“You’re not invited,” Danny said, not missing a beat. “So, fuck off.”
“Where are we going? Pizza? Buffet? Burgers? Italian?” Aidan asked, ignoring Danny’s homicidal glare as he continued walking alongside them.
“What’s going on?” Reese asked, tapping his twin on the shoulder and gesturing towards them.
“We’re grabbing a late dinner,” Aidan answered before Danny had a chance, and judging by his glare, he desperately wanted to say something.
“I’m starving,” Duncan said from behind them, sounding relieved as he joined them. “What are we having?”
“I could go for Chinese,” Jodi said, trying not to laugh at the look on Danny’s face when the rest of his brothers and his sister joined them.
“Great!” Garret said as he joined them on the sidewalk. “There’s a buffet right down the street.”
“I’m sorry,” Danny said, having absolutely no idea what else he should say.
“It’s fine,” Jodi said with a little sniffle.
“Really?” he asked, kneeling down in front of the bathtub and for some reason, not believing her.
“I-I just need a minute,” Jodi said, squeezing her eyes shut tighter as she licked her lips and somehow managed to curl up into a smaller ball.
“No one got hurt,” he said soothingly as he reached down and touched her shoulder, only to pull his hand back with a muttered curse when she flinched.
“I just need a minute,” Jodi said, taking a deep breath as he knelt there, contemplating hunting his brothers down and kicking their asses.
“Sweetheart, it’s fine. It was just a little misunderstanding,” Danny said, reaching for her, only to have her flinch away from his touch again.
“I-I just can’t get the screams out of my head,” Jodi whispered. “The screams…they were just…” she said, swallowing as she shook her head, clearly unable to go on.
He sighed as he stood up and pulled his shirt off. He tossed it aside as he kicked his shoes off. “It goes away. Trust me,” Danny said as he unsnapped his fly and pushed his pants and boxers down.
“When?” Jodi asked with a shuddering sigh that had him chuckling as he grabbed the shower curtain and pulled it aside so he could join her, careful not to step on the beautiful woman curled up in the fetal position on the bottom of the tub.
“Soon,” Danny promised her as he reached down and picked her up.
“It was horrible,” she said with a little sniffle that had him smiling as he kissed the top of her head.
He settled her on her feet but didn’t let her go. “I know,” Danny said, still wondering how his brothers could have fucked up this badly, especially right after their mother had taken each of them by the ear and read them the riot act before they’d been allowed inside.
“Your mother looked mad,” Jodi said, pressing her face against his chest as she grabbed onto his biceps and held on tightly.
He chuckled as he wrapped his arms around her, careful of the healing rugburn covering her back and arms. “Well,” Danny said, thoughtfully pausing only long enough to press another kiss to the top of her head, “they did break the rules.”
She sighed against his chest, but he did feel her relax. “Rules?”
“Mmmhmm,” Danny murmured, closing his eyes as he enjoyed holding her in his arms. Nothing in life ever felt more perfect than this. “My mother created a list of rules for us when we were little to help cut back on incidents like the ones today.”
“Smart,” she said, pressing a kiss against his chest as she settled more comfortably in his arms.
Danny chuckled as he closed his eyes and stood there, savoring this moment with her. For the past three days, he’d forced himself to be satisfied with holding her hand and small kisses when all he wanted to do was wrap his arms around her, touch her, kiss her, run his hands over her and slide back inside the tightest, wettest hold that he’d ever experienced.
“Is that why you were avoiding your family?” Jodi suddenly asked him, but it wasn’t enough to distract him away from what was really on his mind.
“Hmmm?” he asked, kissing the top of her head as he gently ran his hands down her back, testing the waters.
“Your back,” she said, reminding him of the biggest reason he hated these trips.
Another kiss. “I didn’t want to wreck their trip. The bullet didn’t paralyze me, but it was close. It did a lot of damage and so did the surgeries. So anytime I go somewhere that has restrictions for back injuries, I warm a bench.”
