"So what did you think?" he asks, standing and shaking on his coat.
She's delicately wiping the grease from the tips of her fingers with the gossamer-thin paper napkins from the metal dispenser on the table. "I have to admit you were right. That was the worst pizza I've ever had in New York City."
Danny smiles and throws some cash on the table, giving a wave to Sal behind the counter. He helps Mindy on with her coat, tugging her hair free where it's caught under the collar. She smells like coconut and something else that's lightly floral he can't place. Honeysuckle maybe?
The temperature has dropped noticeably from when they went in less than an hour ago and Mindy sidles closer to him, both bare hands wrapping around his bicep. Despite the cold, having the scent of her shampoo in his nose gives the air a warmth to it. She shivers and he cinches his arm tighter to his side, pressing her fingers into the wool of his coat over his ribcage.
"Why do you still go there?" she asks.
"What? To the pizza place?"
"Yeah. I mean it's terrible, which you clearly know, but why do you go someplace that's filled with memories of your ex? If it was me I'd go around the block to avoid just walking past it."
Danny shrugs, never having really thought about it before. "Those aren't the bad memories, I guess."
"Huh." She cuts her eyes to the sidewalk, the streetlight casting a long shadow of her lashes down her cheek.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just - I kinda see your point. Aren't all the memories associated with your philandering ex-wife bad ones, though?"
"Well, when you put it that way. . ."
"I didn't mean it like that." Mindy pulls on his arm hard enough to make his steps falter and knock his shoulder against hers. "I meant, how do you separate the two?"
"I don't know; they just are. There's good with bad. Same way Human Touch doesn't make me like Darkness on the Edge of Town any less."
"Huh?"
"They're both Springsteen alb- ya know what, never mind. The point is, just because you hate part of something doesn't mean you hate the whole thing."
Mindy nods thoughtfully and doesn't ask any more questions. He's grateful. Tonight's been more fun than he anticipated and he doesn't want the unpleasant details of his failed marriage tarnishing that good feeling.
"You should have worn gloves," he says as she shivers against him again.
"If you wouldn't have left your gloves in my apartment I could borrow yours."
"If I hadn't left my gloves in your apartment I would be having sex with Lucy right now and you wouldn't need gloves," he can't help but point out.
Mindy shoots him a look. "That escalated very quickly with you two. What's with that, anyway?"
"What do you mean, what's with that? You're the one who set us up. Didn't you think it was possible we'd hit it off?"
"No! Of course not! Who the hell ever actually hits it off with someone they're set up with?"
"Normal people."
"Well, clearly neither of you are normal, so that's not what happened here. It's just a lot of kissing with tongue for having gone on only one date is all I'm saying. Especially when she's in love with my boyfriend."
"Ex-boyfriend."
"Thank you, Danny. Yes. My now ex-boyfriend. Who broke up with me on the most romantic day of the year to be with the love of his life. But that's not important. I'm sorry your stupid gloves kept you from getting to have sex tonight."
That tenor is there to her voice, the one where she's reached the height of her sardonic empathy, and he can't help goad her a little. "Me too. She looked really flexible."
"Danny!" She stops on the sidewalk, hands falling from his coat.
"Come on." He grabs her cold fingers. "You can be indignant once we get out of this wind." Danny drags her half a block before she stops being petulant and matches her stride with his.
The stoop in front of Mindy's building is empty, no evidence of the scene left from before, and Danny walks her up the steps, opening the heavy security door for them after she punches in the code. He needs to retrieve his gloves, but he wouldn't turn down another shot of that tequila right now if she offered.
Mindy digs for the keys in her purse as they walk from the elevator, and he can't help notice the way she's frowning. The genuine one and not the one she pulls out when she's looking for sympathy, her face is cloudy in a way that blocks all of the normal sunshine there. "Hey." He nudges her once they get to her door. "I'm sorry your boyfriend dumped you."
"Yeah, thanks," she grumbles, clearly disbelieving his earnestness.
"I mean it. You deserve better than that. I'm sorry your night got ruined."
"It wasn't ruined. Clearly Jamie and Lucy belong together. And despite the aforementioned dumping, having to Heimlich a fish bone out of my date's throat, and the worst pizza ever, it hasn't been that bad a night, honestly. But did it all have to happen on Valentine's Day? It's like some sick cosmic joke that of the four of us tonight I'm the only one who didn't get kissed."
It doesn't occur to him until after his lips are already on hers that it is a bad idea.
Her mouth is soft and a little salty and he has to remind himself that this is a joke, he isn't seriously kissing Mindy. Danny leans away and can feel what is left of her lip gloss on him, making his skin feel weird, tingling.
Her brow is pulled tight and she's glaring, more pissed at him than he anticipated. God, what a stupid thing to have done. Danny's about to say just that when she blinks and her eyes refocus on his mouth. Something live and electric crackles and it might be a blown transformer outside, but he thinks maybe it's them.
Mindy's mouth is set in a tight curl and he suddenly wonders things he's never wondered about this woman before. Like what her curves would feel like in line with his body, and where he'd have to touch to make her moan the same way she does anytime she eats cake.
Shit. He's not even going to think about how this is probably going to ruin their relationship and the practice, too; not with the way Mindy's looking at him with a heat he mistook for anger and the smell of her shampoo still in his nose. Dropping her bag with a thump, her arms are already tight around his neck before Danny's mouth makes it back to hers.
He sinks in, pining Mindy to the door, and she moans and opens her mouth, the keys still clutched in her hand pressing hard into the back of his skull. Danny snakes his arms up and drags both hands away, her body stiffening for a moment when he does it. Then he presses her wrists hard into the door, rocking his body against hers and slipping his tongue in her mouth at the same time.
Eagerly she pushes back, returning his move with the smooth flick of her tongue on his top lip, and he loses it. What little bit of restraint is gone as he in one motion bends his knees and releases her wrists, the keys finally falling with a tinkling clatter. He grasps her hips and then stands straight, dragging her body up the door with his, the breadth of him being bracketed by her thighs as she grips to hold on, dress hiked and pulled tight.
Mindy's fingers dig into his shoulders and he tugs at her lips with his teeth before wandering, his mouth finding the frantic beat of her pulse in her neck and sucking on the spot hard enough to leave a mark.
"We - Ohh," she starts, more than a little breathlessly.
He groans into her skin and kisses further.
"Danny. We should," she exhales. "Not in the hall. We should go inside."
He pulls away so fast she slides down the door before he can catch her, heels clacking hard against the floor.
"Yeah." Danny bends to grab the keys where they lay and stares at them. He has no idea which one goes to her apartment.
Mindy takes them from him, her eyes glittering as she glances at him sideways. Inside she tosses the keys on the table by the door and fidgets with her coat like she can't decide if she wants to take it off, not looking at him.
She bites her lip and he wants to kiss her again. Finally she blurts, "Is this weird?"
The way she felt moving against him had been anything but weird. But maybe it is. "No." He shrugs. "Or. . I hadn't thought it was until you started talking about it."
"Okay." Mindy nods.
"Okay?"
"Let's not talk about it." Her voice is low and he reaches out for her. Danny slides his fingers inside her coat under the lapels and pushes the material off her shoulders. Never would he have guessed when he was helping her on with it at the restaurant he'd be the one taking it off her too.
Danny bends to tug the sleeves free and tosses her coat across the back of the couch. While he's there, leaning into her, he brushes a light kiss against her lips then pulls back to look at her, gauging.
Mindy's half-smiling at him and he takes it as an encouragement. Cupping her cheek, he ducks in again and this time presses a little firmer, their lips sliding together. She tilts her head and lets him kiss her, but with little of the abandon from before. Danny wonders how to play it if she's decided it's too weird for them to be doing this, and he tries not to focus on the disappointment building at the thought.
Fingertips still gently woven in the hairline behind her ear and his heart beating too fast, he takes a rattling breath and opens his eyes. Danny knows he's staring at her mouth, he can't seem to look elsewhere, and swallows hard. So much for maybe playing it cool as an option.
Then she grins, bright and beautiful and there's no more wondering how this is going to go. He reaches around tugging hard on the zipper of the dress he suggested she wear and Mindy kisses his jaw and down his neck, her hands racing along his waist under his coat before jerking it off him, one side at a time.
As she pulls him into her bedroom he remembers Jeremy's words from days ago. The comment about all women on Valentine's Day being an emotional minefield. It should probably make him nervous, he thinks as he traces the pads of his fingertips down the ridge of her spine. The thing is, Danny has always been kind of curious to meet Mindy's folks.