“Nice change of subject. But fine. I’ll take it for now. Just be sure I get a good seat at the wedding, okay?”
Before Rachel could argue or correct him, he was around the corner, heading off to get ready for the show that was starting pretty soon.
Rachel studied herself in the mirror, wondering how things had managed to change so much in just two weeks. She was still terrified of where this was all going—or if it was going anywhere at all. But she could no longer deny things with Zander were getting more serious.
She painted on her lipstick, put on her costume, and prepared for her entrance to the stage, feeling alive and excited for more reasons than just her return to her job.
* * *
“Rumor has it the stud in the front row belongs to you,” Jonathan whispered later that night when they were preparing for the evening performance. Rachel was tired, sitting back stage and resting her voice and legs before the second show of the day began.
“And where did this rumor circulate?” she asked, grinning.
“Does it matter? Is it true? Is the stud in the front row the hunk you’ve been seeing? Because girl, he’s gorgeous”
Rachel grinned, feeling the now familiar flutter in her stomach. The tickets she’d gotten Zander were for tonight. She’d been overly confident and perhaps overly hopeful that tonight, she’d be back on stage, which was why she’d taken the chance and gotten him the tickets for that night.
But hearing confirmation he was here was perhaps even better news than hearing the doctor clear her yesterday.
“Was he with anyone?” Rachel asked, concern creeping in.
“Yeah. A woman in a bright red hat who has been talking nonstop about Broadway back in her day,” Jonathan grinned.
Rachel was surprised. Zander had apparently tracked down Beatrice and asked if she would accompany him. She was excited that her second performance of her day back would mean even more. She’d have two familiar faces in the audience.
Today was a good day, no matter what happened or didn’t happen with Zander. She’d met a man who appreciated what she did on a deeper level than she could’ve ever asked for.
So when her time came to shine, she stepped onto the stage with confidence, her eyes traveling for a split moment to the two front seats who were filled with people here to support her. Beatrice waved, and Zander winked at her when she made eye contact.
And she had to admit that Jonathan was right. In his suit jacket, Zander Riley looked better than a million dollars or a lead role on stage.
* * *
“Are you sure, Beatrice?”
“Okay, I might be old and naïve, but I’m not dumb. I know you two kids don’t need a third wheel. Plus, it’s sort of terrifying leaving Gigi home alone this long. I need to get home anyway. But beautiful job tonight, kiddo. You’re a star in so many ways. Now you two kids have fun,” Beatrice replied, heading off to hail a cab.
Rachel stood in front of Zander, holding the bouquet of roses he’d brought for her. A girl could get used to roses.
“Thanks for coming,” Rachel said, the theater almost empty now as she stood before him. She was tired from her performance, but she was also energized by the sight of him in front of her.
“You were unbelievable. It was so good, Rachel. I mean, I’ve seen plays before, but never like that. Never with you.”
Rachel grinned. “Really?”
“I mean it. You were amazing. And then some.”
The words coming from his mouth meant more than any theater critic’s review. She felt her cheeks warm as she stared into his dark eyes, the familiar warmth growing in her chest.
“I’m sure you’re exhausted from the performance, but if you have a bit of energy left, I’d love to take you out for a drink.”
“Are you sure? It’s getting late. I wouldn’t want to impose.”
Zander raised an eyebrow. “Are you kidding? I’m heading home to my cat and the news. You’d be doing me a favor, saving me from a night of my lonely bachelor existence.”
Rachel knew she should say no. She was crossing lines she couldn’t uncross. She was letting Zander in, could feel him worming his way into her heart. But as he stood before her, his dark eyes practically begging her to give in, she found she couldn’t say no.
“Okay. Just one drink. Besides, I have a surprise for you.”
“Really? Well, now I’m just plain intrigued,” he replied as he led her toward the back of the theater out into the summer air.
“Good,” she replied, and they walked down the sidewalk, the roses still in her arms, Rachel thrilled at the prospect of what she was about to share with him.
* * *
Tucked into a corner of the hectic bar, Rachel felt energized by the music and the vibe running through the place. She hadn’t been out for a drink after a show in forever, and it felt good to do something different. More than anything, it felt good to be here with the man sitting across from her.
“So, what’s this surprise you have?” Zander asked after taking a sip of his beer.
Rachel grinned, digging into her bag and pulling out a piece of paper. She slid it across the table to him.
He studied the paper. “What’s this?”
“A theater group in town. They’re looking for new members. They do a few plays a year, but mostly they’re an improv acting group that meets once a week. I think it could be a good place to jump back in, you know, until you’re ready to dive in fully.”
“Dive into what?” he asked, studying the paper.
“Your acting career, of course. Come on, Zander. You’ve told me yourself how you thought you’d be on stage one day. So what’s stopping you? You live in the perfect city to chase that dream. You need to get back out there and go for it. It isn’t too late.”
Zander looked up at her, and for the first time, she wondered if she’d made a mistake. He peered at her intently, his eyes piercing into hers.
And then he smiled. “Thank you. That was really nice of you to give me this.”
She shrugged. “I’ve been thinking about it a lot lately. And it’s just dumb for you to give up on it because of whatever happened in the past or whatever didn’t happen. You can do it, Zander. I can see it in your eyes when you talk about acting that you’ve got the passion. And now you’ve got a place to jump back in. I think you’d really like it. One of the girls in the chorus was actually talking about it, and I asked for more information.”
“It sounds fun. I don’t know. I’ve been away from it for so long. But maybe, you know? Maybe this is what I need to start again.”
Rachel reached across the tiny table they sat at, careful not to spill her drink. She touched his hand, covering it with hers.
“Go for it, Zander. What do you have to lose? You can do this, I know it.”
The smile on his face said all she needed to know. She’d accomplished her goal. She’d made him believe in the dream again, even if only for a short minute. She’d helped him reignite the fire for his goal he’d lost sight of.
And that made Rachel burn with a newfound passion she hadn’t expected.
“This means more than you could know, Rachel. Thank you.”
Looking at him sitting across the tiny table from her, Rachel stared into the eyes of the man who had wandered into her life on one of the worst days. When she looked at him, though, she didn’t see any of the things she probably should—all of the fear and guilt and hesitation. She didn’t see all of the ways she had been burned in the past by Seth, by love, and by entrusting her heart with another.
Instead, as she looked into the dark eyes of Zander Riley, the teacher with a passion for theater who complimented her own personality in so many ways, she saw something even more terrifying than betrayal.
She saw a man she could envision a life with, a man who might be worth breaking her promise to herself. She saw, in a word, love, which was something she never planned to make room for again.
Zander stared back at her, as if waging a
similar internal battle. Rachel knew he understood her hesitation, as he was clearly sporting some sort of battle scars when it came to love as well. They were two broken spirits chasing two similar dreams, both pushing love to the side. Now, though, at a pivotal point in life, they’d crashed into each other as if the universe had been lining up their lives for this exact moment.
Something about Zander invited her in, made her feel like she could let go of all of her past ideas about love and relationships. She felt for the first time in years that maybe she’d been wrong about what love looked like, what it felt like.
She felt, in many ways, like Zander was opening her up to a new kind of love.
So despite the cheesy music in the background and her head screaming for her to stop what was about to happen, Rachel didn’t pull back. She didn’t run from the feelings, instead savoring them as Zander inched closer and closer. Her hand still on her margarita glass, she let him lean in before she followed suit, meeting him in the middle.
When his lips found hers, the horrible song playing and the loud bar patrons didn’t matter anymore. She wasn’t some sixteen-year-old looking for the first kiss of the movies or a naïve twenty-year-old who thought a kiss had to be a certain way. She was a thirty-one-year-old who had been through love, lost, and had sworn she didn’t need a man to keep her warm at night anymore.
But all of that changed when Zander’s lips met hers and an electricity, a warmth, and a sense of serenity flooded her. It was, in many ways, like that romantic first kiss she’d craved at sixteen, just with a more mature, less needy vibe. His lips on hers, Rachel found the confirmation she’d been terrified to find.
He was the man who could change everything, the one who could make Rachel Winters complete. He was the one she wanted, maybe even needed, beside her for this crazy journey called life.
And as he pulled back, smiling at her when their lips parted, she told herself she didn’t have time for this. Even then, old habits were hard to break. Even after he’d knocked her socks off and crippled her with feelings of love and lust and everything in between, she tried to fight it. She told herself she couldn’t make him any promises, and that she shouldn’t. She told herself that even a kiss like that wasn’t a guarantee for happiness. She swore she wouldn’t fall for this again.
But with Zander Riley looking at her, she couldn’t help herself.
She couldn’t hold back anymore.
“I think I’m falling for you,” she whispered, almost inaudible with the noise of the bar.
Zander paused for a moment, and she wondered if he was going to reciprocate the sentiment.
He didn’t speak any words, though. He simply put one hand on her chin, pulled her back into him, and answered her words with a promise of another kind, this kiss more confident than the first.
And it was with that kiss, the second one that radiated a new kind of heat, that Rachel knew she was a goner, promises or not.
Chapter 12
Zander
“Mr. Riley, you look happy today,” Rocky said during the first class of the morning.
“Don’t I always look happy?” Zander asked as he ushered students to their seats.
“Not this happy,” he replied, smiling. “Did something good happen last night?”
“Did you get a puppy?” Katie asked, jumping from her seat and starting a frenzy of excitement.
Zander grinned, raising his hands. “No, guys, no puppy. I’m just in a good mood today. Now let’s get to the language arts lesson before things get crazy.”
But as he worked on their lesson for the day, Zander couldn’t help but agree with Rocky that he was definitely feeling happier this morning. He couldn’t tell his students, though, that it was because of a woman named Rachel who had reawakened him to all sorts of possibilities. He couldn’t go on and on about how one kiss made him feel more things than he’d felt his entire life, that it made him forget about the woman from the past and hope for the future.
He couldn’t tell them she reignited his passion in more ways than just physical. She made him want to be different, to be the real Zander Riley he’d been shoving aside for so many years.
So instead, he taught on, trying to tell himself to stay focused and to not check his phone every two minutes for a text from her.
He was acting like a lovesick teenager, and a huge part of him hated himself for that.
But another part couldn’t help but relish the feeling he thought would never happen again.
* * *
“Did you have an amazing night last night or what?” Brad asked at lunch, talking through a mouthful of his sandwich in the faculty room.
Zander shook his head as some of the more conservative teachers looked at their table, clearly appalled. “Why don’t you shout that a little louder?”
Brad shrugged, getting ready to yell. Zander nudged him. “Shut up. No, I didn’t, not that it’s any of your business.”
“God forbid you have some fun, I know.”
“Well, some of us have a bit too much fun around here.”
“Hey, I’m a teacher, not a saint. It’s all good.”
Zander rolled his eyes. “It also helps that your dad is the guy who started this school, huh?”
Brad shrugged. “I won’t lie. It helps. Why do you think I went into the private sector and not public school? I probably wouldn’t have made it there.”
Zander smirked at his friend’s honesty. In truth, Brad was a crazy good teacher. He connected with the students, and he had a soft spot for the students with severe developmental disabilities. His brother, Rudy, had a lot of special needs, which was why Brad’s family had started the school. He’d wanted to give Rudy a safe place to learn and a stellar education specifically for his needs. The school had grown over the years, and now it had a great reputation.
A much better reputation than Brad, but that was another story. Some of the other teachers, of course, thought Brad got away with too much since he was the owner’s son, but Zander couldn’t fault the guy. It was just who he was.
“So tell me, man, seriously. You’re never this freaking happy on a Monday. What gives?”
Zander shrugged, shoveling in some of the pizza he’d brought. “I just had a good weekend.”
“Oh, crap. Is it that Rachel woman you were telling me about? The Broadway girl?”
“If I tell you yes, are you going to hassle me?”
“You betcha, man. Wow, you must have it bad. What is this, like ten dates?”
“Hardly.”
“Hey, I’m impressed. That woman can get you to go out and have some fun? Wow, more power to her. I mean, seriously. You need to loosen up.”
Zander rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, you’re one to give relationship advice. How many dates have you been on this week, with different women?”
“I know how to have fun and live it up. Wouldn’t kill you to follow suit.”
“One of these days you’re going to get your heart broken and you won’t be saying that,” Zander replied.
Brad shrugged. “Heartbreak never killed anyone, as far as I know.”
And Zander thought for a second about how profound a statement that was and how maybe Brad was onto something.
He finished his pizza, checked his phone to see if there were any messages—there weren’t—and texted Rachel to see how her day was going.
Yeah, he was done for, all right, and it was probably not going to end well. Then again, maybe he needed to have Brad’s attitude.
It wasn’t going to kill him but being away from Rachel just might. Maybe it was time to make some new promises to himself, to Rachel, and to the Zander he wanted to be now.
Chapter 13
Rachel
“You’re different,” Kinsley whispered across the table. Rachel had come a bit late to the No Bride’s Club meeting. She usually was late thanks to the Thursday show, but she’d been held up by a quick meeting after the performance about some new lighting techniques they were going to be u
sing and a small costume change for the chorus. She’d rushed to get to the Briarwood Tavern as soon as she could, desperate to make it for happy hour and the conversation she knew she would miss if she were late.
“What?” Rachel asked once she’d settled into her seat they’d saved and ordered a margarita.
“You’re different. I don’t know, Rachel. There’s just something about you. You’re glowing. You’re running late, which would usually make you stressed, but you’re smiling. It feels a little… familiar.” Kinsley grinned.
“You do seem very smiley, more than usual. What’s up?” Julie added, and Rachel felt a little paranoid about the fact that all the women were now staring at her. She fiddled with a stray strand of hair that had fallen into her face from her loose bun.
“Nothing. I just had a really good performance today.”
“I don’t know. Georgie, don’t you think she seems extra chipper today?” Kinsley asked, and Georgie just took a sip of her wine.
When she finished taking a long gulp, she shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it’s the yellow shirt she’s wearing. It does make her look extra sunshine-like.”
The women seemed to accept that for an answer, returning to the conversation at hand. The waitress brought out the crab dip Rachel had ordered, and the conversation was mercifully forgotten.
“Thank you,” Rachel mouthed to Georgie when no one was paying attention.
She simply winked at Rachel, making her smile.
Sure, she probably was extra smiley lately. The kiss with Zander had, in fact, changed everything. Suddenly, it felt like everything in her world had shifted. Everything felt just a hint brighter, just a note higher. Life had jolted when his lips met hers, and her views of love had widened just a bit.
But she wasn’t ready to own up to the change just yet. Heck, she’d barely come to accept it herself. She was still uncertain about the new waters she was navigating. She wasn’t completely ready to give in to the feelings and the passion she’d uncovered with Zander.
She still clung to the reservations, to the memories of Seth, and to the fears for what it would all mean for her career with steadfast assurance she needed to be careful.
No Time for Promises (The No Brides Club Book 3) Page 9
