Page 111 of Books and Hookups

I cheated. I tunneled my hand inside his jeans, under the waistband of his boxers, and cupped his butt. He hardened against my belly.

“No fair,” he grumbled, ducking his head to kiss my neck in the spot under my ear that made me shiver. “Now I’m going to have a hard-on when I open the door for your mother.”

“Or…” I stretched my neck and let my fingers wander toward his hips on their way to the promised land. “We could have a quickie on the couch in my office.”

“I don’t want quick,” he said, kissing down to the base of my neck. “I want slow. Leisurely. All.” He kissed my lips. “Night.” He pressed his hips closer, preventing my hands from squeezing between us.

There was a tap at the door.

“Damn it,” I muttered. “There goes our quickie.”

He stepped away and adjusted his jeans. “I was never on board with the quickie proposal.”

I stared pointedly at the bulge in his pants. “Sure you weren’t.”

“Da-da.” Our daughter’s voice burbled from the monitor.

“Duty calls.” With a wink, he turned toward the spiral staircase we’d installed to connect our apartments into a single unit.

With Barb’s permission, we’d converted my apartment upstairs into a large bedroom for Danny and me and a smaller bedroom for Mia, plus a combination family room and playroom. Danny’s former apartment housed the main kitchen and dining area, plus my office, where I now worked full-time, thanks to the income from the bar and the advance for my second book. Dropping my resignation letter on Mario’s desk and watching his expression crumble was one of the most satisfying moments of my life.

Danny had built bookshelves on two walls and made me promise to reserve one shelf for books I’d written. I’d slid the first copies of my book about legacies onto that shelf last month.

At the second sharp rap on the door, I strode toward it. “Coming!”

“You wish,” Danny teased, already halfway up the stairs.

“You’ll pay for that later,” I called back.

“And I’ll enjoy every minute.”

I threw open the door to find Leo there with two assistants holding heavy insulated bags of food.

“I should charge you extra for the stairs,” he grumbled as he entered.

“Hello to you, too,” I said. “As I recall, you refused when we offered to pay you.”

“I can’t charge you to cater my niece’s birthday party,” he said, unpacking a stack of foil trays that smelled like oregano and heaven. “Especially since you and Danny provide liquor for my events at cost.”

“That’s how family works,” I said. It was a lesson I’d learned over the past year as part of the Carbone family. Everyone did favors for everyone else. And everyone was accepted for exactly who they were. Including me.

“Bar was busy downstairs,” Leo said.

We’d made a lot of changes since I’d pooled my book advance with Danny’s savings to buy the bar from Barb. But not the kind of changes Tad had envisioned. (He hadn’t been back since Danny had taken over.) “Saturdays are family days. After cake, we’ll take all the kids down there to see the balloon artist.”

He shuddered. “As long as I can stay up here, put my feet up, and have a beer, I’m good.” He turned on the two ovens and stacked the foil trays inside.

“You know Mia’s going to want her favorite uncle with her.” I stole a pepper from the antipasto tray his assistant had unwrapped.

“She’ll be so hopped up on cake she won’t even notice me enjoying a little peace and quiet away from the kiddos,” Leo said. “Besides, she has an entire fan club.”

“Hello!” Carly called from the doorway. “I’m letting myself in.”

“See what I mean?” Leo said as Tessa and Savannah followed Carly inside.

I rushed to hug my friends. “Where are the guys?”

“They stopped at the bar to watch the end of the game since we’re early.” The tray Savannah carried bumped my stomach as I leaned in to kiss her cheek.

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