ChapterOne
Joel
“Will you marry me?”
I must be dreaming, because there was no way in hell the girl I’ve been fantasizing about could be standing on my porch proposing marriage at eight o’clock on a Saturday morning.
“Uh, Gia…” I rubbed the scruff on my face, vaguely aware of the fact I was half naked.
Her gaze travelled over my chest and I was suddenly grateful I hadn’t bothered to grab a shirt when I opened the door to retrieve what I assumed was an early morning delivery from Amazon.
She flattened her palm against my chest, shoving me out of the way. “Do you mind putting a shirt on? I haven’t been with a man in months and all those tanned muscles are a little distracting.”
She hadn’t had a serious boyfriend in more than two years, so I was tempted to ask who the hell she’d slept with months ago, but kept my mouth shut. She didn’t need to know I was jealous, that I wanted to pummel every guy who checked her out. We were supposed to be friends and that meant I had to keep my feelings in check or risk losing her. And I couldn’t lose this girl. Since my father died last year, she’d become my everything.
“I have a feeling I’m going to need coffee for this conversation.” I pulled a t-shirt over my head and led the way to the kitchen.
She started opening cupboards, retrieving pans and mixing bowls.
“What are you doing?” I poured two mugs of steaming brew, watching her out of the corner of my eye.
“Making us French toast. Have you harvested any of those luscious berries yet?”
Luscious berries.My gaze immediately dipped to her cleavage. She was wearing a black V-neck t-shirt, short denim shorts, and colorful flip-flops that showed off her bright pink pedicure. Lord have mercy.
“Uh, yeah. In the pantry.” I fixed her coffee just the way she liked it: half sugar and a drop of milk. Never cream.
She clapped her hands. “Ohh, good. I’ve been salivating over the thought of those for days.”
I could give her something to salivate over… if only she hadn’t friend-zoned me so hard.
I watched her move around my kitchen like she owned the place, loving every second of it. They didn’t call her the Domestic Diva for no reason. This woman knew her way around the kitchen. And every other room of the house. The only one that remained a mystery to me was her talents in the bedroom, but I had no doubt she’d put every other woman I’d been with to shame. This girl didn’t doanythingin half measures.
“Uh, are you forgetting you proposed to me five minutes ago?” I smirked as I leaned against the counter, bringing the mug to my mouth.
She waved me off. “Breakfast first, then we’ll talk about my proposal.” A horrified look crossed her pretty face before she looked up at the ceiling. “Oh my God, I didn’t even consider… do you have a woman here?”
I chuckled. “If I did, she’d be pretty pissed to find a gorgeous woman making me breakfast, don’t you think?”
She palmed her forehead, groaning. “Ugh! I’m such an idiot. I didn’t even think of that. I was just so desperate to talk to you that—”
“Relax.” I smiled. “There’s no one else here, beautiful. Just you and me.”
She heaved a sigh of relief before retrieving the milk, eggs and butter from the fridge. Holding up a dispenser of whipped cream, she rolled her eyes. “Why am I not surprised you have this?”
I laughed. “Gotta be prepared, babe.”
“You’re disgusting.”
She loved to tease me about my sex life. Little did she know she starred in every one of my late-night fantasies.
Winking at her, I said, “Nothing wrong with getting a little dirty, is there?”
Amusement gave way to a sexually charged tension I’d never experienced with her before when our eyes locked. What wasthatabout? Gia didn’t think of me that way. She’d told me at least a dozen times. Even referred to our relationship as a brother-sister bond once. I quickly shut that shit down, telling her I’d hurl if she ever said it again.
“Since I don’t know what the hell you’ve been doing with this,” she said, returning the whipped cream to the fridge, “I think I’ll make my own whipped cream from scratch.”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course, you will.” Did I mention the girl didn’t do anything in half-measures? Her friends teased she could give Martha a run for her money and that was her secret plan. She’d built a huge social media following and even garnered a TV offer teaching other women ‘how to make their home a haven’. That was her tagline.
