Page 37 of Endeavor

“Voltage Drop,” Grady states, “they’re good. We played with them at a music festival last year.”

“I know,” I say. “I was there.”

Grady cocks his head to one side, raising an eyebrow. “You’ve seen us in concert?”

I nod. “Yeah, I don’t live under a rock.”

He grins. “I didn’t think you did. What did you think?”

I shrug. “You were good.” I don’t want to admit that he was amazing, and I may have drooled a bit when he ripped off his t-shirt halfway through their set. I may have also been jealous of the girl in the first row who caught said shirt, although I would never admit it to him. Grady exudes cockiness. I know he knows that he’s good looking. He doesn’t need reminding from me.

“Good?”

I blush and curse my fair skin for its tendencies to give away my inner thoughts. His smirk tells me he sees through my bullshit answer.

“Where are we going?” I ask, trying to steer the conversation to a safer topic.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me the truth.”

“About what?” I feign innocence.

“Nice try, but you know ‘what.’”

I sigh. “Fine, you were amazing. The show was great. I still have a ticket stub on my dresser mirror. Happy?”

“Show me,” he commands.

I grab his hand, tugging him up and he obliges as he follows me to my room. I point at the dresser before the mortification of the mess I created earlier dawns on me.

“OK, you saw it, let’s go,” I say quickly as I try to push him back to the door.

He doesn’t budge. Instead, he surveys the room slowly. Thank God, aside from the clothes pile on my chair, my room is somewhat neat.

“So, this is where the magic happens?” he remarks as his eyes finish roaming my room and land squarely on my face.

“Yep. Now, your turn. Where are we going?” I ask, placing my hands on my hips out of frustration.

He chuckles. “You are fucking adorable when you are irritated.”

I sigh and yank on my ponytail. Maybe he really is a jackass. Maybe the little glimpse that I thought I got of the real him, was as deep as he gets. Maybe I’m making a huge mistake by going on date number two.

“Stop overthinking things. I have a day planned. I want it to be a surprise. Let’s go,” he demands as he holds out a hand to me. I look at it for a long moment, weighing my options. But who am I fooling, of course, I’m going to go with him. I’ve come this far, might as well finish what I started.

I take his hand as we walk to his car. I’m surprised to find a picnic basket in the back seat. I decide to play along and not ask questions since he clearly took the time to plan this day.

“You ready?” he asks as he settles into the driver’s seat.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” I reply giving him a small smile.

“Then hold on to your seat, because we are about to embark on an epic day of fun,” he announces as he throws the car into drive and speeds out of the parking spot.

Chapter Sixteen

Grady

I don’t know why the thought of Emma at one of my concerts makes me giddy, but it does. She’s seen me on stage, and from the blush, I bet I took my shirt off; I have a tendency to do that. I let Emma play DJ as I drive us to our destination. I ask her about how her semester is going and she tells me about her studies and classes. I can tell she loves learning and her anecdotes have me laughing. The conversation flows easily. I find myself just enjoying Emma’s company. She’s smart and savvy and she has what my grandmother would call chutzpah or gall. She’s brave and not afraid to be herself. I can sense she’s still timid about her expertise, but she’s a student and that’s to be expected when you are still learning your craft. Yet, she’s so open and honest. She doesn’t blow smoke up my ass like most of the groupies that I hook up with and she’s not completely wrapped up in herself like some of the models that I’ve dated. She’s down to earth and real, and that is hard to find in Hollywood. I can see why my mom was so taken by her.

I pull up to the vineyard, and she squeals with delight. “Really?”

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