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“I told you”—he leans in close, his lipsbarelygrazing my ear—“that the next time I had you, it would be in bed. That I would get you for the whole night. That I would doallthe things I’ve been dreaming about doing to you.”

A shiver creeps down my spine, and I have to bite back an embarrassing sound.

“Do you remember, Dani?”

I manage to nod, albeit shakily. “I remember.”

“Good.” His fingers flex against my hip, his hand covering mine against his shoulder. “So that just leaves one question, doesn’t it?”

I pull back, peering up at him in confusion. “What?”

His smile is wide and brilliant, and I feel it washing over me; for a moment, all the doubts and worries of my past and my present and even my future are obliterated by the brightness of his smile. He tilts his head to let his forehead rest against mine briefly, and his voice is low, so low that I feel it in my toes when he asks—

“Yours or mine?”

Twenty

Ezra

There is stilla nagging worry in the back of my head that she’s going to bolt at any given moment. She was pensive on the drive over, texting back and forth with her friends, I assume to let them know she would be leaving with me. I’m still half-worried about her changing her mind even when we’re walking through my front door, letting her in first and eyeing her back as I close it behind us to lock us inside.

Purrgood comes trotting out from the other side of the couch when he hears us, and Dani smiles immediately—stooping to scratch behind his ears as she murmurs soft praise to my husky little house cat, who leans into her touch like it’s the best thing in the world.

Me too, buddy.

“Do you want something to drink?”

She peeks over her shoulder, watching as I unknot my tie to let it hang on either side of my collar. “What do you have?”

“Well, you don’t strike me as a whiskey drinker, but I havesome tequila and vodka behind the wet bar. I could cut it with something if you want.”

“You don’t think I drink whiskey?”

I cock an eyebrow. “Do you?”

“I can do whiskey,” she says primly, determination in her eyes.

I have to bite back a laugh. This woman will never turn down the chance to make something simple into a challenge. I get the feeling that even if I married this woman, I’d have to drag her down the aisle kicking and screaming.

That thought gives me pause, my chest fluttering, but I brush it away as I move to the wet bar with a smirk. “Whiskey it is.”

“Your cat is getting huge,” she remarks as she gives said cat more scratches.

“Don’t fat-shame my roommate, Dani. It’s rude.”

She rolls her eyes. “You won’t be saying that when you have to roll him to the litter box.”

“I will get him the finest kitty wagon so he can drag himself around. He’s his own man.”

She shakes her head, but there’s a tiny smile on her face as she gives Purrgood one final stroke down the length of his back before standing again. She crosses the space to come to rest on the other side of the bar, leaning on her elbows as she watches me pour two fingers of Jameson for her and myself.

“Thanks, bartender,” she says as she takes her glass.

I pause before taking a drink, watching her bring the glass warily to her lips, sniffing the contents before taking a tentative sip. Her eyes scrunch immediately, and she makes a little sound of distaste that pulls a laugh out of me.

“Shut up,” she grouses.

“You don’t have to drink it.”