John inwardly nodded. That was his cue. There was no way that Richie was actually catching a cab. The two of them were MetroCard people. Which meant that Richie was going to get on the train at 1:00 a.m. alone, and John didn’t like that. Richie was thin and trendy in his tailored suits and had been pushed around on the train before. But never when John was with him. Which was why John stretched, finished the glass of water that Mary had presented him with a few minutes earlier and rose to his feet along with Richie.

“I’ll share with you,” John said with a yawn.

Richie looked mildly surprised, as did Tyler and Sebastian, but John ignored all three of them and just went to put his cup in the dishwasher. When he turned, he was alone in the kitchen with Mary, who was standing a few feet away, her back against her countertops.

She was worrying her bottom lip between her shiny, white teeth, and her eyes were stuck somewhere around the top button of his shirt. Her body language spoke of nerves and uncertainty, but it was nothing like she’d been with Doug in the bar. Everything about the hands she fluttered around the skirt of her dress and the skate of her hair over her shoulders said I like this.

“I’m gonna head out,” he told her unnecessarily, considering he’d just announced the same thing to the entire living room. I want to stay, his eyes said.

“I guess it’s getting pretty late,” she replied. What just happened between us at the bar? her eyes said back.

“Crazy night, huh?” I don’t know, but I liked it.

“The good kind of crazy.” The strap of her sundress fell over one shoulder and John reached forward to slip it back up her arm. He took longer than strictly necessary, smoothing it over her soft skin with his heavy fingers.

The voices in the other room crescendoed into a playful argument, and once again, they were reminded that they weren’t alone.

She frowned. “I needed a good kind of crazy night, to be honest. I’m going to visit my parents tomorrow afternoon through Monday, and I’ll need all the fortification I can get.”

“I wish you didn’t have to dread going there so much,” he said in a low voice. I wish I could come with you, his eyes said.

“I know,” she said softly. God, me too, her eyes said back.

He smoothed the strap of her sundress one more time, and Mary quickly rose on her toes to kiss his cheek. She placed her hand in the middle of his chest to steady herself and John knew instinctively that she was seeking his heartbeat again, the way she had when they’d been dancing.

Little did she know that she didn’t have to hunt it down, that it was already hers.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN