Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
“Couldn’t find maple syrup in the shop yesterday,” he added as he returned the fry pan to the stove after flipping the pancakes onto a plate, “but I did snag fresh preserves and a bottle of cream. I’ve whipped it up, chopped up a bit of fruit to go with it, and ta-da.” He came to the table with a pan on which sat caramelized bananas.
“You’re gonna get so lucky,” Catie said and grabbed a seat. “Lucky out the wazoo.”
Laughing, Danny put down the bananas, then undid the apron while Catie began to dish up plates for both of them.
“Can you put a spoonful of sugar in my coffee?” she asked. “Don’t tell my coach.”
“It’s our secret.” Seated across from her, he doctored her coffee as she’d requested.
The small table was drenched in sunshine, and it struck her then how very good he looked in the sun. A young god in the prime of his life. And the emotion in his beautiful eyes when he glanced up and caught her staring…
Unable to breathe, she looked away, began to fuss with her pancakes. Then the beauty of what he’d created hit her, and she wasn’t fussing anymore. She was biting off pieces and eating.
The sounds she made were more moans than words.
Danny’s smile grew darker, more intense, but he didn’t interrupt her food lovefest until after she was done.
“I can’t believe you managed that with the few ingredients we picked up yesterday.” She patted her stomach. “I’ll have to watch the food belly when we live together.”
She didn’t even realize what she’d said until his eyes burned hot.
“Trust me, I’ll make sure you exercise it off.”
She might’ve panicked had he pushed at her inadvertent slip, but he let it go with that.
The idea of living with him lingered.
And Catie realized she wasn’t against it.
She gulped. “More coffee.”
“Yes, Your Highness,” he said with a grin. “So what do you want to do today? I have our list of things we looked up and that electronic portfolio you made up.”
Catie parted her lips, went to say they could go down the list. Then hesitated. Because this was Danny. Easygoing Danny who didn’t often ask for anything. “How about you choose,” she said. “Let’s treat this as the start of your travel adventure.”
“Yeah?” Danny’s smile went lopsided. “In that case, we could just wander the streets of Old Beijing. I really like looking at the old buildings and checking out the little shops—we can explore until we get a little lost.”
“You want to get lost on purpose?” Catie took a fortifying gulp of coffee. “Come on then, let us go horrify ourselves.”
Laughing, Danny rose with her and wrapped her up in a hug, big and warm and of home. That’s what Danny felt like, she realized with a lump in her throat. Home.
32
LOST IN BEIJING
Catie was ready to get off her prostheses by the time they wandered into a tiny little restaurant down what might’ve been a dark alleyway if everyone hadn’t been awake and energetic and going about their business. Just a few minutes earlier, they’d walked past a small square where a group of elderly people had been flowing into the graceful forms of tai chi.
“I thought New York was the city that never slept,” she said as a harried member of the waitstaff waved them to an open table in the narrow place filled with the smells of soy sauce, ginger, and things fresh and green.
“Yeah, looks like Beijing didn’t get that memo,” Danny said, stretching before he took a seat.
She saw three women at the table next to theirs give him surreptitious looks before whispering to each other with smiles on their faces. The kind of smiles that needed no translation: they said that dude was hot. A moment later, two of the women looked at Catie—who’d worn shorts today—then back at Danny, and put their heads together again.
“Why are you rolling your eyes?” an oblivious Danny said as he grabbed his seat.
“No reason.” If there was one thing growing up an amputee had taught her, it was that shallow people were shallow. There was no great mystery. That’s who they were and that’s who they’d always be. She was never going to tie herself in knots because a few strangers had decided she wasn’t up to Danny’s level.
She’d never understood what that even meant. People were either into each other or they weren’t. And Danny was into her. She knew that beyond any doubt—because he’d made sure she had no doubts.
“You’re pretty amazing, you know that?” she said softly.
A sudden heat in his cheeks, but his grin widened. “Well, I try not to toot my own horn, but…” Brushing his nails against his T-shirt, he then lifted them to his mouth and blew them off.
Laughing because that hadn’t been so hard, or so scary, she nodded at the menu. “You figure it out?”