All of You Page 5

  “Are you trying to tell me you’ve never had sex in a public bathroom?” Danny asked.

  Nathan scoffed. “Uh, no. That’s illegal. And unhygienic. And pretty inconsiderate, if you think about it. People enter a public bathroom with the expectation of-”

  “Okay, okay, I get it,” Danny interrupted, lifting a hand. “No need to launch into one of your good citizen tirades. If it makes you feel any better, I only broke the law for about two minutes – three, tops. And no handicapped dudes came in needing to piss or shit while we were fucking, so no real harm done.”

  Nathan turned into the Dunkin’ Donuts parking lot and pulled into the drive-thru line. “There’s the lifestyle I’m talking about. Believe it or not, that type behavior is not normal.”

  “You’re wrong. You’re all moral and uptight and cautious, but most guys aren’t like that. Or at least not to the degree you are.” Danny shot Nathan a glance, grinning. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but there’s a lot more fucking in public bathrooms going than you think, brother. It’s a fact you’re just going to have to live with.”

  Nathan’s upper lip curled. “God, I am so glad I’m married and that I’ll never have to deal with all that weird shit again.”

  “Why do I have the feeling Stella would be more than willing to-”

  Nathan held up his hand. “Uh-uh, stop right there. Don’t say another word.”

  “But you can’t tell me-”

  Nathan gave Danny one of his do-NOT-go-there glares. “My wife. Not. Another. Word.”

  Danny grinned, but kept his mouth shut because he had no desire to die tonight. Because if there was one thing that turned cool Nathan into crazy, terrifying Nathan, it was dragging Stella (or even just Stella’s name) into anything he deemed inappropriate or negative.

  You’d have better luck going ten rounds with the fucking devil himself.

  “Before I forget –” Nathan shot Danny another warning glance. “Or before I have to punch your teeth down your throat – Stella wants you at Sunday dinner. She said if you refuse again, she’s going to start taking it very personally.” When Danny opened his mouth to reply, Nathan added, “And she said that if you don’t come, she will drive to your house, bust in, and verbally berate you until you finally give in. She says you might as well just do what she says and save her the hassle. And I would advise you to just that because she is not joking around.”

  Being in homey settings like that was…uncomfortable…for Danny, which was why he’d turned down a year and a half of invitations from Stella.

  But Danny had known this day was coming. Stella’s patience had reached its threshold and Danny had no doubt she would do, without hesitation, exactly as she’d threatened.

  Plus, it had been about ten years since he’d sat down and eaten a home-cooked meal at an actual table. Danny scarfed down plenty of Stella’s cooking out of Tupperware containers during shifts, sitting on the couch, and standing in front of the fridge. Might be nice to eat some off a plate, for a change.

  Or it might just be stifling, uncomfortable, and weird.

  Danny seriously considered Stella’s threat.

  With his luck, she’d bust down his door during one of Danny’s “dates.”

  He shuddered, imagining the Stella psych eval he’d be subjected to after that little confrontation.

  Danny nodded. “Yeah, okay. Tell Stella I’ll be there. Can I follow you guys, though? I’d feel stupid as shit showing up by myself.”

  Chapter Five

  ‡

  “Be nice to Danny today, okay?” Stella paused mid-cheese grating to shoot Kat a sideways glance. “Nathan finally got him to come and I don’t want you chasing him off with your…” Stella gesticulated around Kat as a whole. “You know. I know he’s not your favorite person, but just ignore him like you do every other person you don’t like.”

  They were standing side-by-side at Pops’ kitchen counter, Stella grating and Kat chopping cucumbers for the salad.

  Or she had been chopping before the topic change.

  Knife-wielding hand suspended in midair, Kat turned to face Stella. “Danny is coming to dinner today?”

  It didn’t take Stella’s nod to activate Kat’s adrenal glands. Her heartbeats were already faster and harder, her breathing had increased, and she could feel the blood rushing into her face and neck.

  Thank God for olive skin tones or Kat knew she’d be as bright-red as the tomatoes she’d sliced.

  Stella looked around (apparently worried Danny had snuck into the house and was spying on them) before whispering, “He doesn’t have anyone, Kat. And he’s Nathan’s best friend. And my friend. And Gia’s godfather.” Stella shrugged before returning to her grating. “Anyway, he’s family now and that means he needs to be at Sunday dinner.”

  Kat scoffed. “First of all, from what I’ve seen and heard, he has plenty of other people to spend time with. Second of all, I highly doubt he has any interest in our boring Sunday dinners.” She scoffed again. “He does know there won’t be pole dancing and drinking games, right? That the women present will be keeping all their clothing on?”

  Stella abandoned the grating completely to turn and face Kat. She gestured for Kat to bring it on. “Okay. Let’s go. Tell me what’s going on. Because this is not like you, Kat. You’ve found a lot of people insufferable over the years, but I have never, ever heard you fixate on someone’s supposed flaws like you do over Danny’s.” Stella eyed her as Kat, calmly and carefully, continued chopping. When Kat didn’t answer, Stella crossed her arms over her chest and said, “Well?”

  Kat slammed the knife down on the cutting board and turned to face Stella. “He’s arrogant. And obnoxious. And materialistic.” Kat huffed. “I mean, you’ve seen that car he drives! What police officer can afford a car like that? And the way he waltzes into a room, cracks and joke, and thinks everyone is going to bow down makes me sick.” Kat turned back to her cucumbers and began chopping vigorously. “Every single time you or Nathan bring him up, he’s going to some wild party. Or throwing some wild party. Or dating yet another woman – or women. The man is thirty-three years old. It’s pathetic.”

  Kat shook her head. “I cannot stand people like that – so vapid and shallow and self-obsessed. He is exactly like every other guy who thinks their good looks make up for a total lack of personality and any sort of moral code. He is exactly like every popular guy in high school, Big Man on Campus, and egotistical jerk I’ve had to stomach my entire life. And, truthfully, I don’t know how you stand him, either, Stella. The way he treats women and all of that out-of-control behavior? That doesn’t seem like stuff you’d condone. I know Nathan puts up with it because they’ve been friends forever, but how you can tolerate it is beyond me.”

  Kat was horrified – no, appalled – to feel a few pinpricks behind her eyelids.

  But she despised everything Danny MacDonough represented and, worse than that, she’d had a filthy, wrong, embarrassingly detailed dream about him and that was really pissing her off.

  She inhaled a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “But you don’t have to worry about me, Stell. Unlike other people, I am fully capable of acting like a grown-up. And, while he might be important to you and Nathan, he is completely insignificant to me, which means I couldn’t care less whether he is here or not. Makes zero difference to me. I just figured there was a woman left unscrewed or a bottle left unopened somewhere he’d be more interested in, that’s all.”

  When Stella didn’t say anything, Kat knew she was in trouble, because the only time Stella was quiet was when she was sleeping.

  Kat turned to face her and found Stella’s mouth gaping.

  “Oh. My. God.” Stella’s dark-brown eyes widened. “You like him, Kat.” She leaned forward dramatically. “Don’t you?”

  “Likes who?” Gigi asked.

  Their eldest sisters, Gigi and Nina, walked into the kitchen.

  “Probably that dude who asked her out on a pseudo-date the other day,” Nina said, gr
abbing a handful of forks out of the silverware drawer.

  Kat narrowed her eyes at Stella…but Stella was way too shell-shocked to feel any shame about blabbing Kat’s business. Her mouth was still open and her eyes were still wide.

  Like she’d just seen a damn ghost.

  Or caught Kat having an actual feeling.

  Gigi dropped a quick kiss on Kat’s head before grabbing a water pitcher out of the cupboard. “Fi told me that guy at work finally made a move. You’ll have to tell us all about him later, Kat.”

  Kat shrugged and continued manically chopping.

  “Stell, why are you staring at her like that?” Nina asked. “You look like you’re performing one of your Vulcan mind probes.”

  Kat couldn’t take it anymore: the feel of Stella’s eyes on her, Gigi’s well-intentioned fawning, and Nina’s dogged curiosity. She set down the knife, wiped her hands on a dish towel, and walked out of the kitchen…

  Smack-dab into Gigi’s husband, Marco.

  Even thought the guy was built like a linebacker for the Cleveland Browns, Marco was as gentle and kind as any person Kat had ever met. She’d never, in the almost twenty years Marco and Gigi had been together, seen Marco get angry. Or frustrated. Or even semi-aggravated. He was always smiling and loved to hug – almost as much as he liked to eat.

  Kat wasn’t big on public displays of affection, but even she couldn’t resist one of Marco’s big bear hugs.

  He smiled warmly down at Kat. “I think I heard a car. I’m gonna see if Nathan needs any help with-”

  “Gi-a! Gi-a! Gi-a!”

  Gabby and Sam whipped around the corner and raced to the front door. After a few seconds of hand-to-hand combat to determine who would open it, one of them finally managed to get the job done.

  Stella came in from the kitchen and pushed her way through the rabid fan club, grinning as Nathan carried in a bundled-up Gia. After giving Nathan and Gia quick kisses, Stella looked down to find Gabby and Sam jumping around Nathan’s long legs like a couple of wild puppies.

  He held Gia up over his head, teasing them, and cracked a tiny Nathan smile as the girls went nuts.

  “Uncle Nathan, we want Gia! We want Gia!”

  All the while, Gia was laughing hysterically and flailing her little arms and legs. She looked like a big poof of cotton candy in her light pink snowsuit, hat, and mittens.

  Kat really couldn’t blame Gabby and Sam; she wanted a chance to cuddle the hell out of Gia, too. But trying to take cuts in front of those two would have been asking for the beat down of a lifetime, so Kat’s turn would have to wait.

  “You’d better give them that baby, Nathan,” Stella said, laughing. “You’ve got all the makings of a mob mentality brewing here.”

  Nathan lowered Gia back to his chest, pulled the little knitted cap of her head, and tossed it to Stella. As he pulled the top of her snowsuit off her arms, Gia reached out her hand to touch his stubbled jaw, grinned, and said, “Dadadada.”

  Nathan grinned right back and kissed her chubby little cheek a bunch of times, which made Gia laugh and get louder. “Dadadadada!”

  Nathan laughed. “Yes, my sweet little angel. Dada.” He kissed her again before setting her on the floor. Gabby and Sam swarmed and everyone let out a collective laugh when Gia started crawling around like crazy.

  Danny slowly and quietly slipped inside the front door behind Nathan. With the girls monopolizing all of the attention, no one noticed him come in.

  Well, no one except Kat.

  Danny looked so different standing there quietly, hands shoved into the front pockets of his khakis. A tight, frozen smile had taken the place of his typically easy grin and his posture seemed stiff.

  He looked uncomfortable. Uncertain. And maybe even a little wistful as he watched Nathan lean Gia back and pull the bottom of her snow pants off.

  Kat’s stupid, ridiculous, traitorous heart suddenly hurt.

  “Kat?”

  She turned to find Stella studying her thoughtfully. But Stella didn’t say another word…

  Because she didn’t have to, damn her.

  “Danny! So glad to see you!” Marco’s voice boomed over the cacophony of the three girls’ squeals and giggles as he ambled over and extended his hand. “Welcome! Come in, come in!”

  Nathan’s sister-in-law, Gigi, bustled into the front room, a red and white checked dishtowel slung over her shoulder.

  When she spotted Danny, her face split into a huge smile and her eyes lit up. “Danny! So glad you came!”

  Each of the Ciaramitaro sisters had their own distinctiveness about them and Gigi’s included her sturdier build, kind eyes, and warm nature. Danny doubted the woman had ever met a stranger in her life.

  She made a beeline for Danny, grabbed him by the arm, and pulled him into the living room. “Come in! Sit down! We’re so glad you’re here!” Gigi grabbed the cuff of his jacket and tugged, getting his jacket half off before Danny even knew what hit him.

  He wasn’t sure whether to feel welcomed or violated.

  Marco laughed a loud belly laugh. “Good God, Gigi, stop disrobing the man! I think he can take his own jacket off.” He shot Danny a rueful look. “I’d like to promise it won’t happen again, but I’d be lying,” he said with a wink.

  Gigi pulled his jacket all the way off and slung it over her arm, giving Danny’s tucked-in Nautica dress shirt, khaki pants, and shiny oxfords a once-over. “You look so nice, Danny.”

  Before Danny could answer, Gigi and Marco’s three boys – Carlo, Giovanni, and Anthony – bounded into the room and the volume level went up 1,000 decibels. When Stella’s other two sisters, Nina and Fiorella, and her sister-in-law, Carla, came in seconds later, Danny felt like he’d gotten caught up in an Italian-American flash mob.

  “Hey! What happened to everybody?” Stella’s dad, known only as ‘Pops,’ called from the kitchen. “I’m starving!”

  Pops mostly lived in the basement because that’s where he and his late wife had had spent their time together. Even though Stella’s mom had been dead for about ten years, Pops still had everything set up down there just like it had been while she was alive. He’d attempted suicide shortly after his wife’s death, but seemed to be doing much better now. Having his family close and watching it grow had done Pops a world of good, Stella had said.

  Not that Danny would know a goddamned thing about that.

  “Coming, Pops!” Fiorella called back.

  ‘Fi,’ as she was known, was the baby of the family and a very beautiful woman. She was petite like Stella and Kat and had long, dark, wavy hair she typically left flowing down her back and around her shoulders. She always looked well put together, with her make-up perfectly done and her sharp outfits. Fi had gorgeous green eyes and a killer body and seemed like she’d be a blast to party with.

  But as hot as Fi was, Danny had never once considering going there.

  For a bunch of reasons.

  Namely that, inexplicably, he wasn’t even the slightest bit attracted to her.

  Unlike a different Ciaramitaro sister Danny was currently trying very hard to ignore.

  She should have been the easiest one to overlook, now standing quietly next to Stella wearing black leggings, white Converse sneakers, and an oversized gray tee shirt that had a picture of a cartoon girl with glasses and a caption that read, ‘I’m Adorkable.’

  Her wavy, shoulder-length, dark-brown hair was pulled into a ponytail, she had no makeup on, and her glasses were folded up and hanging from the v-neck of her shirt.

  And Danny wanted to fuck her in the worst way.

  He might as well admit it to himself.

  No use in fronting anymore.

  Danny had told Nathan she was a “cold fish” and a “bitch” and he’d tried talking himself out of the attraction since the moment he’d met her, but that was all bullshit.

  Kat didn’t want him and never would, but Danny wanted her.

  Bad.

  Was half-hard just looking at her now
.

  But Danny would never in a million years hit on Kat, for the same reason he’d never hit on girls like her his whole life: She was way too smart to buy his lines of bullshit, too self-assured to need his half-assed attention, and too well-adjusted to get involved with a fuck-up like Danny.

  Not to mention Stella would probably pull Nathan’s service revolver out and bust a cap in Danny’s skull at the mere mention of it. She was fiercely protective of her sisters and anyone with half-a-brain knew Danny wasn’t even close to good enough for Kat.

  Or anyone, really.

  “Ready to eat?” Nathan’s voice jolted Danny out of his depressing thoughts.

  Danny forced a smile and nodded. “Yep.”

  Nathan paused. “You okay?” The corner of his mouth turned up. “It worries me when you get quiet.” Nathan glanced around the room. “Crazy, huh?”

  “Yeah, to say the least.”

  Danny managed to sneak another look at Kat. Now her arm was wound around Stella’s and she seemed to be leaning into her, like she needed support to stand up.

  And thinking that might be the case had Danny’s stomach in knots.

  He turned back to Nathan with a forced smile. “But it’s all good, though. They’re really great people. You’re really lucky, Nathan.”

  Nathan clapped him on the shoulder as they made their way into the dining room. “Consider yourself lucky then, because – like it or not – they’re yours now, too.

  Chapter Six

  ‡

  The Ciaramitaro clan was nothing if not warm and welcoming and it wasn’t long before Danny felt much more at ease. There were no weird silences or inside jokes and they seemed hell-bent on making sure Danny felt like a part of the family.

  “Danny, we haven’t seen you in a while. What have you been up to?” Carla asked, smiling, as she passed Danny a huge platter of…

  Danny studied the mound of food. They appeared to be little dough ovals covered in a red sauce. He helped himself to a spoonful and passed the platter to Nathan.