Chapter 1
“After you.”
Andi Jennings smiled at the attractive man, who waited to hold the door for her at the Stop and Go convenience store. “Thanks.”
The man nodded, and the two of them entered together. He walked toward the coffee pots while she headed around the checkout counter.
“I’m here,”
she said to Barbie, who gave her a grateful smile before reaching under the counter for her purse, rooting around for her car keys.
“Oh, thank God. I’m so sorry to do this to you, Andi, but my husband is absolutely useless when Eleanor is sick. He can’t stand the sight of vomit. Makes him gag, and he always has to leave the room.”
Andi crinkled her nose, recalling Robbie, who seemed to have a similar aversion to poopy diapers. She got the sense Barbie’s husband had discovered the best way to get out of dirty jobs was to protest too much. “I’m not sure anyone enjoys cleaning it up.”
“Yeah, well, Robbie is the worst. He’s called three times because he moved her from her bed to ours to the couch and she got sick on all three. He’s out of places to put her, and I swear I’m going out of my mind with all his play-by-play texts about how she’s crying nonstop and how he’s got every window in the apartment open to air it out. He’s twenty-five, for God’s sake. You would think he could deal with a sick kid for a few hours without being such a drama queen.”
In addition to being coworkers, they were friends, so Andi had met Barbie’s husband countless times. Barbie had a running joke about being the mother of a beautiful four-year-old girl and a man-child. Andi didn’t have the heart to tell her the joke was less funny and more accurate.
Barbie looked miserable. “I’m so sorry to dump this on you. I know you just got off at the pub and you have to go to the hotel right after this. I hope you managed to get a little bit of sleep before I called.”
“I’m fine,”
Andi reassured her. “Go take care of Eleanor. Craig will be here at six, so it’s only a few hours.”
Andi didn’t add that, even though it was three a.m., she hadn’t been to bed yet. She’d closed Pat’s Pub at two and just gotten back to her apartment when Barbie called asking her to cover the last part of her shift. Today was going to be one long-ass day.
“You’re an angel.”
Barbie gave her a quick hug and scurried out the door.
Andi slid on her name tag and stashed her purse under the counter.
The handsome man who’d come in with her still stood near the coffee pots, perusing the packaged pastries. She took a moment to study him, curious about what brought someone like him into a place like this.
They got all sorts of people in the convenience store, though they didn’t get many hot guys in tuxedos. While he’d dumped the bow tie somewhere, unbuttoning the first couple of buttons on his dress shirt, he was still way overdressed for this place. Even in profile, she could see just how good-looking he was with his chiseled jaw, dimples, and five-o’clock shadow. His hair was dark brown with just a sprinkle of gray at the temples.
When he looked at the coffee pots and sighed, she called out, “Can I help you?”
The man turned around, his expression turning serious when he saw her standing there. He looked displeased about something.
“Are the pots empty?”
She walked around the counter and down the aisle where he stood. “I can make a fresh pot if you’d like.”
He glanced around the store as if looking for someone, then shook his head. “There is coffee. I’m simply debating between a cup of it or a bottle of water. Coffee sounds better, but…”
“Keeps you up at night?”
He nodded. “It does.”
“It does the same to me.”
She lifted the pot and poured herself a cup. One of the perks of the job was that they could help themselves to the coffee. Andi would need a jolt of caffeine if she hoped to stay awake. “But I’m still many, many hours away from bedtime.”
The man watched as she added a dash of cream to her cup. “I suspect coffee is a must if you work the night shift,”
he said before glancing at her name tag, “Andi.”
“This isn’t usually my shift. I’m just covering for my friend.”
“So the other woman left?”
Andi nodded. “Sick kid.”
“I see.”
She got the feeling he didn’t like her answer, though she couldn’t figure out what she’d said wrong.
Andi took a sip of coffee, then set the cup down so she could clean up the counter, pitching empty sugar packets and coffee stirrers in the trash can. Barbie was typically on top of keeping things tidy, which just proved how much Robbie had been annoying her with his constant texts and calls.
“It’s nice of you to help her out.”
“She’s a friend, and I know she’d do the same for me.”
Not that Andi had ever asked. Money was too tight for her to give away her shifts. Every penny counted these days.
“You’re out late,”
she said, making small talk. She much preferred her day-shift hours because there was always a steady flow of people in and out to keep her busy. Working these wee hours of the night was the equivalent of watching paint dry.
“It’s been a long night,”
he confessed.
“Oh?”
“My business partner was supposed to attend a charity gala in New York this evening, but his flight got canceled, and he’s stuck in L.A., which meant I had to go. So I’ve spent three hours driving up to Manhattan, four hours of making small talk, and now three hours back down here,”
he explained.
“Ouch. That does sound like a long ten hours. Are you from Baltimore?”
she asked.
He shook his head. “No.”
Andi wasn’t sure why she found that disappointing. The odds she would run into this guy again were basically nil, but a tiny part of her would have liked a better chance of it happening.
There was something about him that felt dangerous yet not threatening.
Yeah…like that’s a thing, Andi.
Regardless, her instant attraction to him was off the charts, which wasn’t something that ever happened to her. She was too busy to be horny. It was a simple, if painful, fact of life.
“I’m actually from New York, which is why today felt like adding insult to injury. Any other weekend, it would have been a simple thing to pop across the city for the event,”
the man continued. “But, of course, thanks to Murphy’s Law, I’m in Baltimore this week for work. I got into town a couple of days ago. I would have spent the night at my apartment in the city, but I’m meeting a client for brunch here in Baltimore tomorrow, so I decided to come back tonight rather than in the morning. It was all going fine until the car got a flat.”
Andi glanced out the window. “Oh. Hey, wait. Are you riding in that limo parked across the street?”
She’d seen it on her way in and wondered if someone famous was sitting inside.
He nodded. “While the driver is dealing with the tire, I offered to buy us both a bottle of water.”
“That’s very nice of you, um…”
“Joel,”
he replied, introducing himself. “Joel McKenna.”
She took the hand he offered, shaking it. “Andi Jennings. Nice to meet you. Have you always lived in New York City?”
“I have,”
Joel responded.
“I’ve never been, but I’m hoping to visit there someday. My brother wants to move to Manhattan after he graduates from high school. He’d like to go to college there.”
“Oh? What school?”
Joel asked.
“NYU.”
Her response triggered the response she expected.
Joel tilted his head. “That’s a great school, but tough to get into.”
“Dylan knows that and he’s got a list of backup choices. But NYU is his dream school. I’m not too worried about him not getting in because he’s working so hard to make it happen. He’s valedictorian of his class, and he scored fifteen hundred on his PSAT.”
Joel’s eyes widened. “Wow. Impressive.”
She smiled, pleased by the compliment. She was so proud of her brother she could pop. “I’m hoping he’ll get some help from scholarships. He’s the brightest, sweetest kid on the planet, and I know he’s going to do amazing things in the future.”
“What does he want to study?”
Joel asked.
“International Business and Global Management. He’s tried to explain to me what kind of jobs he could find with that degree and what he’d be doing, but I’m not sure I fully understand it all. To be honest, it sounds kind of boring.”
Andi realized she was prattling on too much. Her little brother was her favorite subject, so she tended to go on and on about him.
Joel chuckled. “Sounds like he’s on the right path if NYU is his plan.”
Dylan had only been a few weeks into his freshman year of high school when he started talking about college, buckling down and getting good grades, and building a well-rounded portfolio of community service, academics, and clubs.
She’d been impressed by his plan and his determination.
Of course, that was when Andi realized he wasn’t the only one who needed to buckle down.
Andi was the sole provider for her family…most of the time.
Her father had left her and her pregnant mother when Andi was nine.
Andi’s mom did her best to keep a roof over their head and food on the table, but as time passed, she grew more and more depressed, drinking too much.
Their mom’s alcoholism made it hard for her to hold down a job for any length of time, so Andi had learned a long time ago to stop relying on her to pay the bills.
By the time Andi was a sophomore in high school, she was working full-time hours stocking shelves at a local grocery store from the moment she got out of school until eleven at night.
“How old is your brother?”
Joel asked.
“Sixteen. He’s a junior. If Dylan gets into NYU, he’ll be the first in our family to go to college.”
Andi wanted that for her brother as much as Dylan did.
So when he’d told her his plans for after high school, she had kicked it up a notch, taking on a third job in order to save as much money as she could to help him achieve his dream.
In addition to working here and at the hotel, she’d started waitressing at a local bar a couple of years earlier.
When she’d originally been hired at Pat’s Pub, it had been as a dinner shift waitress, the hours working in conjunction with her other jobs.
One night after the bar closed, the bartender, Padraig Collins, had heard her singing quietly to herself, and he’d convinced her to perform on stage.
To her amazement, the patrons liked listening to her.
Since then, Padraig paid her to perform a couple nights a week while she waitressed the other evenings.
Joel crossed his legs, still leaning against the counter.
He was seriously one of the most attractive men she’d ever met, though probably too old for her.
She did an internal eye roll because this guy was not flirting with her, and he never would.
“You didn’t have any interest in furthering your education?” he asked.
Andi shook her head. “It wasn’t in the cards for me. Not enough money, and my grades, while passing, weren’t anywhere near as good as Dylan’s.”
Writing papers and studying for tests usually happened on her work breaks or on the bus ride to school, neither of which allowed much time for her to do more than the bare minimum.
“How old are you, Andi?”
She was surprised by the question even though she was curious about his age as well. “I’m twenty-six.”
“Twenty-six,”
he mused aloud.
“How old are you?”
she countered with a grin.
For the first time, he smiled. “I’m ancient. Thirty-nine.”
She laughed. “Wow, yeah. A total relic.”
He narrowed his eyes good-naturedly.
She should probably get back to work, but there wasn’t anyone else in the store, and there were only so many rounds of solitaire she could play before boredom kicked in and her hand cramped from holding her phone for so long.
“So, how was your gala? Must’ve been bougie as hell considering the tux and limo.”
He grinned, shaking his head. “It was mind-numbingly boring. Making small talk with self-important snobs and raging narcissists is a tedious thing. This is the most interesting conversation I’ve had all night.”
She made a face. “If this is a winning conversation, you’re obviously running with the wrong crowd.”
“As I said, it was a meet and greet deal tied to work. I was only there an hour when I began to suspect my partner probably canceled the flight himself just to get out of attending.”
She started to ask what Joel did for a living, but he glanced out the window, speaking first. “Looks like the tire’s changed.”
Andi followed his gaze and saw the limousine pull into the parking lot, claiming a space right in front.
“I need sleep, so I’m going to skip the caffeine.”
Joel walked away from the coffee, heading to the cooler to grab two bottles of water, while Andi picked up her cup and returned to the register.
She rang up Joel’s purchase, and he paid.
“Are you safe here by yourself?”
he asked, concern in his tone.
“Oh, I’ll be fine.”
She was no stranger to working after dark. A job was a job, and unfortunately, she couldn’t afford to be afraid of every shadow.
Joel didn’t look convinced.
“Honest,”
she tried to reassure him, though she was touched by his trepidation.
She wasn’t accustomed to someone worrying about her. Her mom was typically too drunk to know whether or not she was home, and Dylan had spent his entire life with a sister who worked too much. This was the norm to him because it was how things had always been. He had offered to get an after-school job to help with bills on more than one occasion, but she’d put her foot down, telling him that getting good grades and getting into college was his job.
Then, she always joked that he could start paying the bills when he was a rich businessman living in Manhattan, after which she could put her feet up and eat bonbons all day. They would laugh, and then Dylan, bless his kind heart, swore he would take care of her when that day arrived.
Not that she would ever let him, of course, but it was a sweet promise all the same.
Joel sighed, clearly not convinced. “Okay, if you’re sure,”
he said at last. “It was nice talking to you, Andi.”
“You too.”
Most people who came in treated her like she was invisible, simply grabbing whatever they wanted, paying, and leaving. It was nice to have someone help her pass a few minutes of what was bound to be a very long three hours.
He hesitated for a moment longer before turning and heading for the door. “Good night.”
She waved as he left, then perched on the edge of the stool, watching as Joel climbed into the back of the limo. She wished they’d had longer to chat because her curiosity—okay, and libido—had kicked into overdrive.
What did he do for a living?
Did he always travel around in a limo?
Did he have a girlfriend?
What would it be like to kiss him? Would he be gentle and sweet? Or rough and hungry?
She scoffed at the last questions because it wasn’t like the answers mattered. Men like Joel McKenna did not go for girls like her. He was older, sophisticated, more experienced, well-spoken, and rich.
But none of those facts stopped her from running her finger over her lower lip, imagining those hard kisses. Or from fantasizing about what it would be like to lie down underneath him on the backseat of that limousine while he had his wicked way with her.
She let the images play out for too long, then sighed because now, it wouldn’t just be a long night.
It was going to be a lonely one, too.