CH 18

Mindy and Danny made their way down to the sidewalk, craning their necks looking for Rishi. "Where is he?" The brisk fall air whipped around them, causing a shiver to creep up Mindy's spine. She glanced over at Danny as he tucked his hands into his front pockets. "Sorry about the jacket, Danny. I was just messing with you. We can go back up and get it if you want."

He shrugged without removing his hands. "It's not that bad. I tend to run hot." She'd noticed. On more than one occasion Danny's profuse sweating had earned a snarky comment from herself, but she'd always ascribed it to nervousness. Her gaze had wandered from his face to his biceps. An unexpected warmth spread through her limbs. Danny in a t-shirt.

She was staring. She bit her bottom lip and returned her gaze to his face. He was smiling down at her with a knowing look. "Remind me to always wear tees around you."

She reached over and gave his arm a playful squeeze. "Don't worry, I will." She laughed. The bright sound surprising her as it landed on her ears. She felt giddy. It was strange. They were acting like hormonal teenagers, but it didn't have so much to do with sex. She just liked being with him.

She was snapped out of her reverie by the sound of Rishi's voice calling out across the street. "Over here, Mindy!" Rishi was standing by the curb with a very tall young man. They were next to a tiny two door car the color of old mustard.

Mindy and Danny made their way across the street. "Rishi, how are we supposed to fit in that shoe box?" She sidled up to the car and leaned forward, peering in through the window. She looked back to Rishi's friend, tipping her head back to get a better look. "This is your car? How do you even fit in that thing?"

Rishi interrupted her. "Mindy, this is Javier. Try not to be rude."

She made a face at her brother and turned back to Javier, extending her hand. "And I'm Mindy, Rishi's slightly older sister, a reluctant passenger in this tiny clown car on the way to a scary part of town." She gestured toward her brother. "Just tagging along to make sure he doesn't end up dead."

Javier took her hand firmly, giving her an overly friendly two-hand clasp. "Ah, I've heard so much about you. Please, call me Javi, everyone else does." He flashed his perfectly straight pearly whites at her, arching one eyebrow in her direction. Whoa, flirt much. She found it flattering, but viewed Javi as a kid. She smiled back at him, gently extracting her hand from his grasp.

A rough throat clearing interrupted her thoughts. She nodded toward Danny. "And this is Danny. Apparently he thinks I need a keeper while I'm being my brother's keeper."

Danny leaned forward and gripped Javi's hand in an unnecessarily firm handshake. "Danny Castellano." He had positioned himself slightly between Mindy and the young man.

Rishi cast his sister a questioning look as he shuffled around to the passenger side of the car. She returned one of wide eyed innocence. Now was not the time to get into this with her baby brother.

After exchanging introductions they piled into the car. Mindy and Danny were in the back, practically on top of one another. Squeezed into the low bucket seats, Mindy's knees were almost up against her chest. She shuffled around to get into a more ladylike position, sliding around on the slick vinyl of the seat. She ended up sitting at an angle facing Danny, his own arm threaded behind her to utilize the cramped space.

Danny felt warm, in spite of the chill out on the street. His arm lay across the seat behind Mindy's shoulders. He resisted the urge to drop it down and rest his hand on her arm. Since they'd slept together he'd been feeling this constant craving for contact. It wasn't exactly desire. It was more like he felt the need to reassure himself that she was there with him.

He had an inkling that he wasn't alone in this feeling. It seemed like she was always casually reaching out and touching him. And it was casual. Nothing overtly sexual about it. Nothing stilted or contrived. Just a thread of contact pulling them together.

She'd always been that way though. Reaching out to him. He'd pull himself away, making a snarky comment and withdrawing into himself. It had been easier than addressing the weightless feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Danny drew his gaze away from her at the sound of Rishi's voice. "So, Mindy, I'm going to need you to hang back a bit when we get there. I don't need a babysitter, and it'll look weird with you hovering over me." Rishi looked over his shoulder at Mindy from the front seat, glancing curiously between them. "It would totally destroy any street cred I might have." He turned to face the front again.

She leaned forward to give Rishi a piece of her mind, placing her hand on Danny's knee for support. "Excuse me? I do not look like your babysitter. For all they know I'm a groupie. Not that I would ever be a groupie for anyone, but I totally look the part right now. Hot and young."

Rishi's friend, Javi, paused momentarily at a stop light and glanced back at her. "Rish, I'm gonna have to agree with your sister. She's quite a little piece tonight." He gave her a suggestive look, one eyebrow raised, before turning his attention back to the road and accelerating again.

When Danny and Mindy had met Rishi and Javier on the street, Rishi's friend had given her an appreciative once over before leading the way to the clown sized car. Danny had felt his nostrils flare as a wave of discomfort pass through him. He had drawn closer to her, placing his hand on the small of her back as she climbed into the vehicle.

Now, he felt his jaw tense. He opened his mouth, but before he could say anything, Mindy piped up. "Ok. Slightly misogynistic there. I'm not a 'piece' of anything. I'm successful woman, but the sentiment is appreciated. Rishi's been messing with me today, and it's really annoying." She leaned farther forward, sliding her hand off Danny's knee and placing it on the back of the front seat. "He actually paid a waitress to refer to me as his mother today."

Danny felt the corner of his mouth twitch, but suppressed the amusement bubbling up inside of him. Rishi, however, was not as successful. He burst into laughter. "Hey, you insist on acting like my mother... Oh, man. The look on her face." He pulled his phone out and passed it to Danny.

Mindy frowned and tried to intercept it. Danny snatched it from Rishi before she could grab it, holding her at bay while he looked at the screen. He did laugh this time. She reached across him, almost climbing into his lap to get to his outstretched hand. "Give me that so I can delete it!"

Rishi reached over the seat to retrieve his phone. "It wouldn't matter anyway. I tweeted that right after I took it." He turned back to Danny, gesturing to Mindy with his free hand. "And that's nothing. You should have seen her face when the waitress asked if she was pregnant. I would have taken a picture of that too if I didn't think she would've murdered me." He grinned broadly turned his attention back to his phone.

Mindy slowly eased back from Danny's lap and settled back into the seat. Danny's mirth evaporated when he saw how withdrawn she'd suddenly become. She had crossed her arms and was staring out the window. He glanced back and forth between brother and sister, settling on Rishi. "Well, I mean, that's odd. You paid the waitress say that too, why?"

Without looking up from his phone, Rishi replied, "Nah, she was stress gagging over me going to this thing tonight." He glanced at Mindy. "Drama queen. The waitress thought it was pregnancy nausea."

Mindy's head snapped back toward Rishi at the 'drama queen' comment. "Stress gagging is a physiological response to undue anxiety, and it happens to run in our family. I've seen you do it often enough." She blew out a puff of air, shifting a lock of hair.

Danny had been looking at her since Rishi had answered his question. An odd expression settled across his features. He knew why she'd been upset by the waitress's comments, and he felt guilty. He'd been the one in the past to make her question whether or not she would ever have kids. He'd pointed out the ticking of her biological clock. It had been a defense mechanism, but he'd still done it, and he felt like an ass.

Rishi's attention had shifted to Javi. They were discussing flow and rhythm in relation to subject matter as if it were precision surgery.

Danny reached across and placed his hand at her elbow, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "Relax, Lahiri, he's just pushing your buttons." He gave her a lopsided smile when she turned to him.

She uncrossed her arms and grudgingly returned the smile. "No surprise that you recognize when someone's pushing my buttons." She narrowed her eyes. "Since you're usually the one doing it."

He gave her arm another squeeze and lowered his voice slightly. "I don't know, you seem to like it when I push your buttons." Her eyes widened, and a pleasure elicited by her reaction coursed through his limbs.

They stared at each other, in a weird suspended state. A dramatic throat clearing broke the quiet moment. They both turned to the front to see Rishi's reflection in the rearview mirror looking back at them. "We're here."

The car had rolled to a stop, Javi had gotten out and Rishi was looking back at them awkwardly. "Are you two–"

Danny cut him off. "So, yeah. We'll hang back while you schmooze with the rap moguls and whatnot. I'll do my best to keep Mindy from embarrassing you." Danny pushed the driver's seat out of the way and climbed out of the little car.

Mindy followed close behind. "And I'll keep Danny from scaring all the young people away with obscure references to old movies no one watches."

Danny shoved her gently. "Hey, The Godfather is not an old movie no one watches." They walked side by side behind Rishi, a subdued smile tugging at the corner of Danny's mouth.

Rishi eyed them suspiciously. "Sure." He slowly turned and followed after Javi, a thoughtful expression spreading across his face.