It takes way more than a moment for me to remember him, which sucks because it’s impossible not to check this guy out. I look him up and down. Well…damn. As my eyes adjust to the dark and the beam of his truck’s headlights and as he moves closer, I start to see insanely ripped arms, short reddish-brown hair that peeks out from under his baseball hat, and a flirty smile that could knock anyone to the ground.
I drop the CD that I’m clenching.
“Schroeder?” My voice sounds unnatural and breathy, and I’m mortified.
“Yes, ma’am.” He tips his hat back and winks.
“DannySchroeder.” I can’t help but smile as flashes of my former life hit me.
He’s the boy I remembered during my night with Marlana. Probably, I acknowledge, part of the impetus that brought me back here.
Before I can get too nostalgic, I panic with embarrassment.Shit. “Ididn’t rent that BMW. It was my mom’s doing,” I blurt out. “I wouldn’t have chosen such a stupid car.”
“No worries. Want a beer?”
He gestures behind him and backs up a long way, his hands in the pockets of his jeans, his walk sultry but in a shockingly nonintentional way. He lacks the LA strut that I’m used to. Danny clearly doesn’t mean to be as sexy as he is, which makes him all the more attractive. So, of course, I follow. When he opens the flatbed to his truck, revealing a cooler, and then hops and sits, patting the spot next to him, I follow. He reaches behind him and delivers us each a beer.
“Welcome home, girl.”
It might not be possible to chug as fast as I want to, but I give it a go.
Danny stares at me as I drink. “Okay. Well, hello.”
“Yeah, hello.” I wipe my mouth. “It’s been a long time.”
“Since you’ve chugged a beer?”
I laugh. “Since we’ve seen each other. Since I’ve been here.”
“Us? And home? Yeah, it has.” He grabs another from the cooler and hands it to me, as though he read my mind.
“So, what areyoudoing here?” I ask. “In the middle of the night?”
“Curious.” Danny inhales his beer as I did and opens another. “I figured with the time change, you might be up. And I was right.” He clinks his drink against mine. “You and I grew up together. And then you disappeared. And now, you’re back. So, curious.” That damn wink again.
“Yeah, not that disappearing was my choice,” I say with a laugh.
There’s silence between us for a long moment until he says softly, “I gathered it wasn’t.”
“Dead father leads to middle-of-the night runawaytype thing. Followed byforget your pastfun.”
“I’ve only heard bits about that.” Danny looks down. “I’m sorry. That must have been awful.”
There’s a howl behind us that makes me jump, but Danny rolls his eyes. “Shallots! Come here!”
Before I can wonder who or what a Shallots is, I look back and see a basset hound peering out of the front cab of Danny’s truck.
“Come on out, silly,” Danny says with encouragement. “He doesn’t like to jump from the truck, but he can.”
When a dog with his slow but very enthusiastic trot finally reaches us, I can’t help but meet him on the ground. I begin making stupid squealing sounds as I rub his stomach and kiss him on the nose. Shallots is a damn loveable dog, and it’s about two seconds before I’m smitten.
“Really?” I ask. “You didn’t pull him out first as a past-midnight lure?”
“Iwasn’t enough of one?” he asks teasingly.
Okay, dammit. Fair point.
I give him a smile and amaybeshrug. “Yeah, you’re all right. For a gross boy.”
