So why did she have the irrational urge to run after him?
Because you’re a glutton for punishment.
* * *
Two beers in and the heavy weight in Daniel’s gut hadn’t shifted. He was slumped in Johansson’s deep leather sofa, head back over the curve, eyes unseeing on the ceiling. All he could see was Zara’s face, her eyes as she’d expressed her disgust over him, his life.
‘If I’d known you’d be in such great spirits, I would have said to hell with the press and let’s go out-out.’
He sent his friend a look.
‘Jeez, don’t give me the puppy-dog eyes,’ Johansson said, taking a swig from his bottle and pushing off the sofa. ‘Another?’
Daniel tilted his bottle back and fore, eyeing the drop left. ‘Sure.’
‘God, you even sound broken,’ he said. ‘I thought this was supposed to be a let’s cheer Johansson up evening, not the other way around.’
‘Ah, hell, I’m sorry.’ He dropped forward to rest his elbows on his knees, his eyes on his bottle, his mind still on her disdain-filled face. ‘It’s just the way she looked at me. I can’t get it out of my head.’
‘Yeah, you’ve said that, at least three times already.’ The guy actually had the audacity to grin as he strode across the open living space and into the kitchen. ‘She’s really got under your skin.’
‘You don’t have to sound so pleased about it.’
‘Don’t I?’ Johansson said, dropping his empty on the side and pulling open the sleek black fridge. He extracted two bottles, the glass chinking together, and swung the door closed again, his eyes coming back to Daniel, alive with amusement. ‘You’ve been giving women the runaround for years—feels like payback to me.’
Daniel scoffed. ‘Nice to have you onside, old friend.’
Johansson laughed as he popped open each bottle and headed back towards him. ‘Hey, I’m just speaking the truth. I love you, man, but seriously, it’s time you were treated to your own medicine.’
‘Right, fuck it, we’re going out.’ He chucked back the remnants of his current drink and stood with new-found determination. ‘I’m not listening to this skit.’
‘Sit,’ his friend said, thrusting the fresh bottle at him. ‘I was kidding. Going out is the last thing either of us need.’
‘You reckon? Because I could sure as hell do with burying this unpleasantness in a woman far less concerned with my reputation and all about the fun I can deliver.’
Johansson shook his head, inhaling slowly as he considered him. ‘I’ll make you a deal—you’re still like this after this drink, then we’ll head out.’
* * *
Still like it. Hell, Daniel was still like it several bottles and two bars later.
Nothing could dissuade him from her, no amount of blonde, brunette, short or tall, nothing was working for him.
‘Come, Danny,’ the redhead purred as she curved her body into his side, ‘I think your friend and mine look too at home to have us cramping their fun.’
He sipped his drink and disengaged his fingers from between the bar edge and her over-zealous hip bone, flexing them to regain some feeling. He should’ve discouraged her by now, done something to get rid, but he hadn’t had the inclination to do that either. He didn’t like this sudden obsession with one woman. It wasn’t him. And it sure as hell wasn’t convenient.
She shifted into his eyeline, pouting up at him. ‘So, Danny, what say we head back to mine?’
He grated his teeth together—her Danny was doing overtime on his nerves. He looked to Johansson and met the guy’s desperately pleading ‘Help me’ gaze over the honey-blonde seemingly intent on devouring his entire neck. It would have been funny if the cause of their discomfort weren’t so troubling.
Troubling for D
aniel. Not so troubling for Johansson. It was good to see him out of place in surroundings and company such as this. This had been their norm for years, when they weren’t working their asses off, that was. And it was still Daniel’s go-to on a night off. But he couldn’t settle. Neither of them could. His friend’s reasoning was solid: he’d met the right woman for him, and the sooner his sister and Johansson could get past whatever nonsense kept them apart, the better.
But for Daniel, his reasoning made no sense. He barely knew the woman, and he’d been ordered out of her life for good. Maybe that was the problem. He didn’t take orders from anyone, least of all his liten syster who, as much as he loved her, had no hold over him.
And he got Zara’s upset over his past, he really did, but he also knew she wanted him and he wasn’t letting go of that. He just needed to come up with a plan that ensured she couldn’t escape him so easily.