Chapter 4
Chapter Four
Andi wasn’t sure how she’d gotten here, but as she stepped out of the taxi in front of the fancy hotel Joel had put her and her family up in for the weekend, she refused to pinch herself. There was no way she was running the risk of waking herself from this dream.
She’d moved Heaven and Earth to rearrange her work schedule so that she could make this weekend trip.
Actually, she rethought that.
Because it hadn’t been that hard.
All those years of covering other people’s shifts had paid off, her friends from work happy to help her out, excited when she told them about the trip and the opportunity to record one of her songs.
Padraig hadn’t blinked twice when she asked for the days off, claiming he knew the moment he met Joel that he was about to lose a great waitress.
Then the crazy—wonderful—man started bragging to a few of the regulars sitting at the bar that Pat’s Pub had struck again, discovering another talented musician.
She assured Padraig she would be back waiting tables by Tuesday night, but—in true Collins style—he had disagreed, then gone straight to a wager.
The Collins family was always placing friendly bets on pretty much everything under the sun.
Padraig bet her twenty bucks that she would be living in New York by the end of the year.
Then he said when he won, he also wanted two front row seats—and backstage passes—to her first concert for him and his wife, Emmy.
Andi had taken the bet, certain she was in no danger of losing.
But after this weekend in New York, that conviction was wavering.
Probably because of the sexy man standing next to her. It had only been one week since they met at the convenience store.
Just seven days.
Yet, it felt as if they’d spent every second of this past week talking and…
yeah…dreaming. Joel asked her what she wanted in life and once she told him, he had grabbed hold of that list like it had been chiseled in stone.
Despite him returning to New York on Tuesday, he had texted, Facetimed, and called her every single day since.
Initially, he claimed it was simply to get all the details of her visit nailed down, but he had confessed this morning that he’d kept the lines of communication open due to his fear that she would find a reason to cancel.
And to be honest, she had tried, worried she was making a big mistake in trusting a man who was essentially a stranger.
Sure. He was a stranger who kissed like pure sin and set her heart racing with a mere look, but he was still a stranger, nonetheless.
The original plan had been for her and her brother to visit.
Joel knew she’d be more comfortable coming to stay if she had family with her, so he had sweetened the pot in a way she simply couldn’t refuse.
It turned out Joel had a friend who was a professor at NYC, and the man graciously agreed to join them for lunch on Saturday, followed by a private tour of the campus.
Dylan had flipped his lid when she told him she’d secured an opportunity for them to not only travel to the city, but to also tour his dream school.
She wasn’t sure Joel realized that he had won himself a fan for life in her brother after this weekend.
What they hadn’t planned for was her mother joining them.
Despite the college tour carrot, Dylan had refused to come if Mom didn’t, determined that one of them needed to remain in Baltimore with her.
Andi had expected the trip to fall through at that point but Joel, the magnificent man, had simply told them to bring her along.
Andi had spent a few sleepless nights following that decision, anxious about how her mom might act in New York.
Those lost hours of rest had been wasted because Mom had been an absolute dream.
Delighted by the invitation, she’d taken great pains to clean herself up.
She hadn’t touched a single drop of alcohol while in the city and she absolutely adored Joel, thanking him countless times for the invitation.
Of course, Joel was kindness and charm personified, so Andi wasn’t sure surprised Mom and Dylan had fallen under his spell the same way she had.
Andi checked her phone when it pinged. She read the text from Dylan aloud to Joel. “Dylan says he and Mom just hit the concession stand on the train for snacks and they should be back in Baltimore in a couple of hours. He wanted me to thank you again for the weekend.”
Joel waved off the thanks. “I’m happy they had a good time. You have a great family, Andi.”
Andi smiled, pleased by his compliment. She had shared her concerns about Mom and her drinking when he first suggested she join them. He’d assured her that if any problems crept up, they would deal with them together.
She noticed Joel used that word a lot.
Together.
For a woman who had spent way too many years as a single, she loved the idea of being a couple, of having someone to confide in.
And confide in him she had. Joel had learned her work schedules quickly, always knowing just when to call or text, though she got the sense he wasn’t pleased with how limited her free time was.
“You sure you’re okay with eating here?” he asked. “There’s a great Thai place just around the corner.”
She shook her head. “A quiet dinner is fine.” There was a nice restaurant in the hotel that would suffice, mainly because she’d walked approximately seven million miles in the past three days and her feet were crying uncle.
The weekend had been a whirlwind, and, for her, it wasn’t over yet. Mom and Dylan had to return home today because her brother had a big Physics test tomorrow at school that he didn’t want to miss.
Andi, however, wasn’t returning to Baltimore until mid-morning on Tuesday.
First thing tomorrow, Joel was taking her by the studio, and they were going to record “Bigger Dreams.” Not that he expected a finished product, but he wanted her to lay down some tracks and get a feel for the process.
Andi was super excited about it, but also, nervous. While the idea of recording one of her own songs was thrilling, she was struggling to figure out how to make these dreams of hers a reality.
Because the reality was…there were still bills to pay and college to save for and three jobs to work. She couldn’t keep jetting off to New York in hopes of achieving a dream that might never be realized.
Joel pulled up short, just outside the entrance to the hotel restaurant. He ran one fingertip beneath her eye. “You’re tired,” he mused.
She nodded.
“And stressed out,” he added. “Why?”
She shook her head, unable to hold back her grin. “We’ve known each other one week, and yet I swear you know me better than friends I’ve had for years. How?”
He chuckled. “Sounds like we both have questions we need answered. You want to do that in there?” He pointed to the restaurant. “Or…”
“Or?”
“How would you feel about room service? We could relax in your suite, put our feet up, and talk there.”
“Room service,” she said, without a moment’s hesitation.
Joel wrapped his arm around her shoulders, guiding her to the elevator.
She had never stayed anywhere as fancy as this hotel.
She suspected three days surrounded by all this elegance was going to make it difficult to return home to the tiny, rundown apartment she shared with Mom and Dylan.
Mom had nearly passed out when they walked into the suite Friday afternoon, checking over her shoulder countless times, certain someone was going to come and kick them out.
Despite Andi’s protests, Joel had insisted on paying for everything—the hotel, the train tickets, their meals. Andi wanted to put her foot down, but the truth was, she could afford any of it.
She retrieved the keycard from her purse once they arrived at her floor, opening the door to the suite. She and Mom had shared the bed in the master, while Dylan stayed in the second room, but for the next two nights, the large, gorgeous space was all hers.
In addition to the bedrooms, there was a kitchenette connected to a living room area, with a small dining table next to the large windows that overlooked the city.
“I could have moved to a smaller room,” she said, feeling guilty about how much money Joel was spending.
Joel didn’t bother replying to her. Not because he was ignoring her, but because she’d made the same comment several times already and he had reassured her that he made more than enough money to spoil her.
Considering she had never been spoiled a day in her life, it went without saying she had no clue how to accept his generosity.
Joel walked to the island separating the kitchenette from the living room and found the room service menu. “Let’s order and then we can chat while we wait for the food.”
They’d had eaten a large lunch with her family prior to dropping them off at the train station, so she wasn’t really hungry.
“Are you starving?” she asked.
He shook his head.
“Then how would you feel about pushing off dinner until later. Maybe,” Andi drew in a slow breath, debating the wisdom of what she was about to say.
“Maybe?” he prompted.
“Maybe we could skip dinner completely and just order a midnight snack. Much later.”
Joel’s eyes darkened with a hunger that had nothing to do with food.
While it had been a wonderful weekend, it had also been an experiment in extreme patience.
After their first date in Baltimore, she and Joel made out in the back of his limo for hours.
He had instructed the driver to keep going until he texted him to stop, then put up the privacy shield and kissed her senseless.
Those kisses had awakened something inside her that wouldn’t go back to sleep, but there had been no opportunity to expand on it this weekend, due to her mom and Dylan’s presence.
This was the first time they’d been alone since her arrival in New York, and she was finished waiting.
“Andi,” he said, stepping closer to her. His hands landed on her waist as he drew her to him, giving her a kiss that proved his patience had been tested as well.