“No scaring me like that again.” Sitting on the wide arm of my wooden lounger, Danny poked me in the chest.
Duncan laughed as I hauled Danny and the dog into my lap, then turned more serious. “I heard the kid is likely to take a plea deal. Now your life can get back to normal.”
“What even is normal anyway?” Danny wiggled around, settling himself and Linus more securely against me. “Maybe I’m done trying to be normal. I’m going to try enjoying being Danny Love.”
“That means back to acting?” Duncan groaned, not even trying to hide his disapproval.
“Hey, if he wants—” I started to stick up for Danny, but he raised a hand to hold me off.
“God, no. Everyone calm down. I mean, for the first time, the only person I want to be is me.”
“Who you are is pretty amazing.” Not particularly caring about our audience, I held him closer.
“Aw. That’s sweet.” Harley laughed like we were an interesting exhibit at a zoo.
“You should have that friend of yours write a song about you two,” Duncan teased Danny.
“Ezra?” Danny shifted around until he came up with his phone, holding it out to Duncan. “He sent me a birthday greeting on my new phone.”
“Whoa. Warn a dude.” Duncan gave a comical triple-take as Danny showed off a picture of a shirtless singer I vaguely recognized from media coverage sitting on a bed, covers pooled in his lap.
“Your friend sent you a shirtless selfie for your birthday?” I didn’t do a very good job of hiding my jealousy, and everyone laughed, including Danny.
“No, it’s a snippet of his latest song. Duncan’s right. I should ask him to write one about us.”
“You should.” I settled back down. Funny, but I kind of liked that idea. I’d never been someone to appreciate an epic ballad before, but now that I had my own, I finally understood the appeal of love stories.
“Money Erwin all domesticated.” Harley shook his head. “Never thought I’d see the day.”
“Me either,” I admitted. “But I like it.”
I dropped my gaze to meet Danny’s. As soon as these guests were gone, I was going to show him exactly how much I appreciated him. It might be his birthday, but I was the one who’d received the best gift.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Danny
“That was a good party.” I smiled at Cash around my armful of trash. There was something sweet about handling the post-party cleanup ourselves. Domestic like Harley had been teasing Cash about. “Is it weird if I say this was my favorite birthday ever?”
“Nah. It means Duncan and I did good.” He smiled back as he returned from stashing the leftovers in the kitchen.
“You got me Linus. And you.” Those were definitely my favorite presents ever. And right as I was about to prove it by kissing Cash, Linus leaped up from his spot on a pool lounger. He barked, but there was no sign of a drone or other threat, just a random pool noodle floating in the twilight breeze. But apparently, that warranted a full-on attack with lots of growling and pacing in front of the pool that had both of us laughing right up until Linus launched himself into the water.
“Oh my God! Can his breeds even swim?” I barely had the time to wail before Cash was running from the table area to the pool, ball cap flying off as he ran.
“On it.” He kicked off his shoes mid-stride, then dove in, the smoothest, prettiest dive I’d ever seen, especially from a big guy. Oh right. Cash was a SEAL. I forgot sometimes, but watching him in rescue mode, there was no mistaking his competence. He swam out to the center of the deep end where, sure enough, Linus was doing a valiant doggie paddle.
“He swims,” Cash observed dryly. “But you still might want a canine life jacket if he’s gonna go all Baywatch without warning.”
“I’ll order one,” I promised, scooping Linus up when Cash handed him to me and toweling him off.
“My hero.” I faked a hand-over-heart swoon to make Cash laugh. I liked watching him swim around, clearly at home in the water. “How is this the first time I’ve seen you swim?”
“Dunno.” He grinned. “Maybe because I just got the all-clear from the doc to swim again?” He motioned to the waterproof bandage on his arm. “Or maybe it’s that whole hasn’t been a full month thing.”
“But what a month.” I grinned back, putting the dog aside to lean down to the pool's edge and flick water at Cash.
“Join me?” He switched to floating on his back. He’d lost his shirt at some point, and he was so sexy in the water that I ached with wanting him. I removed my own shoes and shirt in short order.
“I can’t dive,” I admitted as I lowered myself into the water, which was the perfect temperature for California spring, warmer than the air but not bathtub hot.