“I had a filter.” She held up her empty champagne glass sadly. “Then it disappeared with about my third or fourth glass of this stuff.” That actually made him laugh, and the sound surprised her. It was warm and real—not the polished fake laugh he’d been giving donors all night.
“You’re trouble, Dani Hart,” he said.
Her pulse jumped. “Aww—you remembered my name,” she teased. Jonnas was notorious for bedding women and then forgetting their names the next morning. Aliza had told her all about her new husband’s best friend. It’s one of the reasons why she stayed as far away from him as possible.
“I know all my nurses’ names,” he said, reminding her that he was technically her boss.
“That sounded less sexy than I hoped for,” she mumbled more to herself than to him. Still, his eyes darkened slightly, and she kind of liked that she could get a reaction out of him.
“There it is again,” he murmured.
“What?” she asked, innocently batting her eyes at him.
“You’re flirting with me, just like you did at Elias and Aliza’s wedding,” he said.
Dani’s face burned instantly. “I am not flirting with you, and I didn’t flirt with you at their wedding,” she insisted. It was a complete lie, but she wasn’t about to admit that she liked him.
“You sure about that?” he asked. No, she was absolutely not sure about anything at this point. She had been very aggressively flirting with him, and judging by the look in his eyes, he knew it.
Before she could embarrass herself further, Elias appeared beside them carrying drinks. “There you are,” he said to Jonnas before eyeing Dani knowingly. “Aliza’s looking for you.”
“Oh God,” Dani muttered. “Did she send you over here to save me?”
“No,” Elias said dryly. “She sent me over to see if Jonnas was corrupting innocent nurses again.”
“Hey,” Jonnas muttered, pretending to be offended. Dani laughed despite herself.
The four of them ended up together for the rest of the evening, talking and drinking far more than any of them probably should have—well, except for Aliza, since she was pregnant. By midnight, Dani was pleasantly buzzed and dangerously relaxed, which was probably why sitting beside Jonnas suddenly felt natural. His hand brushed her lower back while guiding her through the crowded ballroom at one point, and her entire body reacted instantly. And if she was reading him right—he noticed.
“You okay there, honey?” he asked quietly. Jesus. Dani nearly melted into the floor at the term of endearment. She shouldn’t react this strongly to simple nicknames, but she did. Hell, she always had, and something told her Jonnas understood that instinctively.
By the time the fundraiser started winding down, Aliza had crossed her arms and officially entered “Mom Friend” mode, telling Dani that she’d order her an Uber. “I can drive,” Dani insisted, knowing that it was a lie as soon as the slurred words left her mouth.
“Absolutely not,” Aliza announced. “Neither of you is driving.” She looked over at Jonnas, who was probably having the same conversation with Elias.
“I’m fine,” Dani insisted. She didn’t feel like leaving the party yet, and that had everything to do with the way Jonnas was currently staring her down.
“You just tried to put your purse into the punch bowl,” Aliza challenged.
“That happened one time, and I didn’t end up doing it,” Dani said.
Aliza snorted. “It happened about thirty seconds ago.” Elias and Jonnas walked across the ballroom, joining their conversation, and she knew that she was about to get ganged up on.
“You tell her that we’re getting her an Uber?” Elias asked.
“Yep, and she insists that she’s fine,” Aliza said.
Jonnas loosened his tie slightly beside her. “I can drive Dani home,” he offered.
“No, you can’t,” Elias said immediately. “You’ve had almost as much whiskey as she’s had champagne.”
“I’m bigger than she is,” Jonnas insisted.
“That’s not how alcohol works,” Aliza deadpanned. Dani giggled, and Jonnas looked down at her. Just that one look made her feel warm all over. Yeah, she was in trouble.
“We’ll call you both an Uber,” Aliza insisted.
But Dani shook her head immediately. “No.”
