“Yes,” Jodi said, taking his bottle of water from him and finishing it off before handing the empty bottle back to him with a mutinous glare.
“It’s not my fault that your boss said yes,” Danny pointed out as he glanced around the hotel lobby, looking bored.
“Wasn’t your fault?’ she repeated back in disbelief, absolutely stunned. “You accidentally,” Jodi stressed, throwing up her hands to make finger quotes, “locked him in the storage closet when you gave him the tour of the new library for seven hours until he agreed to give me time off with pay!”
He blinked down at her. “The lock was faulty.”
“The lock was faulty?” she repeated back in disbelief.
“Mmmhmm,” Danny murmured as they moved up in line.
“How does the lock being faulty explain the chair and the cooler full of snacks you set up in front of the storage room?” Jodi demanded, shifting her bag over her shoulder.
“I had to keep my strength up while I waited for help,” he said with a sniff, forcing her to look away so that he didn’t see her lips twitch.
“And by help, I assume you mean pulling the key out of your pocket and unlocking the door,” Jodi said, frowning as a thought occurred to her. “Ummm, where’s the rest of your family?”
“Probably at their hotel,” Danny said, shrugging it off. “Why?”
“They’re not staying at this hotel?” Jodi asked, moving up in line with him.
He chuckled as he pulled out his wallet. “No.”
“Why not?”
He sighed as he reached down and took her hand in his and raised their hands so that he could press a kiss against the back of her hand. “Because we would never get a moment of peace otherwise.”
“But it’s a family trip,” Jodi pointed out even as she had to admit that she was relieved. No matter how sweet she thought his family’s overprotectiveness was, and it really was, it was also a bit much to deal with.
Like last Sunday when his brothers and cousins came over to watch the game. She hadn’t planned on joining them, but Danny used the promise of a backrub to convince her that spending time with his brothers was a good idea. It hadn’t been. At least, not for her.
Danny, on the other hand, had seemed completely oblivious to the looks that his brothers kept sending her. Whenever Danny kissed her, held her hand, touched her, or pulled her onto his lap, they stared. They’d stop eating, talking, and putting each other in headlocks just to stare…
It was a little unsettling.
If that wasn’t bad enough, every time Danny left the room, the questions would start. They wanted to know her dating history, about her family, her plans for the future, and of course, how she felt about Danny. She tried her best to answer their questions. Well, most of them. But apparently, her answers hadn’t been what they were looking for because about two hours into the game, they’d decided to hand over their interrogation to the twins, who both just happened to be cops.
The trip here had been just as bad. During the entire ride to the airport, his brothers had taken turns watching her every move. They kept it up at the airport until she’d finally had enough and made her escape to the bathroom, which in retrospect had been a mistake. His mother and sister had taken her escape as an opportunity to get to know her better…
After deciding to block her time spent in the bathroom with them from her memory, she gave up and returned to Danny’s side only to discover that there was a two-hour delay. For the next hour and a half, she’d contemplated returning to the bathroom, but the incident that she’d blocked from her memory had kept her butt firmly planted in the hard-plastic chair where she’d tried to ignore the way that the men in his family watched her every move.
The only one who hadn’t seemed interested in her was Dr. Bradford. He’d sat off to the side, reading or watching the planes take off and land. His children and wife left him alone for the most part. The only time he’d acknowledged any of them was when his wife or one of his children spoke directly to him. He’d smile at his wife or chuckle at something that one of his children said, except if Danny spoke, that is. Dr. Bradford seemed completely oblivious to his oldest son.
“We’ll see them at dinner and at the parks,” Danny explained as he leaned down and brushed his lips softly against hers. “Besides,” he whispered against her lips, “if my mother was here, we wouldn’t be able to get away with sharing a room.”
“And your mother was fine with us staying at a different hotel?” Jodi asked, deciding that pretending that his mother wasn’t aware of all the naughty things they did was for the best.
“No,” Danny said, shooting her a wink as he handed over his ID and credit card to the hotel clerk.
“That would explain why she hasn’t stopped calling since we got in the taxi.”
“Or texting me,” he said, looking down at his phone with a rueful shake of his head.
“She’s going to make you pay for this later. You do realize that, don’t you?” Jodi said, knowing his mother well enough by now to guess that the older woman wasn’t going to take this lying down.
“Are you tired?” Danny asked, running his fingers down her spine.
“No,” Jodi mumbled with a sleepy little sigh that had him smiling.
