Strings of the Heart

“Thank you,” I replied, as Rhys began texting furiously.

After motioning the waiter over for the check, Rhys reached his hand in his pocket for his wallet. When he started to hand the envelope with his card in it to the waiter, I shook my head. “No, please, I can pay for my own,” I protested.

Rhys shook his head. “I told you earlier I would treat you to dinner, and I meant it.” With a wink, he added, “What kind of gentleman would I be if I allowed you to pay?”

“The kind who believes in women’s equality and Dutch treat?”

“Not when it comes to you, my love.”

That statement combined with the tender expression on Rhys’s face caused a shudder to ripple through me. “Okay, fine then. But when we do movie night, I’m covering dinner. Okay?”

As Rhys rose up from his chair, he grinned. “Will it be Penis Pizza? Because I’ll totally let you buy me some of that.”

I laughed. “Yes, it will.” Wagging my brows, I added, “I’ll make sure you get an extra-large slice of sausage, too.”

Rhys’s eyes bulged at my comment. As we started out of the restaurant, he shook his head. “Not quite the sweet and innocent little Allison I used to know, huh?”

“Not by a long shot.”

“I’ve missed a lot not seeing you as much in the last few years, huh?”

“You have a lot to catch up on.”

“I look forward to it.”

I tried not letting my mouth gape open when we stepped out onto River Street to a chauffeur driven car waiting for us. “This doesn’t quite look like a cab.”

Rhys’s response was to open the door for me. After I slid across the seat, I glanced expectantly at him. He shrugged. “It’s an app on my phone that brings a car to you.”

After taking in the sleek interior of the town car, I nodded. “Nice. Very nice.”

“I’m glad you like it.”

We drove along the dusky streets in silence. Occasionally, when we hit a bump in the road, Rhys’s leg would knock into mine. Each time, he would apologize. When the car pulled up outside my house, Rhys once again held the door open for me. He asked the driver to wait a moment, and then he started to walk me to the door. “Would I be overstepping my bounds if I asked to come see your set tonight?”

His question sent me reeling. I had never in a million years thought a Grammy winning musician like him would want to hear me sing with a nightclub band. It seemed like today was the day for wonders to never cease. At my hesitation, he held up his hands. “It’s okay. I shouldn’t have asked.”

“No, that’s not it at all.”

“It isn’t?”

I shook my head. “It isn’t that I don’t want you to see me perform. The truth is I would be honored. It’s just I’m surprised someone like you would want to spend their evening listening to me sing in a lesbian bar.” I shrugged. “I guess I thought you had better things to do with your time.”

He barked out a laugh. “Well, the setting will certainly prove to be interesting, although it might be nice not to worry about being hit on for once.”

“Yes, how troubling it must be for you to be such a handsome and desirable millionaire rocker,” I teased.

Cocking his head, he asked, “You think I’m handsome?”

My chest began to rise and fall in rushed, heavy pants as I desperately tried to catch my breath. “Of course I do,” I quickly replied. At Rhys’s smile, I quickly added, “In your mind, doesn’t everyone?”

“I’m not talking about everyone—I’m talking about you.”

“Yes, you’re very, very handsome, okay? Now can you please get out of my way so I can get ready?”

“Excuse me. I wouldn’t dare to deprive your adoring public of your presence.”

“Smart ass,” I mumbled, as I started digging my keys out of my purse.

As I started to unlock the door, Rhys sidestepped me. Bracing his hand on the doorway, he smiled one of the smiles that had captured my heart when I was thirteen and now made me both lovesick and horny. “My very handsome self will see you at ten tonight at Saffie’s Tea Room.”

“Okay,” I murmured.

Just being in Rhys’s presence was enough to make my libido go into overdrive, but when he started to lean in closer to me, I fought the urge to combust from both nerves and hormones. It didn’t help that he smelled so amazing, or that I could feel the heat pouring off his body. Feeling lightheaded from the closeness of him, I tried not to faint.

After placing a chaste kiss on my cheek, he pulled away. “See you later.”

Extreme disappointment at the simple kiss ricocheted through my body. “Bye,” I replied forlornly, as he pounded down the porch steps.

Why did he have to seem so approachable and so acquirable in one moment, and then in the next seem totally and completely unattainable?

Chapter Three

When I dared to glance down at my watch, I grimaced. I was officially half an hour late for Allison’s set. I should have known better than to have gone back home before heading to Saffie’s Tea Room. I had been roped into joining my parents in the dining room. They were halfway through their three-course dinner with some of their friends from the Fortune 500 Club. It was a true hell on earth. The moment dessert had been brought out, I had politely excused myself. While my mother threw questioning looks my way, I purposely evaded her. Even though I was twenty-seven, I knew she would give me grief when I returned for bailing on the Mastersons and the talk of their single daughter at Vassar who was dying to meet me. Like I wanted to settle down period, but the last woman on earth would be with a former debutant who cared not about a love match but more about a status and society match.

By the time I’d gotten to shower and thrown on some new clothes, it was the time I should have been showing up, not leaving. Because I was running late, I allowed my parents’ driver to drop me off, rather than driving myself. I figured I wouldn’t lose time having to park. I shifted on the leather seats of the Bentley Mulsanne—one of my parents’ pretentious and extravagant cars—as the driver inched through the weekday summer tourist traffic.

In so many ways, it had been a mind-fuck of a day being with Allison. Although I had seen her at Jake and Abby’s wedding and other events in the last couple of years, it hadn’t truly hit me until today that she really had grownup. Hearing about her sex life had been a jolt to both the head, and to the pants if I was honest, that I hadn’t needed. At the same time, I wouldn’t have had to hear about the sex life to see how far she’d come from the gangly teenager I’d met so many years ago. As beautiful as she was, Jake, and his dad, Mark, had a lot to worry about when it came to Allison and men.