Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
LEO
With Hardin and Macie both sleeping over at their friends’ houses, and nothing to do but wait for Danika to get home, I’d decided to take Micah up on his offer when he called to invite me to have a beer at The Tap Room with Hayes, Lincoln Sheppard, and him.
I wasn’t sure how long Danika’s version of girls’ night would last. Back when I’d been married to Whitney there had been times when she rolled in at two or three in the morning.
That always pissed me off, not because she wasn’t allowed to go out, but because she’d never had the mental wherewithal to text or call, letting me know how late she planned on staying, and she never bothered to answer her fucking phone when I tried to contact her.
I knew Danika’s crew of friends liked to go out occasionally, and I knew it wasn’t out of the ordinary for them to get a little rowdy, but, with the exception of her, they were all tied down, some with kids at home.
I’d hit the bar not long after nine, hanging with the guys, which consisted of just Hayes and Linc the majority of the time since Micah was off trolling for a hookup, splitting his time between the single ladies filling the bar and us.
I’d just polished off my first beer and spun around on the barstool, lifting my hand to get the bartender’s attention when something Hayes and Linc were talking about caught my attention.
“She’s drivin’ Marco out of his mind, which in turn, is makin’ him drive the rest of us insane. And as soon as Sage heard about it, she jumped all over it. Now Xander won’t hear the end of it. I swear to Christ, we never had these kinds of issues before the guys started pairin’ off.”
“What kinds of issues?” I asked Lincoln as I spun back around, a fresh beer in hand.
“Sage and Gypsy got this wild hair up their asses about settin’ Danika Parrish up with one of my men,” he answered.
The swallow I’d just taken went down the wrong pipe, and I started choking on my beer. Fortunately, Hayes and Linc misread it as a failed laugh and didn’t think anything of it.
“What?” I croaked once I was able to breathe again.
“Between the two of ’em, they’ve already hit up Hunter, West, and Dalton. Only reason they haven’t gone after Trent yet is ’cause he’s workin’ a job outta town.”
A sour feeling hit my gut. If word started going around that Danika was on the market, it was only a matter of time before some guy tried to get in there, a guy who didn’t have baggage like a bitch of an ex-wife and wasn’t asking her to remain a secret.
Goddamn it.
“I thought she was seein’ someone,” I queried, pulling out my phone for the millionth time to see if she’d texted. There was still nothing.
“Far’s the women know, she’s single,” Hayes said with a casual shrug.
“Huh. Then maybe I heard wrong. Maybe it’s just that she’s not lookin’.”
What the hell was I doing? I’d had exactly one quasi-date with the woman that, yes, ended with us fooling around on her couch, but it wasn’t like we were an official couple or anything.
But there I was, trying my best to spread gossip that would hopefully get around to the rest of the men in this town so they’d back the fuck off. When the hell had I grown a vagina?
I checked my watch for the hundredth time, seeing it was just after eleven. I was just about to call it a night and head home when my phone pinged.
Danika: Leaving in a few. Still want to come over or is it too late?
Hell no it wasn’t too late. My thumbs started flying across the screen.
Me: Name the time and I’ll be there.
I was still waiting for her to respond when Linc’s phone started ringing. I listened as he talked to his wife on the other end, smiling and laughing before he hung up. “Gotta go. Edie’s called for a ride, and when my woman’s tipsy, I’m not missin’ out on that shit.”
“Tempie just texted,” Hayes said. “She needs a ride too, so I’m rollin’ out with you.”
I quickly engaged my phone, typing out another message before hers had a chance to come through.
Me: Scratch that. I’m coming to get you. Be there soon.
“I’ll go with you guys,” I offered, pulling my wallet out and tossing some bills onto the bar. “Got nothin’ else to do, and they’re probably all in the same state. I’ll take a couple of ’em with me.”
“Sounds good,” Hayes said.
I started for the door, catching Micah’s eyes on my way out, I tilted my head in silent communication that I was leaving and got a chin tip in return. He had no intention of heading out until the chick he was currently talking to was ready to leave with him.
Danika’s message came through as I was starting my truck.
Danika: What do you mean you’re coming to get me? You can’t come get me. We’re supposed to be keeping this a secret, right?
Me: I was with Hayes and Linc when their women called. I told them I’d lend a hand. No one will question. Just in case, I’m Sage’s ride as well. Driving now, so can’t text. See you in a few.
I tossed my cell into the cupholder on the center console, then I backed out of the parking lot of The Tap Room with the biggest fucking smile on my face.
The second I’d caught sight of Danika my dick sprang to life, swelling beneath my pants so hard I could pound nails, and it hadn’t gone down one damn bit in the past five minutes.
It was the smell of vanilla and sugar filling the cab, the sight of her smooth, creamy legs sticking out from beneath that short-as-fuck skirt of her sexy black dress.
Not to mention the dress itself. And those goddamn shoes.
It was all that hair, glossy and curled, draping down her bare shoulders and back.
And it was the makeup she’d done darker than I’d ever seen her wear it, if she wore any at all.
She was always beautiful, but I’d never seen her like this before. She went from cute and adorable to pin-up vixen in the blink of an eye, and having all that sitting in my passenger seat was the kind of temptation no man could ever resist.
Sage’s hiccupped giggle came from the back seat, drawing my attention from Danika’s killer legs.
“Dani,” she sing-songed. “I know you’re keepin’ a secret. Just tell me. I promise I won’t say a word. Pinky swear.”
I arched a brow and looked at Danika out of the corner of my eye, noticing her cheeks were stained pink.
“There’s no secret,” she said to her friend with an exasperated sigh, indicating to me that this was something she’d probably said repeatedly over the course of the hours they’d been at Whiskey Dolls.
“Hmm. Liar,” Drunk Sage mumbled, leaning forward to brace herself on the center console, sticking her head between me and Danika. “Leo, see if you can get her to talk.”
“Talk about what?” I asked, my mouth kicking up in a smirk.
“She swears up and down she doesn’t have a man, but we all think she’s lying.” The words came out slightly slurred, but the effect of them was a punch in the gut that wasn’t all together unpleasant.
“You do, huh?” I asked, suddenly really into this game. “And why do you think that?”
“Well, first, there’s the fact that she’s been super smiley and happy lately.”
I had to admit, it didn’t suck to hear that.
“I’m always smiley and happy,” Danika countered.
“Then there was the text.”
My brows rose and I turned my head to look at Sage, asking, “Text?” before returning my attention to the road.
“Yeah. She got a text early tonight after we got to the club.”
“Sage,” Danika snapped. “You’re being annoying; why can’t you just lie down and pass out? Only you would get chattier when you’re drunk.”
“It’s the biker babe in me,” she declared. “Anywhoo. So she got this text and I watched her while she was reading it. She stared at the screen a really long time. And she had this like, humongous smile on her face and her cheeks got all red. She tried to hide it, but she totally sucks at that.”
“Really? Hmm. That’s interesting.”
“Interesting she’s got a guy she won’t tell us about?”
“There’s no guy,” Danika cried in frustration.
“Whatever you say, hot stuff,” Sage mumbled, collapsing onto the back seat like the task of holding herself up any longer was too arduous. The cab grew quiet, and I waited for more, but a minute later the sounds of Sage’s soft, chuffing snores broke through the silence.
“Of course she passes out now,” Danika grumbled under her breath. Her friend was out, just not as fast as she’d hoped.
I let her off the hook, staying quiet until we rolled up into Xander’s driveway a few minutes later.
The big man was already standing outside on the porch of their cabin, his features shadowed by his long beard and the darkness that came with living on the edge of town off the beaten path. It was darker here than it was in town, but the stars looked a million times brighter.
“Thanks for bringin’ her back,” Xander said, meeting me at the back of the truck. I opened the door and he reached in, grabbing his woman and hefting her into his arms like she was a rag doll.
“Not a problem. She went down about ten minutes ago. Pretty sure she’s done for the night.”
The man’s mouth twisted in a smirk that was almost sinister. “Just means settin’ the alarm for five tomorrow mornin’ will be that much more fun.”
At that, Sage began to stir. “Do it and die, Bigfoot,” she grunted, snuggling into his chest. “I’ll shave your beard in your sleep.”
I wouldn’t pretend to get their relationship, but for whatever reason, it worked for the two of them.
“Have a good night,” Xander called as he started for the porch, and in the headlights I spotted a huge-ass black dog sitting on the top step, waiting for them.
“Night, Xan!” Danika shouted when I opened my door to climb back in.
“Night,” he returned. Then they disappeared inside.
Danika kept her eyes glued to the landscape outside her window as I started us back toward town. I gave her a few minutes, which was as long as I could hold it in before I opened my mouth and asked, “So, smiley and happy, huh?”
She emitted a pained groan. “You know what? Just go ahead and drop me here. I can walk.”
I let out a laugh and did what I’d been dying to do since she first climbed into my truck. Reaching over, I rested my palm on her thigh just above her knee and gave it a squeeze, intoxicated by how silky smooth her skin felt.
“Don’t be embarrassed. I liked hearin’ it. Especially after what I learned from Linc and Hayes tonight.”
She dropped her head back on a sigh. “Do I want to know?”
“That your girls are tryin’ to set you up with any available man workin’ for Lincoln? I don’t know. You tell me.”
“God! I told them not to do that.”
I sat up a bit straighter. “Wait. So you knew?”
“Gypsy and Nona went on about it when I went to get my hair done last week, but I thought I’d been successful in talking them out of it. I didn’t know they were still going.”
“Well, Nona isn’t, at least not from what I gathered, but Gypsy is, and she’s recruited Sage in the task.”
She puffed her cheeks and blew out a big breath but said nothing. A few seconds ticked by before the need to know became too much.
“That somethin’ you’d be interested in? Bein’ fixed up with one of those guys?”
“No,” she answered quickly. “It’s not that they aren’t nice guys.
They are. I know all of them relatively well, and I like them, but there’s just this .
. . I don’t know, this expectation when your friends fix you up with someone.
I never do well in situations like that.
And blind dates. I suck at blind dates. I get all weird and nervous.
I start rambling and make a complete fool of myself. ”
I could see that. The woman’s shyness prevented her from picking up on a lot of things, including when hints were being thrown at her, so it wasn’t all that surprising that she wouldn’t do well on a blind date or a fix-up.
“So what you’re sayin’ is I don’t have to worry about any competition.”
For some reason, that made her laugh like I’d just said the most ridiculous thing she’d ever heard.
“What?”
“S-sorry,” she said through a giggle as her hilarity tapered off. “It’s just funny you think you’d have any competition.”
I still wasn’t getting the joke. “And how’s that funny?”
“It just is. I mean, it’s not like I have guys beating my door down.”
My forehead pulled into a severe frown as I cast a glance her way to see if she was joking. She was staring out the windshield, her expression looking sleepy, but it appeared that she’d been dead serious. “Sweetness, have you looked in a mirror at all lately?”
She became more alert, her back going straight as she turned to look at me. “What?”
My gaze went from the road to her and back again. “Baby, before a few days ago, I’d been trying to make a move for months, and you never noticed. So, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that maybe you haven’t noticed when other men are comin’ on to you.”
“I—” She stopped, and shook her head, letting out a bewildered laugh. “Leo, do you remember what I looked like in high school?”
I clamped my mouth shut because I knew what she was getting at and I really didn’t like it. At all. “You were a kid, Danika,” I started carefully. “That was years ago. You have to know how beautiful you are.”
“You . . .” She swallowed audibly, twisting her body toward me. My hand began slipping from her leg, so I tightened my grip. “You think I’m beautiful?”
My attention shot to her. I gave my head a shake in disbelief, studying her expression as long as I could before having to face forward again.
She wasn’t playing games or fishing for compliments, which only added to her attractiveness.
So I gave it to her straight. “Sweetness, sittin’ across from you at my dad’s, I watched you the whole time, thinkin’ about how I could stare at your face for hours—hell, for days—and never get tired of lookin’ at you.
So no, I don’t think you’re beautiful. I think you’re fuckin’ stunning.
And seein’ how you were with my kids, now I know you have the same beauty on the inside as you do on the outside, which makes you even more gorgeous. ”
Silence descended on the truck for several seconds. Then finally, “Leo?”
“Yeah, baby?”
“Can you maybe drive a little faster?”
A smile stretched over my face, my fingers clenched on her thigh, and my foot pressed harder on the accelerator.