by Nia Arthurs
Later that night, Sun Gi paced in front of Jo’s home and mentally prepared himself to face her parents. Despite his bravado that morning when he suggested this, he was nervous.
Jo was an important part of his life and her parents were a huge part of hers. If they didn’t like him…
He shook the doubts off and knocked on the door.
It flew open and a woman with dark hair, almond-shaped eyes and pink lips blinked at him. “Who are you?”
“I’m Sun Gi Kim.” He offered his hand for her to shake.
She stared at it and then frowned. “Look, we’re not voting for anyone until our street is fixed. Those potholes have been there for ages.”
“W-what? I’m not a politician.”
“Mom!” Jo yelled. A moment later, she appeared in front of him.
“Do you know this guy?”
“Come in, Sun Gi.” Jo tugged at his arm. He took his shoes off in the foyer and extended the flowers he’d purchased just before driving over.
Jo’s mom took it, her expression puzzled. “Thank you.”
“Dad!” Jo called.
A tall, broad-shouldered man with dark skin and bright eyes entered the living room. “Is the fried chicken here?”
“He’s not a delivery man,” Jo’s mom said. “And he’s not a politician either.”
“Then who is he?” Mr. Gregory bellowed.
“He’s my boss.” Jo took in a deep breath. “And… my boyfriend.”
“Kim Sun Gi-imnida,” he said, his words flowing into Korean. When he straightened, Jo’s parents were staring at him as if he’d fallen out of the sky.
“Your… boyfriend?” Mrs. Lee breathed.
Someone knocked on the door.
“That must be the chicken,” Mr. Gregory said hazily.
“Let’s eat!” Jo threw her hands in the air as if everyone else in the room wasn’t dying with awkwardness.
They settled in the sofas.
Her parents kept looking at him.
Jo laughed. “Mom, Dad, say something.”
“I don’t know what to say.” Her mother blinked. “When did this happen?”
“A few weeks ago,” Jo said.
Her dad frowned. “And he’s your boss?”
“We knew each other before I started working there,” Jo explained.
“I can’t believe this,” her dad muttered.
Sun Gi swallowed. “I care about your daughter, sir. I promise to take care of her and treasure her the way you would want, the way she deserves.”
“Is this a marriage proposal?” Her dad’s brown eyes widened. “Is that what’s happening?”
“No,” Jo laughed. “I wanted you guys to meet the man that I love. Mom?”
Mrs. Lee eyed him seriously.
He straightened, hoping he passed inspection.
Finally, she opened the plate of fragrant fried chicken and nudged it toward him. “You hungry?”
Jo grinned.
Sun Gi let out a breath. “Starving.”
He ate with Jo’s family. Or at least he tried to. Her parents plied him with questions so he spent most of the time talking.
At the end of the night, Jo walked him out to the porch and closed the door behind her.
She stepped closer and whispered, “That went well.”
“I felt like I was on a job interview.”
“You kind of are. My parents are making sure you’re deserving of me.”
“Maybe I should have brought a gift for your dad too.”
“They’re not going to be swayed by gifts. In fact, they might not give their approval any time soon.”
“Why not?”
Jo shrugged. “They’ll be looking at your character, your values, your world view. They’ll want to see you how you behave when you’re angry. How you treat the women in your life—your mother, your employees, your friends. Things like that can only be revealed in time.”
“So this is even harder than a job interview.”
“Pretty much.” She stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around his neck. “But the good news is, you’ve already passed with me.”
He kissed her softly, aware that her parents could be spying on them. Jo’s eyes fluttered closed. He couldn’t resist placing soft kisses on her eyelids.
She chuckled, leaning into him. “I’d ask if I could work late tonight, but now that my parents know about you, it’ll be tougher to get away.”
“You okay?” He nudged her forehead with his nose. “Now that everything’s settled, are you regretting how you handled your grandmother?”
“No.” She sucked in a deep breath. “I want to have a relationship with that side of the family, but not at the expense of my sanity. If Halmoni doesn’t like that, I understand.”
Sun Gi saw the curtains flutter in the window and chuckled. “I think we’ve got company.”
“You’re right.” Jo slid her arms away from his neck. “See you tomorrow?”
“And the one after that.” He winked.
Jo waved and stepped inside.
Sun Gi drove home, missing her even though he’d just seen her a few minutes ago. This wouldn’t work. He’d have to impress her parents so he could put a ring on her finger and keep her close twenty-four-seven.
Joana Lee Gregory was his drug and he couldn’t get enough of her.
Epilogue
“I can’t believe your man owns a freaking yacht.” Carrie stretched her long legs, her dark complexion even glossier beneath the unforgiving sun. “I get drama and tears, while you get the life.”
Jo smiled and adjusted her white, see-through kimono. Beneath it, she wore a yellow bikini and shorts. “You’re crazy, Car.”
“Am I?” Her friend tossed her long black hair over her shoulder.
Sky chuckled. “I love Joon, but a yacht would be pretty nice.”
“Shut up.” Jo poked Sky in the leg with her toe.
The women chuckled and sipped on their mojitos. The Caribbean Sea mirrored the color of the sky. Fluffy clouds sailed past and the wind caressed their dark faces.
Jo heard a gurgling noise and glanced down to find that her glass was empty. She swung her legs off the beach chair and stood. “I’ll get a refill. Anybody want some?”
Carrie shook her head. “I promised my boyfriend I wouldn’t get drunk.”
“Sky?”
The hat scrunched over Sky’s brown curls trembled in the wind. “I’m good.”
Jo nodded and headed below deck. She hummed as she made her way to the kitchen.
Sun Gi and Joon had been fighting over who got to steer the boat so the women had left them to their kiddy fight and huddled amongst themselves.
She wondered if the brothers had worked it out.
Suddenly, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her into a cramped room. She stiffened with panic until she recognized Sun Gi’s mischievous face.
“What are you doing?” she hissed. “You almost gave me a heart attack.”
“I took the boat out to spend some quality time with my girlfriend, but she got hi-jacked. I’m officially stealing you back.”
“What a dashing pirate…”
He gently eased her against the wall and kissed her. Jo lost herself in his touch, struggling to reign in her passion so they didn’t lose track of where they were. She didn’t trust the cleanliness of that bed or the floor.
Sun Gi traced her lips with his thumb, hovering so close their noses brushed every time he moved slightly to the side.
Jo dug her fingers into the sides of his light grey muscle T. “Did you know that I started liking you right here on this boat?”
“Really?” His eyebrows hiked.
“You pulled me aside.” She closed her eyes, recalling every second of that day. “You were wearing a white shirt and white pants. The wind was messing with your hair.” She let her hands graze his scalp as an example. “You asked me who I was. You said you were curious about me.”
“I did? I remember asking you o
n the trip so I had an excuse to talk to Sky—”
She smacked him. Sun Gi had admitted to having an old crush on Sky a few days ago, and she still wasn’t over it.
“Hey,” he snatched her wrist, “I’m glad I asked you on the boat that day. It was the start of a—”
“Disaster?”
He smirked. “No, a love story.”
“You’re so cheesy.” She shook her head. “And it’s so weird because you don’t look that way at all.”
He grabbed her chin. “You’re the only one who’s allowed to call me cheesy.”
“Got it.”
He kissed her and Jo got lost in him until she heard someone banging her hands against the walls.
Carrie’s voice wafted to them. “Hey! There will be no baby-making on this vessel. I repeat, baby-making is not permissible.”
Jo laughed.
Sun Gi leaned his forehead against hers and growled. “Why’d we invite her along again?”
Jo just rolled her eyes and led him outside to face her friend. “How’d you know we were in there?”
“All that lip-smacking and moaning pretty much gave you away.” She dangled her empty glass from long, dark fingers. “Sky snuck away to go make-out with Joon and now I find you two about to desecrate that room. If I’m stuck on a boat with two lovey-dovey couples, I’ll need a refill.”
“I’ll get that for you.” Jo smiled.
Sun Gi strode off muttering, “I’ll go find Joon. I can’t be the only one getting interrupted around here.”
Carrie laughed. “You two are cute, but don’t ask me out with ya’ll ever again.”
“Noted.” Jo refilled the glass and moved above deck. Sky and Joon were shuffling sheepishly behind Sun Gi. Sky had her arms wrapped around her boyfriend and a smile on her face.
“Food’s ready,” Sun Gi said.
They migrated to the table and he held out a chair for her, winking as she sat.
The sun warmed her head and the breeze cooled her down. It was a beautiful day. With these crazy kooks and—Jo looked at Sun Gi—this amazing man by her side, every day would be beautiful.
Even if it was a disaster.
THE END
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Love, Nia
A Word From The Author
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Also by Nia Arthurs
The Taming Series
Taming Mr. Jerkface
Taming Mr. Charming
Taming Mr. Know-it-all
Taming Mr. Darcy
The Richards Books
Call Me Torn
Call Me Broken
Call Me Lost
Standalones
Chasing Daniel
The Switch
Axle’s Secret
The Good Brother
Something New
Love In Many Shades Series
Cece & David
Cece & David 2
Cece & David 3
Cece & David 4
Lovesick Series
Play
Dance
Trust
Sneak Peek
Swipe on for a sample of the third book in the Sweet Treats series featuring Carrie.
Chapter 1
“Call me one more time, Dylan. I’ll sneak into your apartment, cut off your wood and stuff it so far down your throat you’ll cough up your own kids.” Carrie’s hands shook and the phone trembled just as violently. “Do I make myself clear?”
She didn’t wait around to hear her boyfriend—ex boyfriend’s—reply. Carrie smashed her finger over the END button and tossed the phone into the empty passenger seat. With a moan, she draped her arms over the steering wheel, planting her forehead on the flaking leather.
This was it.
She was so freaking done with relationships. You’d have to tie her with rope and drag her kicking and screaming to another date.
That’s what she got for left swiping with some chump on the Internet who just wanted to get laid by as many women as possible.
“Stupid, freaking, can’t-keep-his-fly-up Dylan…” she mumbled.
It was her fault for being desperate. For missing the signs. For waiting to get slapped in the face with cold, hard reality before she got the sense.
But accepting sole responsibility for this mess irked her considering Dylan had enjoyed his nightly rubdown with other women and probably didn’t give a damn about ‘responsibility’.
The man-whore.
Carrie was lucky she hadn’t gotten AIDS or something.
She’d expected too much of him.
Or had she?
Guys cheated. She got that. Even then, Dylan should have had the decency to shoot straight with her instead of stringing her along. Anything would have been better than the way he’d chosen to play things.
At least she hadn’t gone and fallen in love with him.
She’d ridden that doomed train before and it had gone off the rails so many times that she’d finally learned not to buy a ticket ever again.
Blasting soca music shattered the night air and rattled her windows. Her head wobbled up just enough to stare at the tinted-glass building lighting up the dark street.
She’d driven to the Red Dragon, a club all the way in Ladyville, with the intentions of getting wasted and pretending, for one night, that she wasn’t a pathetic shlop.
But her body refused to move. She was stuck to the chair, to the pain, to the regrets.
Should she just give up on men altogether? Most of the guys she’d come across lacked honor, honesty and basic human decency. The harder she looked, the more disappointed she became.
Or should she hold out hope? Maybe call up Sky and Joana? Ask them how they landed an open-the-car-door, worship-the-ground-you-walk-on boyfriend?
Or maybe she should cuss them out for being luckier than her. For feeding the fantasy that she could find what they’d found too.
Joon Gi and Sun Gi had given her a reason to keep searching.
But two good eggs out of a bajillion rotten ones made them the exception.
A lump formed in the back of her throat, the kind that warned she was about to ugly cry. Carrie snarled at her elegant reflection in the car’s rearview mirror, daring herself to let the tears free. Dylan wasn’t worth crying over.
Pulling herself together, she dotted at the corner of her almond-shaped eyes with a manicured finger. Easing closer to the rearview, Carrie mumbled, “I hope I didn’t mess up my makeup.”
It had taken forever to find a foundation that matched her dark complexion. Took her even longer to figure out how to use makeup. Thanks to her parents, she hadn’t been allowed to ‘modify’ her features until she’d left for college.
Now, she blinked her fake eyelashes and raked her nails through her thick black hair—courtesy of Mr. Pakistani on Albert Street who’d guaranteed her this was premium Brazilian.
She looked stunning.
Way too hot to be moaning over a guy who couldn’t appreciate her for the amazing woman that she was.
Tonight was about having fun.
No more whining over Dylan and his hump-everything-in-a-skirt ways. She’d found a bar all the way outside the city so she could do what she wanted without running into anyone who knew her or her parents.
“Boom.” Carrie pumped her fists. “Let’s do this.”
She tor
e her arms off the steering wheel and forced her body through the car door. After pressing the alarm fob and waiting for the chirp to make sure it was armed, she strode forward.
It was another balmy, tropical night. The dew fell heavy on the coconut trees that stood sober and stalwart like grim soldiers. Stars twinkled in a sky that blanketed everything above, unobstructed by high rises and banners.
Just across the highway lay virgin forests, untouched by resorts and corporations that turned the rest of the world into environmental hazards. Belize was a jewel of both culture and nature and she thanked God everyday she’d been born here.
The wind whooshed beneath her dress, shooting her short black shirt to her waist. Carrie shoveled it down and tried to pin the silky material between her scrawny knees as she waddled inside.
The moment the door closed behind her, she felt a flash of warmth. It took a moment to adjust to the heat.
At least she was prepared with the sleeveless wraparound dress she’d chosen tonight. She probably would have died if she’d chosen the long-sleeved lace she’d been eyeing before she rushed through the door.
See? Sometimes you make good decisions.
She snorted and skimmed the room. The interior was classier than she’d expected. A long wooden bar stood to the left. Vinyl booths on a raised platform up ahead. A dance floor to the right.
The club was surprisingly crowded for a Tuesday night. Looked like she wasn’t the only one trying to escape her crappy life.
Misery really did love company because she was feeling better already.
Carrie dove into a free spot around the bar, ordered a beer and tipped it toward the black bodies writhing on the dance floor. May their one-night stands be pregnancy and STD-free.
Amen.
She tipped her drink back and tapped her fingers on the counter. The DJ spun the record and started playing ‘One Drop Honey’ one of the hottest soca tracks of the summer.