thought it would take off the way it did. I mean, who even reads Get to Know NOLA magazine?”
April raised her hand. “I’ve been a faithful reader since it launched a couple of years ago, and after that photo spread, I’ll bet there will be a lot more people reading it. Whoever came up with the top ten bachelors idea is a genius. It’s gone viral. You should be happy, you’re getting the publicity you wanted.”
“No.” Damien shook his head. “This is not the publicity I wanted. This is the exact opposite of what I wanted. When I agreed to do that photo shoot, I thought it would be a way to bring attention to my business. That’s why I insisted the shoot happen in my office instead of out on the lakefront where they first suggested. The goal was for Alexander Properties to get some action, not me.”
“Because you’ve got all the action you can handle, right?” April asked.
It was no secret he’d had his share of beautiful women. It had been that way throughout high school. And even though they’d seen each other only sparingly over the past decade, Damien never failed to have some gorgeous beauty on his arm.
“I’m not in the market for that kind of action right now. Being involved with a woman is a complication I don’t have time for,” he said. “That’s why I’m here to see you.”
“I’ll try not to be offended,” she drawled.
He grimaced. “That didn’t come out right.”
“Forget about it,” April said with a wave of her hand. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know where she stood. “What exactly is it that you need?”
“Let me see if I can set this up for you,” he said. He spread his fingers out over the table. “I hadn’t mentioned anything prior to today because I wasn’t sure if this was going to go through or not. But it did go through, so I can finally talk about it.”
“Can you be any more vague?”
“Have you always been such a smart-ass?”
“Only when it’s warranted,” April answered. “What is the it that you can finally talk about?”
He tapped his fingers on the table, revealing a hint of that nervousness she’d sensed in him earlier.
April reached across the table and covered his hand. “Damien, what’s this all about? It isn’t like you to beat around the bush this way.”
“There’s a huge abandoned lot around North Galvez and Kentucky Streets, not too far from the train tracks.”
“Yeah, I know it. There’s still some blighted houses that way, and a bunch of overgrown lawns,” she said.
“Yeah, that’s it. Well, I own all of it now.”
April’s mouth scrunched up with confusion. “Why?”
“I’m in real estate, April. That’s what I do.”
“Yeah, but you’re in corporate real estate. Do you really think you can convince any of your clients to move their companies from the Central Business District to the Ninth Ward?”
“I have something else in mind for that property,” Damien said. “Something that can potentially be a game changer. But I can’t do it on my own. Alexander Properties does okay, but I’m still small potatoes when it comes to the kind of capital I’ll need to pull this off. It’ll require other investors—several of them—if I’m going to get this project off the ground. And that’s where you come in?”
April’s brow arched. “Just in case you’ve forgotten, you’re the one I come to when A Fresh Start needs some cash,” she said. “I’m just a lowly musician, getting work where I can find it.”
“Yeah, right. You’re turning down work left and right,” Damien said.
That was true. She’d just turned down an offer with an orchestra in Thailand.
“But that’s not the kind of help I need from you,” Damien said. He took another swig of coffee, set the cup back on the table then took both of her hands in his.
With an intense stare directly into her eyes, he said, “I need you to be my girlfriend.”
April’s mouth dropped opened.
Seconds stretched between them as she continued to stare at him, her expression unreadable.
“Let me explain,” Damien said.
“Uh, yes,” she said. “Maybe you should.”
But before Damien could elaborate, there was a huge crash on the other side of the room. He and April both jumped. He looked over his shoulder and spotted one of the small round café tables on its side. Two girls were going at it, arms and thick hair braids swinging.
A group of kids swarmed the girls, egging them on, yelling, “Fight! Fight!”
Damien jumped up from his seat, but before he could break up the fight, April was already there. She stepped in between the two girls, her arms splayed wide, her chest heaving with the deep breaths she pulled in.
“Break it up! Break. It. Up,” April said.
The girl with the deep purple hair braids took another swing, nearly clipping April’s face.
Damien took an automatic step toward them, but April held him back with a hand.
“I’ve got this,” she said. She pointed at the crowd of kids still surrounding them. “The rest of you, get back to wherever you’re supposed to be right now. If it’s the café, find somewhere else to be until I say you can return.”
She turned to the girls who had been fighting. Bracing both hands on her hips, April blasted them with a glare that made Damien want to take a step back.
“What’s going on here?” she asked.
Silence followed.
The glare intensified. “Someone had better start talking. You’re only making it worse on yourselves.”
Still, silence ensued.
Damien noticed the first chink in her armor as she looked at the girls, who now both stood with their heads bowed, staring at the floor. April’s crestfallen expression showed him how hard this was for her.
“Dammit, Cressida and Makayla,” April said. “You both know there is a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to fighting.”
“You’re going to kick us out?” the girl with normal-colored hair asked.
“Do you understand what zero tolerance means?” April asked her. “It means that if you do not abide by the rules, you do not get to stay. End of story.”
“But, Ms. April,” the girl started, but April stopped her. She put her hand up.
“It’s
