CHAPTER 5
Joanna
Although I had been with Zander for a while, I still recognized the signs of another man’s interest, or at least I hoped I did. A part of me wanted to be cautious about thinking Anderson had actually asked me on a date, especially since our outing was supposed to be business related. On the other hand, I was pretty sure there had been something more to the way he had looked at me.
I’d known Anderson for a long time, and he had never once looked at me that way before. Just recalling it gave me butterflies.
Regardless, I kept reminding myself to not get my hopes up too high.
“Hey, Joanna!”
Tobias called me from downstairs while I was in my bedroom, stressing about what to wear, not knowing whether I should dress casually, in business attire, or as if this was a real date with a man I wanted to impress. I felt silly, but there was no denying that I wanted Anderson to just look at me as more than just Tobias’s kid sister…
Still dressed in the sweatpants and t-shirt that I’d thrown on after stepping out of the shower, I headed down the hall and peered over the balcony to where Tobias stood. “Yeah?” I said.
“What do you want for dinner? I was going to order takeout. Is that good with you?”
My throat suddenly felt too tight to speak. I hadn’t told Tobias that I was going out with Anderson. As I peered down at him, the awkwardness suddenly felt unbearable.
Sometimes, Tobias felt entirely too much like my father than my brother, and it was hard to talk about these kind of things with him. Something told me he wouldn’t approve of my attraction to Anderson. When I was a kid, I had never dared let a soul—especially not Tobias—know about the massive crush I’d harbored on Anderson. And as Tobias looked up at me in that moment, waiting for my answer, I felt like a sixteen-year-old with a secret all over again.
I scratched my nose and averted my gaze. “Um…don’t worry about me. I’m…I’m going out…”
“Oh yeah?” he asked, eyebrows raised. “Where?”
“Just some little restaurant. No big deal.”
“With who?”
“Anderson,” I said after a long pause. I looked down to my fingernails and started fidgeting with them.
“Anderson?” Tobias said, his voice full of confusion. I looked back at him, seeing that his head was tilted to the side. “Really? He didn’t say anything to me about that.”
I shrugged my shoulders. “I guess it just slipped his mind. It’s nothing, really. Um…after the meeting, he asked me to look over some numbers with him. You know, about that project you were talking about at the meeting. It’s going to take a while to go over, so we decided to finish up over dinner.”
Tobias nodded his head. “Oh, all right. That makes sense,” he said. “It’s about time. I kept telling him to get a move on with that. I’m glad he finally listened. You see, I told you we needed you, Jo.”
I forced a laugh. “I see.”
“What time are you guys leaving?” Tobias checked his watch.
A slight panic came over me as I wondered if he was about to invite himself to come along. But before I could answer, his cell phone began ringing from somewhere in the dining room. “Never mind,” he said as he rushed off to answer it.
“Hey, Tobias, can I use one of your cars to meet him there?”
“Yeah,” Tobias called back before disappearing from view.
I breathed a sigh of relief and headed back to my room to finish dressing—hoping that I could make my escape before Tobias could ask any additional questions, and before he could see what I had finally decided to wear.
After much consideration, I decided to wear a slinky black dress that I usually reserved for special occasions. With everything I’d been going through with Zander, I’d hardly had an opportunity to wear it.
I slid into the dress, loving the way it hugged my curves, but also hoping it wouldn’t look like I was trying to catch Anderson’s eye. Before my doubts could become too loud, I slid on a pair of heels, added a long-hanging silver necklace, threw on a fresh coat of lipstick, and let my natural curls hang freely down my back.
Rushing out before Tobias could see how I was dressed, I took the keys to his Mercedes and headed out the door.
* * *
“Good evening, Joanna.”
I had just stepped inside the restaurant when I heard a smooth voice sounding from behind me. I turned around and spotted Anderson, looking so handsome he almost took my breath away.
“Hi, Anderson,” I muttered, trying to keep my voice steady.
He smiled and I felt my heart flutter. “The table is ready,” he said, offering me his arm. I stepped forward to loop my arm through his, and let him lead me to our table, where he pulled out my seat and then took his seat across from me.
“So, how’s your day been going so far?” he asked. “You know, since I last saw you at the office and you ruined my suit?”
“I’m so sorry about that,” I said, feeling my face flush.
He laughed. “I’m just messing with you.”
“Like old time’s sake, huh?” I said, chuckling.
“Of course,” he said with a wink. He paused for a moment. “So, does your brother know where you are?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I told him we were having dinner to go over the numbers some more…” My voice faltered at the way Anderson’s eyes roamed over my dress. I knew he had to be wondering how Tobias had fallen for such an excuse considering what I had decided to wear.
“Right,” he said. “How about we eat first before getting into that?”
“Sure,” I said.
Anderson waved his hand, and a waitress approached us, delivering menus. Moments later, I decided on getting a grilled chicken Caesar salad, while Anderson settled on steak and potatoes.
“What’s been going on with you, Joanna?” he asked after we had placed our orders.
“A lot,” I said with a sigh. In the moment, it occurred to me that I had no desire to fill him in on the things I’d been forced to endure at the hands of Zander. “I was living in Miami for a while,” I said, figuring it was best to keep it simple.
“And you traded in Miami for cold Chicago winters?”
I smiled. “Hey, I’m not scared of Chicago winters. I am from here, you know.”
Anderson laughed. “So, what were you doing out there in Miami?”
“Working in Finance and…just hanging out.”
Anderson reached for his cup of water, and once again, I felt his eyes roaming over me. “Well, from what I can tell, the years have certainly been good to you,” he said.
I smirked. “I can say the same for you. The years have certainly made you a lot nicer, that’s for sure.”
Anderson gave a hearty laugh, and I couldn’t help smiling at the sound.
“Now, what makes you say that? Was I really that bad?” he asked.
I placed my finger on my chin as if deep in thought. “Well, maybe not to everyone, but you certainly were to me.”
“Aww, come on!”
“Toothpick, munchkin, bonehead…” I said. “Those are just a few of the names I remember you calling me. I’m sure there were others that I’m forgetting.”
Anderson placed a hand on his chest, feigning being hurt. “You know those were all said out of affection, my love.”
“Sure,” I said, ignoring the way my face flushed again at the sound of him referring to me as ‘my love.’ I reached for my glass of water and took a sip.
“And you have to admit,” he added, “you were a little obnoxious back then.”
“Was I?” I said. “Well, maybe there was a reason for that.”
“A reason like what?”
Me having a crush on you, I thought, but didn’t dare say, regardless of the way his eyes bore into mine, challenging me to answer. Luckily the waitress returned with our food, sparing me from responding.
“This looks delicious,” I said, desperate to change the subject. I could feel the flirtatious vibes coming from Anderson, and quite suddenly, I wasn’t sure how to feel about it. There was no doubt that I was still immensely attracted to him, but I was uncertain of how he truly felt about me. I couldn’t tell whether his flirtation was genuine or if he had picked up on the crush I had on him and simply wanted to humor me.
I also knew there was a chance that Tobias had told him to be nice, for it was precisely the kind of thing my brother would do.
And then there was Anderson’s playboy ways to consider…
Even when I was in high school, I remembered how he and Tobias used to regularly talk about girls. If memory served me correctly, Anderson always had a revolving door of women, with girls regularly flocking to his side.
Yet as the sister of his best friend, something told me he wouldn’t really put me in that category. His friendship with Tobias went too far back for him to risk it by playing games with me.
“What are you thinking?” Anderson abruptly asked.
I realized he had been watching me, noticing that I hadn’t even touched my salad yet.
I shook my head. “Nothing,” I said, and then picked up my fork to eat a bite. “Anyway, enough about me. What’s been going on with you over these years?”
“Just working with your brother,” he said.
“What about outside of work? Anyone…um…special in your life?”
He stared down at his steak as he cut it into strips. “No one worth bragging about…yet.” He then looked up at me with hunger in his eyes that had nothing to do with the food in front of him. My entire body wanted to quiver from head to toe. Something stirred low in my belly and my breath hitched in my throat.
“A handsome guy like you, with no one special? That’s hard to imagine,” I said, staring down into my salad.
Anderson was quiet for so long, I eventually looked up.
“You think I’m handsome, huh?” he said, and then laughed.
“Conceited too, I see,” I said, jokingly.
“What are you doing for the rest of the night, Joanna?” he suddenly asked, leaning in.
I shrugged my shoulders. “Nothing. I mean, with the exception of going over those numbers with you after dinner.”
Anderson looked back down to his plate. “Yeah…the numbers.” He took a bite of his steak and chewed slowly. He glanced around the restaurant. “I don’t think this is the right environment for that. How about we go back to my place after this? We can check them out there, if it’s all right.”
I swallowed another bite of my salad and stared across from Anderson, feeling far too aware of how much I wanted him. With the way I felt, I knew going back to his place was a dangerous prospect because I didn’t want to be so bold on the first date.
But it felt so tempting…
But I’ve known him since I was a kid. And there’s no need to jump ahead of myself. Maybe he really does just want me to check over the numbers, I thought.
I took a deep breath. “Yes, that’s fine,” I said, noting the smirk he was trying unsuccessfully to conceal. It was just like the smirk I was trying to keep off my own face.