“I figured. So, I know we usually hang out at your place, but I was wondering if you wanted to come by the ol’ neighborhood today. Mom is on location this week for a shoot, so we’d have the whole place to ourselves.”
I spin back and forth in my desk chair, swinging my legs a little with each movement. “I, uh, haven’t been back since Mae moved to the care facility.”
“Really, it’s been that long?”
I stop spinning and pause to think about it. “Yeah, it has. I guess I never had a reason to go back.”
“If you feel like it would be uncomfortable, I’ll come straight to you once you’re done for the day.”
“No, no. I just haven’t really considered it before. It’s not like I’m walking into my old house. Your place was a safe haven for me.”
Danny hums softly, but doesn’t push.
I make up my mind. “Let’s do it. I’d love to see your house again. Is your walkie-talkie still in your room?”
He laughs. “I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. Mom left that space exactly as it was when I left. It’s basically a museum at this point.”
“So many memories, I bet,” I muse, thinking back on a few of my favorites. Tessa’s drawings of us, the football lamp on his bedside table…the hopes and dreams we shared under his covers.
“Yeah…and I was thinking maybe we could make new memories, too.”
My ears perk up. “New memories?”
“Mhm, new memories on my couch, new memories on the floor, new memories on my bed…”
My body lights up with his words.Finally. We’ve been taking things slowly, not wanting to rush sex, but enough is enough.
I glare into the phone like he can see me. “Are you being serious? You better not be joking.”
“Oh, I’m being extremely serious.” His voice comes out low and gruff.
I breathe a sigh of relief, feeling his words in every fiber of my being. “Thank God. Don’t move. I’m leaving right now.”
His laugh booms so loudly over the line that I have to pull the phone away from my ear.
“Be mindful of traffic laws, please,” he warns through shallow breaths.
“I could literally break every single traffic law and still be a better driver than you.”
“Hey,” Danny pouts. “That’s not nice.”
“Then let’s just say that one of us passed our driver’s test the first time, and the other one of us took a quartet of tries.”
I hear Danny wheezing over the phone as I hang up and hustle to change into anything clean that I have on hand. I throw on a white, ribbed cotton top with bell sleeves and decide to forgo underwear—what’s the point—before pulling up my fitted gray jeans and booking it to his house.
As soon as he opens the door, I jump on him. He chuckles and catches me with an “oof!”
Leaning back, I rake my gaze over the Mustangs baseball cap, gray henley, and worn, faded light wash jeans he’s wearing. I’m still amazed at how much he’s grown from the last time we had sex. His eyes gleam with amusement at my obvious appraisal of his body.
The pull of longing for Danny, of longing for thismoment, tugs at my chest. I’m past the point of holding back. “Take my clothes off, please. Right now.”
He dips his head to my neck and laughs into my skin. “Slow down, Gracie girl. We have time.”
“There’s been lots of ‘time’ over the last several weeks. Enough with all the time. Any longer and we’ll be in the year 3000. Take your pants off.”
Snickering, he mutters, “You’re something else.”
I squirm, antsy to be with him. But he pauses, bringing his eyes to mine. His gaze lingers for a moment on my right eye, and every edge of his face seems to soften.
