Page 376 of Mr. Beast

Tobias was like family to me, but he literally was family to her.

She agreed to come over though, I reminded myself. That has to mean she’s willing…

I stood from the couch and headed to the kitchen, figuring that with Joanna being on her way, I would soon know how she truly felt. So for the time being, there was no need for me to stress about it. All I could do was start preparing the dinner I had promised her.

When I opened the door to find Joanna standing on the other side, my lips curved into a smile that I couldn’t hold back. She looked up at me and grinned.

“Hey,” she said.

“Hey,” I said, stepping forward to wrap my arms around her in a hug. She slowly wrapped her arms around me, returning the hug and squeezing me around my middle as I lowered my lips to kiss her forehead and then moved aside, permitting her entrance.

“Mmmm,” she said as I closed the door behind her. “Smells good.”

“Thanks.”

“What are we having?”

“I hope you’re a fan of spaghetti.”

“I sure am,” she said, smiling and pulling off her jacket. She had changed out of her work clothes, now wearing a nice pair of jeans and a flowing blouse that her lovely figure still managed to show through.

“Great. Let’s dig in.”

; *

“That was delicious,” Joanna said, wiping the corners of her mouth with her napkin. I stared at her lips, wanting nothing more than to pounce across the table to kiss them.

“Thank you,” I said.

She picked up her plate and stood.

“No, I got it,” I said, reaching for her plate. She smiled and handed it over while I proceeded to clear the table.

Cleaning the dishes in the kitchen, I couldn’t deny feeling the awkwardness I suddenly felt between me and Joanna. Although dinner had been a success, I knew there was something on Joanna’s mind that she wasn’t letting me in on. She had been somewhat distracted throughout the whole meal as I tried to engage her with chit-chat. It bothered me, but I didn’t want to press the issue; I didn’t want to force anything out of her until she was ready to tell me on her own.

After cleaning our plates, I searched through my cabinet, finding a bottle of wine that I’d been saving for a special occasion and figuring it was a good time to finally pop it open.

I retrieved two wine glasses and returned to the living room, where Joanna was still seated at the table, staring off into oblivion. She didn’t look up until she heard the clink of the wine glasses as I sat them on the table.

“It’s been a long day,” I said. “Mind having a drink with me?”

Joanna gave me a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “I’d love to,” she said, watching me pop the cork. I poured generous portions into each of the glasses and handed one over to her. Taking the other and raising it into the air, Joanna followed my lead.

“To getting away from one hell of a day at the office,” I said.

“Here, here,” Joanna said, clinking her glass against mine.

We sipped our wine and then headed to the couch, where I turned on the TV and flipped through the channels to find a movie.

Joanna sighed and rested her head on my shoulder. I wrapped my arm around her, squeezing her gently to my side. “Is everything all right?” I asked after a moment. “You seem a bit distracted tonight.”

“More like I could use a distraction,” she said. She turned her head to look at me, and then planted a kiss on my cheek. “Thank you for inviting me over, Anderson.”

“No, thank you for coming over. I almost didn’t think you would…Um…Tobias, does he know?”

“No,” Joanna said, not giving me a chance to finish the sentence. “I just told him I was going out for fresh air.”