Baked With Love 2

by Tina Martin

  “If she does have the surgery, how long could she end up staying at the center?”

  “Probably about a month and a half. Maybe two.”

  That hit Gianna hard. It would take Gemma two months to recover?

  “It’s something to start preparing yourself for, and I’ll be there with you every step of the way, Gianna.”

  “What about your work?”

  “I can work remotely.”

  “You’d do that?”

  He smirked. “You still don’t get it, do you? I told you, I’d do anything for you.”

  “Yeah…anything except give me a week to think about your marriage proposal.”

  “I’m sorry, sweetness. Anything that involves taking you away from me doesn’t fall into that scope.”

  Gianna went quiet again.

  “What did you eat for dinner this evening?” he inquired.

  “I haven’t eaten yet.”

  “Then what are you going to eat?”

  “Um…probably a can of sardines and some crackers.”

  “What?”

  “Sardines. You know those little fish thingies in the flat can-looking thing—?”

  “I know exactly what you’re talking about. I just don’t understand why my woman is eating prison food?”

  Gianna snorted a laugh. “It’s not prison food. Prisoners probably wished they had a can of sardines. They’re good, and since Gemma has already eaten, I’m just going to have it as a little snack for myself.”

  “Oh, Gianna, baby, you’re destroying me.”

  She giggled. “It’s fine, Ramsey.”

  “Please let me order takeout for you.”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because you’re doing the whole rescue thing unnecessarily. Besides, I don’t want takeout. I’m fine with what I got.”

  You may be fine with it for now, but no wife of mine eats sardines out of a can. And there was no doubt about it. She was his. Even if she didn’t sign a thing, she’d still be his.

  “Well, I’m going to let you get to your dinner. I’ll struggle to get through the day tomorrow without seeing you, but I will see you on Monday for sure.”

  “Okay, Ramsey.”

  “You’ll have an answer for me by then, won’t you?”

  “Don’t know.”

  “You will. Sweet dreams, Gianna.”

  “Goodnight, Ramsey.”

  Chapter 15

  Ramsey reclined in his favorite lounge chair on the deck. He told Carson that he didn’t want breakfast. That was three hours ago. And now he was still on the deck outstretched. Sleep. Dreaming. In his dreams, he could see her face clearly – Gianna’s face. He traced the delicate lines of her lips and licked his lips anticipating kissing her. He’d wanted to from the first – wanted to do things with buttercream she wouldn’t dare dream of.

  “Ramsey.”

  His eyes slowly opened, landing on Carson.

  “Yes, Carson.”

  “It’s noon, Sir. Can I interest you in a turkey and cheese panini with pimento?”

  Ramsey stretched. Yawned. “What time is it?”

  “Noon, Sir,” Carson said for the second time.

  “Yes. Lunch sounds good, Carson.”

  “Very well, Sir. Also, your brother said he’d be by in about ten minutes.”

  Ramsey didn’t have to ask which brother. He knew it was Regal. “Okay. Thanks.”

  When Carson walked away Ramsey stretched his long legs before checking his phone. He saw the missed call from Regal.

  “Don’t remember the last time I saw you out here enjoying the scenery,” Regal said, stepping out onto the deck.

  “It’s nice out here today,” Ramsey said. “I actually took a nap. I haven’t had a nap since 1997.”

  “Yeah, that’s because you’ve been buried under a pile of work.”

  “Exactly. It feels good to have some downtime. In fact, it feels so good, I was thinking about extending it another month.”

  “Do it,” Regal urged, sitting at one of the three patio tables. “It’s not like you don’t deserve it, man.”

  Carson brought out a tray of food and drinks. After the men both thanked him, Ramsey continued, “Truthfully speaking, the time off isn’t for me.”

  “Oh. It’s for her. Gianna.”

  Ramsey smiled. “So, you met her yesterday, right?”

  “Ah, man…she’s a doll. Voice sounded so sweet, she could lull a lion to sleep. Now, her friend on the other hand—”

  “Felicity…”

  “Yeah...that feisty little thing almost had me walking out of there.”

  “How’s that?” Ramsey asked after taking a bite of his sandwich.

  “Okay peep this…I walk into the bakery and see this woman behind the counter. I’m thinking she’s Gianna but then the attitude came out of nowhere, man.”

  Ramsey chuckled. “That’s Felicity, alright…”

  “I know now. I thought she was your girl so you can imagine my confusion when she was nothing like you described. Then she realized that I thought she was Gianna and informed me that she was not. So, finally, I walk to the back to see my soon-to-be sister-in-law and she looked up at me with those golden brown eyes and said in the sweetest voice, you must be Regal. She’s a breath of fresh air, Ram. She’s perfect for you—to balance you out.”

  Ramsey nodded in agreement.

  “I see what you mean about her being nervous, though. She was a little shaky and her eyes were red.”

  Ramsey’s brows raised along with his protective antennas. “Red?”

  “Like stress red. She said she was stressing out about some bills, and when I told her you paid the lease on the bakery, she started crying.”

  “She was crying? Ramsey said, dropping the sandwich back on the plate. “You made my baby cry?”

  “No. You made your baby cry tears of happiness. I consoled her.”

  “Consoled her, her how?”

  “Seriously Ram? I wasn’t pushing up on Gianna. I just simply put my arms around her. I know she’s yours.”

  Ramsey picked up his glass.

  Regal narrowed his eyes to playful squints when he said, “You better be glad you saw her first, though.”

  Ramsey’s gaze shot hollow point bullets at his brother.

  “I’m kidding, Ram. Jeez,” Regal said grinning. “You look like you can kill me right now.”

  “I’m going to pretend the last two minutes didn’t just happen,” Ramsey said.

  “Ram, you know I was kidding right?”

  “Yeah, whatever. Anything else of note happening down at the bakery?”

  “Not really. The place was fairly busy. Gianna looked tired. I mean, I don’t know how she normally looks, but she looked exhausted to me.”

  That was how she normally looked and Ramsey wanted to do everything in his power to change that.

  “Oh, and I told Felicity I was coming to Wedded Bliss so she could find me a wife.”

  Ramsey chuckled. “Get out of here, man. You told me I was crazy for doing it and yet you’re going to give it a go?”

  “Yep, just to annoy Felicity. I got something for that smart mouth of hers.”

  Ramsey shook his head. “Trust me when I say that’s going to get old real quick.”

  “Nah. I like a challenge.”

  “Then you definitely have one.”

  “You’re one to talk. You like a challenge, too…trying to get a woman to marry you so soon.”

  “Yeah…turned out to be more challenging than I thought.”

  “Why? Because you’re used to women hanging on to your every word giving you what you want without any resistance?”

  “Well, yeah.”

  The men laughed, then Ramsey continued, “But seriously, I may have to be firmer with her than I want to be, but I don’t know how else to get her to want me as badly as I want her.”

  “And you’re not talking about sex when you say want?”

  “No. I mean,
her—the woman.”

  “You could try to be a friend first.”

  “I consider myself a friend now, but I don’t want to get stuck playing catch-up in the friend zone. Eventually, I’ll need to know what her lips taste like—what parts of her feel like—”

  “TMI,” Regal shouted. “Too much information, bruh. You can stop that right there.”

  Ramsey laughed. “She’s so scared of me and I want her to feel comfortable around me.”

  “Then invite her and Gianna over here to spend a week with you or something. Show her how you live, not in a flashy way but in a way where she’ll come to understand your likes and dislikes. Your tastes. Who you really are as a person.”

  “Sounds like a good idea to me but she’d never go for it.”

  “She would if you weren’t so cut-and-dry with it. You like the girl so reason with her. You’re a business owner. She’s a business owner, and she may be shy and all that but she’s intelligent. Talk the language of business—since you’re both like-minded in that way. Something tells me Gianna’s not the type of woman to do things just because you throw money her way to pay this bill and that bill.”

  “She’s not.”

  “Okay then. You know what you have to do, Ram.”

  Ramsey nodded. He knew what he had to do. The quandary was whether she’d go for it.

  Chapter 16

  “Girl, it ain’t nothing like a good, black romance movie with some fine brothers that a chick can sink her teeth into,” Felicity said. She was relaxing on the sofa at Gianna’s house and they’d just finished watching, Think Like a Man.

  “You mean that you can dream about sinking your teeth into.” Gianna chuckled.

  “Hey, either way it goes, my teeth got sunk.”

  Gianna shook her head, still smiling. “Okay…three sexiest black men in Hollywood. Go.”

  “Oh, that’s easy,” Felicity said. “Number one is my boo, Denzel Washington, of course.”

  Gianna laughed. “Why are women so infatuated with Denzel?”

  “It’s the eyes, girl. Those eyes and something about the way he licks those lips.”

  Gianna took a sip of the Irish Cream Felicity had brought over.

  “Okay, who else?” Gianna asked.

  “Girl, Michael Ealy, because when was the last time you saw a black man, in real life, with blue eyes? And that hard jawline…girrrl that’s one fine specimen right there.”

  “Okay. One more.”

  “The dude who plays the president on Scandal.”

  Gianna snapped her head back. “Tony Goldwyn?”

  “I don’t know…the one Olivia calls Fitz or something.”

  Gianna laughed so hard, water came to her eyes. “I said black men, Felicity. Not white men who like black women on TV shows.”

  “Well, I’m just saying…the man is fine. He can come Fitz me.”

  “Okay, no more Irish Cream for you,” Gianna said reaching for Felicity’s glass.

  Felicity moved her hand before Gianna could grab her glass. “I barely even touched this stuff. I’m not even tipsy. You know I’m naturally crazy.”

  “Yes. I know that all too well.”

  Gianna set her glass on the table, folded a leg underneath herself and sighed. “Welp, it’s back to work for me tomorrow.”

  “Me, too, girl.”

  “I’m dreading it,” Gianna admitted.

  “Why?”

  “Because I know Ramsey’s going to show up. And it’s not actual dread I feel. It’s more like excitement mixed with a bit of terror and a fear of the unknown.”

  “Dang, girl. You should’ve just stuck with dread. And did you really just say, terror?”

  “Okay…I’m not terrified of him, or men in general. I’m just super nervous. I’ve never even kissed a man, Felicity.”

  “Then we better start practicing.”

  “We?”

  “I don’t mean practice on me, silly.” Felicity stood up. “I’ll be right back.”

  She ran to the kitchen and was back within seconds with two red apples.”

  “Oh, no,” Gianna said. “This can’t be good.”

  Felicity flopped back down on the couch and handed Gianna an apple. “Okay, now hold the apple in front of you and picture Ramsey’s face.”

  Gianna held the apple up and laughed. “I can’t do it,” she said, tickled.

  “Yes you can. When Ramsey leans in towards you with those Denzel lips, you’ll need to know what to do with ‘em.”

  “I do know what to do? Run.”

  Felicity chuckled. “No, you ain’t running nowhere. He’s gon’ make sure you can’t run, especially when he has his arms locked around you. What are you going to do then?”

  “I’ll just have to ninja my way out of the situation.”

  Felicity laughed. “No. You need to pucker up, girlfriend. Now, hold your apple out in front of you, stick your tongue out and just lick it like this.” Felicity demonstrated by using the sharpest point of her tongue to draw little circles on the apple.

  “So, I’m supposed to lick his lips?”

  “The tongue is involved in the kissing process, Gianna, whether you like it or not. You can’t walk up to your man and press your lips against his and think that’s enough. He’s not a baby. He’s a man. An alpha man at that. He’ll need more aggression. You need to go all in. Has he tried to kiss you before?”

  “We almost kissed at the bakery once, and he does stare at my lips a lot. Does that mean he wants to kiss me?”

  “Yes! Now, stick your tongue out and let me see you work this apple.”

  “Ugh…I don’t even know if I rinsed these off yet.”

  “Well, it’s too late now. Stop stalling and get to licking.”

  Gianna pulled in a deep breath and forced herself to lick the apple like she was licking a popsicle. “Okay. I did it. What else?”

  “Now, gently press your lips against it like this.” Felicity demonstrated.

  Gianna, once again, followed her instructions. “Wait aren’t my eyes supposed to be closed?”

  “You can close them if you want.”

  Gianna closed her eyes, pressing her lips all over the apple. Before she knew it, she bit a good size plug out of the apple and started chewing.

  “You bit his lips off!” Felicity said, laughing hysterically.

  “You laugh, but this is what I do with apples,” Gianna said, taking another bite.

  “Okay, but when Ramsey comes at you with those lips, don’t say I didn’t try to help you.”

  “I’m not worried about it. He won’t kiss me. He knows I can’t handle it.”

  “If you believe that, you’re more naïve than I thought.”

  “He won’t. I can’t even be within a few feet of him without my hands twitching.”

  “And that’s a turn on for men like Ramsey St. Claire.” Felicity placed the apple on the table and picked up the glass of Irish Cream. “If you think Ramsey ain’t going to kiss you, you must be out of your mind. Let me just keep it all the way one hundred with you, Gianna. He’s obsessed with you.”

  Gianna laughed. “He’s not.”

  “He is. When he talked to me that day, telling me to lay out his terms about this marriage proposal, he had the most determined look in his eyes. It freaked me out for a minute.”

  “So, tell me what you think about him, Felicity, and be honest.”

  “I will,” Felicity said. “I don’t like him that much. There. I said it.”

  “Why don’t you like him?”

  “Because he comes across as arrogant and I do not like arrogant men.”

  “So, you would prefer a pushover.”

  “No, that’s not what I’m saying at all. Just because a man isn’t arrogant doesn’t make him a pushover. But that’s beside the point. It doesn’t matter whether or not I like Ramsey. It’s all about you, honey bun. Do you like him?”

  “I do.”

  “Then why are you frowning?”

  “Becau
se, I—I don’t have much experience with men and he’s very, um…” Gianna sighed. Unable to think of a word to describe him, she continued, “I talked to him on the phone last night. Although I know I’m going to say no, I told him I needed a week to think about the proposal—a week so I can get myself together enough to say no to him. I know how pathetic that sounds, but that was my plan.”

  “Okay. Continue.”

  “When I suggested the idea of taking a week to think this through, he automatically said, no. He’s the kind of man who doesn’t take no for an answer.”

  Felicity nodded.

  “He’s very…um…forthright. Precise.”

  “Aggressive,” Felicity added.

  “Yes. Aggressive. He sets his sights on something and he gets it. His sights are set on me for the moment, but I have a feeling that it’s only a temporary thing.”

  “If that’s the case, why would he want to marry you, especially without a prenuptial agreement or anything. He just wants you.”

  Gianna thought about it for a moment. She didn’t know what to make of it.

  “Look, the bottom line is, Ramsey came to Wedded Bliss looking for a wife. He’s found you and he wants to marry you.”

  Gianna leaned over, clenched herself, holding her stomach.

  “Oh, get over it already,” Felicity said.

  “How can you tell me to get over it when you just admitted that you didn’t like him?”

  “I didn’t say I didn’t like him. I said I didn’t like him that much.”

  “In your honest, professional opinion—do you think he’s a good fit for me?” Gianna asked.

  “Nope.”

  “Felicity!”

  “I don’t, not with your quiet, mild ways and his outgoing, risk-taking, arrogant ways. But, like I said, he seems to really like you so maybe he won’t be that way with you. I don’t know. It’s hard to tell.”

  “And I’m supposed to be able to tell after I marry him?”

  “Yeah. See, the reason the Wedded Bliss concept came to me in the first place was because—”

  “Of your parent’s divorce.”

  “Right, and because of the things my mother said to me right after. I was seventeen…I didn’t understand why they were splitting up. I just remember her going on and on about how much he had changed. She said he wasn’t the same man he was before they got married.”