Page 64 of Never Kiss the Bad Boy

And though her dark eyes are full of fire, she doesn’t.

I climb in next to her, but I don’t buckle up because we’ve got some shit to deal with first, so I half turn in the small space to face Dani.

“I’m sorry I didn’t come over yesterday. I was covered in concrete, wasn’t sure you’d want to see me, and I honestly would’ve been shit company after dealing with Kathy all afternoon. I didn't want to screw things up any more with you because I was so mentally done with it all.” I run my fingers through my hair in frustration, but I’m more than willing to take full accountability for my fuck-up, because whether it was done with good intentions or not, the impact is what matters. And the impact was that Dani felt dismissed, so I take a deep breath and plunge ahead. “But I should’ve come over and apologized. I’m sorry I didn’t, and I’m sorry for inserting myself into the situation instead of letting you handle it.”

After all that drama with the police and Kathy yesterday, which continued well into the afternoon because Kathy sure wasn’t letting it—or me—go that easily, I’d been ready to tell the whole world to fuck off. So, though I’d wanted to straighten things out with Dani, I’d taken the coward’s way out and gone home before I could wreak any more havoc, but in doing so, I still screwed up.

Dani blinks in surprise, like she wasn’t expecting an apology.

“I respect that you can put your ego aside, say you made a mistake, and apologize. It’s rare, especially with men, in my experience. The true test is in changing the behavior, though. I need you to understand why it pissed me off and not do it again.”

I nod, listening intently, open to whatever she’s about to say as long as it’s not ‘fuck off and leave me alone’, because I’m well beyond that. That option is no longer available to either of us.

“You made me look weak,” she says, her eyes falling to her hands, which are picking at the steering wheel cover. “You made me feel weak.”

I laugh bitterly. “Dani, the last thing anyone would ever call you is weak. You’re probably one of the strongest people I know, and I know some badass people, women, especially.” When she sharply jerks her head my way, I swallow a smile and explain, “Like my sister and sisters-in-law. Some of them have been through hell, but they’ve come out the other side stronger. Doesn’t mean I wouldn’t change what happened to them if I could, though, and that’s what I was trying to do for you yesterday. I didn’t want to be the reason you got a ticket, didn’t want to be the cause of any more trouble for you, especially if I could prevent it easily.”

She thinks on that a moment and then says, “You said your name is a blessing and a curse. If you didn’t know the officer from previous run-ins, why would your name make him suddenly not care about Kathy’s lies?”

I shift, physically turning away from the question to sit straight in my seat and throw my head back to the headrest. She has no idea what she’s asking, I remind myself. For most people, it’s a perfectly reasonable question. For me, it’s something much deeper. “That’s a bigger question than you think it is and one I’d rather not dive into yet, if that’s okay. I don’t want to talk about my family.”

She flinches, and at first, I think it’s at my shutdown. But then she says, “Shit, your family… I’m really sorry for what I did in there.” She looks at the big bay doors of the store across the lot. “I totally thought you were pulling the whole ‘neighbor next to my latest job’ deal when I saw you with your hand on her belly. I assumed the worst—I have a habit of doing that—and I made a fool of myself in front of your family.”

“Dani, I?—”

She holds her hand up, stopping me.

“If it’s important to me that you put your ego aside and admit mistakes, I have to be willing to do the same.” She sighs heavily, like she’s fortifying herself, and I’m hanging on her every word, sensing that I’m about to get another rare peek beneath her prickly defenses. “I had an ex cheat on me, and seeing you brought back those feelings of not being enough in some ways and being too much in others. Back then, I felt stupid for not realizing he was lying, and when I saw you, all that came rushing back to me like a tidal wave. I took it out on you, not because you deserved it, but because I just started thinking I could maybe be okay dating you, and then yesterday happened and then today happened and I…”

She trails off, probably because I can’t fight the big, happy, goofy grin stealing across my face. I know it doesn’t make sense when she’s spilling her damage out, but I heard something that means too much to me to hide. “You want to date me?” I tease, purposefully making my voice lighter than the situation calls for because what she revealed is heavy for Dani, and I can help her carry it. If she’ll let me. And the only way that’ll happen is if I don’t make her sit in the dark past but promise a brighter now and a happier later.

She stares at me in surprise. “I said ‘maybe be okay dating you’, emphasis on the maybe.”

“You love me. I knew it.” I nod cockily.

“I do not.”

Her mouth is arguing with me, but her eyes are flashing with laughter, which is exactly what I wanted, so I hold my hands up, surrendering. “Okay, way too soon for that, but you don’t hate me. One might even say you…. lllll… What’s that word? Like?”

She arches a brow, glaring at my playful prompting. Finally, she rolls her eyes and admits, “Fine, I like you. A little.” But she’s smiling too as she holds her finger and thumb up a skinny inch apart to show how itty-bitty her like for me is. But it’s a total lie. She’s got to be at least halfway, maybe more, gone for me, which still means she’s well behind me, but I’ll take it as good progress.

“Say it again.”

“What? That you might not be as much of an asshole as I first thought?” She’s trying her damnedest to add a little spit and vinegar to the words, but she fails spectacularly because all I hear is she likes me.

“That’ll do it.” I pointedly adjust myself in my athletic shorts so she knows the effect her sweet nothings are having on me, and Dani scoffs, muttering something unflattering about men thinking with their dicks. “Seeing you get all jealous over me with another woman was hot as fuck, woman. Trust that I’ll never give you a reason to actually be jealous, though.”

I make sure to say that solid and clear, no hint of a tease. I want her to hear the truth in my words and believe them because I mean it, one hundred percent.

“You’re a mess,” she says, but it sounds like a compliment, not an insult. “What’s worse is that I’m a bigger mess than you are.” That part is definitely self-deprecating, but Dani is not a mess, not by a long shot. She has her shit together probably more than anybody I know, taking care of not only herself, but her parents in ways I’m not sure they even realize. She might be a little off-balance right now, thanks to yours truly, but I think—or at least hope—that’s a good thing to her, because it is to me.

“Tacos are a mess too, and everybody loves them. Also, did you know that if you put another tortilla down when you’re eating a taco, the fillings that fall out will land on that second tortilla and boom, another taco?” I hold up an imaginary taco to demonstrate. “Wanna know something else? Which way you tilt your head when you eat a taco tells a lot about you? Are you a leftie or a rightie?”

She narrows her eyes, skeptical, but responds, “Right.”

I nod like I’m considering her answer for deep insights into her character. “That’s a good way. My favorite is right up the center, though.” I stick my tongue out, flicking the tip in the air like I’m mid-oral sex.

Dani’s eyes widen in shock, and then she bursts out laughing. I don’t think she expected that at all.

---