Safe at First, page 20
“Can’t wait for what?” Mac reappeared at my side, breathing heavy and sweating. “Can’t wait to see our room?”
“You’re such a guy,” I pretended to complain as he wiped his forehead on my shoulder. “Did you just wipe your sweat on me?”
“No.” He looked around with a guilty expression. “Now, I need a shower.”
Chance was just as sweaty as Mac but was already downing an entire bottle of water. “Yeah, you do.”
“You guys have the master.” Danika wagged her eyebrows at me, but I was confused.
“Why do we have the master bedroom?”
Chance made a disgusted face as he finished off the bottle. “Because my parents used to live here. I am not sleeping in that bed. Or doing anything else in it either.”
“Thanks for that visual.” I shook my head, wanting to get rid of the idea of anyone’s parents doing it—I didn’t care how hot they were.
“You’re welcome. Better you than me.” He walked to the sliding glass door and locked it, a clear sign that we were all going to bed.
“All right, we’ll see you two in the morning. There’s bottled water in your room. Tons of food in the pantry if you get hungry in the middle of the night and need a snack,” Danika explained before giving both Mac and me a hug. “I’m so glad you guys are here.”
Mac moved behind me and started pushing me toward the bedroom by my waist. “We’re going to bed now,” he yelled, and I knew that sleeping was the last thing we were about to do.
A New Kind of Friendsgiving
Sunny
Once I’d finally gotten it out of my head that we were in Chance’s parents’ old bedroom, in the bed they used to sleep in, I gave myself to Mac. I resisted in the beginning, more than slightly weirded out by the whole thing even though the sheets and pillows were brand-new. It took a little effort on Mac’s part to get me in the mood. Mostly him diving between my legs. Once his tongue had licked at me, I’d started seeing stars and stopped thinking about anything else, except how good it’d felt to be ravished by him.
When I woke up the next morning, the bed was empty. I heard voices coming from the other room, so I hurried out of bed, brushed my teeth, and stepped into the living room, still wearing my pajamas. Everyone was up and dressed already.
“Why’d you let me sleep so late?” I whined as they all sipped on coffee.
“It’s only a little after eight,” Mac said before walking over to me and giving me a kiss.
I was visibly relieved, and I swore I heard Danika sigh as she poured me a mug of something and slid it toward me.
I gave her a look, and she smiled. “Sorry, but you two are so cute; I can’t stand it.”
“Yeah, the cutest,” Chance teased, and Mac grabbed me by the hips and pulled me against him.
“I’ll show you cute,” he said as he kissed me hard, his tongue instantly in my mouth.
Even as I tried to pull away from him, he wouldn’t let me. I laughed against his mouth, completely embarrassed, but he held on.
“Okay, we get it,” Danika yelled, smacking her hand on top of the counter, and Mac finally released me.
“Good God,” I said, swatting his arm and wiping at my mouth. I’d laughed through half of whatever that was.
“So, it might actually snow later,” Danika said.
I wanted to scream in delight. “Really? Snow in New York for my first time here? What could be better?”
Danika frowned. “No snow,” she said seriously. “It’s usually warmer this time of year.”
“I want it to snow. I want all the snow!”
“Me too,” Mac said with a grin that matched mine.
Danika shot Chance a look, waiting for him to back her up, but he only shrugged and sipped at his coffee. “I want the snow too.”
“Ugh, you Californians.”
“Hey,” Mac started to argue, but Danika waved him off.
“Close enough, Arizona.”
“Fine,” he relented.
“I’m going to go get dressed and send my mom a text. Happy Thanksgiving.” I grinned from ear to ear, still ridiculously excited just to be here.
“They’re on that cruise, right?” Danika asked, and I nodded. “It’s still pretty early there.”
“I know, but I’m afraid if I don’t send it now, I’ll forget later. And, oh! She sent me this picture yesterday that you have to see.” I ran into the room, grabbed my phone, and jogged back out. I turned my cell around, so Danika could see my mom and dad sipping on drinks with umbrellas in them, my mom’s hair blowing like crazy.
“Your dad actually looks happy.”
“I know. She did good,” I agreed, thankful that my dad had said yes instead of arguing. I couldn’t wait to hear all about it when they got back. Maybe they would start taking more vacations now, but I wasn’t convinced.
“Who’s watching the dogs?”
“My sister. Who else?”
Danika giggled. “Your mom and those dogs.”
“Tell me about it,” I tossed over my shoulder as I headed back into the bedroom to finally get dressed.
After I finished, I marched into the kitchen, determined to help. Danika had a ridiculous amount of food spread out all over the granite countertops. The boys must have been banished because they were sitting on the couch, watching the Thanksgiving Day parade on the TV.
“Wait!” I shouted, and everyone focused on me. “That parade is here!” I pointed at the television. “Can we see it from the balcony? Did they go by already?” I ran to the sliding glass door, unlocked it, and pulled it open before leaping into the freezing cold air, my head craning from side to side to see around the buildings and into the streets.
The view was so different during the day. Long gone were the lights that had adorned each floor and windows. Replacing them were tall gray buildings, void of any color. Even the trees on the streets below were bare. Not a stitch of green in sight. But it was still unlike anything I’d ever experienced before. And we were right smack dab in the middle of it all. It looked like we were living in the clouds; we were up so high.
Mac wrapped his arms around me and planted a kiss on my neck. “It’s cold as shit out here, babe.”
“I know, but can you see them?” I asked, too focused to care about the weather.
“The floats?” he asked, stepping around me and leaning forward on the balcony railing. “No. Can you?”
Danika poked her head out of the open door but didn’t step all the way out. “You can’t see them from here. They go around the other side of the park. The west side. We’re on the east.”
“Fine.” I pretended to pout. “But I know they’re there,” I shouted to whoever as Danika disappeared.
“Come back inside,” Mac whispered against me. “Or get a jacket.”
“Okay, Dad,” I teased.
He narrowed his eyes at me. “You don’t want to get sick, do you? We just got here.”
He shook his head at me with disapproval, and my eyes grew wide. If I got a cold while we were here, I’d be so mad at myself.
“You’re right,” I agreed quickly and ran inside.
Mac followed, closing the door behind him before trying to chase me toward the kitchen. “I’m what? Say that last part again.”
“Back to your couch.” Danika pointed at Mac.
He stopped mid-step. “But I—”
“Couch. No boys in the kitchen.”
Mac gave Danika a wiseass grin. “Don’t hate the sound of that.”
Typical male.
“Okay, I’m ready. How can I help?” I asked, and Danika’s shoulders sank as we stared at the ridiculous amount of food that she’d bought that we still needed to prep and cook.
“I honestly have no idea. Why didn’t I order in? I’m going to ruin our holiday,” she said, and we both started laughing.
“We’ll figure this out. It can’t be that hard. Right? I mean, everyone does it,” I said, and she gave me a crazy look.
“We should probably start drinking. I think it will help.”
I glanced at the clock on the microwave. “It’s still morning.”
“So?” She looked past me and into the living room. “You guys want a beer?”
Both boys’ heads turned quick. “Yes,” they shouted like she might take the offer back.
Twisting off the caps, she walked to the couch and handed them each one. Chance grabbed her, pulled her down, and gave her a kiss before thanking her. Her cheeks turned bright red. Still. After all this time.
“I have some Lambrusco,” she said like I had any idea what that even meant. “We can drink that and pretend to be civilized.” She opened up one of the cupboards and pulled out a bottle before going to another cabinet and grabbing two of the smallest wineglasses I’d ever seen.
“Why are they so small?” I reached for one and studied it, spinning it around with my fingers.
“We drink Lambrusco in tiny glasses. I don’t know why!”
I dug inside one of the drawers, searching for a bottle opener. “Yes,” I said as I pulled it out and handed it to her.
She opened and poured the wine, and we swished it around inside our little glasses. I had no clue what we were doing, but I did it anyway.
“We’re letting it breathe,” Danika said in a thick, fake British accent.
“Oh, yes, darling. It must breathe an ample amount of time before we devour it,” I added, my accent as bad as hers.
We eventually finished off the entire bottle of wine, and all we’d done was make even more of a mess in the kitchen. Potato peels were in the sink, but we hadn’t sliced or diced them yet. The turkey was sitting in some turkey cooking thing that Danika had started calling his bathtub because neither one of us could remember the name of it. The fresh-bread stuffing was still sitting in a bag, waiting to be made. There was asparagus on the chopping block. The oversize rolls were in the fridge. And the two of us were hammered.
“I think our girlfriends are drunk,” Mac said, suddenly standing in front of me, his hazel eyes looking all dreamy.
“When did you get here?” I asked as I reached out to run my fingers across his face. “You’re so hot.”
Mac started laughing, and Chance appeared out of thin air.
“Are you two magic? How do you just appear like that?” I asked, snapping my fingers.
“They didn’t just appear,” Danika explained, her words slower than usual. “They walked. From the couch. You know”—she pointed over to the couch where the parade was done and some football game was playing instead—“over there.”
“I think you two had better slow down, or we won’t have anything to eat,” Chance said, sounding all reasonable and annoying.
“You’d two better slow down or ...” Danika mouthed off back, but when she couldn’t think up a retort, she started giggling instead. “Crap. We drank too much.”
“It’s the little glasses! They seem so harmless,” I complained.
Mac handed us each a bottle of water. “Here. Drink these. You girls need any help?” he offered.
I shook my head. “No. We want to do it. Go away.” I shoved at him, but his stupid, strong body refused to move. “Out of the kitchen.” I kept shoving. He kept staying put.
Giving me a quick kiss, he grabbed another beer and left like a good boy. Even with my blood now made of wine, I knew I could make my cookie dough, so I went to work, mixing and measuring and trying to stop Danika from eating it all. I swore I swatted her hand at least twenty times, but nothing stopped her.
“I’ll double the recipe, and then I’ll bake half of it and leave the other half in the fridge for you to eat, okay?”
“Can you quadruple the recipe, so I can freeze some and have it forever?” She sat in a barstool for a second and gave me a funny look. “I need more water.”
“Are you going to be sick?” I asked, suddenly concerned.
“No.” She waved me off. “I just need to stop being so buzzed. Why won’t it go away?”
“We need more bread,” I suggested, and she nodded furiously before hopping up, grabbing a fresh loaf and some butter.
With whatever luck and magic we’d pulled out of our asses, Danika and I ended up making a pretty decent Thanksgiving meal. I had no idea how much time had passed. The day blurred. She grabbed the turkey and his bathtub from the oven just as the doorbell rang.
My head shot up as I wondered who might be here before I remembered that it was her dad. “I’ll get it!” I ran to the door, pulling it open and giving Ralph Marchetti a giant hug before he knew what hit him. “Hi, Other Dad!”
“Hey, other daughter,” he said back with a huge grin as he stepped inside. “It smells incredible in here.”
Chance and Mac stood up from the couch, walking over to Ralph, and they each shook his hand.
“Happy Thanksgiving,” Ralph said, giving them a firm shake.
“You remember my teammate Mac, right?” Chance asked, reintroducing them to one another.
“First baseman,” Ralph said, and I noted how Mac’s entire face lit up.
“Yes, sir. It’s nice to see you again,” Mac said, sounding extremely polite and professional. It was so hot.
“You too. Excited for the season to start?” he asked, and I had forgotten how much of a baseball fan Ralph Marchetti was.
“I can’t wait,” Mac said, and I couldn’t wait either.
I was looking forward to watching him play, knowing that he was mine when he stepped off that field.
“You’ll be great,” Ralph said, sounding confident before he looked at Chance. “Have you talked to your parents yet?”
“Not yet. I sent my mom a text this morning, but she hasn’t called yet.”
“I’m excited to go out there for Christmas,” Ralph said as he pulled five bottles of wine from a bag he carried. Danika’s and Chance’s families had blended so easily without any kind of awkwardness. They all got along great, like they were always meant to be together.
“Dad, why’d you bring so many?” Danika asked, her eyes wide as she spooned the mashed potatoes into a giant bowl.
“We don’t have to drink them all today, sweetheart,” he said, giving her a hug and a kiss on the cheek. “But you should always have wine at the house.”
“They’ve had enough wine already,” Mac teased, and my jaw dropped.
“Hey! That was hours ago!” I complained as I reached for one of the bottles and opened it before setting it on top of the dinner table.
Everything was almost ready.
“Dad, will you carve the turkey? I have no idea how to do that, and I’m not going to even pretend to try,” Danika asked, and Ralph started rolling up his sleeves.
Dinner went off without a hitch. The food was not only edible, but actually good too. The five of us sat at the table, rubbing our stomachs, as the TV played low in the background. Danika and her dad talked about the new business division Danika had started, both of them incredibly excited and proud, which made me excited and proud as well. It sounded really interesting, and when Danika said I’d be the perfect fit to work there with her, I blew it off, not thinking she was really serious even though she’d mentioned it before.
And when they started talking about Chance’s baseball with the same level of pride, it amazed me how at home it felt, being here with them. I’d thought that it might feel a little weird, being away from California and my own parents for the first time, but if anything, it was the exact opposite. I liked it here. And it seemed like Mac did too. He looked more relaxed than I’d seen him in a long time. Maybe getting away from Fullton and the stress of the upcoming season was good for him. Or maybe it was just seeing Chance. I wasn’t sure what it was, but it made me happy.
After the dishes were cleaned—by the boys no less—and everyone was on the couch, watching more football, I pulled my cookie cake out of the oven, the smell permeating the entire apartment. Everyone, who just moments before had said they’d never eat again, was suddenly salivating at the mouth, begging for a piece. It was funny what dessert did to people’s appetites.
“You should get this one to come work with us,” Ralph mentioned to Danika as he dragged me into a hug at the end of the night.
“I’m trying,” Danika agreed.
I smiled, not knowing if they were serious or not. The idea entered my head, and I wondered if it was something I could do and be good at. I still had no clue what interested me, but I refused to rule this out. That would just be plain stupid.
“It was great to see you, Sunny. Hopefully, it won’t be the last time. Good luck with your season, Mac. And I’ll see you two later. Love you, kids,” he said, and I almost teared up at the endearment. He’d said he loved them both.
Goals.
After Ralph left, the four of us plopped onto the couch in a food coma and didn’t move for hours. At least, it felt like hours. But when Danika reminded us that tomorrow was a big day filled with sightseeing, my heart started racing.
“It’s time for bed then. I want it to be tomorrow already,” I said, and she laughed at me. “I mean it. Come on, Mac,” I practically whined, and he begrudgingly stood up, said good night, and followed me into the bedroom, where we were too full to do anything but sleep.
The Big Apple
Sunny
I’d set the alarm on my phone the night before for eight a.m., not wanting to sleep in any longer than necessary. I refused to miss a single moment of seeing Manhattan. When I opened my eyes, I pulled myself from the bed and looked outside. A fresh coat of snow covered the ground.
“Mac! Mac, wake up. It snowed!” I ran back to the bed, shaking his shoulders as he rubbed his eyes and forced them open.
“It really snowed?” he asked, his voice groggy but still incredibly sexy.
“Come look.” I pulled at him, ripping the warm covers from his body.
“Dang, woman.” He grabbed me and held me tight. “Now, you have to keep me warm. My own weighted blanket.”
“Please look.” I pouted, and he tapped my nose with his finger before telling me he’d do anything I asked. I might have melted, but I was too excited to notice.
