“Why won’t you go out with me?” Danny returned calmly.
Because she wasn’t looking for another friend, another guy to look at her like a kid sister, and she sure as hell didn’t want to go through the motions of a date only to get rejected at the end with a barely-there kiss on the cheek and a few complimentary words about how sweet she was. She especially didn’t want to go through that with him.
She knew that it was foolish, but after falling asleep in his arms the other night, she couldn’t stomach the idea of him looking down at her like she was the sweet baby sister that he’d never had and he would. There was just something about her, she didn’t know if it was her size, her looks, the way she smiled or spoke, but something about her made men view her as nothing more than a kid sister. She didn’t want Danny to see her like that, not when it meant that he’d start viewing the other night with horror.
He’d held her all night, caressed her stomach, constantly kissed her and had refused to let her go. If she went out with him the illusion that a handsome man wanted her would be ruined. Within minutes of the date he’d start looking at her funny and start to feel uncomfortable, but he wouldn’t know why until the end of the date when he walked her to the door and stared down into her eyes. Then the realization would hit him and that would end any fantasy that an incredibly handsome man wanted her.
“I can see that I’m going to have to do this another way,” Danny murmured and before she could ask him what he was talking about, he was back in front of the cabinet and pulling her off.
“What are you doing? Let me go!” she said rather hysterically as he pulled her down into his arms, forcing her to wrap her arms around his neck in a desperate attempt to stay there when small hands made a grab for her.
“Anything you want, Tink,” he said as he walked over to the checkout desk and plopped her down on the high counter right next to Matthew who was-
“Is that my lunch?” she asked, frowning as Matthew popped what looked like the rest of her double fudge, buttercream frosting brownie in his mouth with a shrug.
Danny sighed, as he gently cupped her chin and forced her to look back at him. “I’m going to need you to focus here, Tink.”
“That’s not my name,” she murmured absently as she peered past him and what she saw had her swallowing nervously and trying to shift back on the counter, but Danny wasn’t having that.
“Have dinner with me tonight,” he said, loosely wrapping his arms around her hips as he stepped closer, forcing her to spread her legs to accommodate the move.
“I can’t,” she said, gasping in horror when tiny hands suddenly closed around her ankles and tried to drag her away. Danny’s large frame was the only thing that kept her from being dragged to the ground and smothered in paste and glitter. That triumphant look in his eye let her know that he knew it.
“No?” he said, cocking a brow as he moved to step back.
“Get her!” one of the normally docile children screamed excitedly as she found herself being pulled to the edge of the counter.
Refusing to be covered in white gunk for a second time that week, she wrapped her arms and legs around Danny’s retreating form and held on for dear life. He simply stood there, his arms down by his sides as he stepped away from the counter, allowing the little demons to grab hold of her. Tightening her hold around him, she snapped, “Danny!”
“Are you sure you can’t go out with me tonight?” he asked, sounding amused, the bastard!
“Yes!”
“Well, then,” he said, sighing heavily as he grabbed her hips and-
“Wait!” she screamed a bit desperately when she realized that he was truly going to hand her over to the demons still pawing at her.
“Yes?” he inquired politely as she tightened her hold around him, her face buried in his neck as she struggled to come up with a way to get out of this without needing to scour glitter off her body for the next two months. When it came to her, she quickly looked up and peered over Danny’s shoulder only to find Trevor standing next to Matthew, both males snacking on Matthew’s loot as they openly watched them.
“Can I get a little help here?” she asked her landlord, who seemed to be enjoying the show.
Taking a big bite out of a chocolate cupcake, he shook his head and gestured for her to get on with it.
Bastard!
Making a mental note to tattletale on the bastard later to his wife, she shifted her gaze to the playroom’s barricaded double doors where the pounding and threats of spankings were louder than ever, and sighed. It looked like she was on her own.
Resting her head against his chest, she tightened her grip around him and said, “I can’t.”
“I understand,” Danny said, taking her by surprise as he walked back to the checkout desk and carefully placed her on the edge of the counter. As he pulled away, he gave her a boyish smile that had her biting her lower lip, wondering if maybe-
“Aliens can only be defeated with Elmer’s glue, kids, not paste,” he explained with a wink as he stepped back and away and-
“Get her!”
“Wait! No, wait!” she yelled, rushing to pull her legs up so that she could jump over the desk and make a run for it. She’d barely managed to pull her right leg up when they grabbed her and with one surprisingly hard pull, yanked her off the counter. She squeezed her eyes shut, biting back a scream as she waited for her back and bottom to make contact with the old cracked marble floor beneath her only to release a startled gasp when a pair of strong arms caught her, saving her from a bruised bottom.
Gasping, she opened her eyes to find herself staring into a set of intense emerald green eyes. She opened her mouth to thank him, but never got the chance. Before she knew what was happening, he was leaning down and kissing her. Warm firm lips moved over hers, enticingly sweet and incredibly sexy, making her lose her mind and forget where she was, and that she was surrounded by a bevy of demonic children determined to destroy her. Lost in sensation, a soft moan escaped her as she parted her lips and-
Blinked her eyes open with a soft grunt as she suddenly found herself sitting on the marble floor, staring as Danny stood up, trying to make sense of what had just happened when Danny said, “She’s all yours,” and stepped back.
It took a few seconds for those three words to register in her mind and when they did, it was too late.