Page 69 of Cosplay & Consequences

“You okay?” I asked.

“I am now,” he said calmly.

Faye remained quiet with guilt for the rest of the ride. She leaned on Danny the entire time as we walked from the garage to their hotel room. I followed them down the hallway, listening to him talk in calming tones as she sniffled.

Inside the suite, Paige sat on the couch, exhausted and red-eyed. The coffee table was covered in Snickers wrappers. As soon as Faye walked in, they both burst into tears. I stepped back into the hallway to let them sort out the night. As much as I’d grown to love the Finnegan clan, I knew this was a family moment.

Before I could get away, Danny grabbed my arm.

“Where are you going?” he asked, a small smile somehow on his face.

“I thought you might need to broker a peace deal,” I joked.

“They’ll be fine,” Danny assured me. “But I couldn’t let you leave without telling you how grateful I am that you were here tonight. We would have never found her without you.”

My face grew warm, and I could feel that fluttering settle in my chest. “I did what anyone else would have done.”

“Maybe. But Faye means the world to me, and you got her back home safe. I can’t thank you enough.” He leaned over and gave me a kiss on the lips. “Today, you’re my hero.”

“I’m happy I could help,” I said, beaming at him. He pulled me into an embrace and let out a content sigh. I could feel him relaxing into me.

“Not the way I thought my evening would end,” he joked. “Car repairs, karaoke, and a missing fourteen-year-old.”

I pulled back a bit so I could see his face, giving him a sly smile. “Well. It doesn’t have to end that way.”

He raised an eyebrow at me. “Oh? What did you have in mind? More Kismet Sizzle songs?”

I gave him a kiss, my lips lingering over his. I took his hand and led him to the elevator. “Trust me. There won’t be any more singing tonight.”

Danny

Ishould have been exhausted, but my mind kept spinning. Back in Jess’s hotel room, we were snuggled together in bed. She was asleep, and I could feel her soft breathing against my neck. Her arm sprawled across my chest and her leg had slipped across my waist. Her hair brushed up against my cheek, and I enjoyed the citrus and floral scent coming from her. My arm lay under her to hold her close to me.

The light from the TV screen cast a dull blue glow across the room. My favorite character, Angus McDougall of The Scotsman, was wrestling with his inner turmoil between rescuing the woman he loved and saving the world from the Cossack. We discovered the movie playing on cable sometime in the small hours of the morning. Jess had been delighted to find it and snuggled in with me to watch it before dozing off fifteen minutes into the movie.

She stirred beside me, murmuring, “Did I miss it?”

“Miss what?” I asked, as she burrowed in closer to me.

“The Cossack cutting off Salazar’s head,” she mumbled, without opening her eyes.

“That was two commercial breaks ago,” I replied.

She pouted, letting out a small sound of disappointment. “That’s the best part.” She gave me a small kiss on my neck. “Why are you still awake?”

I smiled. “I’m just enjoying the moment.”

Her eyes were still closed, but I could see her lips form a small sleepy smile. “Me too,” she mumbled. Her eyes slowly opened. “Hey.”

I grinned. “Hey. Go back to sleep.”

“I thought of a question,” she said, her hand trailing up my chest. “The BMW. Why do you have something so ancient?”

My grin became tight, the embarrassment burning my cheeks. “It was right after I got the job with Minutes. I purchased it with my first big paycheck… all because I wanted to impress a girl I’d been dating.”

Her interest pulled her out of her drowsiness. “Ohhh?”

“Yeah. We had been dating while I was auditioning for Minutes. She loved beemers. She was crazy about them. So when I got the part, I thought I’d surprise her with a project we could work on together.”