“Auggie, something I’m learning, you can get caught up in your life and not realize what zone you need to find until life forces you to pay attention.”
He was silent a beat before he said quietly, “Point made.”
We didn’t dive deeper into that the rest of the journey back to Mag’s.
Auggie had the code to get into the underground garage, and as he drove to guest parking, I saw my Prius, its trunk looking good as new, parked next to Mag’s humongous truck.
Something about that gave me a delicious shiver.
Auggie escorted me up and used his key to let us in.
The condo was dark, except for the light of the TV, which shined on Mag, who was stretched out on his side on the couch, up on an elbow in some throw pillows.
His eyes were on us.
Auggie walked me to the living room area, stopped us and stated, “She’s safe home. Now after watching her and Lots and Pepper dance, I’m going home and washing my eyes out with soap.”
Mag grinned and said, “Owe you.”
“Yeah, you do,” Auggie replied, turned to me, kissed the side of my head again then bid, “Later,” pivoted, and walked back out the door.
I heard the lock go.
“He still has his key,” I told Mag.
He grinned, this time at me, and then murmured, “C’mere, baby.”
Seeing him stretched out like that in the light of the television, I could no sooner stop myself from walking to him than I could stop myself from eating a Toll House cookie fresh from the oven, no matter how hot it was and knowing it would burn my tongue.
I dropped my bag and the envelope of cash on his coffee table on my way and watched him shift before he executed a cool move, which included him pushing up, grabbing my hand, tugging me down so I landed on him but somehow ended up mostly under him.
It was far from lost on me how good it felt, having his weight on me.
But I’d just danced, it was three o’clock in the morning, and in order to let Auggie off the hook, I hadn’t showered, just toweled down and cleaned my makeup off before I put my clothes back on and we took off.
I was tired, not exhausted.
But I’d just danced, I felt icky, and I didn’t want to go where Mag was clearly taking me.
I also had this niggling disappointment he was intent to take me there.
I’d thought he’d stayed awake to make sure I was home safe, which was sweet.
It seemed he did.
But also, so he might get himself a little somethin’-somethin’.
“So,” he murmured, his gaze moving all over my face and hair, and I knew what that meant.
Then he surprised me.
His eyes came to mine and he asked, “Gert?”
“If you pass inspection, she’ll love you.”
“She treats you right, I already love her.”
He wasn’t going to make a move.
He was talking about Gert.
He was being Danny.
God.
What was I going to do with Daniel Magnusson?
“So what’s the drill after you dance?” he asked. “Are you jazzed and need to chill out watchin’ TV or somethin’ or do you just crash?”
I noted in those choices he did not offer a heavy make-out session, which would probably lead to a little somethin’-somethin’.
Yeah.
What was I going to do with my Danny?
“I see my Prius is back in action,” I noted.
“Yeah, saw to that probably around the time you were shouting at Aug in a Target,” he teased.
He saw to that.
While his friend was watching out for me.
“You know, I had a plan,” I whispered.
His head cocked as he asked, “Sorry?”
“Yesterday. I’d formed a plan,” I told him. “I was going to let you do what you had to do, and then I was going to exit your life, finding a way to do that permanently.”
He had been relaxed and mellow.
At my words, he was no longer relaxed and mellow.
“I didn’t think I was good enough for you,” I went on.
“We had this conversation this morning, Evan,” he said irritably.
I lifted a hand and ran my finger along his jaw, a lot like he’d done to me the day before to soothe me when I was having bad thoughts.
His expression shifted from annoyed to alert at the same time it was gentling.
“I’m getting the sense,” I said softly, “that would have been the biggest mistake of my life.”
“Baby,” he whispered.
“Too soon?” I asked.
“No,” he answered quickly.
At the swiftness of his answer, I was beginning to know what I was going to do with