Page 85 of The Rules

She wasn’t expecting that. She remembered Dylan’sAfterschool Specialcomment and the bitterness in his voice when he’d made it. It was the kind that said stop prying, so she had. Now she wished she’d asked more. She hated to think of him keeping that in. She wanted to be the person that he told that stuff to.

The air felt thick with that realization and she thought of his mood earlier. How she hadn’t pushed. Just like with Cat, she’d assumed it was about her and left it alone.

She looked up at Josh who didn’t seem fazed at all by what he’d just revealed. “Isn’t it against some bro code for you to tell me that?”

One of Josh’s cheeks lifted. “It would be against the code to let you think he was just a superficial douche.”

She laughed. “You’re a good friend, Joshy.”

“You are too, Dani.”

Thirty-two

Dylan woke alone Sunday morningto the smell of French roast coffee wafting into his bedroom. He stretched and threw on a pair of sweatpants, not bothering with a shirt, and followed the sound of Dani humming. He found her puttering around his kitchen, equally undressed. She’d put on one of his t-shirts, the lacy blue underwear she’d worn the night before peeking out from the hem.

“Hey, lazy.” She spun around to look at him and the haphazard way she’d tied her hair up caused a piece to fall across her eyes. He brushed it aside and his chest filled up like a balloon. That party had been torture, and it took the whole next day to shake off his mood, butthiswas worth it. She was drinking from his Rideout and Pierce coffee mug, her face dewy without any makeup on. When was the last time he lounged around with a woman on a Sunday morning? Now it was a regular occurrence—her in his house or him in hers. Coffee, sometimes a meal, sometimes a repeat of the night before.

He rounded the kitchen island and pulled her toward him, pressing his lips to her neck. “Morning. Did you make coffee?”

“I did. And I put bagels in the toaster. That’s the extent of me impressing you with my breakfast skills.”

“Something tells me I’m going to enjoy breakfast very much this morning.” His hands were like heat-seeking missiles, sliding up her sides and searching out the softest parts of her, but his brain wasn’t actually thinking about sex. He was thinking about whether or not she was going to stay and prance around his house like that for a little while longer. If maybe they’d go for another run, or take a nap on the couch together later. If he could get her to stay the night again, even though she had work the next day.

“I have to go soon,” she said.

The little domestic picture he’d drawn disappeared and he felt his shoulders slump. “Why?”

“Cat and I have plans.”

“Mmm,” he muttered into her neck. “I think I liked it better when you two were fighting.”

Dani squirmed out of his embrace to take a sip of coffee. “We weren’tfighting,and no you didn’t.”

“I guess not.”

“What are you going to do today?”

Dylan fixed himself a cup and leaned on the counter, watching her blow into her mug, her pretty lips pursed. Okay, now he was thinking about sex.

“I have to work on the Jansen job,” he said. She lifted her palm for a high five and he grinned like an idiot. “You sure you have to rush off?”

“I do. But I have time for a shower.”

“Now you’re talking. Hey, so I know I never actually asked you if you wanted to go to that auction. But what do you say, think you can stand another double date? This time you won’t have to lie to poor old Mrs. Jansen about being my girlfriend.”

“Is that what I am?”

He froze, his mug halfway to his mouth.Shit.Had he just stumbled into a “moment”? He’d heard the “what are we” line before, but he’d never been the one doing the asking.

He scratched at his head, suddenly nervous. “I guess I just sort of figured—”

Dani stepped to him and pushed up on her toes, pressing a finger to his mouth. “Whatever you’re about to say, I’m in. And I’m in for the auction. We both know you need me there.” She smacked his ass, then blew him a kiss over her shoulder as she headed toward his shower.

This girl.

He’d failed at his mission to keep Dani longer than just their shower, but he eventually got over it. She’d be back, and he really did have work to do. Maybe next time she came for the weekend he would slyly suggest she bring her work with her, just in case. Maybe he could clear out some space for her to keep some clothes there. Then he could sell her on the idea of weeknight sleepovers.

He zipped a sweatshirt up over his still-damp chest and plopped down on the couch with his laptop, flicking on the television for company.

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