All of You (44 page)

Danny:
And when you talk nerdy to me like that, Kat, it makes me want to fuck you even harder, so we’re even.

Kat:
Aaaaaand there goes my rack of test tubes. Look for a bill in the mail.

Danny grinned and texted:
So, are we meeting?

Kat:
As if Nathan would allow you to “drop him off somewhere.” You’ve met Nathan, right?

Danny:
He’s standing outside right now. I could just take off.

Kat:
We better make sure the sex is phenomenal because it’ll be our final session. Nathan would strangle you with his bare hands for even thinking about it.

Danny:
Sex with you is always phenomenal. And I’m pretty damn sure it always will be.

Kat:
It’s hard to imagine sex NOT being phenomenal, period.

Danny thought about all the sex he’d had in his life and texted:
It’s always okay, sometimes good, and every once in a while, great. But I just found out it’s only phenomenal when you have it with someone you love.

Kat: :)
Then I’m glad I’ve only had it with someone I love.

Danny swallowed against the fist in his throat:
Me, too.
Because that’s what you deserve.

Kat:
It’s what you deserve, too, Danny.

Danny:
No, it’s not. But I’m very lucky to have it, anyway.

Kat:
If you starting talking nonsense, I’m going to text Nathan about your dereliction of duty plans.

Danny grinned and texted:
Okay, I’ll shape up.

Kat:
Ha.
I’ll believe that when I see it.

Danny looked to find Nathan walking back to the car. He texted:
N’s coming. I’ll call you later.

Kat:
Okay. Be safe.
A few seconds later, she texted:
I love you, Danny.

Danny wondered if hearing that from her would ever
not
cause his heart to pound.

He replied:
I love you, too, Kat. Bye.

Nathan got in and slammed the door behind him. He eyed Danny, who was still gripping his phone. “Everything okay?”

Danny nodded. “Yeah…”

A slow, wide smile split his face.

Because he’d just realized, for the first time in his life, he was actually excited about the future.

Danny met Nathan’s questioning gaze, still nodding. “Yeah, brother…everything is fucking perfect.”

*

“What. The. Hell.”

Fi gaped at Kat like she’d just grown two heads.

Or like she’d just admitted to screwing Danny’s brains out for the past two days.

Which, in essence, she had.

“You and Danny?” Mouth still agape, Fi lifted her hands. She looked around their apartment, as if someone making some kind of sense might jump out and clarify the whole damn thing. “I don’t understand…when the…what the…” Fi dropped her hands into her lap and reared back, brows low. “You and
Danny
?”

Kat nodded.

“MacDonough?”

Kat nodded again.

Fi huffed. “
Jesus
….I leave town for a week and miss the scoop of the frickin’ century!” She shook her head, eyes narrowing. “And why in the hell didn’t anyone else tell me? I’ve got some serious sister butt to kick.”

Fi had taken the news of the burglary with far more aplomb than she was taking the news about Danny.

Which made perfect sense.

Before the events of the past week, Kat would have given herself a fifty-fifty chance of being a victim of an ugly burglary, but a zero out of a hundred percent chance of having sex with Danny.

Once, let alone multiple times.

In multiple ways.

In multiple domiciles.

On multiple surfaces.

Kat felt herself flush.

Good thing Fi was way too wrapped up in her (almost insulting) shock and awe to notice.

Fi settled into the corner of the couch and folded her hands in her lap. She leaned forward, eyes wide. “Okay, okay, okay, start from the very beginning…and don’t you
dare
leave out a single lurid, filthy, graphic detail, Kat!”

Kat rolled her eyes. “The apartment got burglarized and I called Danny because Nathan was busy. He helped me out with stuff, we ended up spending some time together, and we…”

Realized we’ve loved each other for a long time
sounded way too cheesy, despite its veracity.

And
fell in love
was even worse.

So Kat went with, “Got to know each other. And realized we get along well and really…” She lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know…like each other, I guess.”

“Uh, huh…” Fi grinned, eyeing her. “You bang every guy you ‘really like,’ Kat?”

“Ew, don’t call it ‘banging.’ And you know perfectly well he’s the only guy I’ve ever…”

Fi quirked a brow. “Banged?”

Kat couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, banged.”

Fi whistled low and long. “What a man to lose it to, Kat.” She eyed Kat again, this time like she was searching for visible signs of Danny’s conquest. Fi’s lips curled and her brow quirked. “Is he as magnificent in the sack as I think he is?”

Kat huffed. “Yes, he is. And now I don’t want you to ever think about him that way again, got it?”

Fi laughed. “Yeah, you ‘really like him,’ all right.” Her smile faded and softened a bit as she searched Kat’s eyes. “You love him, huh, Kat? ‘Cause I know you wouldn’t have done that with him if you didn’t.”

Kat nodded, knowing those words didn’t come close to how she felt about him, but not really having any other words or the ability to put it differently.

“So what was with all that ‘I just thought you and Danny might be good together’ shit last week?”

Kat shrugged, fidgeting with the tassel on her bookmark. “I was weirded out and way over-thinking things. I guess it was my emotionally-stilted way of asking what you thought of him without having to actually ask.”

Fi winced. “And I said all that crap about him…” She shook her head. “I’m sorry, Kat. I didn’t know…”

Kat waved off her worries. “I know, and you didn’t say anything that wasn’t true.” She thought back to that conversation. “Except Danny would never be unfaithful.”

When Kat looked up, Fi’s concerned expression pissed her off. “
What?
”

“Are you sure, Kat?” She lifted her hands. “Don’t get me wrong, Danny is a great guy and I’m sure he wouldn’t mean to, but-”

“You think he’s going to
accidentally
cheat on me?”

Fi shook her head. “No, but a guy like that, who’s got women throwing themselves at him all the time? Who’s probably never been in a monogamous relationship in his entire life?” She lifted a shoulder. “Aren’t you the least bit worried?”

“No,” Kat said, truthfully. “Not in the slightest.”

Fi paused. “I love you, Kat. And I don’t think I could stand it if he hurt you.”

“He would never hurt me.” When Fi’s expression remained firmly in
I’m-not-so-sure
, Kat quirked her brow. “How often am I wrong, Fi?”

“Hardly ever,” she admitted.

“Then there you have it.”

Fi sighed. “Okay. Well, so, what happens now?”

It was a damn good question – and one Kat didn’t have a great answer to.

“I don’t know. We haven’t really talked about it.”

“Too busy doing other stuff, huh?” When Kat flushed, because that was 100% true, Fi laughed. “Got it. Just wondering if I’m about to lose my roomie, is all.”

Of course Kat
had
thought about it.

In passing.

Between make-out sessions, hot sex romps, and emotional heart-to-hearts. But she and Danny had never gotten around to discussing what exactly was going to happen next…where, exactly, they would be going from here.

And, somewhere buried very deep in the back of Kat’s brain, she wanted to keep it that way. Because she was loving this living-for-the-moment thing they had going on.

It meant not worrying about tomorrow.

Or a year from now.

Or ten years from now…

When Kat might not be mobile anymore.

Or when she might not be around anymore, at all.

Kat’s chest tightened, her palms dampened and her stomach muscles tensed, as feelings she’d been beating back all week washed over her.

Look what you’ve allowed to happen.

How selfish, short-sighted, and incredibly foolish.

How unbelievably cruel.

“You okay, Kat?”

Fi’s voice pulled Kat back to reality. Or was it back to fantasy? Because what was going on in her head was much closer to reality than the lie she’d been living all week.

Kat forced her lips into a smile. “Yeah. Just tired.”

‡

D
anny’s phone rang
around 8 p.m. He slid his thumb across the screen and said, “Hey, sweetheart, how’s it going?”

“Good. How was the rest of your shift?”

He propped his feet up on the coffee table and crossed his legs, leaning back into the couch. “Fine, except for the raging hard-on you stuck me with all afternoon. Thanks a lot for that, by the way.”

Kat laughed. “Only seemed fair. You almost broke my microscope. You had me so distracted that Stellan and the guys probably thought my medication was making me loopy.”

Danny unclenched his jaw long enough to say, “You know, Kat, I really wanna fuck you right in front of them, so they know it’s
me
making you loopy and not some stupid medication.”

Kat paused before saying, “Good grief, Danny, that took a sudden – and gross – turn.”

Danny huffed.

“If I didn’t know better, I’d think you were being unreasonably jealous, again,” she added, a smile in her voice.

“Goddamn right I’m jealous,” he shot back. “So stop calling them ‘your guys.’
I’m
your guy. That’s it. And I don’t share.”

“What a totally ridiculous, overdramatic, Neanderthal-like thing to say. And, by the way, I didn’t say ‘my guys.’ I said, ‘
the
guys.’ Stop being so silly.”

“Then stop doing whatever it is you do that fucks up my brain.” Danny blew out a hard breath, running a hand over his head. “I never had a jealous thought in my head before I met you and I fucking hate it. The thought of you being with someone else seriously makes me want to punch something. More than once.”

Kat paused. “I thought we were joking around, but now I’m thinking we’re not.” Her voice went as serious as his. “Danny, do you honestly think there are hordes of men waiting in the wings, just biding their time to jump out and snatch me when you’re not looking? Because, if so, please let me put your mind at ease: there has never been – nor will there ever be – flocks of ravenous males just dying to date me. And, even if there were, I wouldn’t want any of them, because they aren’t you…and you’re the only one I want.”

“I’m not worried about them wanting to
date
you,” Danny muttered, fully aware of how childish and absurd he was behaving, but not able to control the strong emotions popping up out of nowhere.

Kat laughed. “Oh, you think the nameless, faceless men are lurking around for a booty call from the nerdy, until-recently virgin, science dork?”

When Danny said, “Hell, yeah!” Kat laughed again.

“That Ben dude was sure sniffing around you,” he said sullenly.

“Ben was no more interested in me than I was in him. And, anyway, after that outrageous display you put on at my apartment, he wouldn’t have dared do anything about it even if he had liked me that way,” Kat said.

“You just made my point. I had to show Ben who was boss and that’s exactly what I’m gonna do every single time some dickhead tries to pull a fast one.”

“Now I know you’re just being silly. And kind of adorable in an immature, insecure, insane way,” she said, the smile back in her voice.

Danny huffed again. “Whatever. I just wanna marry the hell out of you soon, so we can have it all settled, once and for all.”

When Kat didn’t respond, Danny wondered if he’d gone ahead and smothered her just a little too hard. He suddenly felt embarrassed, because – even though Kat had alluded to them “becoming a family” – they’d never talked marriage. Or even living together, for Christ’s sake.