Coming Home (14 page)

From across the table, Jake lifted his shot up high, glancing up at the ceiling before he took it, and that gesture pushed Danny over the edge.

He tossed the shot back before placing the empty glass on the table. “Excuse me,” he mumbled before he slid out of the booth and walked toward the stairwell.

Danny quickly pushed his way through the crowd on the lower level, yanking the door open and stumbling out into the frigid January air.

As soon as he was outside, he bent at the waist, bringing his hands to his knees as he dropped his head.

“Tommy, what the fuck,” he muttered as he straightened, running both hands down his face.

Why the hell would he have done that?

Because he’s Bryan’s friend too.

Danny dropped his head back, leaving his hands over his mouth as he blinked up at the sky.

Because he’s dealing with it his way.

He closed his eyes, shaking his head. He was such a fucking hypocrite. How could he begrudge someone his method of dealing with everything, when both Tommy and Jake had been nothing but accommodating to him?

And his methods weren’t always as diplomatic as ordering a round of drinks.

Just let it go.

He rubbed his hands over his face again before he exhaled.

He really needed to push all this shit aside right now, because he had dragged Leah into his night, and the only thing he should be focusing on was having a good time with her.

Let it go. For one night, just let it go
.

With a tiny breath to steel his resolve, he turned and opened the door, reentering the bar. By the time he made his way back upstairs, he could see the empty shot glasses had already been cleared. Tommy looked up, catching his eyes as he approached, and Danny gave him a nod. He nodded in return, holding his hand up in understanding just as Leah’s head turned in Danny’s direction.

“Hey,” she said gently, fiddling with one of her earrings as she looked up at him. “Where’d you go?”

Danny rubbed the back of his neck. “Just needed some air for a minute.”

She kept her eyes on him for a moment before she nodded. “Yeah, it’s definitely hot in here,” she said, scooping her hair off her neck with both hands.

He could tell she didn’t buy that story for one second.

And yet she smiled up at him as she released her hair, scooting over a few inches to make room for him in the booth again.

He had no idea how she managed to do that—to erase his discomfort with a simple look. And when he sat down beside her, the remaining tension drained from his body as if her presence alone had siphoned it out of him.

“You need a drink, Leah?” Holly asked.

“Um, yeah. I’ll take a margarita.”

“Danny, what about you?”

“I’m good, thanks,” he said.

He watched Holly and Tommy make their way downstairs before he turned to see Leah watching him.

“You’re not gonna get anything?”

“I don’t drink.”

She lifted her brow. “But you just took a shot.”

“Well then, I’m already past my quota.”

She laughed then, shaking her head. “I’m glad you came out tonight.”

If there was any lingering doubt over his decision to approach her, it dissipated with those six words.

“Me too,” he said. “So, did Jake behave himself while I was gone?”

“He asked us what we thought of the girl in the orange halter.”

Danny chuckled. “And what did you tell him?”

“
I
didn’t tell him anything,” she said with a laugh. “Holly said, and I quote, ‘It’s gonna be an expensive evening for you. First, all the drinks you’ll have to buy her, and then the next forty years’ worth of Valtrex prescriptions.’”

Danny threw his head back and laughed. “Oh my God,” he said when he’d gotten himself under control. “I love her already.”

“Yeah, well, she’s certainly one of a kind,” Leah said with a smile as Holly approached the table with her drink.

“Here you go, chick,” she said, handing her the margarita. “Danny, are you sure you don’t want anything?”

Before he could answer, Leah said, “Yeah, you’re really not gonna have a drink with me?” Danny turned in her direction, his brow lifted, and she shrugged. “Just one drink? You already had a shot.”

Danny looked back and forth between them. “I feel like I’m on an after-school special.”

Leah laughed as she placed her drink on the table, and he turned back to Holly and Tommy. “Alright, I’ll take a beer,” he said, and Tommy turned to gesture over the railing.

“There,” he said, turning back to Leah. “One drink.”

“You make me feel like some sort of depraved villain,” she said, bringing her margarita to her lips and licking the salt off the rim where she was about to take a sip.

His eye was immediately drawn to her mouth, and he felt a jolt go through his stomach and straight between his legs.

“So, Leah,” Tommy said as he slid back into the booth, and Danny took advantage of the respite to try and regain his composure. “How do you know Danny?”

“Well, long story short, I lost a bracelet the last time I was in the city, and he helped me find it.”

“Yeah, sounds like Danny,” Jake chimed in. “Did he help you before or after he saved a kitten from a tree and assisted an elderly woman across the street?”

Before Danny could respond, Leah leaned over to him.

“He’s good,” she whispered.

“Who’s good?” Danny asked, leaning into their private conversation.

“Jake. He’s a good wingman. Make sure you tip him well tonight.”

Danny scoffed, looking at her in feigned offense. “If Jake’s getting anything from me tonight, it’s a foot in his ass. And what do you mean
he’s good
? You don’t think I’m the kitten-saving, granny-assisting type?”

Leah sat back a little, looking him up and down as she pretended to assess him. “Hmm. I guess I can see it. Although you’d probably frighten the kitten and offend the granny with your horrible language.”

“No way. Then I’d have to put money in the jar.”

A slow smile lit her face as she looked at him. “If you really have a jar started, I’m pretty pumped. I should have my something pretty by this time tomorrow.”

“So little faith,” he said, and Leah shrugged.

“Old habits die hard,” she replied as she brought her drink to her lips.

He watched her lick the rim again before taking a sip, and he swallowed hard. She looked tempting enough tonight; the absolute last thing he needed was to be six inches away from her while she kept licking that glass.

He pulled his eyes away from her mouth and back up to her face; her normally wavy hair was straight and shiny, and she had some shimmery stuff above her eyes that made them look intensely green. And her mouth—that goddamn mouth. She wasn’t wearing any of that goopy, shiny shit that so many girls wore, but they were a soft pink color, and so full he wanted to lean over and bite her bottom lip.

“You look really beautiful tonight,” he said before he could stop himself, and he saw the surprise register on her face as she paused mid-sip.

She swallowed, clearing her throat before she smiled shyly. “Thank you.”

“So Tommy was telling me how you guys all work together,” Holly said.

“Oh really?” Robyn asked. “Where do you guys work?”

They spent the next hour talking and laughing over drinks, and Danny was pleasantly surprised by how at ease Leah seemed to be with his friends; she and Tommy had a quick and easy rapport, and whenever Jake said something horrible, she would just roll her eyes or laugh it off.

And on two separate occasions, both Tommy and Jake gave him the signal that meant Leah earned their seal of approval.

Danny had stopped drinking after the beer he’d ordered to appease Leah, but the rest of them continued to order rounds. Jake was regaling the girls with a story about a belligerent customer who had insisted they’d broken his car when they’d worked on it, and when they took a tow truck out to pick it up, it turned out the guy was just out of gas. In his current state, the animation he put into telling the story had Danny cracking up, despite the fact that he’d heard it a million times.

In the middle of Jake’s spot-on imitation of the guy, Danny felt something brush over the back of his hand, and he glanced over at Leah. Her brow was pulled together, her eyes trained on his hand as she ran the tip of her index finger along his knuckles.

Right over his scars.

He jerked his hand back instinctively, and she jolted, yanking her own hand back as her eyes flashed up to his. She brought her hands into her lap as she quickly turned her attention back to Jake, looking like a child who had just been caught doing something wrong.

Danny watched her for a second before he looked back down at his hand. A few of them were merely nicks now; little silvery lines against the tanned skin. But the ones across his knuckles were still bright red lines, jagged and angry.

He wet his lips before he looked back at her. Her eyes were downcast as she picked at her fingernail, and he could see a slight blush coloring her cheeks.

But instead of driving him crazy, this time it made him feel sick.

He watched her fingers fiddling awkwardly under the table, and before he could think about what he was doing, he reached over and placed his hand on top of hers, stilling the movement.

She froze, slowly lifting her eyes back to the conversation as her posture straightened.

“DeLuca, what was it the dude said when we told him he had no gas?” Jake asked through his laughter.

Danny chuckled, using his fingers to turn Leah’s hand so that it was palm up beneath his. “He said, ‘Well, spank my ass and call me Fudgie.’”

Jake fell forward in hysterics as the entire table cracked up, and Danny looked over to see Leah staring at him. He slid his fingers between hers, clasping their hands together, and even through the raucous laughter around them, he heard her tiny intake of breath.

That little hiccup of a sound did more to him than the touch of any woman he’d ever been with.

His eyes met hers as gave her hand a gentle squeeze, and then he turned his attention back to the table.

“Remember, we were gonna have T-shirts made for the shop that said that on the back,” Tommy said through his laughter, and Danny nodded with a smile.

That had actually been Bryan’s idea.

Leah gently squeezed Danny’s hand before she caressed the scars that peppered his skin, and that little movement sent tiny sizzles of electricity up his arm and through his chest. He closed his eyes for a second before he attempted to refocus on the conversation.

It was such a simple, innocent gesture—holding hands—but there was a significance to it that Danny could not overlook, and coupled with the fact that everyone else at the table was completely oblivious to what was going on just beneath it, it seemed that much more intimate.

She shifted her hand and their thumbs met, circling around each other’s slowly.

Okay, he was wrong. He had
thought
holding someone’s hand was innocent, but this was so goddamn sensual in its simplicity that it made him want to throw her down on the booth and cover her mouth with his.

You need to get the fuck out of here. Now.

His fingers tightened around hers for just a moment before he cleared his throat and slid his hand out of her grasp.

“Alright, I’m gonna head out,” he said as he stood, and Leah’s expression dropped slightly as she looked up at him.

Give a reason.

“I have to be at the shop early tomorrow.”

“On a Saturday?” Jake asked, cocking his head.

Two years. He’d make him clean the shop floor for two years.

“Yeah,” he said, running his hand through his hair. “An old friend of mine wants me to do a rebuild for him, and I promised him I’d get it done in good time.” He stared at Jake a little longer than he needed to, hoping he got the message, before he turned to the girls.

“It was so nice to meet you guys,” he said, and then he looked at Leah. “I’ll talk to you soon?”

She smiled, reaching up to fiddle with her earring again as she nodded.

He turned then, because if he had to look at the poorly shielded disappointment on her face for another second, he would slide right back into that booth and spend the rest of the night doing anything she asked of him.

Danny forced his way through the crowd for the second time that night, only this time, instead of feeling desperate to get to the door, he felt a tug in his chest, demanding that he turn back the way he came.

He pushed the door open, ducking his head against the wind as he jammed in his hands in his pockets.

“Such an asshole,” he mumbled to himself, shaking his head. He had no idea why the hell he’d done that. Everything was going perfectly. They were having fun. Friends out at a bar. That was his plan for the night.

And then he had to go and put his hands on her.

He laughed bitterly, running his hand over his eyes.

“Danny!”

His head jerked up as he stopped short, looking over his shoulder.

She was standing just outside the bar, bouncing on the balls of her feet as she wrung her hands together in front of her.

He turned, walking back toward her, and she took a tentative step forward before she picked up speed and met him in the middle.

Her eyes were wide, almost panicky, as she approached him.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

She opened her mouth to speak, but then closed it without saying anything.

“Is everything okay?” he asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she said. “I just…I didn’t say good-bye to you in there. So I just…wanted to say good-bye.”

“Okay,” he said with the hint of a smile.

“Okay, so,” she looked down, spinning her bracelet over her wrist before glancing back up at him. “Good-bye.”

The smile he’d been fighting finally broke as he nodded once. “Good-bye.”

She stood there, staring up at him, and he knew if he didn’t leave, he was going to do something stupid. Danny turned away from her, freezing when he felt her grip his bicep.

He spun to face her just as she took a step toward him, going up on her toes as she brought her mouth to his.