A/N: Here's chapter 3, I decided to have it mostly in Danny's POV and picks up when Danny leaves Mindy's hotel room. It was previously posted unbetaed on tumblr, enjoy if you haven't already.
-Pessi . Rom
Danny gave Mindy one last kiss before walking out of her hotel room. After she closed the door, he took a few steps then started running his hand down his face.
"What are you doing, Castellano? This is crazy," Danny said before continuing to walk.
Truth was he had fully intended on staying in Mindy's hotel room, but when she'd got up to answer her phone reality started to hit Danny, and along with it fear. Danny was scared, scared of Mindy and his, dare he think, already strong feelings for her. Danny hadn't felt this way about anyone in a very long time. Just her smile and touch got his heart racing. That hadn't happened since Christina.
He and Christina had been separated a full year before they'd legally ended their marriage. The day Danny found Christina in bed with another man, a man he knew and worked with, Danny's marriage had ended and his heart had broken then encased itself in ice. Danny had dated, if you could even call it that, but the minute he could feel the girl getting attached or serious he pulled away and the relationship ended. He'd kept the secret of his divorce as long as he could. Of course he'd had to tell his Ma and his brother Richie right away. Both admitted to never liking his wife. When the papers were signed and he'd stopped wearing his wedding ring, it all started to feel real.
Danny sometimes still thought about her, but it was always feelings of anger toward her for breaking his heart, for sleeping with one of his business partners and reinforcing his distrust and abandonment issues. Danny would be fine with being single, throwing himself into work and brewing of his beer, but then he'd get lonely and seek out some temporary comfort. Meeting Mindy, this could change things, he didn't want something temporary with her and that scared him most of all. Her eyes and smile had already started melting the first icy layer around his heart.
He thought about canceling the date, about booking a ticket back to New York, but he knew he couldn't. He couldn't be like his namesake, he told her he wasn't going anywhere and he would be true to his word. Danny got into a cab and headed back to his hotel room. After showering, changing and checking in at the practice he called down to the hotel desk to inquire about local restaurants. He chose one that wasn't too far from the hotel where Mindy, Carl and Gwen were staying.
"You can do this, Castellano, it's just a date, it's not like you're going steady or anything yet," Danny said to himself in the mirror as he got dressed for his date with Mindy a few hours later. His palms were sweating, he furiously rubbed them on his pants and hoped they would dry by the time his cab arrived at Mindy's hotel. He grabbed his phone and wallet and just as he started to walk out of his hotel room his phone rang. He looked at the caller ID and saw it was an unknown number so he ignored it and exited the room.
Catching a cab outside of his hotel room, he headed toward Eden Rock, the luxury hotel where Mindy was staying. Danny had jumped on the trip last minute, Carl had been trying to invite him for weeks prior. It took Jeremy, his office manager and fellow senior partner at his medical practice forcing him to go on paid vacation, to finally accept. That and the fact that Christina would be in New York the same week as the trip for a week long show at one of the local galleries in his neighborhood. Danny felt sick to his stomach thinking about how close she would be, so he called up Carl saying he'd come but that he'd pay his own hotel.
As he stood in front of Mindy's hotel room, he smiled thinking about how funny life was, cause who knew running away from Christina would lead him right to something he didn't even know he needed. Mindy was like a breath of fresh air, she'd shaken him out of his daze with that first sentence spoken and had been drawing him in ever since. He took a deep breath before lifting his hand and knocking on her hotel door.
At six o'clock sharp Mindy heard a knock at her hotel room door. She had grilled Gwen earlier about Danny, when they had met for lunch, and Carl had mentioned that Danny had always been a stickler for time. So she had started getting ready for her dinner with Danny right after she'd eaten, or rather right after she'd purchased a new outfit from the hotel boutique. She opened the door to reveal Danny looking sharp in slacks and a dress shirt.
"Hi," Danny said.
"Hi," Mindy replied.
"You look amazing," Danny said taking in the green dress Mindy had on that showed off her curves nicely.
"Thanks, you don't look too bad yourself," Mindy said.
Neither knew how to really greet each other after the initial hello, should they kiss lips or on the cheek. It ended up being an awkward hug and after Danny asked if she was ready to go, Mindy nodded, grabbed her small clutch, and exited her hotel room. They walked down the hotel hallway in silence but it wasn't awkward, they were just enjoying each other's proximity.
Danny was a perfect gentleman opening doors for her, and as they crossed a small intersection to the area where hotel guests could catch a cab he gently placed his hand on the small of her back. The touch was warm and so quick, she found herself missing it the minute his hand went back down to his side. They got into a cab and Danny gave the driver the name and address of the restaurant.
"So what kind of restaurant are we going to?" Mindy asked.
"It's some local fusion, French and Caribbean food," Danny said, glancing out the window then turning to face her as they rode in the cab.
"Cool, I only ask cause I'm curious. I'm not a picky eater or anything. I eat basically anything except Chinese and ironically Indian just doesn't sit well with me," Mindy said and Danny just laughed.
"Ok," Danny said. He didn't know why he was so nervous. He certainly wasn't when he was ravishing Mindy the night before, must have been the liquid courage. He both liked and hated that she was so blunt and care free, the complete opposite of him. He mentally face palmed himself, he needed to relax and just enjoy this date, and just go from there.
"You ok?" Mindy asked, noticing the preoccupied look on his face.
"Yeah," Danny said, offering her a smile.
Before Mindy could respond, the cab slowed to a stop in front of the restaurant. Danny paid the driver then got out and opened Mindy's door for her, extending his hand out to help her out of the cab as she was wearing heels. They walked inside of the restaurant and since it was a nice night out, they were seated outside with a view of the beach.
"Welcome to Chateau Papillon. My name is George. I will be your server today. Can I start you off with something to drink?"
Danny ordered a beer and Mindy a glass of red wine. George went to get their drink orders, and they perused the menu. Danny didn't typically like to go to fancy restaurants, but he wanted to take Mindy somewhere nice and the concierge said it was a local favorite amongst guests who frequented the island. Danny ended up ordering the baked salmon which came with cous cous and grilled vegetables, and Mindy ordered the chicken cordon bleu which came with fried plantains and rice.
"So tell me a little more about your practice?" Mindy said after they'd ordered their food.
"Well it started off just me and my mentor . Then, as the practice grew we had to bring in two other doctors. Schulman retired two years ago, one of the doctors left, and now it's me, my other senior partner Dr. Reed and a junior partner, Dr. Roman," Danny said.
"I gotta admit I've been to your office before, well the building anyway. My ex kind of works in that building. Sorry, I probably shouldn't mention my ex on a date," Mindy said, nervously running her hand through her hair.
"It's fine, I told you all about my ex. It's only fair I listen to you talk about yours, if you need to," Danny said.
"Thanks. Cliff notes version we were together two years, he cheated on me with my neighbor, dated us both till we happened to bump into each other in the hall. Apparently he'd told her that we'd broken up, so she had no idea she was his mistress. I dumped him and have just been focusing on my practice since," Mindy said, shrugging it off like it was nothing.
"What a jackass," Danny said.
"Oh yeah," Mindy said.
"Now that, that's out of the way, what else can you tell me about you?" Danny asked.
"Hmm, I don't know where to start. Should we like twenty questions it?" Mindy said.
"Twenty questions?" Danny said, confused.
"Yeah, you know, generic get to know you questions, what's your favorite color, do you have a secret love child, that kind of thing," Mindy said.
"Ok, it's blue and no I don't have a secret love child that I know of anyway, you?" Danny said with a half grin.
"Good to know. My favorite color is green, but I also like purple and sometimes yellow. I guess you could say I like colors in general. No to the secret love child though most people can tell the answer to that right away cause clearly I don't have the hips of someone who's bared a child," Mindy said with a smirk.
"Also good to know. Guess it's my turn to ask you a question. Did you always know you wanted to become a doctor?" Danny asked.
"Always, no, when I was little I secretly wanted to be Meg Ryan, till my Aunt Amrita came to visit when I was nine. She was a doctor in India and she had the most glamorous collection of clothing. She was really pretty and super smart and I wanted to be just like her. She told me I could grow up to be anything I wanted to be and that I should never let anyone tell me otherwise. She died of cancer right before I graduated from med school, but I like to think she'd be proud of the doctor I've become. How about you?" Mindy said, blinking back tears.
"I think your Aunt would be proud, too. And me, well like I told you yesterday, after my Dad left it was just me, Ma, and my little brother. Ma worked two, sometimes three jobs to support us, I worked hard to become a doctor so she wouldn't have to work to the grave. Also I guess I wanted to prove that I could accomplish something like becoming a doctor despite the fact I didn't have a dad growing up, that I could become something my dad never could be, reliable and successful," Danny said.
"Well it's your dad's loss. He clearly missed out on having a handsome and successful doctor he could show off," Mindy said with a smirk, which earned a crooked smile from Danny. Before he could say anything in response, George appeared with their food. They both dug in to it, taking a few bites before speaking.
"How's your chicken?" Danny asked after taking a sip of his beer to wash down the bites of food.
"Really good actually. I see why this place is so popular. How's yours?" Mindy said.
"Pretty good. It's not Italian food, but it's not bad," Danny said.
They continued to eat and chat about their current lives, even comparing patient stories, without using names, of course. After they were done with their dinner, Mindy wanted dessert and they shared a creme brulee. They both reached for the check, but Danny swatted her hand away, reminding her they were on a date. After the check was paid, they decided to go for a walk on the beach.
"I never got the appeal of sand, or the beach for that matter. I mean look at it, people shouldn't wander into it. They should fear the ocean out of respect." Danny said when they stopped and looked at the waves crashing in on the shore.
"I'm not usually looking at the ocean when I'm at the beach, I'm usually there for the hot beach bods, if you know what I mean. I bet you would look pretty good in a speedo," Mindy said with a smirk after cupping his ass then running away, her heels in hand. Danny caught up to her wrapping an arm around her waist and whispering into her ear.
"You don't get to cop a feel and run away," Danny said his voice raspy.
"Oh yeah, what are you gonna do about it Castel-lamo?" Mindy said.
"This," Danny said slipping his hand lower to grab her ass and effectively pulling her flush against him. She looked up at him staring into his brooding eyes before leaning in and kissing him. Her arms wrapping around his neck as they made out like teenagers. They pulled away as things started to get heated. There were other people walking around that same beach and they'd passed some families with small children and Danny didn't want to get arrested in a foreign country for public indecency.
Mindy started to walk again and Danny laced his hands with hers, which made her smile. They continued to walk down the beach just enjoying the fresh Caribbean air, before walking back toward the restaurant. They continued to hold hands even as they rode in the cab back to Eden's Rock. Danny paid the cab driver then walked with Mindy back to her hotel room.
"This was nice. I had a really good time, Danny," Mindy said as they stood outside her hotel room.
"Yeah me, too," Danny said.
Mindy looked up at him, a part of her wanted to invite him in, seeing as they'd already had sex, but that other part kind of felt that maybe they should figure out what exactly they wanted out of this before they jumped into bed together again. Yeah she was spontaneous and he was a friend of Carl's but she'd known him three days. So as much as she wanted to pull his shirt over his head and run her hands and mouth over his sculpted abdomen and chest, she resisted the urge.
"I should probably get to bed, Gwen and Carl want us to do this boat tour thing early tomorrow," Mindy said.
"Right, yeah, Carl called and told me about it this morning," Danny said trying to shake off the fact that Mindy didn't want to invite him in confused him after the beach kiss.
"Yeah, but we should have dinner tomorrow, just the two of us again. There's gonna be this live band downstairs of the hotel tomorrow," Mindy said.
"Oh, cool, yeah that sounds good. So I'll see you tomorrow morning," Danny said.
"Yeah, good night, Dr. Castellano," Mindy said before leaning in and kissing him. She quickly tore herself away, unlocked her hotel door and slipped inside before Danny could respond.
"Good night, Dr. Lahiri," Danny said with a grin on his face to the closed door before walking away.
A/n: Hope you liked it, special thanks to my lovely beta Robin at Mindian3(twitter) for betaing , you can follow me at mindiangrowl (twitter/tumblr) for updates on my writing, sneak peeks or shoot me a message if you'd like me to write a specific prompt(one-shots only), thanks for reading!
-Pessi . Rom