All of You (25 page)

“Did you ask her?”

“Maybe I would have, but she’s been shutting me out since I drove her home yesterday. Won’t return my calls or answer my texts.” Danny exhaled harsh laugh. “Kinda gives me my answer right there, huh?”

Nathan studied him for a few long moments before scoffing softly. “You
are
in love with her.”

Danny nodded slowly. Miserably.

“
What. The. Fuck.
”

Danny couldn’t have said it better himself.

Then Nathan delivered a sucker-punch to the throat.

“You know she’s got a date tomorrow?” he asked.

Danny’s throat closed, his stomach plummeted into his boots, and every muscle in his body tensed. “Oh, yeah?” he forced out through a clenched jaw. “With that guy from work?” When Nathan nodded, Danny continued. “Well, good for her. I’ll probably line something up for myself, too. Love the one you’re with and all that, right?”

“You should tell her how you feel and give her a chance to respond before you go screw another woman, Danny,” Nathan said. “That’s something that can’t be undone once it’s done.”

Danny scoffed. “Why would I want to undo it? She’s going out and getting hers…no reason I shouldn’t do the same.”

But then all facades suddenly fell away. The world tilted and Danny’s breath caught and he thought maybe he was actually going crazy.

Because the thought of another dude…

The thought of Kat and some guy…

Danny grabbed at the back of his head and squeezed so hard it brought tears to his eyes.

“You okay, Mac?”

Nathan’s quiet, concerned tone had Danny ripping opening entirely at the seams.

He released his neck and turned to meet Nathan’s eyes, which were full of some serious
been there, done that
empathy.

“No, I don’t think so, brother. Not by a long shot.”

‡

K
at closed the
clasp on her favorite silver charm bracelet and took one last glance in the mirror. She had to admit, she cleaned up okay when she needed to.

Kat had borrowed one of Fi’s little black dresses, some black nylons, and a pair of her black heels. They had a thin strap at the ankle, a bow in the back, and weird red bottoms, which Kat vaguely remembered Fi going on and on about.

But, since Kat’s usual kicks were Converse, anything higher on the fancy scale was all the same to her, regardless of the color of the soles.

Kat had also helped herself to Fi’s makeup. Thanks to a few
You Tube
videos and some due diligence, Kat had managed to give herself a couple of impressively smoky eyes. Yeah, she felt more like a raccoon than Mila Kunis (who the lady in one of the tutorial video would
not
shut up about). And, sure, Kat felt silly – and pretentious – wearing things so outside her comfort zone.

But there
was
a tiny part of her chomping at the bit to look and feel like someone totally different for a night. Especially when who she truly was at the moment was a silly, lovesick, lonely idiot.

Kat shoved Danny out of her brain with both hands.

She’d already decided not to think about him tonight, A – because then she wouldn’t be a mopey, distracted dinner date, and B – because, really, what was there to think about?

Yes, he’d called.

And texted.

Twice, each.

It had taken every ounce of willpower she’d possessed not to call or text him back.

But, then again, why would she?

Kat had no doubt Danny cared about her to a certain extent and maybe even wanted to spend some more time with her, but to what end?

Kat had no illusions about him wanting to seriously date her. Casually, maybe, but she couldn’t imagine him wanting to get involved in some exclusive relationship with her. And, since Kat wasn’t really the sharing type and knew she wasn’t capable of a casual relationship with Danny, she figured it was better to nip this thing in the bud.

That, of course, was assuming Danny even wanted any further romantic entanglements. He hadn’t left voicemails when he’d called and his texts had been very vague. Could have been guilt texts or purely platonic texts, for all Kat knew.

So it had been decided – the safest, easiest and most sensible path forward was to limit her contact with Danny and move on with her life.

Shouldn’t be too hard. She’d spent twenty-eight years not knowing him and, since then, they’d easily gone weeks without seeing each other.

Then why do you feel like…
this
? Whatever
this
is?

Kat gripped the edge of her bathroom counter and leaned forward, exhaling a long, hard sigh.

Her doorbell rang twice, startling her. Kat flipped off the bathroom light and glanced at the clock.

5:49 p.m.

Ben was early.

“Coming,” she called out.

She tip-toed like a newborn fawn over to her purse and jacket. The shoes were cute, but Kat pretty sure it would have been easier to walk on stilts. And she was worried because, while her right leg hadn’t been bothering her much for the past two days, the left one had tingled a bit earlier. Much more than a tingle and she’d have to take these off. Or Ben would end up giving her an all-night piggyback ride.

Ben started banging on the door like crazy.

“Geez…take it easy, dude,”
she muttered under her breath before calling out, “Yeah, coming!”

Kat finally made it over to the door and opened it.

Danny took one look at her and stepped back, eyes wide and brows way up.

Kat stood there, shocked, as his gaze dropped to the tips of her toes and began traveling, with excruciating slowness, up the entire length of her body.

His eyes grazed her ankles and then slid up over each leg. Danny tilted his head to the side as he studied each hip and then straightened again to leer at the relatively deep V-cut of the top of the dress. Kat’s already pounding heart kicked into overdrive when Danny’s eyes finally crawled up her neck and arrived at hers.

And then he just stared…blue-green gaze boring into her.

Kat had never been looked at that hard or deep in her life and the various physiological side effects were making it hard to balance on those stupid shoes.

Or remain upright at all.

Or breathe.

But then she realized she was staring back at him just as hard.

Because, dear
God
, the man was so incredibly sexy: black leather boots with loose laces, jeans hanging off his hips, a black zip-up jacket, and a backwards baseball hat. And Danny was sporting that stubble Kat
loved
. The memories of it against her lips, against her throat, and rubbing all over her flashed through her brain…

For God’s sake, do
not
think about that right now.

Danny’s lips curled. “Well, don’t you look nice, sweetheart?” His brow quirked. “Going somewhere?”

Kat tightened her grip on the door frame. “What are you doing here, Danny?”

He stepped closer, but Kat held her ground. In hindsight, probably not the best decision, considering they were now standing damn near toe-to-toe.

Danny put his hand above hers on the doorframe, bringing him in even closer. “Kind of fancy for a nice, quiet Friday night in, Kat,” he murmured, eyeing her lips.

Kat swallowed hard. “I, uh, have plans tonight, actually.”

When Danny’s eyes lifted to hers, Kat shivered at the intensity there. “Oh, yeah? What kind of plans?”

Well,
shit.

Although, why not tell him? It’s not like you’re cheating on him, for God’s sake. He’s not your boyfriend. And it’s not like he’ll care.

But some intuition deep inside Kat told her that Danny
was
going to care.

A whole helluva lot.

The whens and whys of it could be figured out later, but for now, Kat just
knew
.

She dug deep and spit it out. “I have a date. With a man I work with. Ben.”

Danny’s lack of response told Kat two things: one, he’d already been privy to that information and, two, his showing up here was not coincidental.

Which made this whole Cool Hand Luke act even scarier.

“A date, huh?” Danny nodded slowly, brows way up. “Wow, you work fast.” He ran a fingertip down her bare arm, then back up again. “’Cause you didn’t say shit to me about any date plans two days ago.” Danny wrapped his fingers around her wrist and rubbed the pad of his thumb along the sensitive skin above her veins. “You remember two days ago, don’t you, Kat?” When she nodded, he said, “Yeah, I know you do.” His eyes dropped back to her lips and Kat’s breath caught. “And, at the risk of sounding like the cocky bastard I am, I feel pretty comfortable saying you’ll
never
forget it, will you, Kat?” he whispered.

Kat heard a car door slam, instantly snapping out of the Danny McDonough crazy-sexy haze.

She shoved at his chest, “You need to go, Danny. If you want to talk later, we can. But, for right now, you need to leave. Please.
Now
.”

Danny laughed, loud and deep. “Oh, but the fun hasn’t even started yet, Kat.”

Kat heard heavy footsteps crunching through snow and panicked, because she instinctively knew letting Danny get anywhere near Ben Forster would be a colossal mistake.

“Danny, please leave,” she begged, already knowing it was too late to avoid the collision. Ben was nearly at her door and, by the looks of Danny, he wasn’t moving any time soon.

Out of time and desperate, Kat latched onto Danny’s eyes. “
Please, don’t. For me. Danny, please don’t…
”

Ben walked up behind Danny.

Danny winked at her and pushed off the doorframe. He turned and eyed Ben up and down, smirking. “Well, now, you must be Kat’s
date.
” He stuck out his hand. “Danny McDonough. And you are…”

Ben shot Kat a quick glance before tentatively shaking Danny’s hand. “Ben. Forster.”

“Ben!” Danny clapped his hand on Ben’s shoulder and Kat winced at the aggravation and confusion on Ben’s face. “Pretty nippy out here, huh, Ben? We don’t want our girl getting cold.” He gestured inside. “Come on, let’s head in.”

Danny swaggered into Kat’s apartment like he owned the place, brushing against Kat’s bare arm as he passed her – the goose bumps he left behind simply icing on the craziness cake.

She looked at Ben’s quirked brow and exhaled a long, defeated sigh.

Damn it.

Kat’s date looked
a lot less pussy-like than Danny had expected, given he was some science-loving douchebag who spent his days in a lab.

Ben Forster was tall (but Danny might have been just a little taller), well-built (but Danny might have been just a little bit bigger), and justifiably irritated with their little rap session (but Danny was damn sure
he
was way more amped up about the whole thing).

Jesus Christ, why don’t you just say “mine is bigger than yours” and get it over with?

Danny put the juvenile dick-measuring contest going on in his head aside and settled his ass against the back of Kat’s couch, leaning back and crossing one leg over the other and his arms over his chest.

He grinned at a horrified Kat and a confused Ben Forster. “So, Ben,” he said, voice dripping with insincere amiability. “What’s on the docket for tonight?”

Ben took in Kat’s frozen expression and narrowed his eyes at Danny. “No offense, man, but I’m not sure that’s any of your business.” He looked back at Kat, jerking a thumb toward Danny. “Who is this guy? Is he bothering you?”

Danny barked out a hard laugh. “Oh, I’m for sure bothering her, Ben. Always have, isn’t that right, Kat?” He locked eyes with her. “You see, Ben, Kat and I have a bit of a past….”

“Danny, you need to leave.
Now
,” Kat interjected evenly. “I’m not going to ask you again.”

“Or what? You gonna call the cops?” Danny moved his eyes over to Ben and whispered, “
I’m
a cop.”

Danny’s false bravado waned when Kat suddenly pressed her hand against the wall and transferred her weight to her right leg. He pushed off the couch to help her, but Ben was already there, arm around the middle Kat’s back.

“Is it your leg?” Ben asked her quietly.

Perfectly respectfully.

Very kindly.

And Danny saw
red
.

“Get your
fucking
hand off her or, I swear to God, I will take it off for you,” he breathed out through gritted teeth, hands balled into fists at his side.

Ben stepped at Danny and Danny stepped at him, forcing poor Kat to step between them.

“You know what, Danny, that’s it!” Kat shoved at Danny’s chest. “Get out! Or I
will
call the cops! Or, better yet, I’ll call Nathan!”

That should have been enough to back Danny down, but it wasn’t.

Not now.

Not when Danny was so far beyond any action/consequence connections.

Ben and Danny entered into a long, hard, incredibly antagonistic stare-off above Kat’s head. The guy had balls, Danny had to give him that. But, as much admiration as Danny had for a guy who stepped up, it wasn’t going to stop him from beating Ben’s ass into the ground. Even if it meant getting arrested, suspended, and forced into mandatory counseling for anger management.