CH 12

They ate together, sitting in the floor, legs crossed, joking around and talking about Mindy's taste in music. "You can't say 'I like old music too' just because you're sitting in here listening to ABBA." Danny's voice morphed into laughter on the last word. "You didn't even know who ABBA was until you watched Mama Mia a couple years ago."

She looked across at him over the frames of her glasses. "That's beside the point. It IS seventies music. So you can't say that I don't listen to anything that didn't come out in the past year. That's all I'm trying to say." She picked up an eggroll and used it as a pointer. "And now, you can't pretend you haven't seen Mama Mia." She took a triumphant bite.

Danny's mouth dropped open. "No, you just wouldn't stop singing every single song from the movie for like a week after you saw it. I had Take a Chance On Me stuck in my head for days. I hate that song." He shook his head.

She hopped up and turned the music on her phone back on, the volume decreased a bit. "Just for that, we're listening to this entire album, on repeat, while we do paperwork."

She was thoroughly enjoying this. Earlier, when she'd been a sad sack lying on the floor, crying to herself, she'd thought tonight was going to be a complete loss. When Danny had popped into her office, she hadn't even really been surprised. If she could be honest with herself, she'd have to admit that there had been a tiny hope in the back of her mind.

Her irritation with him for ruining her night had not been faked, though. When he'd stepped into the office, laughing at her predicament, she'd wanted to strangle him. But it was mostly because her heart did a little two step beat when she'd heard that laughter. And he was back to calling her "Min." She smiled.

Hours later they were both sitting in the floor surrounded by closed files and empty takeout containers. Mindy reached up and took off her glasses. "Danny, it's like 2am. I'm exhausted." She stretched her legs out in front of her and started wiggling her toes. "My feet are asleep. I think I've been in the same position for the past hour."

The numbness in her feet started to turn into stinging pinpricks on her feet and up the back of her calves. "Ah. That hurts so much." She reached down to massage the feeling back into her legs. It wasn't working. She grunted.

Danny leaned forward. "Here, let me." He didn't wait for her response. He brushed her hands out of the way and cradled one foot in his hands, squeezing intermittently, traveling slowly up her calf. She leaned back on her elbows a bit

Mindy held her breath. This was a surprise. There was that zing of desire she'd expected to feel when pawing at Thor earlier. Danny glanced up at her with a question on his lips. She hadn't heard it. "Huh?" Had she ever noticed how nice brown eyes were before?

Danny repeated his question. "That any better?"

His hands stilled, resting gently against her knees. She gawked at him, her mouth briefly opened and closed like a fish. She snapped herself out of this weird feeling and sucked in a short little breath. "Uh, yeah, better." She drew her knees up to her chest. Ever since that dreamlike night, she'd been unable to read Danny.

In the past she could tell when she was making him uncomfortable. She'd known he found her attractive, but there's a difference between finding someone attractive and actually being attracted to them. She'd always assumed it was the former. At least that's how it had always been on her side, but now she couldn't figure it out.

Danny leaned back on his knees and started collecting his files and placing them back in the box. She found herself staring at him like before. She liked looking at him this way. He was preoccupied with the task at hand, picking up files and reading the names on them before settling them back in the box. She had the sudden urge to thread her fingers up through the hair at his nape. "Are you attracted to me?" The words spilled out unbidden.

He froze, a file in one hand hovering over the top of the box. He was looking down and she couldn't see any expression in his eyes. He dropped the file in the box and looked up at her, too guarded for her to glean anything. He blew out a long breath. "Well…. You are an, um… attractive girl, that is… ahem… or rather, uh, to say… woman."

She rose up on her knees and scooted over closer to him, the carpet slightly abrading her skin. She wanted an answer, and the words coming from him were just more of what she already knew. "That's not what I asked. I know I'm an attractive girl/woman. I have eyes. I wanted to know if you were attracted to me."

He swallowed and took a deep breath, preparing to say something, but nothing came out. Well, well, well, look what we have here. Mindy felt a little sense of smug satisfaction. So he was attracted to her.

She saw the moment when he decided to pretend nonchalance. He put on the half smile and gestured at her a little too emphatically. "Mindy, I see you five days a week, sometimes more. Don't you think if I were attracted to you, I would have done something about it already?" His eyebrows were raised in inquiry.

He could pretend to be unaffected, sure, but there was a sheen of sweat on his forehead a deer in headlights look on his face. "Still not answering the question." She was only inches away from him now, and she could feel the heat radiating from him. He swallowed as she scooted a little closer. "If only there were a way for you to prove it. I'm not convinced. You've always been completely obsessed with me." She was directly in front of him now, nose to nose. "We could put this to rest right now, if you're man enough."

As if on cue, the music flowing from her dock changed to something softer. I've seen you twice, in a short time. Only a week since we started… He released the breath he'd been holding in a stuttering exhale. "How is that?" The words came out in a hoarse whisper. It seems to me, for every time, I'm getting more open-hearted… He made a slight throat clearing noise.

She smiled and closed her eyes. "Well, if you're not attracted to me, you should be able to kiss me and not be affected. Just one chaste and totally dispassionate kiss and I'll be completely convinced."

Danny's mind was racing. She giving him a free pass, right? There was always a chance she was just screwing with him. He couldn't count the times she'd accused him of being in love/obsessed with her. He knew she enjoyed ruffling him. If that were the case, he could just disengage afterwards and pretend it was nothing.

Looking at her in the soft glow of the dim lights, he couldn't back away. He leaned forward nuzzling her cheek with his nose. He felt her breath catch when she inhaled sharply. "Maybe I'm not the one experiencing an attraction. Can you promise you won't get all clingy afterwards? You won't follow me home and ask me to marry you?" The question came out shaky in spite of Danny's attempt at a cavalier attitude.

Her hands, initially perched on her hips, fell limply to her side. Danny lifted his own to her shoulders as he moved to the other side of her face, brushing his cheek against hers. "If anyone's going to beg for someone's hand in marriage, it's you." The whispered prediction fell against Danny's ear in a hot puff.

She slipped her arms up between them and grabbed the collar of his shirt, pulling him away from her face. "Going to do it or not, Castellano?"

He slipped his arms from her shoulders to the sides of her face, and leaned into her, taking her lips with his. For the shortest two seconds of his life he contemplated trying to prove her wrong and keep the kiss chaste, but he couldn't. She was right. He couldn't deny it when she was so clearly returning the attraction.

He released her lips only to roughly capture them in a real kiss this time. He felt her fingers curl up on his collar, pulling him into her. Their thighs bumped as they both scooted their knees closer together. He explored the soft curve of her lips with his own, delving into the sweetness with his tongue. She whimpered and something inside him broke. He moved his hands from her face and wrapped them around her, trying to press himself even closer.

If things continued at this pace, he wouldn't be able to stop at kissing, and he didn't think she'd really thought this through. The possible ramifications of sleeping together were too enormous to rush headlong into this, even though that's how she usually approached life.

He reluctantly withdrew and pressed his forehead against hers, panting a bit, his chest heaving in unison with hers. "See?" He said unsteadily. "N-nothing."

What's the name of the game?
Does it mean anything to you?
What's the name of the game?
Can you feel it the way I do?
Tell me please, 'cause I have to know
I'm a bashful child, beginning to grow