As Danny turned into Leah’s apartment complex, she gave his hand a gentle squeeze. “Thanks for inviting me out tonight. I had a lot of fun.”
He smiled. “It wouldn’t have been half as fun without you there, so thank you. Hearing Jake scream like a girl inside that game was the best birthday present anyone could have ever given me.”
Leah covered her mouth, laughing at the memory. After Jake lost the bet, the four of them walked over to Dark Escape 4D so Jake could pay up, and the shrieks and squeals coming out of the booth had all three of them leaning on one another for support while they cracked up. Her stomach muscles still felt sore from it.
In fact, she couldn’t remember the last time she laughed as much as she did tonight. She and Danny had played a game of Nothing But Net, where they went head-to-head with each other to see who could make the most baskets before the clock ran out, and they spent more time trying to distract each other from shooting than they did trying to make their own baskets.
Then there was the Skee-Ball incident; Leah had tried to show Danny how to flick his wrist so he could get the high score every time, and he ended up accidentally flinging the ball into the lane two down from them and scaring the hell out of the teenager playing there.
And when the four of them played Dance Dance Revolution against one another, Leah thought she might pee her pants from laughing so hard.
She loved his friends. And she loved spending time with him. She loved flirting with him and touching him and talking to him and being with him.
She loved the way he rubbed the back of her neck whenever he thought she was uneasy. She loved how he smiled at her when he didn’t think she could see him.
And she loved that, despite the palpable sexual tension between them, he had been a perfect gentleman all night.
Danny pulled the car into an empty space in front of her apartment, and before he could say anything, Leah turned to him.
“Do you want to come in for a little while?”
He turned to look at her. “Um…yeah. Okay.”
“Okay,” she said before undoing her seat belt, and Danny cut the engine as she exited the car.
They walked up the path to her door in silence, and once they were inside, Leah took his coat, hanging it beside hers in the closet. She closed her eyes, taking a small, steadying breath before she righted her expression and turned to face him. He was standing by the door, his hands shoved in his pockets.
“So,” he said, rolling up on the balls of his feet.
“So.”
His eyes met hers, and the way he was looking at her made her want to pin him up against the door.
Instead, she cleared her throat and said, “I have something for you.”
“You do?”
She nodded. “Don’t get excited though. It’s not a big deal. Actually, it’s kind of silly.”
They stared at each other for a few seconds, and Leah felt her stomach flutter as a slow smile curved his lips.
“So…can I have it?” he asked through a laugh.
“It’s in the kitchen,” she replied, turning in that direction.
“Did you get me a Slap Chop?”
“What?” she laughed. “Why would you guess that?”
“I don’t know. You said it was in the kitchen and it was silly.”
“Okay, let’s get one thing straight. The Slap Chop is not silly. It’s a stroke of genius,” she said as they turned into the kitchen.
“A guy chopping a handful of almonds while telling the audience, ‘Wait until you see my nuts’ is a stroke of genius?”
She turned toward him, fighting a laugh. “You watch too much TV.”
“Said the girl who owns the Slap Chop.”
She laughed then, taking the plate off the counter before she turned and held it out to him.
“It’s no roulette table with a functioning wheel, but I tried.”
The smile on his face dropped. “You made this?”
“Mm-hm,” Leah said, placing it on the counter in front of him. “Well, not the cars, obviously.”
She looked up at him, but he was staring down at the cake in awe. It was a typical square cake, but the entire bottom half was made to look like a road with two cars driving across it. On the top half of the cake was a sign that matched the shape and typography of the sign for Danny’s shop, where the words Happy Birthday Danny were written.
“It’s all fondant. The road, the sign. So you can eat everything. I tried to make the cars out of fondant, but they looked like mutant insects, so I cheated and used toys.”
He spun the plate slowly, looking at it from all sides, and then he looked up at her. “I can’t believe you did this.”
She shrugged. “It wasn’t a big deal. It was fun.”
“And time-consuming. And incredibly thoughtful.”
She smiled up at him, and he shook his head before looking back down at the plate. “I can’t remember the last time I had a birthday cake.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yeah, I mean, once you pass ten, it kind of loses its grandeur, don’t you think?”
“No way! What about making your birthday wish, then?”
He shrugged, and she shook her head in disbelief.
“Well, let it be known that on my birthday, this girl needs her cake and her birthday wish. No exceptions.”
He smiled. “When’s your birthday?”
“May third.”
“Noted,” he said. “Wait, do I have to make one myself?”
“Tell you what,” she said. “You can buy one and tell me you made it, and I’ll pretend to believe it.”
He laughed before he put his arm around her and pulled her into his side. “Thank you. I love it,” he said against the top of her head before he kissed her there. The flutters in her belly scattered up through her chest, and she closed her eyes, resting her hand on his stomach.
“This kitchen is incredible, by the way.”
“I know,” she said, her head still resting on his shoulder. “It was the thing that sold me on getting this apartment. That, and the bathroom.”
“What’s so special about the bathroom?”
Leah smiled. “Do you want a tour?”
He unwrapped his arm from around her and gestured grandly. “After you.”
Leah walked out of the kitchen with Danny behind her, and she nodded to the right. “Living room, but you saw that last time you were here.” She turned and walked a few steps to the left and said, “The formal dining room.”
Danny smiled at the little nook off the kitchen area that was just large enough to fit a small table and four chairs.
“Spare bedroom,” she said, waving her arm like a Price Is Right girl at the doorway to their left. Danny popped his head in for a second before he nodded his approval, and Leah smiled.
“Brace yourself,” she said, reaching her hand into the next room and turning on the lights.
Danny moved to stand in the doorway beside her, his eyes combing the room. “Holy shit,” he said. “That’s the biggest tub I’ve ever seen.”
“Right? It’s a spa tub. Isn’t it gorgeous?”
“If a tub could be gorgeous, I guess this one would be. I’m more concerned with that shower, though. Why are there forty-seven showerheads in it?”
Leah laughed. “The guy who lived here before me worked for Kohler. He designed bathrooms for a living.”
Danny nodded, his eyes roving the room, and Leah huffed as she crossed her arms over her chest. “You’re supposed to be making a bigger deal than this.”
“Oh my God!” he said, rubbing his eyes before widening them. “Is this real? I have to be hallucinating. This is the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen in my life! I’m ruined for all other bathrooms now!”
She stared up at him, completely expressionless, and when she saw the first signs of his dimples, she pushed his chest before stepping back out into the hall.
“You suck,” she said, and he laughed, switching off the light in the bathroom.
He stepped back into the hall with her, and she pointed to the last doorway. “And that’s my room.”
Danny walked over to the door, turning on the light before he took a few steps into the room, and Leah stood behind him, trying to imagine seeing it for the first time like he was.
The walls were a warm terra-cotta color, the floor cherry hardwood. Her bed was up against the wall to the right, covered in a puffy cream-colored comforter and several oversized throw pillows. Up against the wall to the left was her dresser with her stereo and a few pictures on top. A flat-screen TV hung on the wall above it.
The far wall was made up entirely of floor-to-ceiling shelves; along the top, there were vases of flowers and a few scented candles. The shelves on the bottom were full of books. And the ones in the center consisted of row after row of Leah’s CDs.
Danny looked over his shoulder at her. “Can I?” he asked, gesturing to the shelves, and she nodded.
Leah leaned up against the doorframe, folding her arms as she watched him approach the wall. He crouched down, checking out the neatly lined-up books on the bottom.
After a minute he straightened, looking over the shelves with her music. “I don’t think I know anyone who still has CDs,” he said with his back to her as he pulled one of them out, glancing at the cover before sliding it back in its place.
“I love my CDs. All that music is on my computer and my iPod. I just…”
Danny glanced back over his shoulder. “You’re just a packrat?” he said with a smirk.
“The politically correct term would be sentimental,” she said, and she heard him laugh softly. “But yeah…I guess I can be a packrat. But only with things that mean something.”
“All these mean something?” he asked, ducking his head to look at the second row.
“In some way, yeah. It might be a song that means something, or in some cases it’s the whole album that reminds me of a certain time in my life. In others, it’s just the memory of buying the CD itself—who I was with, or what was happening when I bought it.” She shrugged, even though he wasn’t looking at her.
Danny nodded absently, taking a step to the right and leaning in as he read the album titles, and Leah pushed off the doorframe and walked into the room, her eyes on him as she sat on the edge of her bed.
She felt slightly unnerved, almost as if she were watching him read her diary. She had always believed the type of music a person listened to was a fairly accurate portrayal of who they were, and she couldn’t help but wonder what he was surmising about her as he studied the shelves.
Danny slowly ran his finger along the cases; there was something almost sensual about the way he did it, and out of nowhere, she imagined him repeating the movement, this time along the skin of her inner thigh, and she swallowed hard.
Danny’s finger stopped abruptly, and then he pulled one of the cases out and turned around, holding it up for her.
“Really?” he asked.
N’SYNC: No Strings Attached.
She folded her arms as she looked up at him. “I didn’t buy them all yesterday.”
“I don’t care when you bought it,” he said with a laugh. “There’s no excuse for this.”
“I Thought She Knew.”
“You thought who knew?”
“No.” Leah laughed. “That’s the name of the song that landed that one a spot on the shelf. ‘I Thought She Knew.’ It’s an a cappella song. Really pretty lyrics.”
Danny looked down at the CD case, turning it over to read the back.
“Plus, hot guys sing it, so.”
He glanced up with a smirk before he shook his head. “They’re not objects, Leah. They’re real men with feelings and debatable talents.”
She pressed her lips together, fighting a smile as he turned to slide the case back on the shelf, and then he reached up and pulled another one down.
“If you’re gonna make fun of every CD I have up there, I’m kicking you out of this room.”
He laughed to himself before he turned to face her, the case sandwiched between his two hands.
“Which one do you have?” she asked, craning her neck to see, and he turned his body, shielding it from her as he shook his head.
“You’ll see in a second,” he said, walking the few steps over to her stereo and hitting the button to turn it on. Leah watched as he placed the CD into the machine, and then he skipped forward a few tracks before hitting play.
The opening chords to Ray LaMontagne’s “Hold You In My Arms” filled the room, and Leah immediately closed her eyes. When she opened them a few seconds later, he was leaned up against the wall, watching her.
“I love this song.”
“Me too,” he said, pushing off the wall as he walked toward her. “I guess your taste in music isn’t so shitty after all.”
She laughed lightly, looking up at him as he came to stand in front of her.
“Dance with me,” he said, extending his hand.
“Dance with you?”
He nodded. “It’s my birthday, so you really can’t say no.”
“Hey now. Your birthday’s over.”
Danny glanced down at his watch. “Not for another two hours.”
She laughed as she gave him her hand, and he pulled her up to face him. For a second they just stood there, looking at each other, and then their smiles slowly faded as the atmosphere shifted. Leah dropped her eyes, the sudden intensity of the moment catching her off guard.
Danny gently raised their joined hands, and her heart began thumping erratically as she felt his other arm snake around her waist, his open palm resting on her lower back.
She took a tentative step toward him, their bodies almost flush as she slid her left hand up his arm and over the top of his shoulder, coming to rest just below the nape of his neck.
He started to sway them ever so slightly, and Leah smiled at the absurdity and the charm of them dancing in the middle of her bedroom.
“You’re much better at this than I expected,” she said. “Dance Dance Revolution was not your friend tonight.”
“Oh, I threw that battle,” he said dismissively. “I didn’t want to deal with Jake and Tommy being totally emasculated by my performance. Plus, every woman in the place would have swarmed me after that, and it would have been really awkward for everyone.”
She pressed her lips together, but the smile broke through anyway, and he flashed his dimples before he turned them around and dipped her.
Leah dropped her head back and laughed, and Danny slowly pulled her back up, looking down at her as he used their joined hands to brush the hair away from her face.
And then he leaned in, his cheek brushing against hers as he sang the next words softly in her ear.
When you kissed my lips, with my mouth so full of questions,
It’s my worried mind that you quiet.
Place your hands on my face, close my eyes and say
That love is a poor man’s food. Don’t prophesize.
In those first few seconds, it felt like her heart had stopped, but by the time the verse ended, it was pounding so wildly she was sure he could feel it against his chest; Danny lifted his head and she pulled back, her lips slightly parted as she stared up at him.
The sexy, throaty timbre of his voice still resonated in the room; it poured through her body, warming her veins and making her feel heavy and sedated, like drinking wine in front of the fireplace while a snowstorm raged outside.
It was sex and salvation and desire and serenity, stirring something primal and innately feminine in her.
Leah’s breathing became shallow as she continued to stare up at him, and he kept his eyes on hers, still swaying them gently to the music. It felt like a current was running just below the surface of her skin, making her hypersensitive to everything around her: his hand on her back, the soft sound of his breathing, the scent of his skin.
And that voice.
She wanted to hear it again. She wanted to fall asleep listening to it every night. She wanted him to wake her up with it every morning.
Leah took a step forward, closing the tiny distance between them and pressing her body against his, and he dropped his head slightly and exhaled. The warm rush of his breath danced over the side of her neck, causing goose bumps to prickle over her skin, and Leah turned her head slightly, breathing him in as they moved to the music.
She had wanted this for so long—to feel his body up against hers again. She’d imagined it so many times, but those daydreams were pitiful echoes of the reality.
All at once she realized she was trembling, and Leah tightened her arm around his back, trying to steady herself against him. She knew what she wanted, why she had asked him to come in, and now that he was right in front of her, she could feel the apprehension beginning to swirl with the growing desire in her belly.
Danny’s hand moved on her back, his fingertips teasing the sliver of exposed skin above the waist of her jeans.
“You’re shaking,” he whispered, slipping his hand up the back of her shirt and tracing soothing circles on her overheated skin. Leah’s eyes fell closed as she dropped her forehead to his shoulder. With every pass of his fingers, a tingling sensation rippled over her skin, making her feel almost dizzy.
She had never in her entire life physically responded to someone the way she did to Danny, and it was as terrifying to her as it was thrilling.
Leah gripped the back of his shirt, her forehead still pressed to his shoulder, and the solid steadiness of his body made her trembling that much more obvious.
Danny lowered his chin so that the only thing separating his lips from her ear was the delicate veil of her hair. “Are you okay?” he asked softly, and she nodded against him, not trusting her voice.
He flattened his hand against her lower back, pressing her closer to him, and that was all it took for her mind to completely surrender to her body.
Leah turned her head slightly, nuzzling his neck before she placed a soft kiss just under his jaw, and their swaying came to a halt as he froze. She stilled instantly, her lips unmoving on his neck.
Danny took a deep breath before he gently removed his hand from hers, and Leah’s stomach dropped.
And then he wrapped his arm around her waist with the other and pulled her against him, so that any measure of space between them was completely forsaken. She exhaled against his skin as he started swaying them again, his movements fluid and carnal and intoxicating and perfect.
Her free hand came up to cup the back of his neck, and when she resumed kissing his jaw, he tilted his head up slightly, his fingertips digging into her lower back. Emboldened by his reaction, she trailed her kisses upward, pressing her mouth just below his ear before lightly grazing her teeth over his skin.
He made a tiny sound in the back of his throat, and she kissed him there before trailing her fingers down the back of his neck.
“Danny?” she whispered, and he pulled back just enough to look down at her. She wet her lips before tentatively lifting her eyes to his. “Will you kiss me?”
His eyes fell closed, and Leah saw his throat bob as he swallowed. And then his hold on her loosened as his hands came to her sides, slowly trailing up the length of her body and over her shoulders. His fingertips ghosted along the sides of her neck, making her shiver.
He used his thumbs under her jaw to tilt her face up before he ran them over her cheeks.
And then he nodded, slowly closing the distance between them.
He kissed her carefully, his lips gentle, and Leah tried to keep hers pliant as she responded, but it was like trying to stop a cresting wave from breaking. She could feel the swell of it rising with every touch of his lips, building and building until finally she tightened her hold around his neck and deepened the kiss with a sigh.
He moaned quietly into her mouth, and every tingle, every delicious sizzle of electricity that had been dancing over her skin collected at once, melting together until it felt like her entire body was humming.
Within seconds, their kisses had grown feverish and their breathing labored, the soft rasping sound of it blending with the music in the background. She had never known what it was to lose control until she’d met him; she’d felt it the night he’d given her the block of concrete, and she knew she was already there again, in that place where the only thing that mattered was what her body wanted, where she needed to be touched and how, where she wanted to touch him.
There was nothing else but that. No thought, no reason, no consequences. Nothing existed except his mouth on hers and his hands on her body and the crushing desire for more, more, more.
She reluctantly broke their kiss, and Danny grunted softly as her lips left his. He watched her ease up onto the bed behind them, crawling backward until she was kneeling in the center of it. Leah crossed her arms in front of her body and gripped the hem of her sweater, pulling it up over her head before tossing it to the floor, and Danny’s eyes finally left hers as they dropped to take her in.
His chest rose and fell quickly as his eyes raked over her body, and it was as if she could actually feel them trailing over her skin.
And then he leaned forward, placing his hands on the foot of the bed as he began crawling toward her.
She felt her legs go weak, and she dropped from her kneeling position to sit on her calves just as his lips met hers again. He applied gentle pressure, pushing her backward until she fell onto the pile of pillows behind her.
Danny held his weight in his arms as he kissed her, nudging her legs apart with his hips before lowering his body onto hers.
She gasped as she felt his pressure between her thighs, and when he gently pushed his hips into her, she moaned into his mouth.
“That sound,” he said hoarsely between kisses. “Do you have any idea what that sound does to me?”
His mouth moved seamlessly down her throat, and when she felt the heat of his kisses on the swell of her breast, she arched up slightly, tangling her fingers in his hair.
His hands slid between her body and the mattress, and she felt him take the clasp of her bra between his fingers.
“Can I?” he whispered against her skin, and she nodded fervently, arching up higher.
The clasp popped open, and Danny pulled the garment from her body before dropping it over the side of the bed. And then his mouth was back on her, this time without the barrier of clothing between them, and her hips thrust upward of their own accord as she sucked in a sharp breath.
His hands came to her hips, pinning them to the bed as he kissed his way back up her neck, stopping just before their lips touched.
“Easy,” he whispered, planting a soft kiss on her mouth, and then he was gone again, trailing his mouth down the center of her body.
Leah closed her eyes and reached above her, grasping the headboard as she tried to keep herself still. Instead of focusing on what she wanted to happen, she started concentrating on what was happening right now. With her eyes closed, she didn’t know where he would touch her next—whether it would be with his lips, his tongue, or his hands—and the anticipation only amplified whatever he was doing, so that the tiniest graze of his finger set her on fire.
She felt him remove her jeans, but she kept her eyes closed, holding her breath as she waited for his next move.
“Leah,” he said softly, and she opened her eyes and looked at him.
He was kneeling at the foot of the bed with her jeans in his hand, and he dropped them on the floor as his eyes traveled up the length of her body, laid out for him like an offering. He shook his head slightly before he lifted his eyes to hers.
“You are so beautiful,” he whispered.
She released the headboard and sat up, taking his face in her hands as she kissed him, and he wrapped his arms around her. She could feel the rough material of his shirt against her breasts, and she reached down and tugged the hem.
“I want to feel your skin on mine,” she said against his mouth, and he nodded before he broke the kiss, reaching behind his head and pulling his shirt off. Leah brought her hands to his chest, tracing the contours with her fingertips before trailing them down over his stomach.
He remained perfectly still, his eyes closed and his breathing shallow as she touched him. His body was strong, lean and muscled, and she kissed along the top of his chest before she lay back onto the mattress and pulled him with her.
“You feel good like this,” she whispered, running her hands over his back as the skin of his chest brushed against hers with every movement.
He slowly brought his mouth back to hers, his kisses once again careful and measured. It seemed like every single one was designed to tease and torment her, and after several minutes of his gorgeous torture, she was squirming beneath him.
Leah whimpered pathetically against his mouth, and she felt it curve into a smile.
“Relax, sweet girl,” he said, his lips grazing hers as he spoke. “I’m gonna make you feel good this time, I promise.”
He lowered his head and kissed her, and then she felt his hand trail down her stomach before it slipped below the front of her panties.
Her hands flew back up to the headboard as she tried to regain the control she had managed before, but it was just like the last time he’d touched her that way; it was like he’d known her body for years. He knew exactly what to do and how to do it, and within two minutes of him touching her, she was panting heavily, her hips lifting off the bed as she neared her release.
Suddenly his hand stilled, and Leah’s eyes flashed open as she lifted her head.
“Why are you stopping?” she breathed, and he smiled before he leaned over and kissed her neck.
“Not yet,” he murmured against her skin.
“Danny,” she started, and then he covered her mouth with his. She wanted to protest. Hell, she wanted to plead. But when he kissed her that way, the only thing she could bring herself to do was kiss him back.
After a minute he lifted his head, watching her reaction as he began moving his hand again, and she bit her lip to stifle the sound building in her throat as she turned away from him. She hadn’t known it would be like that—that she could pick right up where she left off that easily. Leah squeezed her eyes shut as her legs began to quiver, and this time as she started to gasp, he removed his hand from her body completely.
She slapped her hands down on the mattress and threw her head back. “Oh, son of a bitch!” she cried, and he laughed softly, kissing along her jawline.
“Swear jar,” he said, nuzzling beneath her ear.
She slid both hands up into her hair as she tried to catch her breath. “You’re making me crazy,” she panted.
“I know,” he said, licking the spot beneath her ear. “You have no idea how sexy you are right now.”
“Danny,” she breathed, bringing her hands to his face and forcing him to look at her. “Please don’t make me wait anymore.”
He leaned down so that their noses touched as he reached between them and slid her underwear over her hips, and she shimmied out of them before kicking them away.
And when his hand slid down her stomach again, she gripped his wrist, stopping him.
He froze, lifting his head to look at her.
“That’s not what I meant,” she said softly.
Danny pulled his brow together, and she released his wrist, lowering her eyes as she reached between them, fumbling with the button of his jeans before she popped it open. As she slid his zipper down, she raised her eyes back to his, and understanding swept over his face.
“Leah,” he said huskily. “Are you sure?”
She nodded. “Yes,” she whispered. She was sure about this. She was sure about him. She was sure about them. There wasn’t a doubt in her mind anymore where she belonged.
“I want you,” she said, running the backs of her fingers over his stomach. “And I don’t just mean tonight. I want us, Danny.”
He closed the small distance between them, pressing her back into the pillows as he kissed her deeply, and Leah gripped the waistband of his jeans and boxers and slid them down over his hips.
Danny removed them the rest of the way, grabbing his wallet out of the pocket before he tossed them on the floor behind him. Leah watched him remove a condom and open the wrapper, and all at once, her stomach twisted with anxiety.
She closed her eyes and concentrated on taking slow, deep breaths.
“Leah,” he said gently, placing his hands on her thighs, and she opened her eyes.
She could see the concern on his face, and she reached out for him; he came down to her immediately, resting his weight on his elbows as he cradled her face.
“I’m okay,” she said with a tiny smile. “I’m just a little nervous.”
“What are you nervous about?” he asked, playing with the hair by her temple, and she closed her eyes.
It had been so long for her, and she just wanted it to be good for him. The way he made her feel tonight was so far beyond anything she’d ever experienced. She wanted to make him feel that way too.
“It’s just that…it’s been a while,” she said, her eyes trained on his shoulder.
“Hey,” he said gently, and she lifted her eyes to his. “You’re in control here. However you want this to go, whatever you need, just tell me.”
She smiled softly. Of course he was thinking of her.
“I’m not nervous about me,” she said, watching her fingers draw patterns on his shoulder. “I just…I want to make you feel good.”
She glanced up just in time to see his dimples slowly appear. “Leah,” he said through a laugh. He circled his fingers around her wrist and guided her hand down between them until she was touching him.
Oh God.
“You feel that?” he asked softly. “That’s how you make me feel. And we haven’t even started yet.”
She made a tiny sound as she closed her hand around him and guided him to her body, and he exhaled in a rush, dropping his forehead to hers.
And then he was pressing into her.
She reached up and clutched the back of his shoulders, and as soon as his hips were flush with hers, her entire body erupted in goose bumps.
“F*ck,” he said under his breath, and Leah saw the muscle in the side of his jaw flex before he tentatively moved against her. She arched her head back as a shiver ran through her body, and she felt his hands slide between her and the mattress, holding her hips against his own as he rocked into her again.
“Goddamn, you feel so good,” he breathed.
She wanted to answer. She wanted him to know what he was doing to her, but his rhythm had effectively stolen any and all words from her mouth. Instead she wrapped her arms around him, groaning and sighing into his shoulder as every one of his movements pushed her closer to the brink she’d been teetering on all night.
After being on the verge twice before, it didn’t take long for her to feel the tightening in her belly, the incredible tension he was building inside her, and she clutched at his back as his name fell from her lips.
Danny crashed his mouth to hers, saying something against her lips that she couldn’t understand; she was too lost in what was happening to her body. It was as if a rubber band had been stretched impossibly beyond its capacity, and she was waiting for it to snap at any second. And just when she thought it would, it somehow stretched even further.
Danny shifted the position of his hips, and Leah gasped loudly as her hands flew back to the headboard above her. Whatever he was doing now caused the beautiful pressure in her belly to spread down into her thighs and up through her chest. Everything inside her felt wound tight and ready to shatter, and she didn’t know how much more of the build-up she could take; it was already more intense than any orgasm she’d ever had.
“Oh God…please,” she panted, tightening her grip on the headboard.
“Come on, baby,” he whispered, reaching down to hold her hips, and then moved against her as he tilted them up.
Leah arched off the bed as the rubber band finally snapped, sending concentrated shock waves of pleasure crashing through her body. She knew she must have cried out, but she couldn’t see or hear anything at all; all of her awareness was focused on the torturous ache being washed away by the indescribable feeling pulsing through her veins.
He kept moving against her, dragging out every last second until she felt like her bones had disconnected, rendering her completely useless. And just as she felt herself starting to come down, Danny did something with his hand that drove her right back up, unexpectedly sending her over the edge a second time.
This time she heard herself cry out, but it was lost in the beautiful sounds that were spilling from Danny’s lips as he buried his face in her hair.
His movements slowed until he collapsed on top of her, snaking his arms between her and the mattress and pulling her against his body. Leah uncurled her hands from the headboard and wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in the crook of his neck and inhaling his heady scent. She could feel him placing soft, feather-light kisses along the top of her shoulder, and for a few minutes they laid that way, trying to get control of their breathing.
“Holy shit,” Leah finally said, her voice thick and lazy, and Danny hummed languidly in response. She closed her eyes. “That CD just earned a permanent spot up on the shelf.”
He laughed against her shoulder before he slowly rolled off her, his hand finding hers on the mattress.
Danny twined their fingers together. “That was…” He shook his head, running his other hand over his eyes. “I don’t even have words for what that was.”
“I didn’t even know that existed,” she said, and he chuckled as he leaned over, his lips hovering over hers.
“I don’t think it did before us,” he whispered. He placed a soft kiss on her lips. “Be right back,” he said before kissing her again, slowly at first, and then more deeply so that her already enervated body melted back onto the mattress. By the time he sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, she was once again struggling to catch her breath.
Danny stood and made his way to the bathroom, and she sat up slowly, stretching her arms overhead as she found her muscles again.
Water. She needed water.
She pushed herself off the bed and grabbed Danny’s balled-up shirt from the floor, pulling it over her head as she made her way to the kitchen. She opened the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water, taking down half of it in a matter of seconds.
Leah leaned against the counter with her hip, slowly screwing the cap back on, and that’s when her eyes landed on it.
She smiled, placing the bottle on the counter as she opened the drawer in front of her and pulled out two forks. After she had removed a candle from the box on the counter and lit it in the center of the cake, Leah grabbed the forks and bumped the drawer closed with her hip before she made her way back to the bedroom.
Danny was lying in her bed, the sheet riding low on his hips and both hands clasped behind his head, causing his biceps to bulge.
He was sex incarnate lying there like that, and Leah was tempted to toss the cake over her shoulder and crawl on top of him.
Danny laughed when he saw what she was holding, and he sat up as she placed the cake on the bed before climbing on behind it.
“You have to make a wish this year,” Leah said.
He smiled at her before he closed his eyes and scrunched up his face, making a big show of pondering what he should wish for. And then his expression straightened, and with his eyes still closed, he blew out the candle.
When he opened them and looked at her, his gaze was adoring, and she leaned forward and kissed him softly before she handed him a fork.
Danny lay on his side, propping his head up on his hand, and Leah mirrored his position, facing him with the cake resting on the bed between them.
They ate until they couldn’t take another bite, and Leah moved what was left of the cake to her dresser before she came back to the bed.
“You look good in my shirt,” he said, grabbing her waist and pulling her on top of him. He held her hands to the bed on either side of his body, and when she looked down at him, he quirked his brow suggestively.
She smiled, leaning down until their lips were almost touching. “What are you, insatiable?”
Danny laughed softly; his warm breath smelled like cake, and Leah wet her lips before closing the tiny space between them and pressing her mouth to his.
An hour later, she was lying on her side with Danny’s arm around her waist and his chest pressed against her back. As she skirted the border between consciousness and sleep, Leah felt him sweep her hair over her shoulder, and then his mouth was on the back of her neck.
She tilted her head forward, an involuntary reaction that gave him better access, but she couldn’t manage much more than that.
“Mmm,” she hummed sleepily. “If you wanna go again, just try not to wake me while you’re doing it.”
He laughed against the back of her neck before removing his lips from her skin. The air felt cool now compared to the heat of his mouth, and when he trailed the tip of his finger down the back of her neck, she shivered.
His arm slid over her waist again as he pulled her against him, and Leah snuggled back into his chest with a sigh.
“What does it mean?” he asked softly.
“Hmm?” she hummed, her eyes still closed.
“This,” he said, trailing the tip of his finger over her neck again.
Right over her tattoo.
“Oh,” she murmured, her voice soft with sleep. “It means a couple of things.”
“Tell me,” he said, his breath fluttering her hair.
Leah trailed her fingertips up and down his forearm. “In Celtic, the spiral triskele is the symbol for mother. That’s actually the first reason I was drawn to it.”
He kissed the back of her shoulder as she said, “But the triskele itself is usually a symbol for the progression of life…how it’s constantly changing, but it always brings us to another beginning,” she mumbled sleepily. “Always a new start. And I love the idea of that.”
Danny pressed his lips over the tattoo again. “Me too,” he said softly.
Leah brought his hand up to her mouth, kissing his palm before she intertwined their fingers. She felt so safe, so comfortable, so content wrapped in his arms, with the heat of his skin on hers and the gentle thudding of his heart against her back. As exhausted as she was, she found herself fighting sleep just so she could enjoy it a little longer.
And in that moment, she realized what the intense feeling was that flooded through her every time Danny put his arms around her. It was the same feeling she would get as a little girl when her family would pull into their driveway after spending a week on vacation. It was the same feeling she got when she crawled back into her own bed for the first time after moving back in with her father during college. And it was the same feeling she got every Christmas when she pulled onto that little street in the Bronx and stopped in front of Catherine’s house.
Her eyes stung with tears behind her closed lids, and she smiled softly, knowing for sure that she had made the right decision.
Because for her, being in Danny’s arms felt like coming home.