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CHAPTER 19
Anderson
The night of the gala arrived. As I left my apartment and headed to Tobias’s to pick up Joanna, I couldn’t believe how nervous I felt. With the way my stomach twisted in knots, I may as well have been seventeen years old again, picking up my prom date and hoping the night went the way I wanted it to.
I guess part of my nerves was due to the fact that I hadn’t had the opportunity to speak with Joanna in a while, although it was partially my own fault. I hadn’t been avoiding her exactly; things had just been too busy at work to sneak any time alone with her. As for outside of work, every time I wanted to invite her over to my apartment, I got cold feet and changed my mind.
It was hard to fathom that after all these years, as a self-defined playboy, someone was close to making me want to throw in the towel and settle down.
On some level, I wasn’t ready to face that realization yet. When I pulled up to Tobias’s mansion and saw Joanna walk out the door though, I began to seriously consider if the time to face it had finally come.
She was literally the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. Granted, she had always been pretty, even as a kid when I couldn’t stand her. But to see her in her ball gown, with her curls elegantly pinned up and putting her gorgeous face of full display, she practically took my breath away.
I got out of the car so that I could open the passenger’s door for her.
“Hi…” she said.
“Hi,” I said and then paused for a second to admire her. “Joanna, you look beautiful.”
A slight flush spread across her cheeks. “Thank you.”
I held the door open and helped her into the passenger’s seat, and then got back behind the driver’s wheel. A somewhat awkward silence filled the car as we drove off. Joanna cleared her throat, breaking the silence. “Thank you for agreeing to take me,” she said.
I nodded and took a deep breath, knowing the dreaded conversation was on the horizon. “Look,” I said, deciding to tackle it head-on, “there’s nothing going on between me and Lauren. We had a few flings in the past, which was why I had asked her to go with me to the gala a long time ago—way before you were in town. But I’ve hardly even spoken to her since. And the only reason I hadn’t thought of taking you to the gala before was because I didn’t trust being able to hide how I feel about you in front of your brother. In fact—I get a feeling this is going to be a long night. We’re going to have to be very careful if we don’t want him to suspect anything.”
Joanna remained silent for a long time, but then I saw her nod from the corner of my eye. “I understand,” she said, and then smiled.
I breathed a sigh of relief, feeling that the tension between us had subsided.
*
The night had proven to be just as difficult as I expected it to be. The moment Joanna and I stepped inside the ballroom, it felt like virtually all eyes were on us. Joanna looked so gorgeous though, I couldn’t blame everyone for looking.
One of our coworkers, Libby, rushed up to us, hugging Joanna. “You guys are at my table! Come on!” she said excitedly.
And then Joanna and I set on the arduous task of hiding our attraction to each other.
There was no way I could help stealing adoring glances at her throughout dinner, and I felt beyond paranoid that everyone noticed.
After dinner, I slid my hand onto her knee under the table. She rested her hand on top of mine and glanced at me from the corner of her eye.
“Do you want to dance?” I asked, after much internal debate. I knew it would look suspicious if we spent the entire night sitting and doing nothing. Furthermore, I was desperate to touch her. Dancing seemed like the perfect solution, as long as I could control myself and not try to steal a kiss during the process.
Joanna hesitated at first, seeming to exchange glances with Libby, who was sitting across from us with a sly grin on her face. Ultimately though, she nodded. “Yeah, sure.”
Hand in hand, we made our way onto the dance floor. I scanned the room in search of Tobias. He only looked our way briefly, giving me an appreciative nod and then turning back to the important executives he’d been talking to throughout the night.
Unable to stop myself, I smiled at Joanna and slid my hand around her waist. She placed her hands on my shoulders, and we began to sway to the music.
“So, are you enjoying yourself?” I asked.
“Yes. This is nice. I’ve never been to a formal work event like this before.”
“I personally think it’s overrated.” I shrugged my shoulders. “But I have to be here. Personally, there’s other things I wished I could be doing right now…” I tightened my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to me.
She looked up, a smirk on her face. “Oh really? Other things like what?”
I leaned
