“Thanks,” he said, pulling out two twenties before he tossed the wallet back to his brother.

“Danny!”

He ignored his brother and returned to the small hotel store and grabbed a couple bottles of water, a few protein bars and a couple of cereal bars for Jodi and headed back to the small counter. He placed the items on the counter and stood there, waiting impatiently for the clerk to finish with the couple that she was checking in so that he could pay and get upstairs to Jodi.

“What the hell are you doing?” Aidan asked, coming over to stand next to him while he glared at the bastard asking the clerk about the shuttle service to the parks.

“Getting supplies,” he said, glancing back at the small store, wondering if he should buy Jodi that overpriced stuffed teddy bear and box of chocolates. After a minute he decided that it couldn’t hurt. He grabbed the bear and chocolate, ignoring his brother’s questioning look and placed them on the counter, and returned to glaring at the annoying bastard holding the clerk up.

“Supplies?” his brother murmured with a cocked brow as he picked up the teddy bear.

With an annoyed sigh, he grabbed the teddy bear away from his brother and placed it back on the counter. “Supplies,” he said tightly, glaring at the bastard now asking the hotel clerk about brochures.

“We’re supposed to be on a family trip,” Aidan said quietly as he leaned against the counter.

“Don’t start,” he said, drumming his fingers against the marble countertop as he waited for the bastard to hurry up.

“Mom’s upset.”

“No, she’s not,” he said, knowing his mother well enough to know that if she was upset she would have come here to tell him instead of sending Aidan to do her dirty work. His mother didn’t work like that. She didn’t use messengers or guilt. If she had something to say, she said it.

“Fine. We’re all worried about you,” Aidan said, toying with the teddy bear’s foot.

“There’s nothing to worry about,” he said, wondering just how many fucking questions one man could have about brochures.

“Really? Then explain why you’ve been skipping family dinners lately, why you don’t return phone calls and why none of us have been able to get a hold of you in the past two days.”

“Because I have a girlfriend now, asshole. I haven’t been going to dinner every other night because I spend most nights with her now. I don’t return all of your phone calls, because I don’t have that kind of time. You assholes call me at all hours of the day with whatever bullshit excuse you can come up with to check up on me. I’m fine, more than fine and as soon as you assholes realize that things will be even better.”

Aidan sighed, “We’re just worried about you.”

“There’s nothing to worry about. I’m fine.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” Aidan said with a chuckle when the hotel clerk picked up the boxes of condoms with a smile and placed them on the counter.

“Would you like these items as well?” she asked, gesturing to the items on the counter.

He nodded, struggling not to think about what was waiting for him upstairs. With a smile and a slight nod, she began scanning all the items as he stood there, shifting anxiously.

“That will be $52.37,” she said, looking up at him expectantly.

With a nod, he grabbed the bags and gestured to his brother. “He’s got it.”

He ignored his brother’s muttered, “Greedy bastard,” and headed towards the elevator doors. Five minutes later he was standing outside their hotel room, searching for a card that he didn’t have and constantly adjusting his pants trying to make his erection behave. Finally after a minute, he gave up and knocked on the door, rather urgently.

He damn near sighed with relief when the door finally opened and his little Tinkerbelle stood there, wearing nothing but a towel and-

*-*-*-*

Gasped as Danny practically tackled her and took her to the floor, dropping the bag he’d been holding in the process. He took her mouth as he blindly kicked back, finally managing to kick the door shut behind them.

“Are you sure?” he asked, ripping her towel away.

She opened her mouth to tell him yes, but the word was drowned out by a loud moan when Danny suddenly wrapped his lips around her nipple and gently suckled. He forced another moan from her lips when he slid a finger inside her.

“Oh, God!” she gasped as he thrust his finger inside her.

“I can’t wait to be inside you,” he growled around her nipple as he shifted between her legs until he was kneeling.

With his free hand he reached down and ripped open his pants while she ran her fingers through his hair and over his back, encouraging him. She couldn’t believe this was finally happening. She was finally going to make love with the man that she-

Okay, now was not the time to think about that. She wasn’t going to think about how she felt about him, how much she loved being with him, seeing him or how just hearing his voice made it easier to get through her day when all she wanted to do was crawl back into bed and stay there. He’d gone from being the worst part of her day to being the best part in a very short amount of time.

For months she’d been fantasizing about just how good it would feel to have him slide inside her, how it would feel to have a man that actually cared about her make love to her. With Jerry it had been cold, awkward, uncomfortable and for the most part, she hadn’t really felt much other than him jostling on top of her. When he’d finished, he’d left her feeling used, dirty and just…..

Alone and miserable.

Danny had never made her feel that way. It didn’t matter if he fell asleep sitting on the couch by her side with his arm thrown over her shoulders or he was holding her after he’d made her scream until just the thought of talking hurt her throat, he never made her feel like she was worthless. With him, she felt safe, happy and wanted. With Danny, she knew that he wanted her more than-

“We shouldn’t be doing this,” he said as he shifted to her other nipple and pulled it between his lips before he abruptly released it and moved up her body so that he could look down at her as he slid a second finger inside her.

“Why not?” she managed to ask, spreading her legs further apart and licking her lips as he slowly moved his fingers inside her.

“Because I have a game plan,” he said tightly, the muscles in his neck straining as he removed his hand and settled on top of her, earning a startled moan from her when the move nestled his hard erection against her slit.

“Game plan?” she said, trying to focus, but it was an impossible job with the way that he was pressing down on her. She licked her lips, realizing that she could feel just how hard he really was. He felt so good as he subtly rocked against her.

“Mmmhmm,” he murmured seductively as he leaned down to trace her jaw with teasing little kisses. “I’d planned on waiting another month or two so that I could plan the perfect evening.”

“And what exactly did this perfect evening look like?” she asked, rolling her hips against him, unable to help herself.

“I’ve been putting a lot of thought into it, but I was thinking of a bed and breakfast in the woods, a blanket of snow on the ground, a romantic sleigh ride under the stars,” he whispered, briefly brushing his lips against hers before he continued kissing his way back to her jaw, “wine in front of the fire, a bubble bath before I laid you on the bed and made love to you all night.”