“That wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought it was going to be,” Alex said after Tessa left their table. “I wish I’d known the agent was a woman beforehand though.”
“Why?” he asked. “It doesn’t matter, does it?” He was surprised she’d said that.
“It shouldn’t, but sometimes it does. Maybe it was better I didn’t know and couldn’t get any preconceived notions.”
“Meaning what?” he asked, not sure where she was going right now.
“You’re not a girl, you don’t get it.”
“I’ve got a sister, so try me.”
“It’s just that I’ve learned that women tend to be a harder sell for me. Or I should say I have a harder time relating to them. I just seem to do better with men.”
“Because of your looks?” he asked. When she frowned he wished he hadn’t dropped it like that on the table as if it were a bad bite of food.
“I guess. Sometimes when you look too much like a woman, or too feminine, you don’t get taken seriously. By men or women.”
“You should talk to Ella. She has that mastered,” he said.
“How’s that?”
“Being the only girl, Ella is tough as nails around us. She’s had to be. We never took it easy on her at all. Had to make her tough so she could hold her own. If you looked at her, you’d never know. She’s the most fashionable and feminine woman I know. Every day she is dressed like she works on Wall Street rather than the office above Fierce.”
“Why would she do that?”
“You’d have to ask her. I’d only be guessing if I said. I really don’t know. It’s not like she doesn’t wear shorts and jeans, just never at work. Not unless she stops in on a day off. If she even takes a day off.”
He just realized that Ella might be at Fierce more than the rest of them. Maybe not nights like Brody or Aiden, but she was there long before most of them were out of bed in the morning and normally Saturdays and Sundays for a few hours too.
“Maybe I will someday. It’s been a hard thing for me to balance in my life.”
“So that’s why you dress the way you do at work?”
“And what way is that?” she asked, narrowing her eyes.
He was putting his foot in his mouth like he normally only did around family. He’d have to think about why he was doing it with her and never had with anyone else.
“Just as nice as you look now...only in a different way.”
She rolled her eyes at him. “Smooth, Cade. Real smooth. I’m the boss there. It’s hard to be the boss and walk around in heels when I’m operating machines. Sometimes it’s better to just be one of the guys.”
“It’s all about attitude, Alex, not appearance.”
“Yeah, well, attitude isn’t always easy to master either.”
“Tell me about it,” he said, stunned that someone else felt the same way he did about things. That maybe he wasn’t alone in trying to show everyone he was confident when he wasn’t.
“Do you really think Tessa will contact me?” she asked, moving the topic back to the reason they were here and he was just fine with that tactic, not sure he wanted to talk too much about his lack of confidence.
“I’ve worked with Tessa before. She manages a few bands. She’s definitely a straight shooter when it comes to work. If she says she’ll be in touch, you can count on it.”
“But that doesn’t mean she’ll give me business,” Alex said.
“She needs to see your work. My word alone won’t do it but it will help. Your work speaks for itself. I wouldn’t have recommended you if I didn’t believe in you. That will go a long way too.”
***
He believed in her. Cade just said that he believed in her. She wasn’t sure any man had ever said that to her before. Not even her own father.
She reached her hand over and laid it on his, the urge to just touch him too great to fight. “Thanks, Cade. It means the world to me. The past two years have been full of roads up mountains that have been hard to navigate. I finally feel like Marshall Printing is getting out there, but everything you’ve been doing has helped paved some of the bumps and ditches in the road.”
His eyes changed to a heat that was smoldering just under the surface. One any woman in their right mind would want a man to send her way. She was probably pushing her luck or sending out signals she shouldn’t be, but for the moment she just had to drop her guard with him.
“Bumps and ditches? I think that might be the first time I’ve been referred to like that.”
The little joke cooled his gaze back down and it was for the good.
“I didn’t say you were bumps and ditches, just that you were paving them.”
“Very true. Let’s sit back and watch and listen now. The band is setting up.”
“What are you looking for right now?” she asked, ignoring his attempt to stop talking. Normally she’d gladly comply, but nothing was normal about this evening.
“How efficiently they set up. How quickly. How respectful they are of the stage and property.”
“I didn’t realize that all had to be taken into consideration.” He really did know what he was doing in his job and wasn’t just a pretty face that seemed to be able to talk his way through any situation.
“We don’t need someone coming into Fierce and destroying what we’ve worked so hard for. What my father built from the ground up. I’m sure you can understand that. It doesn’t matter how good a band is, if they’re careless or destructive, they’ll never step foot in Fierce.”
“Accidents can happen,” she said.
“They can and they have. That’s different than members dumping drinks over their heads and ruining the floors or tossing drinks out in the crowds. Standing on tables, bashing guitars into the floor. Things many don’t think of with a band, but it happens. I need to see a show before I’d even consider it. And I only watch them in person after I’ve watched endless videos of them online.”
“You don’t leave much up for chance, do you?”
“Not if I can help it, I don’t.”
At the end of the night, Alex felt like it’d been transformed from a dinner meeting into one of the best dates ever. Too bad no one was thinking of this as a date.
The food had been good. The company excellent. The music awesome. She’d never listened to blues before, but there was a feeling within the bass. A feeling behind the words. A story even. Many in the crowd might have taken it as their own meaning, but for her, it was just peaceful. It was soothing and soul-catching.
How her body wanted to move to the right notes in a song. How she moved when she was younger on stage.
All those things didn’t make it a great date when it wasn’t a date to begin with though. Nope, it was the drive home with the top down.
“Are you okay if I lower the top now?” Cade had asked her.
“Absolutely. That place was packed, and I’m hot.”
He’d taken his jacket off and put it on the back of the chair long before the music even started. They’d both only had two beers in the five hours they were there, then switched over to soda. She felt like she was floating in carbonation right now.
They’d climbed into his car, he’d hit the button and the roof lowered, the night air not so cool for late August, but she knew once they got on the road that would change. Even if it didn’t, it was the atmosphere, and for her that meant more.
It was like he knew if they were on an actual date she would have fallen for him. Or fallen into him. Falling for him was too scary to consider.
Everything just lined right up, so magical and romantic. Something she’d never experienced much in her life and to find she was feeling it with Cade was even more surprising. She would have to think about why that was.
When he pulled his car out of the parking lot and got on the road and the wind hit them both, she was right. It was a tornado and it was fabulous.
“You all right over there?” he asked when she started to laugh.
“Perfect,” she’d yelled back, and she meant it.
They’d gotten back to her place a little after midnight. She should be exhausted since she’d been in the shop since seven and worked until two, but instead she was just full of energy.
When they pulled into her parking lot, he’d shut the car off, but hesitated to get out, she could see. She wasn’t going to invite him in, even if she wanted to, but he might want to talk.
“I had fun tonight. Thanks for thinking of me,” she said, her voice filled with a touch of softness.
“No problem. Anytime.”
He was holding her stare like there was more he wanted to say but was keeping back just the same as her.
“I’ll let you know if I hear from Tessa this week.”
“That’d be great, but I’m sure you will. She’s pretty on the ball and prompt. I’m betting you’ll hear before the end of the next week.”
“That’s not prompt,” she said.
“In the music industry, it is. But trust me when I say, if you get her business, she’ll be last minute ordering things. Venues change and such, so that will be something she will bring up if you talk. When you talk.”
“Okay. Thanks for letting me know that.”
“Not a problem. If you have any questions or you want to run anything by me, just call. You’ve got my number.”
“Will do. The next part of your order will be done by the end of the week too. I should be getting Mason’s beer glasses in mid-week.”
“He’ll be thrilled to know.”
This was crazy—the two of them sitting there in the dark, in the parking lot—having a ridiculous conversation about work after the night they’d just shared. One full of tenderness and fun with a touch of adventure. More like risk.
So she took that risk before she could stop herself. Before she changed her mind or lost her nerve, she leaned over and gave him a kiss on the cheek, made the mistake of inhaling his scent and wished she could grab him in for a proper kiss goodnight. Instead, she slid back over to her side of the car and got out. “Thanks again, Cade. It was a great night.”
“It was, wasn’t it?” he said softly.