You're The One (Very Irresistible Bachelors 1)

I smelled grilled cheese and pancakes. My mouth watered. I narrowed my eyes.

“Are you trying to bribe me into going to one of those fancy-pants galleries with you?

Because I’ve got to tell you, once was enough for me.” I was grinning, but I kind of meant it. He usually started buttering me up by bringing me breakfast on the weekend.

His smile widened. “I’m trying to bribe you to marry me.”

Chapter Three

Josie

“Wait, what?” I blurted out.

“Let’s have breakfast. I’ll explain everything.”

I opened the door wider, letting him in. My mind was racing, and so was my pulse. He couldn’t be serious.

Hunter went straight to my living room, kneeling at the oval coffee table. As soon as I handed him plates, he unloaded the goodies.

“All my favorites. You’ve gone all out.”

“You know me. I don’t do anything half-assed.”

I sat on the floor next to him, waiting for him to talk but almost afraid to ask him anything more. Maybe it had been a spur of the moment impulse and now he’d thought better of it. I hoped. He couldn’t be serious.

My hopes plummeted when he cleared his throat. “I went through your email. I also talked to Robert this morning.”

Robert was a lawyer and a mutual friend. He specialized in immigration law, which made him an excellent choice.

“

He said that the options you laid out are pretty much everything.”

Crap. I’d hoped that in my sleepy haze I’d overlooked something major that could help Hunter out of his pinch.

“His only other suggestion was marriage.”

I stopped in the act of cutting my sandwich and opened my mouth to protest. Hunter placed his hand on my right thigh. The contact singed me, warmth spreading from the point of contact, electrifying me. I sucked in a breath.

“Hear me out first, Josie. You’re the only person I trust. It’s a huge risk, and if I had a viable alternative, I wouldn’t ever ask you this.”

“Hunter, this is madness.”

“I would take care of you no matter what. You know that, right?”

Crap. I knew, and therein lay the problem. Hunter had looked after me when no one else had. My family was great, and there was nothing they wouldn’t do for me, but they all lived in Montana. Leaving home at fifteen had been one of the hardest things I had to do, but I couldn’t turn down the scholarship—it had been my one shot at attending a great private school. When I’d come to New York, we’d spoken on the phone as often as we could afford, which wasn’t often at all.

Hunter had never asked me for one thing. Not one damned thing. And now he needed my help. I couldn’t possibly say no.

“You’re not seeing anyone, right?” he went on.

“Not seriously. No.”

I’d had a second date with a guy I’d met at the theater a few days ago, but that was all.

“So, this wouldn’t inconvenience you in that regard. It’s just a piece of paper.”

“Such a romantic proposal.”