Disclaimer: I just wanted to remind everyone that this story is rated T for reasons. Okay, party on.
She hoped that she would never grow accustomed to the feeling of Danny's skin against hers.
Mindy wanted every time together to feel like the first moment Danny's fingertips raked across her bare hips. She was desperate to recreate the way her breath caught in her chest whenever she felt him panting against her neck. She needed to feel the crushing weight of Danny's bare chest against her own, paired with the trail of heat she felt up and down her sides as his hands took liberties across her body. She never wanted a single touch, hitch of breath, or inflection of her voice to become commonplace.
Even now, with Danny spooned against her back and his muscled arms wrapped firmly around her midsection, such a common position felt so revolutionary, like she had finally recognized that she had been sleeping incorrectly all her life. This is how it should have always been: with Danny Castellano holding her close.
The sun was bold and invasive as it seeped through the curtains and saturated every inch of the room. She was clueless as to what time of day it was and, frankly, she was totally uninterested. Maybe it was sometime in the afternoon? Definitely past the inn's breakfast, not that she felt like she had missed anything.
There was a stirring behind her, followed by the tightening of the limbs just above her waist and the feel of soft butterfly kisses on her shoulders. Mindy thought there was nothing sexier in this existence than the shoulder kiss. It felt like an action that came from the other person's need to kiss any part of her they could reach. She thought that may be the case with Danny, who was leaving kisses on her shoulder, on the back of her neck, and in her hair. The smile on her face grew to an almost painful size.
"Min," Danny throatily called out. He planted another quick kiss against her ear. "Min, we've gotta get some food."
Mindy turned in his embrace, facing the man who had totally rearranged her world in a matter of hours…for hours. His sleep-disheveled hair, sleepy eyes, and lazy, satiated grin were seemingly working together to send her to an early grave, and she found that she didn't mind at all.
"Do we?" she challenged in jest. "That sounds like getting out of bed and putting on clothes...more specifically you putting on clothes…and we have all this wine. Why leave?"
"Because wine is not a suitable breakfast - and before you say something offensive, no, not even for us Italians."
Mindy groaned, but the undercurrent of joy could not be missed as she inched her head closer to place a kiss on his pouty lips. "Hey, what time is it, anyway?"
Danny lifted himself up just enough to check out the digital clock on the stand behind her. He settled back down with a look of surprise.
"Wow, it's almost one," he informed her.
"Well, well, well," Mindy said teasing drawl, "It looks like you did sleep through breakfast after all."
Danny rolled his eyes. "That would be cleverly ironic had I actually slept. You're partially to blame for that."
"Are you complaining?"
"Not in the least." He cupped her cheek and kissed her languidly to cement his point, then stopped at the sound of one of their stomachs growling for mercy. With a groan, he pulled away decidedly. "Okay, I mean it. We've gotta stop and eat something. Do you want anything special? What did you want to do today?"
Mindy propped her head on her elbow, hovering just slightly over his head. "Let's just stay in. We've done so much already and Key West is only so big…plus, I really don't feel like sharing you at the moment."
Danny appeared flattered by the notion. "Is this more of those selfish tendencies coming to light?" Mindy bit her lip and nodded, which earned her another kiss on the lips and a squeeze of her hip. "Good. I like that."
He sat up and exited the bed with a bit of a hop, searching for his discarded clothing. Mindy made no attempt to conceal her ogling.
Ass of a Roman God, I swear, she thought with a salacious smile.
As he was pulling up his boxer briefs, Danny looked back and caught Mindy's gawking.
"It's rude to stare," he called over his shoulder with a self-indulgent grin.
"Oh, whatever, you love it."
"…Well, yeah, obviously."
He threw on the same clothes from the night before, which reminded him that he was in desperate need of his toothbrush and deodorant.
"I'm gonna to stop by my room and wash up a little," he informed her while sitting on the bed as she sat up, the comforter clutched to her chest. "Then I'll head out. Tell me what you'd like to eat. Anything you want."
Mindy thought for a brief moment, then resorted to the same post-sex cravings she'd always had. "Grease," she replied frankly. "And cheese. And bacon."
"I'll grab us a couple pizzas to get us through the day."
"Perfect."
He leaned over and gave her a parting kiss before standing up and heading towards the door. At the sight of him leaving, Mindy quickly decided to follow an impulse.
"Um, Danny?"
The man turned with his hand on the knob.
"Not to be crazy needy, but…are you planning on staying here tonight?"
There was a ghost of a smile on Danny's face when he replied, "I was, as long as it was okay with you."
"Of course," she assured him. "I was just thinking…you know, we have two more days here, and I don't anticipate wanting to be apart from you during that time…" She hated how clinical that sounded, but she couldn't think of anything more moving to say. Looking up to make sure that he wasn't offended, she was pleased to see him smiling warmly at her. She continued. "It just seems silly to continue to pay for a separate room when there's obviously a perfectly spacious one here...right?"
He looked like he was considering her for a moment, which made her nervous. She wondered if she had gone too far too soon, requesting that they share a room for the remainder of the trip. What once seemed logical now sounded like a desperate, clingy plea and she began to scramble for a way to take it back.
But before she could speak, the expression on Danny's face morphed from one of concentration to one of flattery. "Yeah, it does seem pretty dumb," he agreed softly. "Maybe I should grab my stuff and drop it off here before I go out?"
Relieved, Mindy beamed brightly. "Yeah, maybe you should."
"…Alright, then."
"Alright, then."
Fifty minutes after his previous attempt to get lunch (only six of which were spent packing up his neatly gathered belongings and moving them over to Mindy's room. The rest of the time was spent discovering just how insatiable he and Mindy were for each other) Danny was briskly making his way down the steps and towards the front office. There was something about knowing what he'd be coming back to that suddenly made him want to leap down the steps and sprint to the closest pizza place, not wanting to sacrifice a single spare second that could be with her.
He felt insane for a brief, fleeting moment until he remember all the nights be spent thinking about her, worrying about her happiness, and waiting for the day that there was room for him in her life again. This was the same woman whose number he would pull up on his phone after having one too many drinks, staring at it until he could properly talk himself out of calling her and saying something he would forever regret. This was Mindy, his best friend who just admitted that he had heavily influenced her decision to not get married. With that reminder, he didn't feel so crazy. In fact, he finally felt like he was on the right track.
Danny entered the office and found Collette at her usual station. She looked up from her computer screen and gave him a friendly smile.
"Hello, there!" she chirped. "We missed you guys the last couple of breakfasts. How are you both enjoying your stay?"
"Everything's been fantastic, Collette, thank you," Danny replied generously. "I wanted to go ahead and check out of my room."
"Oh, I thought you were staying the week," Collette recalled with a certain tone of disappointment.
"Oh, I am! It's just that Mindy and I thought it would make more sense to, uh – consolidate…ourselves." The explanation was accompanied by an awkward gesture of his hands, which were cupped and brought together until the fingertips touched. He grimaced at his lack of eloquence while Collette's kind smile turned into a knowing one.
"I see," she replied in a sing-songy voice. "Well, that certainly seems like a more logical idea. You were in the Ophelia room, right?"
Danny nodded as she began to type rapidly on her keyboard, grinning all the while. He might have felt more uncomfortable had Collette not looked so adorable. The sight of her happiness towards his and Mindy's new development, however, made him smirk to himself. After all, he wasn't embarrassed by anything.
"Okay, you are officially checked out!" Collette stuck her hand out with her palm facing upward. "Now if you'll just hand me your room and house keys, I'll be happy to swap you for a new and improved set."
Danny handed over the keys, which the ruby-haired woman promptly switched for another set with a hibiscus flower keychain.
"I truly hope you enjoy the remainder of your stay with us," Collette wished him before adding with a playful spark in her eyes, "and please tell your co-worker friend I said 'hello.'"
Danny could not resist laughing at her boldness and simply replied, "I will."
On his way back to the inn, two large pizzas (one topped generously with bacon) safely in his possession, his phone rang. He stopped walking for a moment to retrieve it from his back pocket and was happy to see his brother's name flash across the front screen. He answered speedily.
"Richie!"
"Danny Boy!" Richie greeted through the receiver. "How's your vacation going?"
"Oh, man, Rich, it's amazing." Danny was sure his brother could hear him smiling stupidly, but he didn't care. "I'm kind of sad that we have to leave soon."
"Yeah, that's Key West for you," Richie sighed. "Did you make it to Fat Tuesdays?"
"Boy, did we," Danny laughed. "I can't wait to tell you that story the next time I see you."
"Well," Richie began brightly. "You won't have to wait too long! Ramon and I are thinking of heading down there for the weekend. I convinced him that we need to get away for a couple days and he was only willing to go as far as a few hours away."
Danny perked up at the idea of seeing his brother so soon. "Yeah, you guys should come down! We could all hang out tomorrow night, maybe go out dancing!"
There was a silence on the other end until Richie asked, almost incredulously, "Wait, you're suggesting the idea of going dancing?"
Danny furrowed his eyebrows. "I am, is that bad?"
"No, not at all! Hey, how's Mindy?"
The mere mention of her warmed his chest and quickened his step. "Aw, she's wonderful."
"…wonderful, you say?"
"Yeah, she's doing really great. She'll like seeing you again."
"Yeah, it'll be fun getting to spend time with you two. I'll call you tomorrow after we've settled into our hotel, alright?"
"Okay, man. I can't wait to see you!" Danny said, excited by the idea of hanging out with Richie as well as the sight of the quickly approaching Amelia Inn.
"Me too, buddy! Tell Min I said hello!"
"I will. Later, Rich!"
"Bye, Danny."
He hung up the phone and shoved it into his back pocket, making sure to grab the keys as he pulled his hand out. Being able to see his brother was certainly a nice surprise. Furthermore, he couldn't wait to have a serious brother-to-brother talk with him regarding his feelings for Mindy. Though he was younger, Richie had this amazing way of keeping things into perspective in a way that Danny simply couldn't at times, like when his emotions were high. Whether he was being unreasonable or if he was onto something truly great, Richie would keep it truthful.
He reached the heavy front door of the house, unlocked it smoothly, and entered while balancing the pizzas expertly. Upon entering, he immediately spotted something waiting outside of Mindy's – their – door. He ascended the steps and quickly identified the object as an elaborate gift basket.
"What's this?" he asked, approaching the mystery gift. Inside cellophane-wrapped basket were a velvety box of truffles, champagne, champagne flutes, cheese, water crackers, shortbread cookies, crispy breadsticks, and some sort of gourmet mustard. Danny thought that the basket might have been left there by mistake, and then considered the possibility of Mindy ordering the basket for herself, which she had done more than once. He looked around the basket for some sort of card until he found a large Post-It note on the back. Danny read the loopy-lettered note scrawled on it:
This was meant for another newlywed couple who cancelled their reservation last minute. Luckily it's a bad month for weddings. ;-)
Collette
He shook his head and smiled fondly, silently praising the sweet, somewhat personally invested front desk clerk. Leaving the basket on the ground, he slipped the tiny copper key into the keyhole and finally unlocked his room. He opened the door to find Mindy diligently scanning the channels of the television with the remote. When she looked up at him with a welcoming smile, he marveling at how much the motion felt a lot like returning home.
A/N: The response sand support I have received for this story have been incredibly touching and I thank you all so much for being such wonderful readers. I'm sorry this is a short chapter compared to the others, I just wanted us to see a moment where they are simply enjoying this new facet of their relationship.
I'm so impressed with what I've seen with Operation: Tonic Water thus far! The turnout has been wonderful and it's only been a couple of days! Keep the fluff coming, y'all!
As always, reviews are lovely and they make me smile like a damn fool. Please leave one, if you can/want to!
Love you all and Hollaatchyagirl,
Phunky