9 1/2 Days by Mia Zachary

arrangements while Matt went to check them in.
    Keisha sent Jordan a mischievous look then smiled at her mother. “I was just about to ask David to recommend someplace we could all go for dinner and maybe dancing afterward.”
    Over her dead body. Jordan wasn’t about to spend the evening having to watch Miss Thing wiggle her little butt all over her “fiancé.” Aunt Celeste saved her from being the one to protest.
    “Not tonight, darling. It’s been a long day and I think your father just wants to go up to the suite.”
    Keisha widened her smile. “That’s okay. Now we can go on our own and not worry about how late we get back.”
    Danny stepped closer to Jordan and shook his head. “Sorry, but we already have plans, don’t we, baby?”
    Jordan found herself oddly comforted when he draped his arm across her shoulders. The heat of his body penetrated her side despite the cold air wafting through the lobby. But that didn’t let him off the hook. She batted her eyelashes and cooed at him as he kissed her cheek.
    “Yes, we do. I’m sure you can find some other way to entertain yourself, Keisha.”
    When Uncle Matt came over from the reception desk, they said their goodbyes and followed the porter toward the bank of elevators. As soon as her family was out of earshot, Jordan shrugged out from under Danny’s arm.
    “What in the world do you think you’re doing, ‘David’?”
    Danny looked around and lowered his voice. “Can we go somewhere and talk about this?”
    “Fine, Shula’s Steak House is right there across the lobby.”
    “No, I think we need more privacy. Let’s go to my place. It’s in Mount Vernon.”
    Jordan hesitated for a second then realized she’d be perfectly safe with him. “Okay. I’ll follow you.”
    After retrieving her car from the valet, she followed Danny’s Jeep along Baltimore Street then turned left on Charles. For the next eight blocks, she tried to sort out the reasons for her eagerness and anxiety. She had no idea what had possessed Danny to pretend to be his brother, nor was she certain of what he might ask for in return, but she appreciated it.
    She grinned, remembering the look of jealousy on Keisha’s face back at the hotel.
    But now she was going to be alone with Danny, knowing for the first time who he was and exactly how much he turned her on. Though her mind was determined to doing nothing more than talk, her body was already singing the “Hallelujah Chorus.” Maybe she wasn’t so safe with him after all.
    At Center Street, the traffic light changed and she took the opportunity to gaze at Mount Vernon Place. In the middle of the four gardenlike squares filled with fountains and statuary stood a 160-foot white marble column. This was the first monument dedicated to President Washington, completed nineteen years before the one in D.C.
    When the light changed to green, she drove past the Walters Art Museum and glanced appreciatively over at the Peabody Conservatory of Music across the street. Jordan followed Danny’s Jeep to Madison Street and turned left. He parked in front of one of the extravagantly detailed row homes and waited for her.
    As she got out of the Honda, she looked around at the elegant neighborhood. A National Register Historic District, Mount Vernon was an eclectic mix of Georgian-and Federal-style house built between the late eighteenth and early twentieth centuries.
    “Nice area. How can a fireman afford to live here?” While Danny punched in the code for the entrance, she couldn’t help but smile at how incongruous the modern-day keypad looked on a traditional leaded-glass front door.
    “Most of these places have been divided into apartments, so it’s not as expensive as you think.” He held the door for her then stepped inside. “But I still couldn’t afford it without the trust.”
    “The what?” Jordan turned away from admiring the inlaid floor and paneled walls to look at him.
    Danny scratched his head, his expression