“Should you be mingling more?” She peered back over her shoulder, fearful she might find his parents or his brothers glaring after them. “I feel like I’ve been taking up all your time when your family must want to see you.”
“While this party is technically for my homecoming, my parents haven’t spent much time with Kyle’s or Ax’s new girlfriends, so this party is kind of a welcome to the family for them, too.” Danny paused to stare down into the water. “I also think they have a lot of plans to make for the wedding. And there are a lot of out-of-towners starting to arrive for the festivities, so my folks have to greet them, as well.”
“What about you?” She stayed on the heavy carpet in the center of the pier, which must have been laid down just for the party. “Don’t you have a lot of out-of-towners to greet, too?”
She’d given him some alone time when she’d ducked into the house to talk to Jennifer, but other than that, he’d only really visited with his brothers over dinner.
“Keith and Ryan are the public faces of the family. They enjoy that kind of thing. The rest of us...we pick our moments. I’m sure the dance bit back there will have won me some points with my mom. That counts as entertaining the crowd for a few minutes anyway.”
She peered back toward the house, which was all lit up in white lights, the party in full tilt on the lawn. It was all so gracious and beautiful. For a moment, she could almost see herself being able to fit in here. Certainly, Danny’s family didn’t seem to have the kind of expectations that her mom and dad did, where an offspring was supposed to follow a preordained path.
“I think it’s great that your parents have encouraged their kids to follow their strengths and be their own person.” Her vibrating evening bag reminded her that she’d never be so fortunate.
“There’s still a certain amount of pressure.”
“Really?” It seemed hard to imagine. “You’ve all done such different things.”
Danny shrugged off his jacket and laid it over the back of one wooden chair.
“But you’ll notice we’ve all done them fairly well.” He draped an arm across her shoulders so that they both faced the glittering bright jewel box that was the Murphy home in the darkness. “My father was adamant about hard work and tangible achievement. We were pitched in competition against one another from the time we were old enough to run across the yard. It was about who ran fastest. Who skated the best, sailed the smoothest, threw a ball the farthest.”
“Were there points for who could play the most bitching guitar riff?”
He threw his head back and laughed. “Definitely not.”
“Was that one of the reasons you walked away from the band?” She wasn’t sure what answer she hoped for. Part of her feared he’d stopped playing with his group to enter the military, something that her kidnapping had helped spur. Then again, she hated to think he would have given up his shot at a future in music just because his family didn’t recognize the value in rock and roll.
“Not really.” He turned her toward him in the moonlight, the water lapping up against the dock at their feet. “My priorities simply changed. But the thing about music is that your love of it doesn’t go away just because you don’t become famous. Sometimes it’s enough just to enjoy something you’re good at.”
She wished her mom shared that point of view—that Stephanie didn’t need some highbrow job to be happy and successful. Then again, maybe she hadn’t done enough to show her parents that her photography fulfilled her.
“It doesn’t?” Her voice caught as he stared down at her and it felt like they were all alone in the world. She’d thought she wanted to keep things light, but she wouldn’t trade the intense way he looked at her for anything.
“Nope. You can always find the music again. Pick up right where you left off and savor it.” He skimmed his hands up her arms and along her shoulders. Then, he lifted a palm to cup her chin.
When he kissed her, she could have sworn something melted inside her. Her last reserve, maybe. She wasn’t sure, but it seemed as if she could take a deep breath and let it out again in a way she hadn’t been able to in a very, very long time. She didn’t know where this thing between them was going, but she refused to try to force it into some artificial parameters anymore.
“Danny.” She breathed his name over his lips between kisses, the man becoming her whole world. “I can’t wait to go back to the gatehouse with you.”
The air near the water was cooler now, making her seek the heat that rolled off his body. She gripped his biceps, mindful that their silhouettes would be visible from the house with the candelabra lights behind them. Otherwise, she would have been plastered to him.