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When she didn’t speak, he continued, “This afternoon I realized I’d messed up.” He paused. “No, I’d like to say I realized it on my own, but I told Gemma, boneheadedly expecting she’d clap me on the back for doing the right thing.”
Daphne had to bite back the smallest smile. “She didn’t.”
“She blasted me. I saw what I’d really done, so I called, but understandably you didn’t want to hear from me, so I went to the event, only to find I couldn’t sneak in and talk to you. I made it to the event area just as you began. I heard you say I was sick, so I rode to your rescue… when you didn’t need rescuing.”
“I really didn’t, Chris,” she said softly. “I know I looked like a stammering mess, but I was going to tell the truth. You should have gotten my attention so we could talk.”
“I know.” He slumped so dramatically that, in anyone else, it’d seem to be an act. But his expression was so sincere that she knew it was genuine.
He looked at her again. “I’m not good at this, D. I want to do the right thing, and I charge in without thinking it through. I veer between self-confident and self-conscious, sometimes in the same breath. I’m not this guy.” He waved at himself. “And I think that makes it worse.”
She frowned.
He pulled out his phone and flipped through photos, passing it over when he found one. “That’s me at fifteen.”
On the screen was a gawky teen. A real teenager, acne and all. She looked at Chris, and while she could see him in this skinny boy, it wasn’t as if there’d obviously been a hot guy hiding behind the acne. He’d grown into his look as he aged. What she recognized most was the smile. And his eyes. Those were pure Chris.
She looked at that photo and knew, if he’d gone to her school, he’d have caught her eye. This would have been the boy she fell for, much more easily than she’d fallen for the gorgeous adult version.
He continued, “If I grew up looking like I do now, I’d have more self-assurance. I’d be better with women. Smoother. Less…” He threw up his hands. “Me.”
“Or you’d be a complete asshole, confident that you could smile and charm your way out of anything.” She passed back his phone. “But I do get what you’re saying. You look like a guy who knows what he’s doing when it comes to women. You also look like someone who…” She nibbled her lip. “Might bulldoze through my heart, trusting I’ll let you get away with it.”
He waggled his brows. “’Cause I’m hot?”
“You really are.”
He reached for her hands. “But you didn’t let me get away with it, and you shouldn’t. I just hope you’ll accept my apology. I made a mistake. Multiple mistakes. I see that now, and I regret it, and I’m here.”
“Having run after a train to catch me?”
“I’m really hoping you have an extra toothbrush.”
She leaned in, as if to kiss him, and when he moved toward her, she whispered, “You could have just called.”
He stopped. Blinked. “What?”
“Called? Texted? Asked me to wait at the station? Asked me to hold up the train somehow?”
He stared. Then he closed his eyes, his head dropping forward. “Shit.”
“Never thought of that?”
“No.”
She laughed softly, put her hand under his chin, and lifted his mouth to hers.
CHRIS
Chris had never had a near-death experience, but he suspected it felt a bit like his last twelve hours. Or, at least, the period from when he told Gemma what he’d done until Daphne kissed him on the train. The part after that definitely felt like the aftermath of a brush with death, the shuddering relief and giddy elation where he’d wanted to talk nonstop and also stop talking and whisk Daphne off to the nearest bed. He’d managed to get in both. Yes, their train didn’t have a bed, but it did have a decent-size first-class bathroom, and no eagle-eyed roaming staff. It wasn’t quite the mile-high club, but damn, it’d been good.
Now it was morning, and they were in their hotel bed, and he was waiting for Daphne to wake. Waiting to be sure she didn’t bolt upright, realize she’d made a terrible mistake, and kick him out.
When she first stretched one long leg, he held his breath, watching her eyelids flicker and then those golden-brown eyes peek out at him. She reached and ran her fingers down his chest.
“Good morning, gorgeous,” she murmured.
He exhaled and pulled her into a kiss.
