Rooftop Crew

I can’t borrow him. He’s not a sweater or a skirt. He’s not even her favorite dress - the lucky one she wears on first dates. The one she probably wore on her first date with him. In my defense, I didn’t know who he was. To me, he was a cool, calm, confident stranger. He was perfection for the entire hour-and-a-half train ride, while the concrete jungle turned into a rolling green landscape.

He’s not your average Joe from the corner bar. He’s the heir to the crown. I should know, I’ve followed him for years. All my studying of the man who plays a starring role in my dreams pays off when I win a dinner with him. As if that wasn’t enough, he barters a deal with me that has him moving into my spare guest room. I forgot that fairy tales don’t exist though because just as I’m about to get everything I want, including the prince, I find out there’s someone in Prince Adrian Marx’s life I don’t know - his fiancée.

I’ve loved him from afar. Though most times he’s only a foot away. I’m smart enough to know he’ll never be anyone’s forever. He checks all the bad boy boxes. If he wasn’t my neighbor and friend, I may have thrown myself at him. Okay, I wouldn’t. Instead, I pathetically savor morsels of moments where I have his sole attention. That was until his archenemy moved in with me. Now suddenly, Dylan’s moving in, too, and warning off the first guy in a long time who’s showing me interest.

When we were nine, we were best friends. But then a feud between our dads ripped their successful business apart - and my best friend was ripped away, too. Our paths were bound to cross again. When both our families vie for the same spot on a Food Channel’s reality show, the producers decide to change the format, aligning us as allies. In order to get our parents to agree to work together, Evan asks me to pretend to be her boyfriend, but I dare her to up the ante - be my fiancée.

She was always the one. Or so I thought. Turns out my instincts were dead wrong. Years ago I was faced with the choice between two women. Both were perfect in opposite ways. One was carefree and against commitment. The other was a woman you’d bring home to mom. I was young, naïve, and stupid. I’m sure you can guess who I chose. Now, I’m older, wiser, and know what the hell I want. So, when the same two women pop back into my life, it’s my chance for a do-over. But they flipped the script.

Usually, I don’t have much self-control. So, the fact that Frankie Grant is a hot, talented tattoo artist means it’s a damn miracle she hasn’t already been in my bed. But nothing can happen between us because Frankie comes with Jolie, her young daughter, and a crapload of baggage from her ex. And those are two things I never entertain. But I also know what it’s like not to have parents, so things get complicated when Jolie asks me to be her daddy. I might as well just slash my own tires now.