had somewhere else to be, I wanted to invite her over to cook with me, in a space big enough for both of us to move, yet small enough for us to bump into each other every now and then as we worked.
“How was practice?” A shadow crossed her face. “Better than yesterday?”
“I kicked Bax’s ass on a block and scored a touchdown on a skinny-post play that faked our safety right out of his cleats. It was epic.” I grinned. “Bax is being a spoilsport about it, so I think tomorrow I’m going to ask him to be my spotter when we lift, let him see what I do in the weight room. It’ll make him feel better about having his ass handed to him by a receiver.” I couldn’t help the laugh that accompanied my words.
“So you had a good practice.” She smiled as she set plates and bowls on the table.
“I did.” Leaning back in my chair, I asked, “How did your quiz go?”
“Better than I thought, especially without some review.” The corner of her mouth quirked up. “For some reason, I was more relaxed than usual, which might have helped.”
“Huh. No one’s ever accused me of helping them relax before.”
“Who said anything about it being because of you?”
If she hadn’t been carrying a hot bowl of chili to the table, I’d have jumped out of my chair to remind her who’d spent the afternoon helping both of us to relax for maybe the first time since we met.
Seating herself in the other chair, a table covered in food between us, Taryn invited me to help myself.
I filled a bowl with steaming chili, the smell of which had my mouth watering and my stomach rumbling. Then I set it in front of her, switching it with her empty bowl. Her eyes widened at my move, but she said nothing. After ladling chili to the brim of my bowl, I set it in front of me, picked up my spoon, and shoved in a bite. Hot, spicy, slightly acidic tomato flavor burst over my tongue. The soft umami of black beans and the delicious texture of beef burger had me dipping my spoon back into my bowl before I’d swallowed the first bite. Closing my eyes, I groaned as a food orgasm threatened.
“Fuck, T. This is better than your mom’s, and that’s saying something because I thought hers was my favorite.”
Ducking her head, she offered a shy smile. “Thanks.”
“Seriously. I love chili, and your mom’s is to die for, but this? Hands down the best I’ve ever had.” I shoved another bite in and grinned around it at the way color climbed up her pretty neck to flood her face.
“You’re kinda over-the-top, Danny.”
“Take a sincere compliment, T.”
With a shake of her head, she cut her sandwich in half, dunked a corner in her soup, and took a bite.
For a few minutes we ate in silence, me finishing my sandwich and most of a bowl of chili in the same time it took T to get only halfway through half of her sandwich and a few bites into her soup. Living with guys for most of my life hadn’t taught me much about taking my time with meals. I appreciated her cooking, so I willed myself to slow down.
“I’ve gotta admit, I love it when someone else cooks. Every Sunday afternoon while we watch pro football, Callahan and Bax make breakfast burritos for the four of us for the week. It’s pretty damn awesome to know I have something filling to eat on the run since I’m usually the last one out of the sack.” I finished off my bowl and glanced hopefully at what was left in the serving bowl in the middle of the table.
With an indulgent grin, Taryn nodded, and I filled my bowl again.
“We take turns cooking dinner, but no one in the house can make chili like this.”
“You’re kinda transparent, you know.”
My brows shot up. “What do you mean?”
“I’m not coming over to cook for you and your roommates. My schedule is already packed.”
“Where in my praises for this delicious meal did I ask you to?”
This time her brows went up.
“If anything I’m just hoping to be invited over here for dinner more often.” I grinned and nodded at the half a sandwich left on her plate. “You gonna eat that?”
Chuckling, she said, “You’re ridiculous,” as she slid her plate across the table to me, and I plucked the cheese sandwich from it.
A few minutes later, a few leaves of lettuce were all that remained from an excellent dinner I hadn’t expected.
During my night of tossing and turning, I’d made plans to fix things with Taryn. But when I rolled out of bed this morning, I would never have predicted I’d be sitting in her blink of a kitchen having dinner with her like we were a long-established couple. For the first time since I was a little kid, I felt like I belonged, and it was all because the stunning woman sitting across from me wanted me as much as I wanted her.