Page 78 of Ghost Note

I blinked at him, a million questions racing through my mind, but Danny just looked at me and offered a reassuring smile. When he held his hand out, I took it. I took it a little too easily, my fight slipping away like there’d never been a fight to begin with.

Danny saluted the driver when the limo came to a stop, and he made his way to the back before he opened a door with a blacked-out window. Spinning me around him with ease, he waved his arm and gestured for me to step inside.

“This huge thing is for us?” I looked over the length of the car that could have fit ten people or more inside. “Seems a little excessive.”

Danny huffed out a sexy as hell laugh. “This doesn’t touch the surface of excessive. Trust me.”

I didn’t like the sound of that, but I ducked down and stepped into the limo anyway. Inside was lit up with subtle lighting, and to the left was a minibar with two wine coolers full of ice and two bottles of bubbly inside each one. It hit me that tonight wasn’t going to be what I thought it was—a quiet night of us talking things through and speaking over old wounds. Tonight, by the looks of things, was going to be about Danny showing me his world.

Slipping into the leather seat at the back, I watched as he closed the door behind him and took his place beside me. His thigh was pressed against mine as he rested a hand on top of it.

“Don’t look so scared, Zee. I’ll take care of you.”

“I’m not doubting that. I’m just… curious.”

“Are you worried I’m about to whisk you on a private jet to another country?”

“I hope not. I haven’t packed my passport.”

With a smile, his eyes searched mine, testing me. “If you had your passport, would you come with me?”

I swallowed, trying to ignore the fluttering of nerves that awoke in my stomach. “Where to?”

“Anywhere.”

The thought of destination unknown being halfway across the world proved too much for my mind to comprehend, and my face must have shown it.

Danny squeezed my thigh, his smile still in place. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to spook you.”

“You always did try to run before you could walk. Now… where are youreallytaking me?”

“When Julia agreed to me staying down here to sort out Gran’s things, there was a condition attached to it. I had to meet them tonight for a gig.”

“Agig? As in…”

“You’re going to see me play tonight,” he said softly, his focus falling to my lips. “Is that okay?”

“I… ah… you mean… Oh. Sure.” I nodded.

His smile lit up his face, making it hard to believe he was the same guy he’d been that first night I’d seen him on the beach, who was so angry, dark, and rough around the edges. His fingers squeezed my thigh, and he shuffled his shoulders and stretched his neck out before he sank back into his seat.

“Are you nervous?” I asked quietly.

“Not about the gig.”

I didn’t know what that meant, but I couldn’t take my eyes off his face.

That sharp jawline had always been impressive, but that look of satisfaction, and that spark I’d always known him for shone brightly tonight. Danny looked… happy.

When I’d been staring too long, he turned to me. “What?”

“Nothing.” I shook my head. “Just… thanks for finally wanting me there to see you play.”

“How did it go?” I asked on the drive home from his very first public performance with the band he’d recently joined. “Were the otherfrogsas nervous as you.”

Danny was sitting in the passenger seat, his body clearly tired. His elbow rested on the window ledge, and he was gnawing on his knuckle in thought. He’d been quiet since he came out of the music event, and I couldn’t work out if that was a good or bad thing.

“Danny?” I prompted, casting him a glance as I drove us down a fairly straight road.

---