Chapter 7- Johnny - Dream Guy
Well, shit. That was not how I expected this evening to go.
What does Becca mean, she doesn’t do more than one night? Hasn’t she ever wanted to fall in love? To have someone know her, inside and out, and love her beyond all reason?
I’ve always wanted to find my soul mate. The one person who is my other half, who makes me whole, who shows me what it means to love. That’s why my relationships never last. Nothing has ever given me the feeling that it’s forever. I’ve always been able to take or leave the women I’ve dated.
That’s not the case at all with Becca. Even when she was stripping down and offering me her body, I chose to not sleep with her, just for the chance to continue being around her. I chose to be friends with her, instead of sleeping with her, even though she is the sexiest woman I’ve ever seen and she had me so turned on I thought my dick was going to bust out of my pants.
The drive home is particularly uncomfortable, as no amount of rearranging my dick takes the pressure off. I should take off my pants, but it would be my luck to get pulled over and then arrested, and Denise would have to come bail me out of jail. I’ll leave that to Ryder. She has more than enough to deal with because of him, without having me add to it just because I have an uncomfortable erection.
Pulling my car into my assigned spot in the parking garage, I notice that Travis’ truck isn’t here. Again. I can’t remember the last time we were both home at the same time, and we’ve only been back from tour for a little over a week. It’s not like he should have that much on the go already. He was helping our parents out at their house a little these last few days, doing some repairs around the house because they refuse to let us hire someone, but he should be done with most of it by now.
Not like it matters. I’m a grown man. I don’t need my brother around all the time. I can deal with this on my own.
Would have been nice to have someone to talk to, though.
I take the elevator up to our condo, a loft style penthouse with bedrooms on opposite sides of the living space, and head straight into the kitchen to begin my stress relief routine.
You might not know it to look at me, but I am a proficient baker. My mom taught me how to bake years ago, when it was clear I’d need something to keep me occupied, other than playing music. I got into a lot of trouble when I was a kid. Nothing bad, but I pulled a lot of pranks on my sisters and it was easier to redirect my energy than it was to punish me for it and make me stop. I’m sure if I hadn’t learned to bake when I was young, my pranks would have escalated and someone would have been hurt.
Probably me, when my sisters got their revenge.
By the time Travis gets home two hours later, I’ve already made several batches of cookies. I’m packing them into the bakery boxes I keep on hand for this reason when he walks into the kitchen and gives me a look.
“What happened this time?” he asks, grabbing a beer from the fridge and sitting at the counter opposite where I’m working. “Let me guess. You didn’t take my advice, and you talked to Alex before she was ready?”
I roll my eyes at him before turning to pull my last tray of cookies from the oven. “No,Mom. I didn’t do that.” I set the tray down on a trivet to let it cool and grab myself a beer before sitting next to Travis at the counter. “I kissed Becca at Connor’s place earlier and she invited me over after.”
Travis slaps me on the back. “That’s great, man. Maybe she’s the one after all.” He smiles at me and downs more of his beer.
I run my hand down my face and groan. “Yeah, not exactly. Things were going great until she told me she would only sleep with me tonight, and then it could never happen again.”
“Oh,” Travis says, turning to face me better. “So… what did you do?”
I snort a laugh. “What do you mean, what did I do? I told her that wasn’t what I wanted, accepted her offer of friendship, invited her to come over tomorrow night, then came home and, well, you can see.” I gesture at the kitchen and the stacks of bakery boxes filled with cookies. “Now I need to make a delivery to Aiden in the morning.”
“That’s the one good thing about your stress management techniques, hey? The kids at the shelter always have homemade treats to snack on.”
“Yeah. At least someone benefits from my misery.”
Travis reaches across the counter and steals a cookie from an open box. He shoves the whole thing in his mouth at once and grabs another before resting on his stool again.
“So what are you going to do, then? Are you sure you can just be friends with her?” Travis knows me better than anyone, and he knows how quickly I fall in love. He’s been warning me to pace myself with Becca since we met her after the show last week, and I’ve all but planned our wedding already.
What can I say? I’m a hopeless romantic and a terrible listener.
“I’m going to try,” I say with a sigh. “I’m going to talk to Alex, too. Maybe she can give me some insight into why Becca only does one night. Maybe I can be the exception to her rule.”
Travis stands up, grabbing my shoulder and giving a squeeze. “Maybe. How could she possibly resist your charms? Incredibly successful guitar player, excellent baker,andlooking to settle down? You’re every woman’s dream guy. She’ll catch up, eventually.” He gives my shoulder one last squeeze and walks to his side of the loft, apparently done with talking for the night.
I hope he’s right, though. Maybe I can be Becca’s dream guy, after all.
