AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I nod. "Exactly. I want to show you that I want to know more about you."
"Okay. I have an idea. You don't have to know the ins and outs of orthopedic rehabilitation. Or the research I do. But what would you say to another dinner with my friends? We can go out with one of the couples that we met in Vegas. They're going to be in Chicago this weekend. They asked if we wanted to get together and I've put them off."
I grimace. "You’ve put them off because you aren’t sure I can handle it?"
He shakes his head. "I put them off because I wasn't sure what we were all doing. There are four of us and I don’t know what our family plans are."
I feel a little warmth in my stomach.Our family plans. I love that.
"I assume you don't mean to invite Nathan and Crew to dinner?"
"How about just you and me this time? We go to dinner with Garrett and Deb like we did in Vegas but it's kind of a do over. They know about our bigger situation, but I would love for you to get to know them better. It will just be casual. It won’t be a professional setting. Just friends going out for dinner."
I nod. "I’d really like that. They can tell me stories about you from before we met, right?”
He smiles. "Definitely."
I suddenly feel excited. I would love to hear people tell me more about Michael. I love the stories his family tells, but I'm guessing that friends will tell different kinds of stories.
"I'd love to go."
"I'll text him back right now."
He starts to withdraw his hand so that he can grab his phone. But I tighten my fingers on his for a moment and then say when he meets my eyes, "I love you. So much."
He leans over and gives me a soft, sweet kiss. "I love you too, Dani. So much."
CHAPTER 21
Crew
“Oh,my God, Crew. Oh myGod,” Dani moans.
Unfortunately, she is not in the throes of an orgasm brought about by my tongue, or fingers, or cock—I clear my throat and adjust myself at the thought of that—but bouncing up and down on the balls of her feet as she nervously watches the delivery of our four-person hot tub.
Technically, it’smyhot tub, since I’m the one who wanted it and I paid for it, but in spite of the general grumbling from Cookie & Co. about this purchase, I know we’ll all be enjoying it.
“Are you sure this issafe?” Dani asks.
“Of course,” I say with total confidence as the hot tub dangles high up in the air, hoisted by a crane above our just-renovated pricey piece of real estate. “These guys are professionals, sweetheart.”
But I take her hand and tug her back toward the street because, to be honest, it looks like the claw game at the arcade where you try to delicately grab and hold an object like a stuffed animal or a pair of fuzzy dice. Only this is life-sized and capable of killing us.
“It’s insane, that’s what it is,” Nathan says. “As is putting a hot tub on a rooftop deck.”
Nathan has had lots of grumblings about the expense—which makes me laugh because he has more money than Oprah, as he pointed out himself once—and the lack of privacy on the rooftop. Which is Nathan code for he thinks it’s ugly or tacky or something. But I don’t give a shit. A deal’s a deal and I asked for a hot tub so I’m getting one.
Even if my asshole is clenching a little right now watching this delivery. Damn. It’s spring in Chicago so you guessed it, it’s windy. Like, really fucking windy. The hot tub is swaying a little too much, even for my own personal comfort, but I am not about to admit that.
We’re on the front sidewalk, necks straining as we watch a guy who looks like he’s been operating that crane since the beginning of time, a cigarette dangling from his lips. The truck is blocking a portion of the street and we have safety cones preventing anyone else from entering the zone of death. Which probably means we shouldn’t be standing directly behind it, but someone has to supervise this shit, and it’s obviously going to be Nathan.
“The neighbor’s four doors down have one too,” I point out. “And it’s for my health. It helps with inflammation.” Mostly I’m envisioning making out with Dani in it while she’s in a bikini, but no one can argue with the health benefits. “Ask Doc.”
Nathan’s not even listening. He’s on the verge of having a heart attack as the hot tub again sways dramatically. “Watch the fucking house!” he yells, charging toward the edge with his hands waving. “Watch the neighbor’s house, for fuck’s sake!”
The edge of the hot tub grazes the copper gutter on the second floor as it makes its ascent up and over the roof. It does appear to be defying gravity right now.
Michael’s head pops out of our front door. “Dani, come inside. This is making me nervous.” He gives me a look, like I should have known not to have Dani on the sidewalk.
