Catie got it; she’d been chased by her share of fame hounds—in her case, it could get even grosser. Because too many times, said hounds were “willing” to date an amputee to get their shot at the spotlight. As if she wouldn’t kick their loser asses out the door if they came anywhere near her.

“Still,” she said, “your shtick is that you don’t break women’s hearts or roll out of clubs at three in the morning.” No woman in Danny’s orbit ever had anything bad to say about him.

“My shtick?” Chest rumbling, he grabbed her blanket-covered foot—but didn’t pull or do anything else rough. “Do you just sit around thinking up ways to annoy me?”

“You’re not that interesting, so don’t flatter yourself.” She held out the plate. “More cookies.”

He glared at her but rose to refill her plate. The instant his back was turned, she took a long, shaky breath to calm herself down because the tingle had returned, and it was in her breasts now.

And she was not okay with it.

“I’m only giving you two,” he said. “I don’t want your nutritionist blaming me for your diet.”

“What she doesn’t know won’t hurt her.” Catie’s heart thumped as he walked toward her; she told herself it was just a thing of circumstance. After all, they were literally living a romance novel—snowed in, just the two of them, with him making delicious baked goods.

She’d have to be superhuman to resist.

The tingles would pass with the snowstorm. She just had to make sure not to do anything stupid in the interim—because wow, how horrific would it be to walk it back in the cold light of day? And to know she was just another notch on the bedpost?

A shudder rolled through her.

Yeeeaaaah. Nope, nope, nopety nope.

Taking a small bite of cookie to savor its chocolatey raisin deliciousness, she got back to those notches that had successfully killed the tingles dead. “Shtick or brand or whatever, yours doesn’t involve a parade of bitter women. They should be happy about that. Why are you getting blowback?”

“You know I don’t take dates to awards ceremonies or other formal events. I mean, I took Mum that one time, and that was cool, but apparently the fact I’ve never taken anyone else is starting to be noticed and maybe not in the best way. ‘Commitment issues.’” He curved his fingers into air quotes.

“Why haven’t you?” she asked. “Taken a date to a fancy shindig?”

“Because dates come with expectations.” He grimaced. “Especially a date on a stage that big, and even more because I haven’t done it before. It’s a serious declaration—and I haven’t been with anyone long enough to get anywhere near that point.”