Emancipating Andie (5 page)

“What do you do?”

“I manage a restaurant.”

“Really?” Chase asked with genuine interest. “Do you own it?”

“No, my father does.”

“Ah,” he said with a nod. “Well, you gotta love nepotism.”

Her hand came down on the steering wheel, the sound of it catching him off guard.

“See, why do you have to do that?” she asked, the irritation clear in her voice as she turned to look at him. “Why do you have to be like that?”

He shook his head slightly. “I’m kidding, Andie. It wouldn’t kill you to laugh. It wouldn’t even hurt. I promise,” he said, crossing his heart and then holding his hand up.

She turned her eyes back to the road, her tongue darting out to wet her lips as she tapped a button on the steering wheel, turning on the radio. The space between them was filled with the low murmur of some random music station and the sound of her thumb drumming the side of the steering wheel.

Chase waited until he saw the tension leave her shoulders before he spoke again. “Okay, so I have to ask, what’s the story behind Andie?”

“What’s the story behind Andie?” she echoed, the confusion evident in her voice.

“Yeah. I mean, it’s a strange name for a girl, don’t you think?” When she didn’t respond, he added, “So what’s the deal? Were your parents hoping for a boy or something?”

“It’s not my name.”

Chase turned toward her. “Andie’s not your name?”

“It’s a nickname,” she said listlessly, as if she had just reached her limit in dealing with an inquisitive child.

“So you
prefer
people to call you Andie? What’s your real name?”

“None of your business,” she blurted out before he had even finished his question.

He lifted his brow as a stunned laugh fell from his lips. She was clearly discomfited by her own little outburst; Chase watched as her expression turned sheepish for just a second before she straightened it. She kept her eyes on the road, taking a small breath before awkwardly clearing her throat. Her fingers twitched on the steering wheel before she pressed another button, increasing the volume of the radio.

Chase sat back against his seat, turning his head slightly to stare out the passenger window. He didn’t like the feeling he had right now; he felt almost…
remorseful
.

It was foreign to him, feeling contrite. Normally, if someone couldn’t handle his sense of humor, his way of thinking, his opinions, then that someone was automatically off his radar. That was just how he was. But for some reason, with Andie, it didn’t work that way. It made absolutely no sense. He didn’t even know her, so it should have been that much easier for him to write her off. But the fact that she was upset, that she seemed uncomfortable right now sitting next to him, actually bothered him.

It’s because she’s your friend’s girlfriend
, he thought.
Of course you give a shit if you’ve upset her. Colin wanted you to make this drive easier for her, not torment her the entire time.

A few minutes later, Chase became aware of the volume being lowered on the radio, and he looked over to see her thumb on the button, turning the music down. She glanced at him but said nothing, bringing her eyes back to the road.

He had no idea if she meant that to be an invitation or not, but he decided to take it as one. Chase took a small breath before trying again.

“So,” he said, turning to face her, “what’s the plan?”

“What do you mean?”

“What are we going to see?”

She looked at him, her brow pulled together.

“On this drive,” he clarified.

“Um…highway? Some farms? Lots of other cars?”

He stared at her with an amused expression until she said, “I don’t think I understand the question.”

“Aren’t we making any stops to sightsee?”

“No.”

“None?” he asked with a combination of surprise and disappointment. “That seems like a waste. There’s some cool shit on this drive.”

She lifted one shoulder in a half shrug, and Chase turned further in his seat to face her. “What about Assateague Island? Or we could stop in Atlantic City for a few hours. Or actually, you know where I’ve always wanted to go? Tybee Island. There’s supposedly this kickass lighthouse there…some great photo ops.” He waited for a response.

She gave him none.

“Or,” he said slowly, “we could make a stop at Crystal River. I hear they have the largest population of manatees in the country.”

She turned to face him then, looking at him as though he had lost his mind, and he pressed his lips together to fight his smile. “I mean, if that’s more your thing.”

“We’re not stopping to sightsee,” she said matter-of-factly as she turned back to the road.

“Why not? That’s what a road trip is all about.”

“Because we’re not on a road trip. The wedding is on Friday. If we follow my original plan, we’ll stop somewhere in South Carolina tonight and get down to Tampa sometime tomorrow afternoon. It’s timed perfectly. I didn’t account for any stops at tourist attractions.”

Chase turned in his seat, his expression thoughtful. “
Or
,” he said after a minute, and Andie glanced over at him, “we could
not
stop to sleep and use those extra hours to see some cool shit instead.”

“Drive on no sleep? Yeah, that sounds like a brilliant plan.”

“No, of course we’d have to sleep,” he said. “We’d just switch. You could sleep, and I could drive—”

“No,” she said smoothly before he even finished his explanation.

“No?” Chase echoed. “Why not? You don’t trust me with your car? Not for nothing, but this is a Prius, not a Porsche.”

“That’s not the point,” Andie said. “I just…I don’t let anyone drive my car.”

“You’ve got some serious control issues,” Chase said, the words out of his mouth before he could think better of them.

“
Excuse me
?” Andie said. “You don’t even know me. So don’t—”

“You’re right, I don’t know you,” he said, cutting her off, his own voice rising in spite of himself. “All I know about you is what you’re showing me. And right now, with the way you’re acting? With your rigid driving plan, and your ‘nobody drives but me’ nonsense? What you’re showing me is that you have control issues. Hardcore, grade A, first-rate control issues.”

Andie whipped her head toward him, her eyes blazing, and he met her stare. She turned away first, swatting off the radio and bringing both hands to the steering wheel, and he leaned back in his seat, a smug smile curving his lips over the fact that she had turned away first. Sure, he realized that she needed to keep her eyes on the road, but fuck it, he wanted to celebrate it as a victory.

They drove the next half hour in complete silence. Andie didn’t turn the radio back on, and every now and then, Chase would glance at her hands on the steering wheel; they were immobile, her knuckles white as she gripped the wheel at ten and two.

This would be impossible, he realized, trying to keep this drive amiable. She got fired up too easily, and if he were being honest, he enjoyed the reaction too much. It was a bad combination. And he wasn’t about to put on some act for the next two days just because this girl was overly uptight. They’d both be better off if he just kept his mouth shut; she obviously wasn’t dying for company, and he didn’t mind spending the next two days in thoughtful silence.

He rested his head back on the seat and closed his eyes, inhaling slowly.

At that moment, without his sense of sight, her scent consumed him, and he exhaled with a soft, contented hum in the back of his throat. His eyes flipped open, startled by his visceral reaction to the way she smelled; it wasn’t like any perfume he knew. Not pungent, not fake.

Natural. Understated.

Sweet, but not fruity. Feminine, but not floral. He had no idea how to describe it. What he did know was that it gave him the strangest feeling in his stomach, one that was as pleasant as it was completely wrong.

He looked over at her, hoping she hadn’t heard him, that she wasn’t aware of his reaction to her. By that time, her posture had relaxed some, her fingers loosely curled around the steering wheel. He dropped his gaze to her leg, her left knee bouncing slightly, as if she were keeping the beat to some private tune in her mind.

Of their own accord, his eyes began to travel up her body, over the fitted white tank that hugged the flat plane of her stomach, the swell of her breasts. He lifted his eyes to her profile, her delicate, sloping nose, her pouty mouth. At that moment her lips parted, the tip of her tongue peeking out to wet her bottom lip, and he swallowed hard just as she slammed on the brake, catapulting them into the restraint of their seat belts and yanking him from his culpable reverie.

“Jesus Christ!” she shouted. “You jackass!”

By now Chase’s eyes were safely back on the road, staring at the taillights of the car that had just cut Andie off.

She exhaled heavily, leaning back into her seat. “Sorry,” she said softly.

“It’s okay,” he said, somewhat unsettled, but not at all from the near collision.

After a minute, Andie laughed humorlessly. “Unbelievable,” she said, gesturing at the windshield. “Why does someone become a daredevil just long enough to cut you off, but then proceed to drive like someone’s ninety-year-old grandmother as soon as they’re in front of you?”

“Are you telling me you didn’t factor shitty drivers into your travel plans?”

She pursed her lips at that, keeping her eyes on the road, and he smiled.

“When someone drives like that in front of me, you know what I usually think about that makes me feel better?”

Andie glanced over at him. “Do I want to know the answer to this question?” she asked, and he laughed.

“Think about it this way. What if this person never came out in front of you, never forced you to slow down, and you took an upcoming curve too fast and went flying off the road? Or what if your original travel speed put you in an intersection at the exact moment a truck ran a red light? Or when a little kid forgot to look both ways before crossing the road on his bike?”

Andie looked over at him, her expression taken aback.

“Maybe something bad would have happened if this guy didn’t slow you down when he did. Maybe this is your guardian angel, looking out for you.”

She stared at him for another second before she blinked quickly, bringing her eyes back to the road.

Chase kept his eyes on her for a moment before he sat back in his seat, turning his head to look out the passenger window. He really did like to believe what he had just told her; in fact, at times it was the only thing that kept him from ramming into the jack-off in front of him. But he had no idea why he had just shared that with her.

Another silence filled the space between them, and he turned to look at her, the oddest feeling coming over him as something like triumph swirled in his stomach.

Because this time, as he studied her profile, there was a tiny crescent-shaped crease at the corner of her mouth.

The faintest hint of a smile.

.

C
HAPTER
T
HREE

A
ndie sat in the driver’s seat with the windows down, a gentle breeze playing with the tendrils of hair that had worked themselves free from her ponytail. She held a pretzel to her lips, nibbling on the edge of it, her eyes combing the area and finding no trace of him.

She had never been to Richmond, Virginia before, but to her it looked like any other place. Certainly, the rest stop where they had chosen to grab snacks and use the bathroom wasn’t anything extraordinary, so she had no idea what he was taking pictures of. But as soon as they got back to the car with their food, he reached in and grabbed his camera, telling her he’d be back in a few minutes.

Andie rested her head back against the seat and glanced at the clock. It was just after two; they were making good time, she thought, surprised by the fact that eight hours had passed since they started the drive that morning.

Much to her amazement, it had gone by pretty quickly.

After the first hour, which was admittedly one of the most awkward and tense hours of her life, something had changed. That comment he made, the one about her guardian angel looking out for her, struck a nerve; she would have never expected something like that to come out of his mouth, something so optimistic, so…
sweet
.

And maybe it was because she acknowledged that side of him that the next seven hours were an improvement; they alternated between lulls of silence, where they’d listen to music or take in their surroundings, and little bouts of conversation. Their exchanges were very basic, all superficial, surface-type things, but still, he hadn’t said anything truly offensive since then, and not once did she feel her defenses fly up. The whole thing was—dare she use the word—
bearable
.

Movement in her peripheral vision caught her attention, and she lifted her eyes to see Chase walking back toward the car. His eyes were downcast as he pressed a few buttons, scanning the images in his camera with his brow furrowed in concentration. He lifted his hand, swiping the hair out of his eyes, and just before he reached the car, he looked up. For the first time, perhaps because of the way the sun hit them, or perhaps because she was looking at him with something other than contempt, she noticed what a pretty shade of green they were.