Chapter 3
Andi walked downstairs, silently loving the way Joel’s hand rested on the small of her back. It was a protective gesture, something she’d never experienced before. Andi had never had a lot of time to date.
Sure, she’d gone out with guys in high school and since then…sometimes to see a movie, sometimes just for drinks after work.
Dating those guys, however, felt different from dating Joel.
For one thing, he was older than she was, a real man, mature and experienced, while the guys she’d gone out with had been her age, though they’d acted and seemed younger. Less suave, more dude-like.
Andi gasped when they reached the street and saw the limousine parked out front. The driver was standing near the back door, and as she glanced around her neighborhood, she saw more than a few curious faces—from windows and on the street—peering in her direction. Limos weren’t a regular thing on her street, let alone one that was stopped rather than merely driving through after making what had to be a wrong turn.
She thanked the driver as he opened the door, climbing in and taking in the soft leather seats and the bar along one side of the vehicle. Joel followed her in.
“I’ve never been in a limo,”
she admitted, suddenly feeling slightly self-conscious about her outfit. She was wearing black jeans and a white blouse—the best clothes she had. She hadn’t had time to shop for anything else, and even if she had, she couldn’t have afforded anything she might consider “limo-worthy.”
Joel was wearing navy blue pants and a white button-down shirt, so he wasn’t overly dressed up either. But even in the fairly casual outfit, he looked posh, and she suspected the clothing cost more than she made in a week. He looked like a man who could walk into any restaurant in the world and blend in just right.
She ran her hands over her jeans, her palms suddenly sweaty. She’d looked forward to this date all day, her daydreams running rampant as she played over his sweet, almost chaste goodbye kiss last night. She didn’t have a clue how he’d managed to make a gentle kiss so damn hot, but it had triggered an arousal that had her tossing and turning most of the night—despite the fact she was tired as hell.
“Do you think,”
she started, before stopping. “Am I dressed up enough?”
she forced herself to ask.
Joel didn’t even bother to look at her outfit, his gaze locked on her face. “You look beautiful, Andi.”
She’d never considered herself the type of woman who needed compliments about her looks or anything else. She figured it was good enough as long as she liked the woman looking back at her in the mirror.
But hearing those words from Joel warmed her soul and made her feel…beautiful.
“Thank you.”
She rubbed her hands on her thighs again, the action drawing Joel’s attention.
“Are you nervous?”
He plucked one of her hands up, clasping it in his.
“A little. I don’t have a lot of time to date. I couldn’t tell you the last time I’ve gone out with someone.”
“I don’t date much either,”
he confessed.
She was surprised by that. “Really?”
“Like you, my work keeps me busy.”
Joel lifted her hand and kissed it. “So I’m going to have to make sure this is a date we’ll both remember.”
“I’m pretty sure I’m never going to forget being picked up in a limo,”
she said, giggling.
“You deserve to be taken out and spoiled. You work too hard.”
He’d said the same thing to her countless times yesterday, every time with that same thread of concern in his tone.
“I don’t mind hard work,”
she said softly.
Joel didn’t respond to that. Instead, he bent forward, pulling a bottle of champagne out of a chiller, popping the cork with an ease that told her this wasn’t his first rodeo. He poured each of them a glass, then tapped his against hers.
“To first dates,” he said.
She smiled, secretly loving how he called it a first date, like he expected there might be more. The pragmatist in her knew this was it—a one-off—but the dreamer couldn’t help but hope he might want to see her again the next time he traveled to Baltimore.
The ride to the restaurant was pleasant. They talked about the unseasonably warm weather they’ve been having in Baltimore and sipped their champagne. By the time they reached the restaurant, Andi’s nervousness was gone because Joel was easy to be with.
Andi was a friendly person by nature, but she’d never felt such an instant connection with anyone before.
The driver pulled up to the front entrance, and Andi’s concern about her outfit crept back in as she watched two very elegantly dressed couples enter the fancy restaurant.
Stepping out onto the curb, Joel reached in to help her, tucking his arm around her waist to draw her close.
“Stop worrying. You look lovely, Andi. There’s no dress code. Trust me when I say you’ll be the most beautiful woman in there.”
“Are you a mind reader?”
she joked.
He shook his head. “Not usually, but with you…”
He shrugged. “Would it sound strange to say it feels like I’ve known you for years, not just a day?”
“It wouldn’t. Because I feel the same way.”
He kept his arm around her waist as they entered the restaurant, the hostess guiding them to a cozy, private corner booth. While Andi knew of this restaurant—one of the classiest in the city—she’d never stepped foot in it. Taking a peek at the menu drove home exactly why.
“This is…”
She stopped herself from remarking on the prices, uncertain if that would be rude. Joel rode around in a limo and selected this place, so obviously he could afford it. Regardless, she wasn’t comfortable spending so much on a meal.
Once again, Joel seemed to read her thoughts. “Don’t look at the prices, Andi. Just the descriptions of the food. Pick what you want based on what sounds good, not what it costs.”
There was no way she could do that. “I’m not super hungry,” she lied.
Joel got that look on his face—the one that seemed dangerous but not threatening—as he took the menu away from her. “Do you eat red meat?”
She nodded.
“Is there anything you don’t like?”
She shook her head. “I’m not picky.”
“Good. Then I’m ordering for you.”
Her feminist inside wanted to protest his heavy-handedness, but the girl who’d been taking care of herself since birth loved the idea of handing control over to someone else for one night. It was exhausting to constantly make all the decisions for her family. It fell to Andi not only to pay for the groceries but also to buy them. She’d become very adept at meal prepping so that Mom and Dylan always had dinners prepared on nights when she had to work.
The idea of letting Joel decide what she ate tonight felt strangely freeing.
“I’d like that,”
she whispered.
Joel’s features softened, and she sensed that she’d given him the correct response.
When the waiter arrived, Joel ordered a bottle of wine for them and their meals, which sounded mouth-wateringly delicious.
Once they were alone again, he placed his arm along the back of the booth behind her, turning so that they were sitting close.
“I have a confession to make,”
he murmured.
Shit. She should have known this was too good to be true. Things like this didn’t happen to her. God…he was probably married or engaged or facing indictment for something horrible. Her mind went wild, imagining all the bad things.
“What is it?”
she finally forced herself to ask.
“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about your performance last night. Andi. You’re wasting your talent in that little pub.”
She breathed a sigh of relief, even as her heart swelled. “That’s nice of you to say.”
Joel picked up a lock of her hair, toying with it in a way that had her nipples budding and her panties going damp. “I’m not blowing smoke up your ass. I mean it. Your voice is incredible, and the songs you’ve written deserve to be shared with the world. Tell me about ‘Bigger Dreams’ because that song has been playing on repeat in my head all day.”
Andi never ceased to be amazed when someone said they liked a song she’d written, but for some reason, coming from Joel, it felt like an even bigger deal.
Usually, she brushed off the question of where the inspiration for that song came from because the story was too personal. Her typical response was something generic like “the words just came to her,”
but tonight, she wanted to share the story with Joel. “The chorus of the song is the last words my dad said to me before he split.”
He frowned, and she could practically hear him replaying the words in her head. “Andi,”
he started.
She cut him off, repeating the lines from the song. “My dreams are bigger than this place. Wake up every morning. Don’t recognize my face. I don’t mean to hurt you, but I gotta go. Gotta go.”
She sang the song at the pub a couple of times a week, so the repetition had allowed her to distance herself from the emotions they evoked. Tonight, however, the feelings were crashing around her, the pain causing her chest to tighten.
“I’m sorry,”
he murmured, giving her a comforting kiss on the cheek.
She considered his response, expecting the pity in his tone to bother her. It didn’t.
It comforted her in ways she didn’t expect, encouraging her to share even more. Her dad was one of those topics she avoided like the plague because talking about him, thinking about him, hurt, but she didn’t want to do that tonight. “You know, my memories of him prior to his leaving were really good. He was a loving, funny father, always attentive, and unlike some dads, he didn’t mind playing games with me or taking me to the park or teaching me how to play the guitar.”
“He taught you to play?”
Joel asked.
She nodded. “The old guitar I use during my performances at the pub was his. It was the only thing he left behind.”
Joel reached out, his finger stroking her cheek, and she was surprised to realize he was wiping away a tear.
She was crying?
She sniffled, determined to swallow the tears down. For one thing, she never cried, and for another, she was on a first date with the hottest, coolest, nicest man she’d met in…well, ever. So crying within ten minutes of sitting down to dinner was definitely a stupid thing to do.
“Don’t do that, Andi.”
She frowned, confused. “Do what?”
“Pretend it doesn’t hurt. Hide your feelings from me.”
Andi shook her head, trying to find the right response to that. “We just met, Joel. We barely know each other. I don’t understand why I feel compelled to tell you all this. For God’s sake, I’ve never even talked about Dad to Dylan, and he’s my brother.”
“I’m glad you’re comfortable enough with me to share. I want to hear it, want to know everything there is to know about you.”
She blotted her eyes with her napkin. Despite his reassurances, she took several deep breaths, pulling herself together. She was an ugly crier, and she refused to screw up this night any more than she already had. “I’ve sung that song enough that I didn’t think it could get to me like this,”
she admitted.
He ran his fingers through her hair. “It’s a powerful song. That’s why it speaks to people, why they want to hear it again.”
“Maybe.”
Then, before she could think better of it, words she’d never said aloud slipped out. “I stopped dreaming after he left. You asked me the other night what I wanted. I meant what I said. My dreams are small because I don’t ever want to hurt Dylan the way Dad hurt me.”
Joel frowned. “You don’t really believe that you’d leave your brother behind in pursuit of a dream, do you?”
She wouldn’t, but sometimes fears weren’t logical.
“I might not know you well, Andi, but I know you well enough to know you would never walk away from Dylan. Jesus. You work yourself to the point of exhaustion so you can make his dreams come true. Why is it okay for him to dream big but not you?”
She’d never looked at things from that perspective. “I don’t know.”
Joel rubbed his chin for a moment, his gaze locked with hers. She imagined this man—this veritable stranger—was the only person in the world with the ability to look into her eyes and see straight to her soul. “I asked you last night what your dreams were. I’m asking you again. And this time, I want you to put your fears aside, stop making excuses, and really think about what you would do with your life if you could choose anything.”
Andi knew the answer, but years of pushing her dreams down deep was a hard thing to overcome. Her throat grew tight, and she wondered if she could speak, even if she tried.
“There’s a quote I like,”
Joel said when she didn’t respond. “From Thoreau. He said, Live the life you’ve imagined. I’m asking you to imagine that life, Andi. What’s it look like?”
She licked her lips, then let it all spill out. “I want to sing. Want to get married and have a family. I want financial security, and I want enough money to be able to make my brother’s dream come true, too.”
Joel listened as Andi opened up, her answers lining up with the new list of goals he’d created ever since seeing her in that convenience store. From the first moment he saw her, he knew she was special, and when he heard her sing, it was as if her soul was calling out to his in a way he’d never experienced before.
He leaned toward her, unable to resist being as close to her as he could. He kissed her, this one lingering longer than the one he’d given her last night. Their lips parted, and he stole a taste, exploring, aware he could kiss her for the rest of his life and never want for anything more.
When they parted, he cupped her cheek in his hand. “Those dreams sound achievable to me.”
She scoffed, but he didn’t relent. He’d made quite a few calls today, setting Andi’s dreams in motion.
“I want you and Dylan to come visit me in New York next weekend.”
Andi started to shake her head, and he knew immediately why she was refusing.
“Take the time off, Andi. I’ll show you around the city, and then...”
This was the part he hadn’t told her, the thing she didn’t know. “Then, I’m taking you to a recording studio. You’re going to record ‘Bigger Dreams’.”
“What do you mean record it?”
He gave her a crooked grin. “You never asked me what I do for a living.”
She tilted her head, curious. “I’m a music producer.”
Her eyes widened.
“I want to help you achieve your dreams, but more than that, I want to keep seeing you.”
“Joel,”
she began.
He placed his finger on her lips. “Don’t say no. Think about it. I’m offering you a way to make all those wild hopes and dreams of yours come true.”
“We only just met, Joel.”
He couldn’t argue with that, but he was old enough to understand that it didn’t matter. “I know that. This is going too fast, but I don’t care. This,”
he said, pointing to himself, then her. “This is powerful, overwhelming. It’s also right. I knew it from the second I met you, even before I heard you sing.”
Andi bit her lower lip, then said the sweetest words he’d ever heard. “I felt it, too.”
“This is just the beginning of something incredible. Something perfect.”
This time, Andi initiated the kiss, all shades of hesitance gone. It was a hungry kiss, full of passion and desire.
“Say yes, Andi. To visiting New York. To recording the song. To giving me a chance to prove to you just how right this thing between us is.”
He held his breath as she gave him that same sweet smile that had stolen his heart and said the greatest word he’d ever heard.
“Yes.”