Book Boyfriends Wanted Series

By the time my shift was over, I was feeling better. I’d made a new friend, helped her feel welcome in MacKellar Cove, and I’d seen Ian.

If I was being honest, seeing Ian was always the highlight of my day, but I couldn’t tell anyone that part.

I went to the back to grab my bag before heading out, but Earl stopped me.

“Hey, let me talk to you a minute. Come here and flip pancakes with me,” he said in his gruff, affectionate tone. Earl was the kind of guy who hated to get emotional but always was. He loved all of us like we were his own kids even though he’d never had any. He’d never gotten married and never dated as far as I knew.

I took the spatula from him and flipped the row of pancakes in front of me while he added more to the griddle.

“I have a proposal for you. I’ve been thinking it’s time to update that big wall overlooking the square. And I want you to do it,” he said, not looking at me.

I couldn’t look at him either. Cracked was the first building west of the town square, which was really a huge park that took up three full blocks in the center of MacKellar Cove. The square was where everything in town happened. It was iconic for visitors, but also a meeting place for locals. Adirondack chairs sat on a small hill overlooking the water with pathways that ran into town. A wide sidewalk from the square led up and down the waterfront behind the businesses that lined the small cove set off from the St. Lawrence River. The square was the centerpiece of MacKellar Cove, and overlooking the square was huge for business at Cracked.

And Earl was trusting me to create something that would help bring in that business. Wow.

“Are you serious?” I blurted, unable to stop the words.

He chuckled. “Of course. Who else would I get? The other muralist in town?”

My heart cracked just slightly that he was hiring me because I was the only one around.

Then he said, “You’re my one and only choice, Blake. Because you’re the best, and you love this place as much as I do. I can’t imagine trusting this job to anyone else. And it will be a job. I’ll pay for the paints and supplies and your time. Starting today. Work up a few ideas and we can talk whenever you have them ready for me.”

Wow. I really couldn’t believe it. I’d painted a few small murals around town, but nothing the size of Cracked. It would be huge for me, for my career. And it was the kind of challenge I’d been looking for. Something other than nondescript water scenes that I painted on a regular basis to sell in the local gift shops. They paid the bills, but they didn’t always inspire me.

“I’d be honored,” I finally told Earl. “I…thank you.”

“There’s one more thing,” Earl said. He shuffled his feet and flipped pancakes, avoiding my gaze again.

“Spit it out, Earl,” I said with amusement.

He grinned and said, “I want Ms. Georgia in the painting.”

“What?” I breathed.

He shrugged and met my gaze with his own warm, sad one. “She was the heart and soul of this place for more than thirty years. I want people to know about her for another thirty or more. Eddie agreed to it. He said Georgia would have been honored.”

“What did Rissa say?” I breathed.

Earl avoided my eyes again.

“You didn’t ask her?” I half-shouted.

He shrugged. “I thought you could.”

“Oh, jeez, Earl. You know you should have talked to her.”

“I know, but I thought it might be easier coming from you. Will you talk to her?”

I nodded. We were all getting together that night to have our own quiet celebration for Georgia. I told him I’d figure out how to mention it to Rissa then headed out.

Instead of going straight home like I should have, I walked to the square so I could see the wall. I sat down in the middle of the first block, behind the Adirondack chairs on the grassy area that was a haven for young parents, and stared at the wall.

Ideas filled my head immediately, one flooding in after another. My fingers itched to start sketching, but I didn’t have a book with me. I didn’t even have a receipt from breakfast. I just had my mind, and I let it wander.

It wasn’t long before it was wandering toward Ian. More and more my thoughts were consumed by him. Ever since our trip to Hawaii where Georgia and Eddie got married, I couldn’t stop thinking about Ian. The way he held me close when we danced. The way his fingers teased my bare skin when he touched me. The way his eyes blazed with something dangerously close to need when I walked in on him in the bathroom.

I could still see the look in his eyes from that night. I didn’t realize he was in the bathroom when I got back to the room we shared. I’d been in the hotel bar with the rest of the girls, and I thought Ian wandered off in search of someone to spend the night with. The room was silent when I let myself in, and I assumed the housekeeper left the bathroom door closed for some reason. I never imagined I’d walk in on Ian, water from his shower still running in rivulets down his chest. My gaze tracked those drops until they disappeared in the thick patch of hair surrounding his semi-erect cock. He yanked his towel around his waist, breaking the spell I was under.

Then my eyes snapped to his and every cell in my body tightened with an undeniable craving. His hazel eyes were stormy. Lust filled. Soaked with as much desire as my panties.

I backed up and closed the door, figuring someone else was in there with him. Why else would he have that look in his eyes?

But he was alone. No one else walked out minutes later when he did, wrapped in that towel, to get clean clothes. I was already in bed, covers pulled up to my neck, wishing I was alone so I could slide my hand into my panties and take care of the throbbing ache.

That was the moment I knew I needed to break up with William. He’d never looked at me like that. And I knew my friends were right saying it wasn’t worth being with someone who didn’t ignite that instant yearning in me.

The fact that William beat me to the break-up just meant I didn’t have to be the bitch who dumped him after five years of dating and a proposal gone wrong.

I repeatedly tried to think of a time William made me half as turned on as Ian did with that one look and couldn’t come up with one. It really wasn’t fair that the only man who sparked my desires that much was a man I couldn’t have. Even if he wasn’t my best friend’s brother, Ian wasn’t a commitment kind of guy.

I sighed and told myself I needed to forget about Ian Jameson. He was a friend, but he didn’t want to be anything more, so I needed to stop thinking about him as more. It wouldn’t do me any good, and neither would fantasizing about him in public.

The sun was warm on my back as I walked home, letting me know summer was coming quickly. By the time I reached my door, my tee was sticking to my back and my thighs were chafed and sore. I stripped everything off in my room and tossed it all in the laundry basket in the corner. I needed a cold shower and some painting clothes so I could get some work done.

* * *

A few hours later, I jumped back in the shower to wash off the paint, then dressed in a loose pink top and jean shorts. We were having a mid-week girls’ night at Book Boyfriends Unlimited, Finley’s bookstore. It was a few blocks from Cracked on Riverview Road. She had a prime spot, right on the water where boaters could pull up to the nearby pier or anyone walking along the water could stop in. Finley was a die-hard romance fan and only sold romance novels, which worked out well for all of us since it was the only romance we had in our lives.

Finley already had the closed sign flipped when I got to the store. She locked the door also, since under normal circumstances, she would be open for business. I knocked and waited for her to let me in.

“Hey, hun,” she said, wrapping me in a hug. Finley was like the sister I never had. We were opposites in many ways, but we always got each other. And no matter what else was going on in our lives, we were always there for each other.

“How are you?” I asked her. Ms. Georgia was like a mother to all of us, and I wasn’t the only one struggling with the day.

She shrugged. “It’s been tough. I had a reminder on my phone that I’d forgotten to remove. And I set up the display to showcase her favorites, but it was tough to walk by it all day.”

I looked at the table front and center. Finley liked to ask locals what their favorite books were and maintained a display through the busy season with those selections. It gave everyone a chance to try out new authors. Ms. Georgia always participated. She was the one who got most of us into reading romance. She wisely told us the men in books weren’t real, but we needed to wait for men like them in our lives. Men who would say sweet things and do whatever it took to make us happy.

I was finally ready to listen to her.

“How was your day?” Finley asked after a minute.

I shrugged. “Pretty good. Earl wants me to paint a mural on the side of Cracked.”

“What?” Finley yelled. “Blake, that’s awesome. That’s not just pretty good.”

I smiled and added, “He wants Ms. Georgia to be in the mural.”

Finley’s eyes narrowed. “Karissa hasn’t mentioned this.”

“That’s because she doesn’t know yet. Earl asked Eddie, but he wants me to talk to Rissa.”

Finley huffed a laugh. “That was nice of him,” she added with a dash of sarcasm.

I grinned. “Yeah, tell me about it.”

Another knock on the door interrupted our discussion. Laura waved from the other side of the glass. She held up a plate that made my stomach rumble even though I didn’t know what it was.

“Hey,” Laura said once Finley let her in. “It’s Oreo cheesecake. Ms. Georgia’s favorite.”

Finley and I hugged Laura and the three of us headed toward the back where Finley hosted book clubs and our group of friends every week.

Laura uncovered her cheesecake just as there was another knock on the front door. Finley went to see who it was while Laura and I talked.

“How are things at the clinic?” I asked.

Laura gave me a sad smile. “Today was tough. We had all hoped Ms. Georgia would ring the bell.”

I nodded. “We did, too. How was Dr. Allison?”

Laura had a thing for her boss, who was Ms. Georgia’s oncologist. Dr. Allison was brilliant and kind, but he was stiff and cold. He never joked or laughed with his patients. He was all business, which was fine, except people needed to feel like they were still human and not just a diagnosis.

“He was his usual self,” Laura said softly. She defended him constantly, but there was only so much she could say about him when he acted like nothing bothered him.

“I guess you have to be detached in his world. Otherwise he couldn’t do his job,” I said, trying to be kind to the man. He did try to save Ms. Georgia, and he was well regarded locally and within the cancer community.

Laura nodded and looked up when Finley came back with Elise and Karissa. Karissa held up two bottles of wine. “I need to celebrate tonight.”

“What are we celebrating?” Laura asked.

Karissa’s grin was wide and bright, showing off her white teeth and the one with the slight turn to it. “I finished my app today. I think my mom inspired me. There was one thing I was working on, and she helped me get it straight today. It’ll be live in a few days, and I’m so excited about it.”

Karissa’s fingers flew over her phone before she turned it around for us to all see what looked like the front of a bookstore.

“Book Boyfriends Wanted,” Elise said.

Karissa nodded. “Yep. We’re always talking about how cool it would be if we could wave a magic wand and turn the book boyfriends we love into real men. Well, this will do it.”

“Your app is a magic wand?” Finley asked. One brow went up with her skeptical tone.

Karissa shook her head. “No, but it’s close. It’s a dating app, except everyone is going to be known because of their favorite characters. The questionnaire I developed has a lot of questions about who you are, but I added in a bunch that tell others who you are in a relationship and who you’re looking for. If you want a guy like Mr. Darcy, you’ll get paired with him. If you’d rather go for a Mr. Grey, you’ll get him. It takes everything we love about romance novels and puts it into the real world so we can find real men who act like book boyfriends.”

“Holy shit,” Elise said. “This is perfect.”

The rest of us murmured our agreement.

“Excellent,” Karissa said happily. She opened her wine and grabbed one of the cups on the table. “Because you’re all going to sign up and help me test it.”

We looked at each other and nodded. “Okay,” Finley spoke for us.

“Seriously?” Karissa asked. “I really thought it would take a lot more to convince you guys to give it a shot.”

“A chance to meet a man who’s going to love me like this guy?” Elise asked, holding up the book we’ve been reading. It was a new friends to lovers story with a dirty-talking, alpha hero. I totally understood her desire to find a guy like that.

Karissa nodded.

“Can I sign up now?” Elise asked.

Karissa laughed. “As soon as it’s live! I’ll let you guys know. And thank you.”

We dug in to Laura’s cheesecake and shared stories and advice we’d gotten from Ms. Georgia over the years. We drank Karissa’s wine and celebrated her app and Ms. Georgia.

It was a perfect night.

“I met someone today,” I told them after we’d finished the wine and eaten the entire cheesecake.

“Is he cute?” Elise said.

I shook my head. “Not a guy. A woman. She knew Georgia. Met her last year. They have the same birthday, and Trinity moved here today. She came in to Cracked and wanted to tell Georgia she finally followed her dreams and moved up here.” I pointed at Finley and Karissa. “She moved into your building today.”

“I remember Mom mentioning her. It was the first time she met anyone with her same birthday. She couldn’t believe it took fifty-nine years,” Karissa said with a smile.

“I don’t think I know anyone with my birthday,” Elise said. “That would be cool.”

“Yeah,” we all murmured.

“I invited Trinity to the party Saturday. I hope that’s okay,” I said.

“Of course,” Karissa said. “Mom would have wanted her there. Did you tell her?”

“That she died?”

Karissa nodded.

“Yeah, I did. She kind of freaked out that she moved to a strange town and the only person she knew wasn’t there. I told her we’d be her friends and invited her. I feel bad for her.”

Finley and Karissa exchanged a glance. “We’ll look for her in the building,” Finley said. “I wasn’t home all day so I don’t know where she moved in. There are still a few vacant units.”

“I was buried in my app and didn’t leave until I came here. I don’t know either,” Karissa said. “But we’ll meet her Saturday if we don’t figure it out before then.”

We were all a little quiet after that, thinking about Saturday and the party we were throwing. We were going to O’Kelley’s, but we knew most of the town would show up. Everyone loved Georgia, and they all wanted to celebrate her birthday.

We talked a few more minutes, then everyone cleaned up and headed out. I yawned and stretched, knowing I was going to be exhausted the next day. I was running on fumes already and would be even worse in the morning. But it was good to see my friends.

We all walked out together after Finley made sure the store was locked. We hugged in front and said goodbye then all walked off in the direction of our homes.

I thought about how happy Karissa was about her app and wondered if I should have said something to her about the mural. It was chicken of me to keep my mouth shut, but maybe once I had a few concepts, she could help me pick something.

That was what I told myself, at least. I hoped it was true.