Chapter 17
“You don’t need to do this,” Danny said, handing her the pot she’d asked for.
“It’s fine,” Jodi said as she took the pot from him with a smile.
No, it wasn’t. It wasn’t even close to being fine, but thanks to his asshole cousins and uncles, he’d discovered the extent of the damage those bastards had done over the years.
Every restaurant they’d tried to go to had either turned them away, run screaming for the exit, or had a mental breakdown when he came walking through the door.
When he’d tried to avoid a potentially embarrassing situation by calling ahead, it had ended with some hysterical manager sobbing as they threw around the words police, restraining order, and “Please, God, no!”
After coming to the conclusion that his asshole relatives had gotten the family banned from every restaurant within a ten-mile radius of the movie theatre, he’d given up and headed to the movies.
He’d planned on ordering a few ten-dollar hot dogs and fifteen-dollar bags of popcorn from the concession stand to hold them over until later, but his little Tinkerbelle had taken one look at the prices and professed up and down that she wasn’t hungry.
When he’d told her not to worry about it, she’d offered to make him dinner instead.
He’d tried talking her out of it, but the stubborn woman had simply shook her head, grabbed his hand and yanked him towards the exit, leaving him with no choice but to accept the fact that he’d failed at another attempt to woo her.
Now, as he stood in her kitchen watching her throw together a quick dinner, he decided that he was going to have to reevaluate his game plan. Originally, he’d planned on wooing her with casual dates, a romantic meal here and there and his natural charm, but so far, none of that was working for him.
Well, at least the romantic meal portion of his plan wasn’t working.
The next time he took her out, and there would be a next time, he was going to have to do a little research in advance.
He’d show up at her door with roses and chocolates and take her out to the most romantic restaurant that he could find.
For now, he’d have to work with what he had, which admittedly wasn’t a hell of lot, but he’d make it work.
“Do you need any help?” Danny asked, running several possibilities through his head.
“No,” Tinkerbelle said with a shy smile that had him rethinking his plans to take this slowly.
But he had a plan and he was going to stick with it even if it killed him.
“How long before it’s done?” Danny asked offhandedly.
“About an hour,” Jodi said, shooting him another small smile over her shoulder as she filled a large pot with water.
Perfect.
“I’ll be back in time,” Danny promised with a satisfied sigh as he walked out of her apartment, quickly making plans to salvage this date.
“I’m an idiot,” Jodi muttered, watching the steam rise off the homemade macaroni and cheese casserole that she’d cooked for Danny, who had apparently ditched her at the first opportunity.
She’d been ditched before, but wow, did this hurt.
It was foolish, but she’d actually been enjoying herself.
This was the first date that she’d ever had where she could have honestly said that she’d had fun.
Her usual first dates consisted of drinks, coffee, food, and maybe a movie.
Even dating Jerry had been incredibly dull and boring.
They’d dated for almost two years, two very boring years with boring unimaginative dates that ended with really boring, uncomfortable, unsatisfying sex.
Well, sometimes. Most of the time, Jerry wasn’t in the mood, which had been okay with her, mostly. She’d been a virgin before she’d met him, a very frustrated virgin and once she’d given herself to him…
She’d become even more frustrated.
The first time he’d taken her to bed, she’d been excited and eager to take that step, but barely a minute after he’d started, he’d rolled off her, covered in sweat, panting heavily and she’d laid there, disappointed and trying not to cry.
She’d barely felt anything besides a tiny pinch of pain, some jostling and his large stomach crushing her.
It had been one of the most depressing moments of her life, and unfortunately, it only got worse after that.
When he’d broken things off, she should have been relieved, but instead, it had depressed her that someone like Jerry didn’t want her.
It also scared her. She couldn’t hold out much hope that a nice guy would want her when she couldn’t even manage to keep the interest of a man like Jerry.
It had also confirmed her previous belief that men were incapable of seeing her as anything more than a little sister.
Apparently, Danny had come to his senses an hour and a half ago and decided to cut his losses.
She should have expected it, had expected it, but she’d hoped that things could be different.
It had been foolish to let herself hope for anything more with Danny, but she hadn’t been able to help herself.
She liked the way that he looked at her, the way he touched her and even though he still annoyed the crap out of her, he had the ability to make her smile.
Unfortunately for her, this date, like many dates before, had ended poorly.
It also had the added bonus of making things even more awkward because she’d stupidly agreed to go out on a date with her neighbor.
She closed her eyes and dropped her head in defeat.
This had been a mistake, one that she should have known better than to repeat after Jerry, but here she was in her kitchen, alone with an extra-large pan filled to the brim with mac and cheese.
“Well, this is going to make things easier,” Danny said softly, sounding amused just as she registered the feel of silk touching her face. “No, just leave it, Tinkerbelle,” he said when she reached up to push the blindfold off.
“What are you doing?” she asked when she felt Danny’s large hand wrap around hers.
“Moving on to the second portion of the date,” he explained as he gently pulled her to her feet.
“Where did you go?”
He sighed heavily seconds before she felt his lips brush against hers, which pleased her bruised ego. “I’m sorry that I’m late. It took longer to pull this together than I’d thought.”
“Pull what together?”
“You’ll see,” Danny said, sounding a bit excited, which actually made her nervous considering who she was dealing with here.
“Is it going to leave a permanent scar?” she half teased.
He sighed heavily. “It might.”
“Should I send up a silent prayer for help?” Jodi asked, smiling as she allowed him to lead her through her living room.
“I’d send up two.”
“Maybe I should put up a struggle?”
“It wouldn’t help.”
“Should I leave a trail of breadcrumbs behind so that I can find my way back later after I escape?” Jodi asked as she heard him open her front door.
“It would be gone in less than ten minutes.”
“Birds?”
“My cousins,” Danny answered with a soft, shiver-inducing chuckle.
“I see,” Jodi murmured, loving their playful banter. “Then, perhaps I should put up some sort of resistance?”
“You could, but then you wouldn’t get your surprise,” he teased as he guided her to sit down.
“Will the surprise be worth a kidnapping charge?”
He chuckled as he double-checked her blindfold. “Absolutely.”
“Then I suppose I could wait a few minutes before I start screaming for help.”
“I would appreciate that,” Danny said, pressing his lips against her forehead. “Stay still and try to behave while I’m gone.”
With that, he was gone and she was left sitting in what she assumed was his living room.
She strained her ears, but she couldn’t hear anything that gave away Danny’s plans.
She did, however smell flowers and a light floral scent mixed with smoke.
Candles? She was tempted to peek, but she didn’t want to ruin the surprise.
She didn’t care what it was. The only thing that she cared about was that Danny had done something special for her.
She wanted to savor the moment, but all too soon, Danny returned, and with her casserole by the smell of it.
“I wanted to take you to a nice restaurant, but…” he let his words trail off with a sigh that had her biting back a smile.
“Are you ever going to tell me what that was about?” Jodi asked, not bothering to hide her amusement.
“It’s just a little misunderstanding,” Danny muttered as she listened to him move around the room.
“I see,” she said, still wondering how an entire family could be banned from what amounted to twenty-nine restaurants. Then again, she had a hunch that the number was actually higher.
“Don’t worry. I’ll plan better next time,” Danny said, making her bite back a smile.
“Who said there would be a next time?”
“You did.”
“Me?”
“Mmmmhmm,” he said, moving around her.
“And when exactly did I agree to a next time?”
“This morning.”
“I don’t remember that,” Jodi said, almost positive that she would have remembered agreeing to go out with him again. Then again, she had been a bit distracted this morning.
“Remember when you had that big guy with glasses curled up in the fetal position crying?” Danny asked conversationally as she winced at the memory of making the man beg for mercy.
“Yes?” Jodi answered slowly, wracking her brain and trying to remember exactly what she’d said, other than calling the man a big baby and a few other things that were probably better left forgotten.
“That’s when you agreed to go out with me again.”
“Wasn’t that about the time when you threw me over your shoulder?” she pointed out.
“Yes.”
“I don’t remember having a conversation with you.”
“You did and it was life-altering.”
“I see.”
“I’m glad that you do, Tink,” Danny said, suddenly in front of her.
“Welcome to Bradford Cinemas, Tinkerbelle.”