Chapter 11
“Oh, damn,” Jodi muttered, trying to find purchase on the old metal cabinet, but there wasn’t any to be found.
“Alien!” one of the girls currently trying to pull her down so that they could douse her with more paste and glitter, screamed somewhat hysterically.
“Girls,” Jodi said, licking her lips nervously as she tried to pull herself up, but the small hands clasped around her ankles and the fact that she lacked any real upper-body strength prevented her from doing that.
“Matthew was only kidding,” she said, forcing a smile and trying to sound as nonthreatening as possible.
“We need more glitter!” she heard one of them yell as little fingernails dug into her skin, trying to yank her back down so that they could dump more paste and glitter on her in an attempt to destroy her powers, the powers that Matthew claimed she had.
Man, when she got out of this, she was going to-
Scream her head off as two large hands cupped her bottom and pushed her up, giving her no choice but to scramble into a sitting position on top of the metal cabinet.
As soon as her butt hit the top of the cabinet, she pulled her legs up, a tad bit concerned that the little monsters hellbent on destroying her would manage to grab hold of her legs and pull her back down.
She pulled her knees up to her chest, scooted back until her back hit the wall, and-
Frowned as she looked down at the face of the obscenely handsome man, who, up until two days ago, she’d considered risking becoming Big Bertha’s bitch in order to wipe the smug smile that he was currently flashing her off his face and couldn’t help but wonder what he was doing here.
“So, here’s what I’m thinking,” Danny lazily began, that smug smile of his becoming increasingly sexier with every syllable that left his mouth and distracting her a bit from what he was saying, “I’ll pick you up at seven. We’ll grab a bite to eat and then catch a movie afterward.”
She blinked, sure that she’d misheard him. He couldn’t have possibly just asked her out on a date.
“Umm, I’m sorry, what?” Jodi asked, shifting so that she could glance down and immediately regretting it when she saw how high off the floor she was. She moved back until her back was once again touching the wall.
That killer smile of his became knowing as he said, “I’d like to take you out tonight.”
“I see,” Jodi said, simply to say something while her mind processed what he’d said and when it did, she said, “Oh, um, no thanks,” and moved to climb off the cabinet only to remember that she was afraid of heights and that there was currently an army of seven-year-olds waiting to attack her.
“Why not?” Danny asked, leaning back against her desk, looking unfazed by her rejection.
Instead of answering him, Jodi asked, “Do you think you could help me down?”
“No,” he said, his lips twitching with amusement as he studied her.
“No?” she repeated, swallowing back a curse when she risked another peek over the edge only to find a small group of angry-looking seven-year-olds glaring up at her, armed with paste and bowls of glitter.
“Umm, why not?” Jodi asked, moving back a safe distance from the edge and those rather frightening children.
“Why won’t you go out with me?” Danny returned calmly.
Because she wasn’t looking for another friend, another guy to look at her like a kid sister, and she sure as hell didn’t want to go through the motions of a date only to get rejected at the end with a barely-there kiss on the cheek and a few complimentary words about how sweet she was.
She especially didn’t want to go through that with him.
She knew that it was foolish, but after falling asleep in his arms the other night, she couldn’t stomach the idea of him looking down at her like she was the sweet baby sister that he’d never had and he would.
There was just something about her, she didn’t know if it was her size, her looks, the way she smiled, or the way that she spoke, but something about her made men view her as nothing more than a little sister.
She didn’t want Danny to see her like that, not when it meant that he’d start viewing the other night with horror.
He’d held her all night, caressed her stomach, constantly kissed her and had refused to let her go.
If she went out with him, the illusion that a handsome man wanted her would be ruined.
Within minutes of the date, he’d start looking at her funny and start to feel uncomfortable, but he wouldn’t know why until the end of the date when he walked her to the door and stared down into her eyes.
Then, the realization would hit him and that would end any fantasy that an incredibly handsome man wanted her.
“I can see that I’m going to have to do this another way,” Danny murmured and before she could ask him what he was talking about, he was back in front of the cabinet and pulling her off.
“What are you doing? Let me go!” Jodi said a bit hysterically as he pulled her down into his arms, forcing her to wrap her arms around his neck in a desperate attempt to stay there, when small hands made a grab for her.
“Anything you want, Tink,” Danny said as he walked over to the checkout desk and plopped her down on the counter right next to Matthew, who was-
“Is that my lunch?” Jodi asked, frowning as Matthew popped what looked like the rest of her double fudge, buttercream frosting brownie in his mouth with a shrug.
Danny sighed as he gently cupped her chin and forced her to look back at him. “I’m going to need you to focus here, Tink.”
“That’s not my name,” Jodi murmured absently as she peered past him and what she saw had her swallowing nervously and trying to shift back on the counter, but Danny wasn’t having that.
“Have dinner with me tonight,” Danny said, loosely wrapping his arms around her hips as he stepped closer, forcing her to spread her legs to accommodate the move.
“I can’t,” she said, gasping in horror when tiny hands suddenly closed around her ankles and tried to drag her away. Danny’s large frame was the only thing that kept her from being dragged to the floor and smothered in paste and glitter. That triumphant look in his eye let her know that he knew it.
“No?” he said, cocking a brow as he moved to step back.
“Get her!” one of the normally docile children screamed excitedly as she found herself being pulled to the edge of the counter.
Refusing to be covered in white gunk for a second time that week, Jodi wrapped her arms and legs around Danny’s retreating form and held on for dear life.
He simply stood there, his arms down by his sides as he stepped away from the counter, allowing the little demons to grab hold of her.
Tightening her hold around him, she snapped, “Danny!”
“Are you sure you can’t go out with me tonight?” he asked, sounding amused.
The bastard!
“Yes!”
“Well, then,” Danny said, sighing heavily as he grabbed her hips and-
“Wait!” Jodi screamed a bit desperately when she realized that he was really going to hand her over to the demons still pawing at her.
“Yes?” Danny inquired politely as she tightened her hold around him, her face buried against his neck as she struggled to come up with a way to get out of this without needing to scour glitter off her body for the next two months.
When it came to her, she quickly looked up and peered over Danny’s shoulder only to find Trevor standing next to Matthew, both males snacking on Matthew’s loot as they openly watched them.
“Can I get a little help here?” Jodi asked her landlord, who seemed to be enjoying the show.
Taking a big bite out of a chocolate cupcake, he shook his head and gestured for her to get on with it.
Bastard!
Making a mental note to tattletale on the bastard later to his wife, Jodi shifted her gaze to the playroom’s barricaded double doors where the pounding and threats of spankings were louder than ever and sighed. It looked like she was on her own.
Resting her head against his chest, she tightened her grip around him and said, “I can’t.”
“I understand,” Danny said, taking her by surprise as he walked back to the checkout desk and carefully placed her on the edge of the counter. As he pulled away, he gave her a boyish smile that had her biting her lower lip, wondering if maybe-
“Aliens can only be defeated with Elmer’s glue, kids, not paste,” Danny explained with a wink as he stepped back and away and-
“Get her!”
“Wait! No, wait!” Jodi yelled, rushing to pull her legs up so that she could jump over the desk and make a run for it.
She’d barely managed to pull her right leg up when they grabbed her and, with one surprisingly hard pull, yanked her off the counter.
She squeezed her eyes shut, biting back a scream as she waited to make contact with the old, cracked marble floor beneath her only to release a startled gasp when a pair of strong arms caught her, saving her from a bruised bottom.
Gasping, Jodi opened her eyes to find herself staring into a set of intense emerald eyes.
She opened her mouth to thank him but never got the chance.
Before she knew what was happening, he was leaning down and kissing her.
Warm, firm lips moved over hers, enticingly sweet and incredibly sexy, making her lose her mind and forget where she was, and that she was surrounded by a horde of demonic children determined to destroy her.
Lost in sensation, a soft moan escaped her as she parted her lips and-
Blinked her eyes open with a soft grunt as she suddenly found herself sitting on the marble floor, staring as Danny stood up, trying to make sense of what had just happened when Danny said, “She’s all yours,” and stepped back.
It took a few seconds for those three words to register in her mind and when they did, it was too late.
The children had found the Elmer’s glue.
“Why did you feel it was necessary to sic those kids on her?” Trevor asked as they paused in front of a set of bookshelves built into the wall.
“I was bored,” Matthew said with a shrug as he stepped back so that his father could measure the shelves while Danny inspected them.
More dry rot, Danny noted with a snort of disgust. The entire library was going to have to be gutted at this rate.
Trevor sighed heavily as he moved his fingers aside so that his son could read the measurements and write them down.
“What did we talk about?” he asked Matthew, sounding patient for a man who not twenty minutes ago was forced to sweet talk two-dozen angry mothers out of calling his wife. ..and the National Guard.
“That there are more constructive ways to deal with boredom than terrifying others for my own enjoyment,” Matthew spouted off, sounding completely bored and making Danny wonder just how many times Trevor had been forced to drill that into the kid’s head.
It was actually kind of frightening, and if he wasn’t still thinking about those soft lips beneath his, he’d probably be a little concerned for his cousin.
“Then, why did you do it?” Danny found himself asking the kid, deciding that now probably wasn’t the best time to be fantasizing about Tinkerbelle.
Matthew shrugged as he wrote down the measurements. “She wouldn’t tell me why she was pink.”
“And?” he asked with a frown, positive that he’d missed something.
“And I took exception to that,” Matthew said with another shrug that had Danny look up just in time to catch Trevor shooting a look heavenward. “Plus, I was hungry.”
“What does that have to do with anything?” Danny asked, glancing back down at the little boy that would probably one day rule the world along with his siblings.
“Because he made the rest of the children give him their snacks in exchange for the glue and glitter,” Trevor said, sounding bored as he gestured for Danny to check the molding running along the floor.
“Rotted,” Danny said with a sigh.
“Do you think the frame can be salvaged?” Trevor asked with an expression that probably matched his own at the moment.
This was not a simple renovation like the City Council had led their uncle to believe. Everything from the outside walls and masonry work to the walls and shelves inside was rotted from age, moisture, and termites. They’d be lucky if they didn’t have to demolish the entire building and start over.
“Let’s see,” he said, placing his hand against the wall and pushed.
The horsehair plaster crumbled beneath his touch, revealing an empty space, dried mold, long-abandoned wasps’ nests, and a surprisingly sturdy frame covered in water stains and holes.
“We can save it,” Trevor said, voicing his thoughts. “But it won’t be cheap.”
“No,” Danny said, pulling his hand away and wiping it clean on his pant leg, “it won’t.”
“Your future wife isn’t going to be happy about this,” Trevor pointed out with a taunting smile.
“I’m not going to marry her,” Danny said in a bored tone, surprised that his cousin had waited this long to start the bullshit back up.
Instead of arguing with him, Trevor simply chuckled, which wasn’t exactly comforting, especially not when Matthew chose that moment to look up at him with a knowing smile and shot him a wink.
Dear God, was he the only one that found Trevor’s kids terrifying?