Page 39 of Shifting Gears

Dani, who up until this point seems to have been merely humoring Matthew, gets noticeably serious. Her face sets in determination. She pulls an elastic out of her pocket, gathering her hair up and out of her face.

Matthew doesn’t seem to sense the change in intensity, but Eleanor does.

“Nobody beats me, Cooper, especially not you,” Matthew says, flexing his hand. His knuckles are red, and it looks like a bit of Dani’s blood is on his ring. “It was true in high school, and it’s true—”

He’s cut off by Dani’s fist connecting with his face three times in lightning-quick succession, each harder than the last.

It’s a startling blur. A co-worker being slapped by a jilted girlfriend is the most violence Eleanor has ever seen up close, and now Matthew is sprawled out on the dusty gravel with Dani towering over him, her fist bloodied and her face grim.

It’s even more startling to realize that she finds Dani’s physicality attractive even in this context. And, even more shockingly, Matthew’s unfair hit to Dani’s face makes Eleanor angry enough on her behalf that she almost feels like she could strike at him herself.

Luckily she doesn’t need to. Matthew groans, rolling over and pulling his arms up around his head. With the fight obviouslyover, Dani picks up the lighter he’d been clenching in his hand and tosses it over to his friend.

The friend flinches, barely managing to catch it, but Dani only smiles at him. The genuine expression conflicts with the man still lying motionless on the ground. “When he comes to, go get Naomi to look him over.”

The friend nods silently. Dani turns back around, holding her arm out to Eleanor like a perfect gentleman. She escorts Eleanor back to the truck calmly, and once they’re safely inside, Eleanor finally explodes.

“What thefuckwas his problem!” Eleanor says fiercely. “Just coming at you like that! Look what he did to your face!” She reaches out, unthinking, and traces a fingertip gently over the still-bleeding cut on Dani’s cheekbone.

Dani smiles, only wincing a bit at the pain it obviously causes her, and shrugs. “It was just a tilly. Once he calms down, he’ll be right back to normal.”

Dani is completely calm about the entire situation. Unthinkably calm, really, after getting punched so hard that there’s blood drying in her hair. Eleanor is so flabbergasted that she doesn’t even think to ask what kind of made-up word atillyis.

“Shouldn’t you have Naomi look at this?” Eleanor asks, grabbing one of the napkins Dani keeps in the glove compartment to dab at the blood.

“Nah, I’ll clean it up at home.”

“How do you know you don’t have a concussion?”

“I’ve taken worse hits,” Dani says, winking with her rapidly swelling eye.

Eleanor balls up the napkin and stuffs it into the cup holder. “Is that why he was talking about high school? Did you fight back then, too?”

Dani’s face falls a little, the lightheartedness flickering for a moment. She chews on her bottom lip, tapping her fingers on the steering wheel before she answers.

“We sorta dated the same girl back then,” Dani says after a pause. “She left him for me. And then…she left me for him. He still likes to brag about being the winner because his life peaked in grade twelve.”

Dani sounds embarrassed more than hurt. Not like the situation still bothers her, but more like she’s worried Eleanor will judge her for it. It explains why Matthew reacted so explosively to Dani beating him—his ego is probably still sore, even though the girl went back to him in the end.

“And where is she now?” Eleanor asks.

Dani shrugs. “Dunno. She moved down south. Left us both in the end, I guess.”

Dani trails off, and rather than pushing her, Eleanor clears her throat and changes the subject. “Well, you certainly kicked his ass.”

Dani chuckles, finally turning the keys in the ignition and shifting the truck out of park. Eleanor is relieved to see that the pensive look is gone. “Not a bad night out on the town!”

Dani bids Eleanor good night at her door. Her eye is truly swollen in a way she manages to make look cute, and though Eleanor has always been fairly anti-violence, she has to admit that watching Dani take down Matthew in a few hits has made an impression. A deep one.

Eleanor is a little bit flustered.

She tries to shake it off. She pours herself a glass of wine, sinks into a bubble bath, and turns on some deeply unsexy jazz music, trying to put the whole thing out of her mind. But her willpower seems to be less and less effective lately.

Soon enough she’s in for another night of self-care. Another night spent thinking about Dani Cooper, except that this timeshe’s imagining more than just the woman’s hands. She’s lost in thoughts of Dani’s arms wrapped around her waist. Her own hands slipping under the collar of a red button-up while water laps underneath them. Of spreading her legs and guiding Dani’s hand between them in the moonlight.

She comes harder than ever before, and it makes it that much more disappointing when she opens her eyes to find herself as alone as always. The only water is her cooling bath, and the only sky above her is the white ceiling of her candlelit bathroom.

Chapter 10

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