“By the way,” he called to me after setting his phone down, leaning against the wall. “That was totally badass with your dad.”
I could feel my head shakingno. “Nah, just my stubborn streak. My Mediterranean tempers mixing.”
“Nope, just all you. The strong-willed beauty I’ve been thinking about for two decades, who I can finally call mine.”
“Danny.” His name came through on a whisper, my head cocked, throat clogged, and all the emotion pooling in my gut.
“What? Been falling for you all these years, Birdie. Get used to it.”
He’d rendered me speechless for the second time in twenty-four hours.
Daniel
“Come on, Rourke,” I whispered to the pint-sized pup. The little guy trailed by my feet, heading down the stairs as quietly as possible.
I slipped on my jacket, shoved my feet into my sneakers by the back door and walked outside with Rourke.
With Easter behind us, spring was in the air, and I was hoping we’d get our shoot done in a few days, allowing me to spend the following weekend with Wren and only Wren. This weekend she was on call and exhausted. I wasn’t mad. Quite the opposite—the chatting between two coasts, the visits, along with her work hours, were weighing on her, and I wanted to alleviate some of the stress.
“Good boy,” I told Rourke before padding to the kitchen to make coffee.
It was only five o’clock in the morning back home and eight in Boston, but I was up. Other than filming, I had the luxury of taking care of myself.
Not Wren. During our late dinner last night, she got called back in to see another basketball player. He’d tweaked something—I’d forgotten what—and of course Wren was wanted.
She wouldn’t, actuallycouldn’tsay no. As the doctor on call for the practice tied to the team, this was her job. Her career she took so much pride in…
Rourke yapped at me, forcing me to pay attention. The dog was so cute, and I’d always been a big dog guy… Of course, now he gave me a little low hum while standing next to his food. I’d been to Boston enough to know how much he ate, so I doled it out and went back to coffee-making.
I was just pulling down two mugs when I heard, “Hey, I would have done that. Fed Rourke, made coffee,” Wren said, walking toward me.
“Sometimes you can let someone take care of you, Bird. I’m here and you’re tired. You should rest.”
“Shhh,” she said while nuzzling into my neck, her side flush against me.
I couldn’t help myself—my hand came up and swished under her short satin nightshirt.
“Is that what you wanted? Brownie points so you could cop a feel?”
I felt the laughter rumble in my chest. With a quick tap to her ass, I said, “Sit.”
She did so while I turned on the TV, setting it to the morning news and pouring her a cup of coffee how she liked it—
“And this weekend, Ryan Strauss is in town filming a movie. Spotted last night at an Italian restaurant, Strauss kept hisbaseball cap on while completely focused on his…date? His friend?”
“Oh boy,” Wren said to the news anchor.
“That’s what we all want to know,” the other anchor said to the one discussing Ryan.
“Genie is in for it. I told her…”
“She knows,” I said to Wren, running my hand down her back. “And she’s lucky she doesn’t do on-calls with you,” I added.
“I told her not to last night,” Wren admitted before taking a sip of her coffee. “She usually does come in for anything high-profile with me.”
“You really are an eagle,” I said, kissing her forehead.
“She deserves to be young and have fun. Plus, with the two of them gallivanting around, everyone leaves us alone.” With a soft peck to my cheek, she went back to her caffeine.
