Coming Home(73)

Leah lifted her brow. “You doubted me?”

“For the first and last time,” he said, and a slow smile curved her lips.

“That was a very diplomatic answer.”

“Thank you. I’m exceptional at taking my foot out of my mouth.”

She laughed softly before dropping her eyes, and he watched her expression straighten as she bit her lip. Then she moved, pressing him onto the mattress as she rested her head on his chest.

“Is this okay?” she whispered, draping her arm over his stomach, and Danny closed his eyes as he brought his hand to her back.

“Yes,” he said, trailing his fingertips from her waist to the nape of her neck.

“I know we did this earlier, but we weren’t in your bed then, and I don’t want to…I just want to…”

She trailed off, and Danny nodded against the crown of her head before he whispered, “I know. Just this.”

Leah exhaled softly. “It just…it feels nice.”

“It does,” he said gently, pulling her into his side, and the channel changed suddenly as she rolled over the remote.

“Show me sand the floor.”

Leah gasped just as Danny pumped his fist in the air.

“Alright, Cake Boss is impressive, but it’s no match for The Karate Kid. We’re leaving this on,” he said.

“Totally,” she said emphatically as she tossed the remote behind her before snuggling closer. “This is one of the greatest movies of all time.”

Danny shifted slightly, looking down at her. “Are you being sarcastic right now?”

“Not at all,” Leah said, playing with the hem of his shirt as she kept her eyes on the TV. “When they did the remake of this with Jackie Chan, I took it personally.”

Danny laughed as he rested his head back down on the pillow. “Jacket on, jacket off!”

“What?”

“That’s how they did it in the new one. Put your jacket on, take your jacket off. That’s how he learns to fight.”

“Oh my God, I hate it even more now,” Leah said against his chest, and he smiled, running his thumb over the sliver of exposed skin on her lower back.

They watched in captivated silence as Daniel-san realized all the chores he’d been forced to do had taught him how to defend himself, and as he stared at Mr. Miyagi in awe, Danny nodded.

“There it is. Mind. Blown.”

“Right?” Leah said. “The first time I saw that scene, I’m not gonna lie, it gave me a little bit of a crush on him.”

“Yeah, well, it was good to be Ralph Macchio in the eighties.”

“I was talking about Mr. Miyagi.”

Danny burst out laughing before he pulled her a little closer.

She fit so perfectly. And not just physically, although he couldn’t deny that when she was beside him this way, it felt like she was just a natural extension of his body, as if they were two halves of the same whole.

But it was more the way she fit into his life. In a perfect world, he could see this being his existence. Spending lazy weekends cuddling with her on the couch, watching TV and cracking jokes. Wasting hours talking about things that were ridiculous and significant and sometimes both at once.

It was so easy to forget the ugliness of his reality when she was with him.

They spent the next hour watching the rest of the movie, and with absolutely no effort at all, she managed to claim another piece of his heart. The way she fiddled with the hem of his shirt without even realizing she was doing it. The way her hair smelled like spring with a little bit of coconut mixed in. The way the sound of her laugh made him laugh, even when he didn’t think anything was funny.