Then he realized how much he’d probably done that since they’d met.
According to Bianca, you guys talk about me all the time–saying things like how uptight I am, how boring I am, and I believe it was you who mentioned I just needed to get laid.
Hopefully that was the only conversation Bianca shared with her.
He stood there helplessly for several minutes before he attempted to lighten the mood. “What do you say we go find a hotel and just take the rest of the day off? I’ll treat to dinner; you can pick the restaurant.”
All she did was look over her shoulder and stare at him.
“The sky’s the limit,” he added with a grin. “Steak and lobster? Done. Want to do Grubhub and have a whole smorgasbord of food delivered? That’s cool too.”
Her only response was to sniffle and blink.
“I’ll book the most expensive hotel we can find and even book a massage for you if you’d like.”
Because yeah, he was getting desperate.
Racking his brain for whatever else he could offer to make her feel better, he suddenly remembered something Bianca had shared with him about Chelsea.
Leaning in a little closer, he offered, “And I’m sure we get some double chocolate sundaes with marshmallow and hot fudge.”
Drew noticed she swallowed hard before she spoke and he knew he finally piqued her interest.
“How…how did you know that’s my favorite dessert?”
He shrugged. “It may have been mentioned before.”
Wrong. Thing. To. Say.
“You mean while you and Bianca and everyone were talking about me? Was it to make fun of my dessert choice? Is it not exciting enough, like me?”
“Okay, wait…that’s not what I’m saying at all. I didn’t even imply that! I just happened to remember hearing how you loved that kind of sundae and I thought I’d throw it out there to give you something to look forward to!” He held his hands up in surrender. “Look, just tell me what it is I can do to help you feel better and I’ll do it! Anything!”
The expression she gave him was mildly confused. He expected her to argue or to perhaps begin listing some outrageous demands, but all she did was shrug.
“Let’s just go find a hotel. I feel like I need about ten hours of sleep.”
Nodding, he led her back over to the passenger side of the car and helped her settle in. Then he went to the back seat and pulled out the bag of chocolate chip cookies and something for her to drink and handed them to her.”
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
As he walked around to the driver’s side, he knew he needed to do some serious damage control. No wonder she was always on the defensive with him. He had a feeling Bianca was behind that–just another reason he didn’t particularly like her–but he’d focus on that later. For tonight he needed to help Chelsea. She had gone and traumatized herself and he was solely to blame. If he hadn’t thought it was a great idea to take her on this cockamamie road trip, she never would have placed herself in that position.
Fun and games and evil genius plans were over. From this point on, he was going to get them directly to South Carolina and face to face with Jimmy and Bianca.
And he’d deal with the fallout later.
Once he was settled behind the wheel, he asked, “You want to search for a hotel again or should we just wing it?”
“I didn’t have much luck earlier, but I had limited my search for budget reasons. If we’re not worrying about that…”
“We’re not,” he said firmly. “Find us rooms wherever you can and don’t worry about the cost.” Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out his wallet and handed Chelsea his American Express card. With a smile, he added, “I trust you.”
And finally–finally!–she smiled. “I promise not to make you regret it.”
It hit him at that moment how Chelsea had a great smile. Sure, her face was still red and splotchy, but it didn’t change anything. Maybe it was time for them to start over–to get to know each other without any interference from their friends.
Because he had a feeling they were both going to find out they had been wrong about each other.
He knew he could admit that already.
Pulling back out onto the road and then the highway, Drew figured now was as good a time as any to start learning about her.
“So, what’s it like narrating books? How did you get started doing it?”
She was staring down at the phone and scrolling through hotel choices as she shrugged. “You’re not really interested in that, Drew, and it’s okay. You don’t have to make small talk with me.”
“That’s not why I’m asking. Earlier you asked about me, and we never got around to talking about you. And honestly, I am curious about what you do. I’ve never met an audiobook narrator before. Is that what you went to school for?”
Shaking her head, she replied, “No. I went for physical therapy.”
“Wait, so you’re a physical therapist too?”
“Yup. Only part-time. My cousin has his own clinic and I work there a couple of times a week. It depends on when I’m narrating. If I’m working from my home studio, my hours are flexible, but when the audio publisher wants me in their studio, I have to go with their schedule.”
“Wow. I had no idea. So how did you end up doing this if you went to school for physical therapy?”
She glanced at him briefly before returning her attention to the phone. “It was kind of a fluke. Back in high school, I was in the drama club. Our director commented on how well I enunciate everything and how I should consider doing voice work when I graduate. I didn’t think much of it, but the head of the drama department in college mentioned the same thing. She helped me make some recordings and I submitted them to several audio publishers.” Another shrug. “I did some small parts–some children’s books–and then I got picked to read for an educational publisher. It’s a lot of textbooks–history, mostly. It’s not overly exciting, but I’m making a living at it, so I can’t complain.”
“Do you want to narrate something other than history books?”
She sighed. “Sure, but it’s a bit more competitive than I thought it would be. Most of the time, the author picks their narrator and then uses them for all of their books–it’s nice for the reader…or listener…to associate a certain voice with their stories.”
He nodded.
“I haven’t been picked yet.”
“If you could choose, what kind of books would you like to do?”
She was quiet for a moment. “Ooh…I found a one-bedroom suite at a fabulous, five-star hotel!”
“Book it.”
“But…you don’t even know how much…”
“Don’t care. Book it.”
“But it’s only one bedroom…”
“Does it have a sleeper sofa?”
“Um…there’s a couch, but I don’t know if it’s a sleeper.”
“Doesn’t matter, book it.”
“Drew!” she said with a small laugh. “Let me see what else I can find!”
“I just don’t want us to miss out on a room.”
“I never should have made you cancel the ones you had,” she said miserably. “I’m really sorry.”
“Chelsea, no more apologies, okay? At the time, it was the right thing to do. And as for this suite, I think you should just book it.”
“But…”
“No buts,” he interrupted. “Please book it.”
“O-kay…”
A five-star hotel was much better than what he had originally booked for them back when it was all about making this trip as miserable as possible. But now that things were changing, he knew he wouldn’t mind a little luxury for a night. And while it was mostly for Chelsea’s benefit, he certainly wasn’t going to complain.
“Are we booked?” he asked a few minutes later.
“Yup. Top floor king suite.” She scrolled a little more. “They have three restaurants so I’m sure we won’t even have to leave
to go find something to eat.”
“That sounds good to me. Maybe we’ll order room service and just veg out tonight. What do you think?”
“Um…are you sure? Just the two of us?”
Laughing softly, he nodded. “Well yeah. It was going to be just the two of us even if we went to a restaurant.”
“But at least there we’d have some distractions. I would have thought by now you’d be frantic to find other people to talk to.”
Yeah, he was going to have to do something drastic to get her to change her opinion of him. And if room service and ice cream sundaes even began to make a dent, he’d be eternally grateful.
7
The hotel was gorgeous.
Their room was amazing.
And Chelsea felt like she couldn’t enjoy any of it because she felt so damn stupid and guilty.
“Chels! Room service is here!” Drew called out.
She was in the bedroom with the door shut, trying to relax and fix herself up after her multiple breakdowns today. She shouldn’t have mentioned the suite; she should have gone with two separate rooms so she could wallow in her own private pity-party without having Drew or anyone around.
“Holy crap, that’s a lot of food,” she heard him say.
Looking at her reflection in the mirror, she frowned. She had showered and dried her hair, but right now in her pajamas and robe without a stitch of makeup on, she began to second-guess every decision she ever made.
Especially the one that had her ordering room service so she could spend even more time alone with Drew.
“Like this is going to change his opinion of me,” she murmured and forced herself to walk to the door.
Out in the main room, Chelsea found him looking out the window. She cleared her throat to alert him to her presence. He smiled and she felt an odd flutter in her belly.
Weird…
“Sorry I took so long,” she said as she sat down on the sofa. The coffee table was covered with an assortment of food and drinks. “This all looks and smells amazing.”
Nodding, Drew sat beside her. “Although I think eating is going to be a bit awkward like this.”
It wasn’t ideal, but she didn’t think it would be a problem. “What if we sat on the floor? That might work better.” And before she could second-guess herself, she slid down to the floor and crossed her legs, placed her napkin in her lap, and smiled up at him.
The expression on his face was priceless.
“You don’t have to sit on the floor if you don’t want to,” she said, “but I am starving and ready to dig in.”
Slowly, Drew came to the floor and eyed her weirdly.
“What? What’s the matter?”
“I…I just thought you would have freaked out at the setup, that’s all.”
Laughing softly, she said, “Why? Because I’m so uptight?”
He groaned. “Don’t tell me; let me guess…more words from Bianca?”
“And apparently from you.”
Another groan. “I’ve got a proposition for you.”
Pouring herself a glass of wine, she said, “I’m listening.”
“Can we pretend like the last year never happened?”
Now it was her turn to eye him weirdly. “Why?”
“Because I think we are carrying a lot of baggage regarding how we feel about each other, and honestly, I’m beginning to realize I don’t know you like I thought I did.” He paused. “And hopefully, you’ll see that maybe you don’t know me either.”
Taking a sip of her wine, Chelsea considered his words and realized he had a point. So much of what she thought she knew about him wasn’t quite right. Oh, he was still obnoxious and irked the crap out of her, but maybe without the influence of all their friends around them, they could discover something to actually like about each other.
“I think I like that plan,” she said after a moment. Once he poured himself some wine, she held up her glass. “A toast.”
Drew raised his glass and smiled at her.
“To new beginnings,” she said, tapping her glass to his.
“To new beginnings,” he agreed.
The wine was delicious, but her mouth was watering for everything else in front of her. They had decided to start with shrimp cocktails and she-crab soup. Both were magnificent, and they were enjoying the food so much that they didn’t talk a lot. When they moved on to their entrees, Drew was the one who broke the silence.
“The crab cakes look amazing,” he said.
Chelsea glanced over at his prime rib. “So does the steak.”
“Want to share? Do a little modified surf and turf?”
“Absolutely!” They divvied up their dishes, and once she took her first bite, she let out a very unladylike groan. “Damn, that’s good.”
Drew nodded in agreement. “Hell yeah, it is.” After taking a sip of his wine, he looked at her and smiled. “This is good.”
She nodded. “Delicious.”
He chuckled. “No, I mean this. Us. Sharing a meal. It’s good. And I’m glad you’re someone who doesn’t mind sharing.”
Ah…that made sense. “I have no trouble sharing my dinner or even my road trip snacks. But I’m going to warn you now that I am not good at sharing dessert.” Frowning, she glanced around the table. “We didn’t order dessert?”
Laughing again, he said, “I asked them to wait an hour before delivering it. I had no idea how full we’d be or if we’d even still want dessert.”
“There is always room for dessert.” She took another bite of her dinner and hummed happily. “It makes Bianca crazy when I say that. She’s forever reminding me how I should watch what I eat.” Then she laughed. “And yet she’s always eating off my plate! So stupid.”
“Why doesn’t she order her own food?”
“Seriously? Because she doesn’t want anyone to know she actually eats.” Shaking her head, she went on, “Have you ever noticed how she orders only salads but then will eat off of Jimmy’s plate? She tries saying she just wants a taste, but by the time the meal is done, she’s eaten a good portion of his. She does it to us girls when we go out too. We all laugh about it.”
“That’s insane! Why do you let her get away with it?” He paused and took a forkful of mashed potatoes and held it out to her. “You have to try these. I think they’re the best mashed potatoes I’ve ever had.”
Without thinking, she let him feed her and damn if he wasn’t right. “Wow. So creamy! I should have asked if I could have them instead of the cauliflower caponata.”
“Why? That looks great too!”
She held up a forkful for him to try and fed it to him.
Wow…this is getting intimate.
Pulling her fork back, she watched as Drew closed his eyes and hummed–which sounded insanely sensual.
And getting more intimate by the minute…
Chelsea cleared her throat and quickly grabbed her wine and took a long drink. “So, Drew, what’s something you like to do in your free time?”
“Well, when we’re not out on Friday nights with the herd…”
“Herd?”
He nodded. “I swear we’re like this little herd–we all go out together and do everything together. It’s a little odd.”
“Why? Didn’t you always go places with your friends in high school and college?”
“Yeah, but…not like this. It’s like we’re this core group and no outsiders are allowed to stay.”
Now that he said it, he had a point. The few dates she’d had over the last year only managed to make it to one get together at O’Dwyer’s, and her last boyfriend mentioned how he didn’t feel welcome there at all.
“I can see by the look on your face that you know what I’m talking about.” He took a sip of his wine. “I don’t know if you remember, but I briefly dated a woman over the summer–Amy–and she specifically requested that we not go to O’Dwyer’s after only going there once with me. Strange, right?”
“Um…not really. I just realized
how my last boyfriend made the same request. He said he didn’t feel welcomed at all.”
“That’s what Amy said too!”
“Wow. I guess there is something to it.” She paused and took another bite of her meal. “Although, if it were up to Bianca, she’d have us all paired off so it would just be four couples and more…”
“Intimate?” he finished for her with a husky laugh.
“Exactly! Why is she always using that word? Why does everything have to be intimate?” She laughed and shook her head. “She makes me crazy, I swear.”
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
“Why are you friends with her?”
“We’ve been friends since the third grade,” she explained, shrugging. “We just are.”
Placing his fork down, Drew rested his arms on the table and studied her, his expression serious. “Chelsea, the two of you are complete opposites. What could you possibly have in common with her?”
And for some reason, she found that wildly offensive. “You mean because she’s so fun and vivacious and I’m dull and boring?”
His dark eyes went wide. “No! I meant because you’re an intelligent woman and she’s fairly…you know…not.”
“Drew…”
“I’m serious! She’s kind of bitchy and controlling and…not to hurt your feelings, but…she doesn’t speak very highly of you.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean when we first met, and I would say something nice about you, she would always say something negative. That’s kind of why I formed the opinion of you that I did.” He looked a bit regretful at the admission. “Although, to be fair, you certainly didn’t help matters by always getting annoyed with me.”
For a minute she didn’t know what to say. Then she remembered Bianca doing the same thing to her where Drew was concerned. When she shared that, they both sat staring wide-eyed at each other.
“Holy shit,” he murmured. “Do you know, when I first met you, I thought you were kind of hot. But Bianca said I didn’t have a chance because you thought I was a…a…oh, what the hell did she call me? An unintelligent swine? I think that was it.”
“Oh, my God! Are you kidding me? I once mentioned how I thought you were good-looking and she’s the one who told me you were…a pig,” she said, her cheeks turning red. “She said you only dated bimbos, and you thought I was too prudish to get a date.”
Wrong Turn: Road Tripping Series Page 8