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“I wouldn’t call my mom driven.” Danny leaned over to fasten her seat belt for her, reminding her that the luxurious leather chairs weren’t just for looks and that she and Danny were still suspended over the Atlantic for this trip. “She’s the real rock beneath dad’s ambition, the glue that holds the whole thing together. My father is a scrapper who came from a poor family, and he was sort of blown away when he met my mom as a teenager. They eloped when her parents didn’t approve of him. I’m pretty sure he’s been trying to impress her for the last thirty-some years by growing a global business out of nothing more than ingenuity and hard work.”
“Oh, my God. That’s so romantic.” She hugged her arms around herself and turned to face him, tucking her legs beneath her so that her skirt fell over the edge of the chair. “I can’t imagine being so swept away by love that you just turn your back on everything else to pursue it.”
“No?” Danny frowned, his expression turning pensive. “I guess I never thought about how well that worked out for them. They didn’t hesitate. Didn’t wait around for the perfect opportunity.”
She thought he might explain what he was thinking, but he settled back and seemed lost in his own world until the pilot announced they should be past the turbulence in another few minutes.
Closing her eyes while she waited for the wobbling airplane to still, Stephanie hoped that this would be the only bumpy ride they took while Danny was home for the next few weeks. Their time together was too short to waste a single moment.
* * *
DANNY FORGOT ALL ABOUT the turbulence, thinking about the way his dad had acted without delay to be with the woman he loved. For some reason, Danny had always assumed that times were simpler back then and that the path to eloping had been more clear-cut because it was the 1970s. But that was the era of the sexual revolution. Women’s rights. Maybe it hadn’t been easy at all and Dad had pulled it off because Mom was just that damn important to him.
Weird to think about that now, as an adult, with a different perspective from when he’d heard the story as a kid. The elopement had always been just another scrap of Murphy family lore. Now? Danny admired the hell out of his dad for knowing what he wanted and going after it.
Danny had known Stephanie was special five years ago. So why had he been content to let her go with a wave and a grin after the incredible five days they’d spent together? Sure, he’d figured he’d call her when she came back home, but he’d let her slip through his fingers, leaving her vulnerable to...
Crap. The old guilt resurfaced with a vengeance. Especially considering how they’d left things at the time....
* * *
STEPHANIE LAY BESIDE him after they’d hit the high note for the fourth time that day. Or was it the fifth?
Depended on if you counted what they’d done in the shower near her condo’s pool. They’d been so close to finishing when they’d heard voices outside.
“I can’t believe I have to leave in two days.” She sighed as she pulled the female superhero sheets up to her chin.
Her furnishings were the eclectic mix of a graduate student. A glitzy, mirrored chest of drawers was covered in old-fashioned crystal perfume bottles, and framed prints of old movie posters were surrounded by ticket stubs from local shows. Of course, Stephanie was a dichotomy, too. Sexy and sensual, but down-to-earth and completely unpretentious. He couldn’t believe he hadn’t left her place since he’d arrived three days ago.
He was ignoring all his calls and had missed a practice with the band. But who wouldn’t if they had a chance with her?
“I wish it was me who was going,” he admitted, sharing a wish he’d never told anyone else.
“Seriously?” She propped her head on her hand, balanced on one elbow. The red piece of licorice he’d tied around her wrist like a bracelet earlier slid down her arm and he looked forward to eating it off her soon. “You wouldn’t mind heading into a war zone?”
His gut tightened when he thought of her over there. “I’ve always figured it would be cool to serve. You know that old parable about to him much is given, much is expected?” He shrugged, not sure how to explain it any better than that. “I’ve been given a hell of a lot.”
Her blue eyes turned thoughtful. More serious than usual. “I just want to get away. Christina was looking for volunteers and I jumped. I thought I’d never win the slot to film her interviews, but it turns out that most people at the news magazine where I intern have families. None of them wanted to go overseas. So the next thing I knew, the job was mine.”
