After deciding to block those fifty-two minutes from her memory, she gave up and returned to Danny’s side only to discover that there was a two-hour delay. For the next hour and a half she’d contemplated returning to the bathroom, but the incident that she’d blocked from her memory had kept her butt firmly planted in the hard plastic chair where she’d tried to ignore the stares and glares.

The only one who hadn’t seemed interested in her was Dr. Bradford. He’d sat off to the side, reading or watching the planes take off and land. His children and wife left him alone for the most part. The only time he’d acknowledged any of them was when his wife or one of his children spoke directly to him. He’d smile at his wife or chuckle at something that one of his children said, except if Danny spoke that is. Dr. Bradford seemed completely oblivious to his oldest son.

“We’ll see them at dinner and at the parks,” he explained as he leaned down and brushed his lips softly against hers. “Besides,” he whispered softly against her lips, “if my mother was here we wouldn’t be able to get away with sharing a room.”

“And your mother was fine with us staying at a different hotel?” she asked, deciding that pretending that his mother wasn’t aware of all the naughty things they did was for the best.

“No,” he said, shooting her a wink as he stepped up to the front desk and handed over his ID and credit card.

“That would explain why she hasn’t stopped calling since we got in the taxi.”

“Or texting me,” he said, looking down at his phone with a rueful shake of his head.

“She’s going to make you pay for this later. You do realize that, don’t you?” she said, knowing his mother well enough by now to guess that the older woman wasn’t going to take this lying down.

*-*-*-*

“Are you tired?” he asked, running his fingers down her spine.

“No,” she mumbled with a sleepy little sigh that had him smiling.

“Liar,” he whispered, pressing a kiss against her bare shoulder.

“Just give me five minutes and we can go,” she muttered into her pillow.

“How about this?” he suggested, pressing another kiss against her bare shoulder, savoring the fresh scent of her skin from her recent shower. “Why don’t we take a nap, then grab a late dinner and end the night with a midnight swim in the pool?”

“Sounds heavenly,” she mumbled with a sleepy little smile, “but what about your family? Aren’t we supposed to meet them for dinner?”

“Already taken care of,” he said, pressing another kiss against her bare shoulder as he moved to stand up. “I sent Aidan a text and told him that we weren’t going to make it tonight.”

“You should go,” she said, curling up on her side. “I’ll be okay.”

He let his gaze run over her naked form, taking in her beautiful back, the curve of her hip and bottom and her shapely legs and tugged his shirt off. “I’m staying,” he said, toeing off his shoes as he worked the fly of his pants.

“Your mother will be mad,” she mumbled, sounding seconds from falling asleep.

“Probably,” he said with a soft chuckle as he shoved his pants and boxers down. “But she’ll get over it. Besides,” he said, crawling on the bed behind her, “she’s going to have her hands full tonight with my brothers and father.”

“Probably,” she agreed with a soft chuckle that ended on a sigh as he wrapped his arm around her and pulled her closer. “Don’t let me oversleep.”

“I’ll wake you up in a couple of hours.”

“You promise?”

“I promise,” he said, pressing a kiss against her bare shoulder as he closed his eyes, imagining all the ways that he could wake her up and settling on his favorite as he drifted off.

*-*-*-*

“Oh, God!”

“It’s time to wake up, sweetheart,” Danny murmured as he slowly ran the tip of his tongue over her slit.

No matter how many times he woke her up like this, and he did this a lot, she didn’t think she’d ever get used to it. For the past month he’d shown her just how good a man’s touch could be. She hadn’t thought it was possible, but he’d managed to destroy every insecurity that Jerry had helped create. He made her feel beautiful, sexy and desirable. She loved the way he looked at her, the way he touched her and made her body feel.

“You ready to fly, Tinkerbelle?” he asked in that low deep voice that made her toes curl as he gently parted her lips with his fingertips.

“Getting close,” she moaned softly as she ran her fingers through his short hair, encouraging him to continue.

She gasped as she felt his tongue tease her core. “You are so damn sweet,” he growled as he slowly licked her. “I could lick you for hours.”

He wasn’t lying. She’d learned that very quickly weeks ago. She never knew a man could enjoy the act so much before, but Danny did. He seemed to love nothing more than pulling down her panties and burying his face between her legs. It didn’t matter if they were in her new office at the library, in the laundry room, in his truck, kitchen, living room, or shower, if there was no one around, he took advantage.

She loved it, more than she ever thought possible, but sometimes like now she wanted more, needed more. As much as she wanted to ask him to stop teasing her and finally make love to her, she knew better. It didn’t matter what she said or how much she begged him, he wouldn’t make love to her. He was determined to take this slowly even if it killed them, and at times like this she was pretty sure that she was capable of killing the bastard.