Tough Luck (A-List Security 1)

“You are. I know if I were making a movie, I’d want someone like you handling the stunts.” Danny batted his eyes at me, clearly still trying to butter me up about the dog.

“You’re a little biased.” I tickled his side.

“Maybe.” He squirmed against me in a way that made me start thinking of bed, not dinner. “But it’s not all bias. People love you. And look, you got an invitation to the premiere of that show you worked on this summer.”

He pointed at the fridge, which now featured several of his pictures of Linus, me, the two of us, and various outings. A mountain-shaped magnet pinned an old-school embossed invite on thick red paper to the center of the door. It was my first time being invited to one of these deals, although Duncan and Harley had attended several cast and crew parties relating to various gigs.

“I don’t need to go.” I frowned, already picturing the unwanted cameras pointed at Danny. That I’d bring him was a given, and that he’d hate it was also guaranteed.

“You’re going.” Danny poked me in the chest. “Cash. I can handle a couple of hours of being bored at a Hollywood party. I’m not about to return to that lifestyle, especially when I get to go home with the hottest guy there, and we get to come back here to do bedtime yoga.”

“Is that what we’re calling it these days?” I narrowed my eyes at him, both to make him smile and to try to decide whether he was serious. No way did I want to jeopardize his amazing progress, but I also understood that I couldn’t keep him all to myself forever. He was still Danny Love.

“Oh, we can do all the naked fun yoga too.” He grinned at me, bumping our shoulders together. “But I mean it. Trust me to be okay?”

I took a deep breath, buying time by glancing over at the breakfast nook where Linus was grudgingly sharing his throne with Lucy. If the world’s crankiest dog could take a chance on a friendship working out, surely I could take a chance on Danny surviving a party.

“I do trust you.” I captured his head in my hands for a quick kiss. “I just don’t want you miserable. Or returning to the gossip columns you hate so much.”

“I am one hundred percent here for the ‘Danny Love is desperately in love with his hot stunt coordinator boyfriend’ headlines.” He kissed me back, lingering so long I almost forgot my concerns. We’d be okay. He’d be okay. And despite my reservations, I did trust him to tell me if he wasn’t.

“Desperately in love, huh?” I asked, jerking my head back toward the stairs. Maybe we could make it all the way upstairs before the dogs noticed. The house was far less empty these days, pet furniture and yoga spaces and workout equipment combining to make the place into the home Danny had craved. Me too. I hadn’t even realized how much I’d wanted a home like this, someone like this until it happened, until somehow the months sailed by and I was happier than I’d ever been.

“Absolutely in love.” Danny’s eyes were soft as he followed my gaze, then grabbed my hand. “Let the gossip columns talk.”

“It’s a plan.”

It was a good one too. Live our lives, be happy, come home to the dogs and our routine that worked for us. Funny how I’d gone from no plans to a life full of them, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. And the only plan that truly mattered was to keep on loving Danny Love forever.