by Ward, Alice
Unfortunately, things didn’t look good when I stepped through the door and took a seat.
“Andrea,” Marcus said, the tight frown and wrinkled forehead making him look older than his early twenty-something age. “I’m glad you made it in.”
“Marcus, please. Before you fire me..."
Marcus lifted his hand to cut me off. “I’m not firing you, Andrea. Jace Richardson called and explained everything. I’m really sorry I gave you such a difficult piece.”
I remembered Jace mentioning his conversation with Marcus, but now I had to wonder whatever in the world he could have said to keep me from losing my job. I’d definitely have to find a way to thank him for that.
But then, Marcus cleared his throat, indicating that he wasn’t quite finished. “Unfortunately, the hang-up has us on an even tighter on budget than usual. So I am going to have to push you down to freelance status.”
“Freelancing?” I fought hard to keep the screech in my voice to a minimum. “But, Marcus, that’s where I started out at four years ago.”
Marcus gave a solemn nod. “I know, and I’m sorry. But our readership dropped drastically after we failed to cover the concert. Our entertainment section is our top selling point, and Reckless—more accurately, Mr. Richardson—is an icon here on campus.”
“I have it now. Will that help?” I already knew the answer, but I asked anyway.
“No, I’m afraid it won’t,” he said, shaking his head. “We can still run it and I can pay you the freelance fee for it, but that’s really about the best I can do. It’s just not going to pull the same audience because it’s outdated news now.”
Fighting back the tears, I nodded and slid the typed column across the desk at him. He picked it up, scanned it quickly and then looked up at me over the single sheet of paper. “It’s good,” he said. “Thank you, Andrea. I really am sorry. But you’ll still have the rest of the year, and a clean referral from me, no matter where you go from here.”
Again, I simply nodded, afraid if I even attempted to speak, I’d fall apart, right there in his office.
As I made my way through the glass double doors and out into the campus, I tried to calm the tornado whirling around inside. After all, I still had a freelance position, and that was better than nothing, right? It wouldn’t pay my bills, but at least I’d been smart enough to save. At least I’d have more time to study for finals. At least...
Oh, who was I kidding? This was downright catastrophic. And I had no one to blame but myself.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Right after classes were over for the day, I rang Becca and told her about my loss at the paper.
“I’m so sorry, Andrea.”
Silence filled both sides of the line. I didn’t want to let on just how devastated I was, even though her silence suggested that she already knew and wasn’t sure what to say.
“Hey, why don’t you come work at the pub with me?” she finally offered, just as I was falling into the door to our dorm.
I flopped down on my bed and groaned into the phone. “I don’t know, Becca. I don’t really see that being my thing, ya know? Besides, I don’t know the first thing about bartending.”
“You don’t have to. You just have to look hot. And, honey, if you can land Jace Richardson, you are most definitely hot.”
I chuckled into the phone. “I haven’t landed him just yet,” I said, the remorse of my recent setback truly sinking in. I’d wanted to have my life back in order before I got involved with someone. Now, here I was, jobless, and right before our first official date.
“You’re not stalling, are you?” Becca asked. I could practically feel her narrowed eyes through the phone.
“No,” I responded, sounding awfully defensive, even to myself.
“Lie. Right now, you’re thinking about how you shouldn’t date him because you don’t have a job.”
“Get out of my head.”
“And you’re worried that he’ll try to rescue you or see you as some damsel in distress and you’re Andrea fucking Mercer,” she paused briefly, I assumed for effect. “You’re the chick who is strong enough to take care of herself, who doesn’t need a man to hold her up or hold her hand.”
“Like I said, get out.”
“Not happening, chick. Because, here’s the thing... I love you too much to butt out when I see you putting yourself through unnecessary torture. When you’re just being plain out stubborn. You can’t wait for life to be perfect, for all the stars to align, Andrea. Otherwise, you’ll be sitting around an old maid. And trust me, I love you, but I’m not going to be sitting around with you. I’ve got a life to live. And so do you, if you’d just stop and see what’s right in front of your face already.”
I sat there in silence wondering how in the hell our conversation had gone from me whining about my lost position at the paper to her giving me a speech about my romantic life. “Why are you so dead set on me dating Jace?” I asked, conceding to the fact that she wasn’t going to let this go.
“He’s good for you, Andy. Anyone can see that. Anyone except you, that is.”
Now she had me confused. “Good for me? How?”
“Wake up and pay attention, chick.” Even without seeing her, I could just picture her raised eyebrow as she spoke. “He pulled you out of your funk in less than twenty-four hours. When you’re with him, you’re not obsessing about the next step, the next move, the next thirty years of your life. Having goals and dreams can be a good thing, but you have a tendency to take it to the extreme. There has to be a balance, Andy.”
“A balance?”
Becca sighed, but it sounded more like sadness than frustration. “How can you ever enjoy yourself in the moment if you spend all your time planning for the future?”
Well, I’ll be damned. She had a point.
“Fine, fine. I’ll quit stalling,” I said, rolling my eyes. I knew she couldn’t see it, but at least it made me feel better.
“And get your ass over here and fill out an application,” she ordered. “I need someone to keep me company while I work.”
“Okay. Tomorrow,” I said, laughing at her reasoning. But I still had to admit that working with Becca could be the opportunity of a lifetime. After all, there was no telling how many more moments I’d have with her before it was time to return home.
After we said our goodbyes, I set out to get ready for my night with Jace. I stared long and hard at my closet and in my drawers, trying to decide what to wear. I certainly didn’t own anything that would classify as an outfit fit for a rocker’s girlfriend. But I did own a few little sexy numbers that would go perfectly under my favorite little black dress. Not that I expected things to go much further than a goodnight kiss, but if we wound up doing more, so be it. At least I’d be prepared...
Just as soon as I tied up one last loose end.
***
It felt so horribly wrong, calling Sean, all dolled up for my date with Jace, but I knew that, if I wanted to move forward with a guilt-free conscious, I was going to have to tell him the reason I’d gone to Corpus Christi. Because, recent behavior aside, Sean deserved the truth. I owed him that much.
My hands shook as I found his number on my speed dial. Don’t ask me why I was so nervous; it was already over. But saying it and getting my speed racer heart to agree was about like trying to stop a Texas twister: impossible.
“Andy?” Sean said, picking up on the third ring. “Everything okay?”
My breath hitched at the sound of his voice. He sounded... concerned. “Yeah, I’m okay. How are you?”
“I miss you,” he breathed.
“I..." I let my sentence trail off, refusing to give into the habitual confession. “We need to talk.”
“Yes, we do. I—I’m so glad you called.”
What kind of mind fuckery was this? “What do you mean?”
“Andy, I’m sorry. I’ve been acting like a real jackass lately. I don’t even know what got into me,” he said, the words coming out in a ru
shed stream of word vomit. “I overreacted, and I know that. I was just so... I don’t know. I don’t even fucking know. I just know that I miss you. I want things back to the way they were.”
I sat in silence for a few minutes, trying to process everything he’d just said. Two weeks of not hearing from him. Two weeks of deep, painful depression. And the best he could say was “sorry?” And... what about the way things used to be? Was that enough for me now?
“Sean, I—I don’t know what to say.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know what to say? Say you forgive me. That we’re going to work this out. I mean, shit, you’re coming home in just a few months. Our wedding is supposed to be just a year away. We barely have enough time to plan as it is. You know this already... unless... there’s someone else already.”
I winced at his dead-on prediction. It was time.
“As a matter of fact..." I paused, suddenly realizing that I didn’t owe him an explanation off. He’d called it off, not me. And he really had acted like a jackass. “Actually, no. You know what? This isn’t about someone else, Sean. This is about me and you. You’re right, you’ve been acting pretty shitty. And, in case you hadn’t noticed, I’m the one who called you. If you really wanted to apologize, if you missed me that damn much, it would have been the other way around.”
“Andy—“
“No, Sean. You were right to end things. I’m done.”
And with that, I hit the end button on my phone. I hadn’t told him the truth about Jace, but what did it matter? It was over. It had been for a while. And now it was time to move forward, and I would start by enjoying myself on our first date.
***
Jace actually showed up five minutes early. As he met me at the curb outside the dorm rooms, wearing a t-shirt and a pair of faded blue jeans, I started to feel like maybe I’d overdressed. I never had bothered to ask where we were going. What if we were going hiking? Or cow tipping?
When he reached where I was standing, Jace extended his hand to me. When I placed mine inside of his, he lifted my arm to twirl me around in a complete circle. I obliged, turning slowly, all the while, hyper-aware of his eyes scanning over my body.
When I had turned back to face him, he let out a low whistle. “You look..."
“Overdressed?”
That sexy smirk pulled at one side of his mouth. “I was going to say gorgeous. But yes, a little overdressed.”
“Is it a problem?” I asked, genuinely concerned now that I’d foolishly dressed for the wrong kind of outing. “I can go change really quick.”
“No, no, it’s fine,” he said, his lighthearted chuckle melting me a little as he took my hand. “We’re not doing anything too crazy.”
After helping me climb into the passenger seat with most of my modesty intact, Jace walked around to the driver’s side door and climbed in. The moment he did, it was as though we’d never exited the cab the night of our trip to Six Flags; I was already buzzing with nervous sexual energy.
I cleared my throat, hoping to rid my voice of the feline in heat sound before I spoke. “So, is this trip a surprise like the last one?” I asked.
“Not really,” he said. “I’m just taking you for some dinner and a cup of coffee.”
The disappointment must have shown through on my face because Jace reached across the space between us and placed his hand on my knee to give it a quick squeeze. Fire and ice ran through it, making it almost impossible to concentrate on what he was about to say.
“Don’t worry,” he said, his voice low. “I still have something special planned.”
Oh, could this be it? Would this be the night?
I’d cleared my conscious of Sean, at least enough that I could move forward, but I couldn’t help but wonder if it was slutty of me to fall into bed with Jace so quickly after my break-up. With my core tingling from the sheer inches between us and my senses being taken hostage by the citrusy scent that was so perfectly him, I decided that it most certainly wasn’t.
I had already known him for weeks and had probably asked him more questions than most people worked out on their first five dates. Plus, we’d already kissed. Twice. And had had a few very intimate moments, like the one in the shower and the one in the cab on the way home from Arlington. There was nothing wrong with being ready to see if our chemistry, or whatever it was, made it into the bedroom.
Of course, as we pulled up to his apartment, all of my confidence and certainty flew out the window.
It started with the flutters in my stomach when he stepped out of the truck. As he led me up the walkway to his apartment with his hand at the small of his back, my legs started to go weak. By the time we’d reached his front door, I feared I might pass out from the nervousness coursing through every inch of my body.
Thankfully, he didn’t make a big show of opening the front door; he simply slid in the key and then stepped back, allowing me in first. As soon as I did, every ounce of anxiousness faded away, having been replaced by awe and disbelief.
Head falling forward, mouth hanging open, I looked at the interior of Jace’s apartment. Like both times I’d been here before, it was clean and tidy. But this went far beyond that; he’d transformed the small interior into a romantic sanctuary. Soft music, candlelight, a bouquet of daisies—my favorite—on the dining room table, and delectable scents that I immediately recognized.
“You like?” he asked, mouth so close to my ear, I could feel the warmth of his breath against my neck.
I turned to face him and forced myself to swallow the ball of emotion clogging my throat. “I—I don’t know what to say.”
He tilted his head to the side, studying my face as he ran a gentle finger across my cheek. “Say yes.”
I couldn’t help but feel that there was another meaning behind those words, something that rested beyond the dinner and the beautiful oasis he’d created for us that night. He wanted more from me, a commitment? Intimacy? Maybe both?
Either way, I found myself nodding, not really sure but also tired of holding back. This man, this tattooed guitarist with the sexy voice, he was so much more than I ever could have imagined, and no matter how long it lasted, no matter if we crashed and burned or soared high above the clouds, I couldn’t see not giving myself to him. Or, at the very least, giving him a fair chance.
He lifted my chin and then hovered his lips just a breath above mine, as if waiting for me to make that last little effort, as if he were asking me to seal our deal.
Heart pounding away in my chest, every nerve in me on fire and ready to take everything he had to give, I tilted my face just a slight bit more to unite us in a soft, gentle kiss, one that rivaled and paralleled our former kisses, all at the same time. The hunger was there, but it wasn’t as frenzied. The passion was palpable, but it wasn’t as out of control. My body, on the other hand, simmered as it waited for him to turn up the heat.
“Not yet, firecracker,” he said, pulling his lips away slightly.
Oh my. I’d become a hot and heavy mess: chest heaving, the cotton of my panties soaked, my lips quivering with anticipation, my body aching as he stepped back and took my hand to lead me to the table. I wanted to tell him that food wasn’t the sustenance I needed; it was him—his touch, his lips, his hands... but I sat down anyway when he pulled out one of the chairs for me.
Still aching with want and need, I sat fidgeting as he left me there to head into the kitchen. In just mere seconds, he returned with two plates, each one covered with a red cloth napkin. I already knew what it was; I’d smelled it the second we’d walked through the door, and it only served to make my mouth water even further as he set one of the plates in front of me.
“How did you know?” I asked before he even had a chance to reveal the dish concealed beneath the red cloth.
He lifted his brows at me. “How do you know what’s in there?”
“It’s quite hard to mistake the scent of cooked salmon,” I answered, a smile spreading across my lips.
He
tried to look offended, but he just couldn’t hide the satisfied twinkle in his eye. “Becca told me.”
I shook my head slightly, chuckling. “I’m guessing she’s also responsible for the daisies?” I asked.
He confirmed my theory with a sexy smile.
“That meddling wench.” I pretended offense and crossed my arms over my chest. “She and I are going to have to have a talk about her telling all my deepest, darkest secrets.”
“Well, a Seattle native loving salmon isn’t much of a mystery, but I’ll let you take it up with her,” Jace teased, taking a seat next to me.
“Speaking of Seattle,” I said, preparing to take my first bite. “Have you given any thought to which district you might stay in?”
“Mmmm…” he paused a moment to swallow a bite of food. “Probably Capitol Hill. With it being the music hub and all, that’s likely where most of our gigs would be.”
I tipped my head back and forth, weighing his choice. “Ballard is nice as well though, and still very artsy,” I said, just before taking my first bite. As soon as I did, an orgasmic moan left my lips. “Oh my God,” I said, my mouth still full of food. “Did you make this?”
Jace’s head fell back in a hearty laugh. “I wish! Breakfast food, I can make. Salmon that can make a Seattleite purr, not so much. But I’ll be sure and pass your compliment, and my gratitude, onto the chef.”
“Gratitude?” I asked, just after swallowing my mouthful.
His eyes settled on my mouth as his teeth grazed his own lips. “It’s not every day I get to hear sounds that sexy coming from such a delicious mouth.”
I squirmed in my seat, the intensity of his gaze and the throbbing in my core almost too much to bear. “No?” I asked, hoping it sounded nonchalant.
“Hmm-mmm,” he said, shaking his head slightly, those warm eyes still concentrated on my lips, lips that suddenly felt so dry that my tongue instinctively darted out to moisten them.