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“Along with the kids and other volunteers, of course. But, yes, we made it happen. Thanks in no small part to donations from generous citizens such as yourself,” she said. She stopped and turned. “Did I tell you that I found a college in northern Mississippi that was replacing all of their string instruments?” She pointed over her shoulder, toward the room they’d just left. “Those violins and the double bass you saw the kids playing? All purchased with the money you donated. I can’t thank you enough, Damien.”
Damien could only hope that her giving spirit would still be there when he brought up the reason for his visit.
“Here it is,” April said as they arrived at the newly installed coffee bar and café.
Damien looked around the room, a grin slowly lifting up the corner of his mouth. The building’s rearmost room had been converted into a small eatery. A long counter ran nearly the entire length of the back wall. Behind it sat an industrial espresso/cappuccino maker and a professional blender. Three stainless steel pump-style coffee dispensers labeled Decaf, Medium Roast and Dark Roast sat on the counter next to glass domes that housed various pastries.
There were five small round tables inside, each with a small vase holding a single bud in their center, and two chairs. Just outside, on the brick patio on the rear eastern side of the building, sat three additional seating areas. There also looked to be a small vegetable garden just beyond it.
“You know, when you called asking for a donation from Alexander Properties to help fund this project, I pictured something that was a step above a lemonade stand. But this is a legitimate coffee shop.” He glanced over at April. “I guess I should have known better. When it comes to April Knight, there’s never any half stepping.”
“You got that right,” April said with a sharp nod, followed by that infectious laugh of hers.
When she’d approached him at the end of last summer with the idea for the café, she told him that she wanted it to serve two purposes. First, she assured him that it would be operated strictly by the youth who attended A Fresh Start and used foremost as a teaching tool, giving the kids practical skills that they could use to hopefully gain employment outside the center. And, second, the money provided from the sales would be used to fund other programs.
Damien 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, as usual,” Damien said. He took another sip of coffee before continuing. “Someone at the magazine contacted me out of the blue a couple of months ago. And you know me—I’m never one to turn down free publicity, so I said yes. I never 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.”
Chapter 2
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 not my call. Ms. LaDonna will make all decisions. Go to her office and explain what this fight was about. She will decide whether or not you both deserve to stay.”
Their heads hanging, the girls lumbered away as if part of a funeral procession.
A round of applause broke out around the room from the patrons who occupied the other tables.
April released a weary laugh and bowed, accepting their praise.
“I’m sorry for the interruption,” she said in a voice that carried around the room.
She turned to Damien. She looked as if she’d just gone ten rounds with a heavyweight fighter, though he sensed that her exhaustion had more to do with those girls potentially getting kicked out of the program than the physical exertion of breaking up the fight.
“How often are you required to play referee?” Damien asked.
“Thankfully, not that often,” she said. “This is only the second fight this year. It’s a part of my job that I’m not all that fond of, but it has to be done.”
“You do it well,” Damien said. “Of course, you had practice. So maybe I should take some credit after all.”
“Oh, believe me, I remember,” April said with a laugh.
She’d been witness to many of the skirmishes Damien had found himself in while growing up in these streets. She’d never gotten in the middle of them the way she had today, but afterward, while she helped clean whatever scrapes he’d amassed during the fight, she would let him know how disappointed she was in him. It was the knowledge that he disappointed her that eventually quelled Damien’s desire to engage in that kind of behavior.
April Knight made him want to be a better person. She always had.
“Will those girls really be kicked out of the program?” Damien asked as they returned to their table.
She nodded. “For the rest of the summer. They can apply to gain entrance next summer.”
“So A Fresh Start actually adheres to its zero-tolerance policy, huh?”
“It wasn’t always that way,” April said with a laugh. “Let’s just say that I’m not the only sucker for puppy-dog eyes and apologies around here. We have a staff full of bleeding hearts, but once we noticed that the amount of infractions was increasing instead of decreasing, we finally put our collective feet down.
“We’ve discovered that a strictly enforced zero-tolerance policy is a lot more effective than paying lip service. And the more activities we add to the program, the more it makes kids want to stick to the rules so they can continue to participate.”
April folded her hands one on top of the other, and said, “So, exactly what were you saying before we were interrupted?”
Damien nodded. “As I mentioned before, Alexander Properties now owns a large square of real estate in the Lower Ninth Ward, but in order to develop it I’ll need investors. There are several social events happening over the summer that will put me in the same space with some of the New Orleans area’s most prominent business owners. The key word in all of that is social.”
“Okay,” April said, dragging the word out. “And I fit in where?”
“I don’t want to show up stag at any of these events, but I also don’t want to deal with any messy relationship crap. This top ten bachelor thing will just make it worse. My focus has to be on business, not on worrying about whether or not my date is entertained.”
April sat back in her chair and folded her arms across her chest.
“Is this the sales pitch you prepared? Because if so, you suck at this selling thing. I’m surprised your business is as successful as it is.”
Damien put both hands up. “Okay, so maybe that didn’t come out exactly the way I thought it would.”
“Let me see if I understand,” April said. “You basically want me to be a warm body in a pretty dress who can fend off other women so that you can concentrate on business.”
Damien’s shoulders lifted in a hapless shrug. “Basically, yeah.”
She caught the lone sugar packet on the table and flipped it between her fingers. “Why me?” April asked. “If there is one area where you are not lacking, it’s the old girlfriend department. At least one of those relationships had to have ended amicably enough for you to call in a favor.”
“If I asked any of my old girlfriends, they would take it the wrong way, probably thinking that I wanted a reconciliation or something.” He looked over at her, hoping to infuse as much pleading into his expression as possible. “Please, April. I promise not to take up too much of your time. We’re talking three to four events, tops. Maybe five if I’m able to score tickets to the charity auction for the Children’s Hospital.”
“You don’t expect me to answer right away, do you?”
Actually, he had. Kinda.
“No,” Damien said, shaking his head. “I figured you’d need some time to think about it. It’s just that, um, the first event is Friday night, so I’ll need to know pretty soon.”
Damien reached over and covered the hand that still toyed around with the sugar packet. He gave it a light squeeze.
“Please, April,” he pleaded. “At least think about it. And then say yes.”
Several moments stretched between them before she said, “I’ll think about it. I’ve got another music class starting in a few minutes, so I need to go, but I’ll get back to you later today.”
Damien stood, a smile drawing across his face. “I guess that’ll have to be good enough for now,” he said. He leaned over and placed a kiss on her cheek. “I’ll talk to you later. Thanks for considering this, April.”
He winked at her, then started for the exit, feeling a whole lot better than he had when he’d first walked through these doors.
* * *
I need you to be my girlfriend.
Her stupid heart gave a stupid leap of joy as April replayed Damien’s words in her mind, even after discovering just what he’d meant by that. He needed her to be his fake girlfriend. A pretend love interest. A phony plaything he could drape on his arm so that he wouldn’t have to deal with any of the women who—if he were not tied up with this special project of his—would actually be candidates to be his real girlfriend. Damn him for giving her those few brief seconds of hope.
She snapped the lid closed on the violin case with more force than necessary.
“You’re an idiot,” April said with a disgruntled sigh. “But at least you broke up that fight today before any limbs were lost, so you’re not completely pathetic.”
“You talking to yourself again?”
April yelped and swung around, finding Nicole standing in the doorway.
“Girl!” April yelled, holding her hand to her chest.
“Sorry.” Nicole laughed. “I couldn’t help it.” The twenty-five-year-old sauntered into the room where April had just finished up her intermediate music class. Nicole grabbed the handles of two of the violin cases and followed April to the closet where the instruments were stored at the end of the day.
“Thanks,” April said over her shoulder. She locked the door then turned to find Nicole standing there with her arms crossed.
“So,” Nicole said, a cagey smile tipping up the corners of her lips. “Looks as if you’ve been holding out on us.”
“I have? How so?” She gathered the last of the sheet music into a pile and used the mug from her desk as a paperweight.
“Uh, hellooo!” Nicole sang. “Was that not Damien Alexander who came to see you today? You never told me that you knew him.”
April tilted her head to the side and touched her finger to her chin. “Funny, but I can’t recall telling you even a tenth of the people I know. I’m not sure why I would tell you about Damien.”
“Whatever,” Nicole said with an eye roll to rival those of the teens who walked the halls. “So, how do you know him? More importantly, how well do you know him, if you catch my drift.” She lifted her eyebrows suggestively.
“Get your mind out of the gutter,” April said with a laugh. “Damien and I went to high school together. We’ve been friends for years.”
“So you’re just friends?”
“Just friends,” April said. “Nothing more.”
She would ignore the pang of disappointment that attempted to seep into her skin.
“Awesome,” Nicole said. “That means you wouldn’t have a problem introducing me to him.”
“Believe me, the one thing Damien isn’t looking for right now is to be introduced to a woman. In fact, that’s the exact opposite of what he wants.”
“Don’t tell me he’s gay,” Nicole said in a shocked voice.
April barked out a laugh. “No, he isn’t. He just has no interest in dating right now.”
“So he came to see you? Yikes.”
“I already told you that we’re friends. There’s no reason for me to be upset or offended.”
So what if most women would be offended if a handsome, sought-after bachelor called on them because they were not interested in getting involved with anyone. She was bigger than that, wasn’t she?
No. No, she was not.
But she would save the wall-kicking and raging at the ceiling for tonight, when she was in the sanctuary of her own home with copious amounts of chocolate, wine and Nurse Jackie binge watching to keep her company.