He thought that over for a moment. He wanted to hold her, to kiss her, to make love to her, to piss her off so that he could see that cute little murderous glare of hers, he just wanted…
“A chance,” Danny answered. “Just a chance.”
Chapter 16
“I can’t do this. I’m sorry,” Jodi said, swallowing nervously as she stepped away from him.
“It won’t hurt,” Danny said, reaching out to stop her from running away, and she desperately wanted to run away, by taking her hand into his and giving it a reassuring squeeze.
“You lying bastard!” Jodi bit out, yanking her arm back so that she could point to the large man who was currently curled up on the ground, cupping himself and whimpering pathetically for his mommy. “He sure as hell looks hurt to me!”
Giving her an incredibly sexy grin that had her narrowing her eyes on him, Danny said, “He’s fine, Tinkerbelle.”
She shifted her glare back to the man who was now openly crying and then back to Danny, who stood there wearing military gear stained with old paint, a paint gun thrown over his shoulder, several paintball cartridges strapped at his side and over his shoulders and that damn sexy smile that he’d used on her this morning when he showed up at her door dressed as Rambo.
“Tell me it’s not going to hurt,” Jodi said, daring the bastard to lie to her.
“Just a little pinch,” Danny said, picking up the second paintball gun and handing it to her.
“Can’t we do something else?” she asked, sounding like a wimp and not really caring.
“No,” he simply said, taking her by the shoulders. He turned her around and gave her a gentle push towards the outside obstacle course where grown men were running around shooting each other with balls of paint, “you said that I could choose our first date.”
“But-”
“But it will be fun, I promise,” Danny said, giving her another little push when she dug her heels in.
“But-”
“I’ll let you choose the restaurant if it will make you feel better,” Danny said, continuing to push her towards her doom.
“No, it really wouldn’t. What would make me feel better is if we could maybe go and do something else? A movie? Zoo? Museum? Back to my place for an afternoon of nonstop sex?” Jodi suggested, only half-kidding about the last one as she reached up and pushed her safety helmet back in place.
Okay, so maybe she was completely honest about the last one, but the giant bastard shoving her towards her doom was determined to take it slowly. Last night when he’d climbed out of his bed, completely naked and aroused, very aroused, she’d expected him to take her to bed and show her how sex was supposed to be. Instead, he’d kissed her softly, pulled on a pair of sweatpants, took her hand in his and walked her back to her apartment, where he’d given her another kiss goodnight and promised that he was going to call her in the morning.
He’d lied.
He hadn’t called her. No, he showed up at the crack of dawn with coffee and donuts and that damn sexy smile. Surprised, and secretly pleased, she’d quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a tee-shirt. The entire way here, he’d held her hand, caressing the back of her hand with his thumb while making small talk, probably trying to make her comfortable. It worked. That is until he’d pulled into the makeshift parking lot for the outdoor paintball arena. That’s when she’d started suggesting other alternatives to being chased by a bunch of psychotic men shooting each other with little round balls.
He’d laughed.
The bastard!
Danny sighed, giving up on gently prodding her and took her hand and pulled her towards a large gate marked “Entrance.” Her eyes shifted away from the entrance sign and took in the very large, very detailed sign that was taller than her and attached to the chain-link fence. She started reading the warnings and immediately wished that she hadn’t.
“If this isn’t dangerous, then why are there over fifty warnings about death and accidental mutilation?” Jodi demanded, hugging her gun tightly against her chest with one arm as he ignored her concerns and continued to pull her towards a makeshift barrier.
“Take a knee, Tinkerbelle,” Danny said when they’d reached the barrier.
Trembling, Jodi did as he asked, just in time, too, it would seem, as a volley of paintball pellets suddenly came flying at them, slamming into the barrier with several loud whacks. Resisting the urge to run back to the entrance and to the safety of the women’s room where she fully planned on hiding for the next two hours, she stayed there while Danny methodically explained how to fire her gun, how to use their surroundings to her advantage, and what to do if she got hit.
Unfortunately for her, she was too busy listening to the sounds of paintballs slamming into barriers around her and the sounds of grown men running and shouting orders followed by screams of pain to listen. Yeah, this really wasn’t for her.
“Danny,” she said, licking her lips nervously, “I-”
“Stay here and count to ten, then follow me,” he said, cutting her off before she could give him an excuse to leave. “Stay down and shoot anyone wearing a blue helmet or armband.”
“But-”
