“Well, long story short, I lost a bracelet the last time I was in the city, and he helped me find it.”

“Yeah, sounds like Danny,” Jake chimed in. “Did he help you before or after he saved a kitten from a tree and assisted an elderly woman across the street?”

Before Danny could respond, Leah leaned over to him.

“He’s good,” she whispered.

“Who’s good?” Danny asked, leaning into their private conversation.

“Jake. He’s a good wingman. Make sure you tip him well tonight.”

Danny scoffed, looking at her in feigned offense. “If Jake’s getting anything from me tonight, it’s a foot in his ass. And what do you mean he’s good? You don’t think I’m the kitten-saving, granny-assisting type?”

Leah sat back a little, looking him up and down as she pretended to assess him. “Hmm. I guess I can see it. Although you’d probably frighten the kitten and offend the granny with your horrible language.”

“No way. Then I’d have to put money in the jar.”

A slow smile lit her face as she looked at him. “If you really have a jar started, I’m pretty pumped. I should have my something pretty by this time tomorrow.”

“So little faith,” he said, and Leah shrugged.

“Old habits die hard,” she replied as she brought her drink to her lips.

He watched her lick the rim again before taking a sip, and he swallowed hard. She looked tempting enough tonight; the absolute last thing he needed was to be six inches away from her while she kept licking that glass.

He pulled his eyes away from her mouth and back up to her face; her normally wavy hair was straight and shiny, and she had some shimmery stuff above her eyes that made them look intensely green. And her mouth—that goddamn mouth. She wasn’t wearing any of that goopy, shiny shit that so many girls wore, but they were a soft pink color, and so full he wanted to lean over and bite her bottom lip.

“You look really beautiful tonight,” he said before he could stop himself, and he saw the surprise register on her face as she paused mid-sip.

She swallowed, clearing her throat before she smiled shyly. “Thank you.”

“So Tommy was telling me how you guys all work together,” Holly said.

“Oh really?” Robyn asked. “Where do you guys work?”

They spent the next hour talking and laughing over drinks, and Danny was pleasantly surprised by how at ease Leah seemed to be with his friends; she and Tommy had a quick and easy rapport, and whenever Jake said something horrible, she would just roll her eyes or laugh it off.

And on two separate occasions, both Tommy and Jake gave him the signal that meant Leah earned their seal of approval.

Danny had stopped drinking after the beer he’d ordered to appease Leah, but the rest of them continued to order rounds. Jake was regaling the girls with a story about a belligerent customer who had insisted they’d broken his car when they’d worked on it, and when they took a tow truck out to pick it up, it turned out the guy was just out of gas. In his current state, the animation he put into telling the story had Danny cracking up, despite the fact that he’d heard it a million times.

In the middle of Jake’s spot-on imitation of the guy, Danny felt something brush over the back of his hand, and he glanced over at Leah. Her brow was pulled together, her eyes trained on his hand as she ran the tip of her index finger along his knuckles.

Right over his scars.

He jerked his hand back instinctively, and she jolted, yanking her own hand back as her eyes flashed up to his. She brought her hands into her lap as she quickly turned her attention back to Jake, looking like a child who had just been caught doing something wrong.

Danny watched her for a second before he looked back down at his hand. A few of them were merely nicks now; little silvery lines against the tanned skin. But the ones across his knuckles were still bright red lines, jagged and angry.

He wet his lips before he looked back at her. Her eyes were downcast as she picked at her fingernail, and he could see a slight blush coloring her cheeks.

But instead of driving him crazy, this time it made him feel sick.

He watched her fingers fiddling awkwardly under the table, and before he could think about what he was doing, he reached over and placed his hand on top of hers, stilling the movement.

She froze, slowly lifting her eyes back to the conversation as her posture straightened.

“DeLuca, what was it the dude said when we told him he had no gas?” Jake asked through his laughter.

Danny chuckled, using his fingers to turn Leah’s hand so that it was palm up beneath his. “He said, ‘Well, spank my ass and call me Fudgie.’”

Jake fell forward in hysterics as the entire table cracked up, and Danny looked over to see Leah staring at him. He slid his fingers between hers, clasping their hands together, and even through the raucous laughter around them, he heard her tiny intake of breath.

That little hiccup of a sound did more to him than the touch of any woman he’d ever been with.

His eyes met hers as gave her hand a gentle squeeze, and then he turned his attention back to the table.

“Remember, we were gonna have T-shirts made for the shop that said that on the back,” Tommy said through his laughter, and Danny nodded with a smile.

That had actually been Bryan’s idea.

Leah gently squeezed Danny’s hand before she caressed the scars that peppered his skin, and that little movement sent tiny sizzles of electricity up his arm and through his chest. He closed his eyes for a second before he attempted to refocus on the conversation.

It was such a simple, innocent gesture—holding hands—but there was a significance to it that Danny could not overlook, and coupled with the fact that everyone else at the table was completely oblivious to what was going on just beneath it, it seemed that much more intimate.

She shifted her hand and their thumbs met, circling around each other’s slowly.

Okay, he was wrong. He had thought holding someone’s hand was innocent, but this was so goddamn sensual in its simplicity that it made him want to throw her down on the booth and cover her mouth with his.

You need to get the fuck out of here. Now.

His fingers tightened around hers for just a moment before he cleared his throat and slid his hand out of her grasp.

“Alright, I’m gonna head out,” he said as he stood, and Leah’s expression dropped slightly as she looked up at him.

Give a reason.

“I have to be at the shop early tomorrow.”

“On a Saturday?” Jake asked, cocking his head.

Two years. He’d make him clean the shop floor for two years.

“Yeah,” he said, running his hand through his hair. “An old friend of mine wants me to do a rebuild for him, and I promised him I’d get it done in good time.” He stared at Jake a little longer than he needed to, hoping he got the message, before he turned to the girls.

“It was so nice to meet you guys,” he said, and then he looked at Leah. “I’ll talk to you soon?”

She smiled, reaching up to fiddle with her earring again as she nodded.

He turned then, because if he had to look at the poorly shielded disappointment on her face for another second, he would slide right back into that booth and spend the rest of the night doing anything she asked of him.

Danny forced his way through the crowd for the second time that night, only this time, instead of feeling desperate to get to the door, he felt a tug in his chest, demanding that he turn back the way he came.

He pushed the door open, ducking his head against the wind as he jammed in his hands in his pockets.

“Such an asshole,” he mumbled to himself, shaking his head. He had no idea why the hell he’d done that. Everything was going perfectly. They were having fun. Friends out at a bar. That was his plan for the night.