“You want to tell me what changed?” he asked quietly. Dani stared at his tie instead of his face, because looking directly at him felt too risky.
“I remembered something from our night together,” she admitted softly.
“What did you remember?” His voice had gone rough. Dani swallowed hard as heat flooded her entire body.
“This is embarrassing,” she mumbled.
“Probably.” One side of his mouth twitched slightly. “Tell me anyway.” That shouldn’t have made her feel warm, but it did. God, it really did.
She lowered her voice to barely a whisper. “I remembered what I called you that night.” Jonnas went completely still. The air between them shifted instantly, suddenly feeling heavy and thick. His eyes darkened slowly as realization spread across his face. Fuck. He remembered too. Dani wanted the floor to swallow her whole.
“I was drunk,” she blurted immediately. Jonnas didn’t respond. He didn’t move. Hell, he didn’t even blink.
“That’s what you’re panicking about?” he asked finally.
“Yes!” she spat. His gaze dragged slowly over her face and then lower—lingering and possessive.
“You think I’m upset about you calling me that?” he asked.
“I think normal men don’t react well to women accidentally calling them Daddy during sex!” A nurse walking past nearby choked on her coffee. Dani froze in horror. “Oh my God,” she breathed. She had not just said that out loud in the middle of the hospital, had she?
Jonnas closed his eyes briefly, like he was fighting laughter. “My office,” he said immediately.
Dani covered her burning face with both hands. “I’m quitting my job.”
“You’re not quitting,” he growled.
“I’m moving to another state,” she said.
“Dani,” he breathed.
“I can never look Brenda in the eyes again,” Dani insisted. A deep laugh rumbled out of him then—warm, real, and annoyingly sexy. Before she could completely self-destruct, Jonnas wrapped a firm hand around her elbow and guided her quickly toward the administrative hallway.
The second his office door shut behind them, Dani groaned dramatically into her hands. “I’ve ruined my life.”
“No,” Jonnas said calmly. “You overshared in public.”
“That’s worse,” she insisted. His laughter sounded deeper.
Dani glared at him through her fingers. “This is not funny.”
“It’s a little funny,” he said.
“You’re evil.”
“I’m trying very hard not to enjoy how red you are right now.” That only made her blush harder. Traitorous body.
Jonnas stepped closer carefully, his expression softening as he looked down at her. “You’ve been spiraling over that memory all afternoon?”
“Yes,” she admitted.
“Why?” he asked.
“Because it’s humiliating!” she insisted.
“Why is it humiliating?” he asked. Dani stared at him helplessly because he didn’t get it. He didn’t understand how vulnerable that slip-up had been or how deeply it revealed her.
“You looked at me differently afterward,” she whispered. Something shifted in his expression then. She was sure that it was understanding—slow, dangerous understanding.
