Coming Home(71)

“Hmm. That’s actually kind of a relief,” he said, turning back to the TV. “So…porn then?”

She scoffed, waving her hand at him dismissively just as he leaned over to put his plate between them, and the sharp crack of the remote hitting him square in the forehead was immediately followed by Leah’s panicked gasp.

“Oh my God,” she said quickly as she spun toward him, placing her hand over Danny’s where it was pressed between his eyes. “Oh my God, are you okay?”

“No porn. Duly noted,” he winced, and she pulled his hand away and replaced it with her own as she rubbed his forehead.

“I am so sorry,” she said through laughter.

“Well, you sound devastated.”

She laughed harder then, and his smile finally broke before he started laughing with her.

Leah ran her fingers over the red mark between his eyes before she reached down and handed him the remote. “You win. We can watch whatever you want. Porn. Sports. And I’ll pretend to love every minute.”

Danny took the remote as he said, “I get assaulted in my own home and my only compensation is control of the television?”

“Well, what would you prefer?”

He kept his eyes on the TV as he started flipping through the channels, but a smirk lifted the corner of his mouth.

“Right.” Leah laughed as she sat back against the headboard. “Because in your current condition, I’m sure you would rock my world.”

Danny reached for his toast. “Believe me, if given the opportunity to rock your world, there isn’t a hangover in existence that would prevent me from getting the job done thoroughly,” he said before taking a bite.

He placed the toast back on the plate and glanced over at her; she was staring at the screen, tugging gently on her bottom lip as her cheeks flushed a delicate pink.

“Well, your confidence is still intact, I see,” she mumbled, and he smiled.

It had nothing to do with confidence; it was just that he could picture what it would be like to have her, and he knew without a doubt that once his hands were on her body, everything else in the world would fall away. His hangover, his reservations, his past.

His future.

And as for being thorough? That hadn’t been bragging. That had been a promise.

“Stop!” Leah said suddenly, stilling his hand on the remote, and Danny looked up to see three overweight men in white coats standing in front of a tray of cupcakes.

“This?” he asked. “What the hell is this?”

“You’re kidding, right? Tell me you’ve never seen Cake Boss.”

“What the f*ck is Cake Boss?”

“Swear jar,” she said, taking the remote from him and turning up the volume. “It’s a reality show about a bakery in Hoboken.”

Danny pulled his brow together as he took another bite of toast, his eyes pinned on the screen. “So you just watch these dudes bake for an hour?”

“First of all, they don’t bake. They create,” she said, and Danny brought the back of his hand to his mouth to stifle his laughter. “Second of all,” she continued, “it’s not just about them baking. You get customers’ back stories, you get a look at the lives of the guys who own the shop. Plus, the cakes they make are insane. I want to go there so bad.”

Danny grinned at her adulation as he brought the mug to his mouth. “So, why don’t you?”

“I will one day, when I have the time. It’s not like a normal bakery. It’s famous. People wait in line for hours just to get inside.”