purchased two large black coffees, leaving a twenty-dollar tip in the tip jar, then followed April to the lone available table.
“It looks as if you all have a bustling business already,” Damien commented as he sat across from her. “Not an empty seat in the house.”
“It’s a symbiotic relationship. This community needed something like this,” April said. “And the kids love it. We—” She paused, looking beyond Damien. “Hey, Simeon, what’s up?”
Damien looked over his shoulder just as a young guy of about twenty-five or so came upon their table. He wore a plaid shirt and slim jeans with cuffs that rolled up above his ankles.
“Sorry to interrupt,” the guy said. “I just wanted to know what time I’m meeting you at your house.”
A dose of unease slithered through Damien’s bones.
Was April dating this guy? Why hadn’t he considered the possibility that she was in a relationship before coming up with his hastily hatched plan?
“Be there for seven,” April told the youngster.
“Awesome. See you then,” he answered, and then left them.
April took a sip of coffee and said, “Sorry about that. Now, what is it that’s so urgent that it brought you to the Ninth Ward? Don’t think that the significance of this visit escaped my attention. It’s been a long time since you came out this way.”
“Yeah, it has,” Damien said. “First, are you seeing someone?”
Her head jerked back as she released a shocked laugh. “What?”
“You know, romantically,” Damien said. “Are you involved with someone?”
He knew he’d caught her off guard. He and April had been friends since high school, but their love lives were rarely discussed. In fact, Damien couldn’t remember either of them ever overtly bringing up the subject.
“I...uh...” She stumbled. Then shook her head. “No,” she finally answered. “No, I’m not seeing anyone.”
Bone-melting relief replaced that earlier unease.
“Great,” Damien said. “Because I have a favor to ask of you. And it’s a big one.”
* * *
April didn’t know what to think as she watched Damien fidget across the table from her. If there was one thing she could usually say about him, it was that he excelled at always appearing to be completely in control.
Not today.
Right now, he seemed unsure. Nervous, even. It was unsettling.
Damien tapped his fingers on the table in an anxious rhythm. “The reason I asked you to meet with me—” he started.
“Hi. Can I get you anything?” Jelissa Cannon, one of the older girls who helped to manage the new café, interrupted.
The teen flashed a huge smile at Damien. Like most of the world’s female population, she seemed totally smitten within a second of setting eyes on him.
April held up her cup. “We already have our drinks, but thanks.”
“Oh.” Jelissa’s smile deflated. Then it brightened again. “Can I get you anything else? Refills, maybe?”
Did that child just bat her eyes?
“Actually, I think we’re good for now,” April answered, infusing a hint of warning into her voice.
“Are you sure?” Jelissa asked Damien.
“Yes,” Damien said, treating her to that megawatt smile that had no choice but to elicit the exact reaction Jelissa displayed. The teen giggled like the schoolgirl she was, her light brown cheeks darkening to a deep crimson.
“If we need refills, I’ll call you over,” April told her. She wiggled her fingers toward the counter. “You have customers to take care of. Why don’t you go and do that?”
April cast a cursory glance around the room and discovered that Jelissa wasn’t the only one with eyes trained on their table. Most of the females in the room were staring openly at them.
It wasn’t as if April could blame them. If there was one thing Damien Alexander had always been, it was easy on the eyes.
April had done her share of looking over the years.
Oh, who was she kidding? She’d nearly sprained her eyes staring at him.
She could remember the way her skin tingled that very first day she saw him, back when the two of them first met as sophomores at George Washington Carver High School. His features had become more refined over the years, but that strong jaw and chin, those thick eyebrows over whiskey-brown eyes, and that sensual dip in his lip had been there from the very beginning. Many a girl had fallen under the spell of those arresting features. Herself included.
Thankfully, April knew better than to act on it.
Oh, she could still appreciate the sheer devastating beauty that was Damien Alexander, but April had managed to tamp down her lustful thoughts where her friend was concerned. While other women openly stared, making downright fools of themselves, she was content to just eye him from afar. It became obvious over the years that she and Damien would always be friends, but nothing more. April had come to both accept and respect that.
Wait, she hadn’t noticed any pigs flying in the sky on her way in here this morning, had she?
Okay, so maybe she wasn’t completely accepting of her relationship with Damien. Or, her lack of a relationship, as it was. But at least she no longer pined for him as she had when they were younger. She would eventually be at peace with the idea of being nothing but a friend. It’s just that the road to peace was long and unwieldy.
April turned her attention back to Damien. “Before we get to the reason you’re here, you must tell me how this top ten bachelor thing came about.”
Damien released an agitated sigh. “Must we?”
“We must,” April answered. “Now spill it. I want to know who managed to talk you into posing for that picture.”
When she’d opened her copy of Get to Know NOLA magazine last week and spotted that picture of Damien in a suit that fit him to perfection, she’d nearly fallen off her kitchen chair. She’d managed to stop herself from tearing it out of the magazine and framing it, but just barely.
“Can’t we talk about this later?” Damien asked.
“Nope. I want the skinny.”
His annoyed look didn’t deter April one bit. One of the benefits—if one could call it that—of being a platonic friend was that she could get away with pushing his buttons. Damien ran a hand down his goatee and took another sip of his black coffee. “This is good, by the way,” he said, holding up the cup.
“Thanks. I’ll make sure the kids know you said so. Now out with it.”
“Bossy,
