Your Fierce Love (The Bennett Family 7)

I’m reeling the entire day from the exchange with Blake. At seven o’clock that evening, I nearly fly out of the studio to meet my two best friends, Kate and Penny. It’s a rather windy evening, and I button up my coat completely. I can’t wait for June to officially be here. Just one more day. Not that June is much warmer than May in San Francisco, but it helps to at least mentally think summe

r is here. Plus, there are dahlias right outside Blake’s building, and I can’t wait for them to bloom.

As I step inside the coffee shop where we agreed to meet, I see the two of them have already arrived. Kate has changed her hair, her usual waist-long hair now cut in a stylish bob. She’s also dyed it a brighter shade of brown. Penny’s platinum-blonde hair is in a tight bun, as usual. They are sipping drinks, laughing, and my heart swells. I adore them.

A waiter brings cheesecakes, and as I approach, Kate exclaims, “This is an enormous portion. I’ll never be able to eat all of it.”

“No worries, I’m ready to lend you a hand,” I say. The girls whirl around in surprise. They hadn’t seen or heard me approach. They leap to their feet and hug me. Not for the first time, I wish they both lived in San Francisco. As it is, Penny lives here, but Kate is in Seattle and is in town only for a couple of days, attending an education fair. She’s a kindergarten teacher.

After I order a drink, I take my phone out of my bag and show the girls pictures of my temporary home.

“This is insane,” Kate exclaims, thumbing through the pictures.

“Girl, when are you inviting me over for a housewarming party?” Penny asks. “Your view is to die for.” When she found out about my housing conundrum, she offered for me to crash on her couch, but Penny’s one-room apartment is too small for two.

“As soon as you make time for me in that crazy schedule of yours. You really should take it easier.”

I refrain from saying more because I can quickly become meddling, and I’m making an effort here not to. Penny doesn’t appreciate it—but it’s for her own good, really.

“Can’t right now, but as soon as I get promoted, I’ll have a life outside work.”

Kate sighs. “No, then you’ll set yourself another goal, then another, and before you know it, life will pass you by and you’ll be old, alone, and full of regrets.”

Penny gives her the evil eye. “Are you trying to be especially depressing today?”

“No, just telling it like it is. You’re an uber achiever, which is admirable, but don’t forget to live a little.”

I’m with Kate on this one. I’m afraid our friend will burn out. Penny is brilliant, but even badasses need time to recharge. She and I have been friends since we were four years old. I lived next to her parents’ house. Even after I moved to the group home, we kept in touch, sending letters, then later e-mails. I met Kate in the group home and we developed a close friendship, had each other’s backs. As best as we could, anyway. I introduced Kate to Penny via letters first. We’d been breathlessly waiting for each of Penny’s letters, hanging on to her every word and living vicariously through her. Now as adults, the roles are somewhat reversed.

“Is this hottie the infamous Blake?” Penny asks when a picture of Blake pops up on the screen. I deleted almost all the pics I took of him the day I moved in, except the one where he was bending to fasten the legs to my table. The shot of his flexed bicep is so perfect, if I say so myself, that I couldn’t bring myself to delete it.

“Yes, girls, that is Blake. Best eye candy I’ve ever seen.”

“Talk about a view.” Penny whistles, looking at the screen in admiration.

“There is some seriously hot male real estate in this city,” Kate says. “I can’t believe this is your neighbor.”

“He looks like the type of man who knows his way around a woman’s body,” Penny chimes in.

“Oh, I’m sure he does.”

Kate wiggles her eyebrows. “Planning to find out?”

“It’s complicated.” In quick words, I relay the pros and cons—mostly the cons. I really need some perspective on this. Some non-Bennett perspective. I love the Bennett girls, but if there’s one thing I can’t talk to them about, it’s my crazy attraction to one of their own.

“So, you see, this isn’t the best idea,” I say. “But bad ideas are so delicious and tempting.”

“Like cheesecake,” Kate states, nodding to her half-eaten cake and pushing her plate toward me. I dig in right away.

“The real question is how will you resist him while you live next door?” Penny pushes.

“Excellent question. My rational side says he’s a great friend, and his family treats me like one of their own, so I’d better not mingle. My dark side says he’s hot and single, and he’d know how to make my lady parts tingle.”

The girls roar with laughter, and I join them.

“I think your dark side should win,” Penny says after we calm down. “I mean, worst-case, you jump his bones and things get awkward. You’ll move out anyway, and you can avoid him whenever you hang out with the Bennetts. Or you just hang out with them less.”

That wipes the smile right off my face. Kate only offers a cautious smile and a shrug, and I know why. The two of us grew up without the safety net of a family, a group of people who’d love us and support us no matter what. People, who have that, like Penny, take it for granted. But I never will. The Bennetts might not be related to me, but they’re as close to family as possible.