Description
I knew this “friends with benefits” arrangement wouldn’t work.
How could it?
I’m madly in love with Cyrus!
I’ve been friends with him for a while.
Being in this situation is not ideal.
But that one Halloween night changed everything.
We couldn’t keep our hands off each other.
A relationship meant ruining our friendship.
So we chose the next best option.
We fell into bed together with zero expectations.
But then…
I started expecting.
Got pregnant.
And that’s when life got really crazy.
Cyrus was emotionally unavailable.
There was no point telling him the truth.
But it’s only a matter of time until he finds out for himself… right?
Prologue
Petal
I was so glad I went with sexy witch instead of Strawberry Shortcake or Little Orphan Annie to April and Jude’s Halloween party. As a short redhead, I normally went with the cuter costume options, but after spending a year lusting over a man who has become one of my best friends, I decided maybe it was time to broaden my dating opportunities. Cutesy children’s doll costumes didn’t scream dating material. For a minute, I considered Jessica Rabbit. I had the boobs and big ass, but my waist wasn’t quite narrow enough to pull off her type of voluptuousness, and I worried I’d look ridiculous. So sexy witch it was. But not the black outfit with the pointed hat. Mine was more like Sarah Sanderson’s dress from Hocus Pocus, except shorter and tighter along the hips. I wore my hair down in long curls like the blonde Sarah did instead of up in the strange doo that redheaded Winifred wore in the movie. I wanted to look sexy, after all.
The costume worked, as several men watched me, and few chatted with me.
“I had fun,” I said to Cyrus, my friend-zone date for the night as he took me home. He was dressed as Zorro and by all accounts was the sexiest man at the party. In fact, he was probably the sexiest man alive. I really should call People Magazine and let it know.
“Me too.”
His voice didn’t sound like he had fun. I looked over at him, his mask and hat were off, yet he still looked lethal as he walked me to the entrance of my building. I lived above my cupcake shop, Petal’s Cupcakes, and had an entrance to the apartment inside my shop as well as on the street.
“Did something happen?” I asked him as I unlocked the door to the building.
He grunted a response. Cyrus was a great guy. He could be funny and so generous. But it could be hard to find all that sweetness because of the wall he kept up. I wondered if it was his time as a Navy SEAL that made him so closed off.
“Do you want a drink?” I asked him. “Then Don Diego can tell me what’s got his mask all in a twist.”