This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents are either the product of the author's imagination or used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or locales is entirely coincidental.

Description

Arjun Vaswani and Chleo Matthews have properly established their relationship and it’s time to set some ground rules. Rule number one: There are no rules.

They spend their time helping each other fulfill their adventurous dreams while crossing off things from their joint bucket list. According to Chleo, their relationship is virtually perfect.

There’s just one problem: Chleo is afraid of what could happen given her past relationships. She’s not ready to take their relationship to the next level
yet
.

When Chleo figures out just how much Arjun means to her, he drops a bomb. Could this new development drive a wedge between them?

Chapter 1

“I can’t believe you’re making me do this,” Chleo Matthews squeaked. Her hands wrapped so tightly around the man in front of her that her knuckles almost looked white.

“I’m not making you do anything. I’m not even holding you,” her boyfriend Arjun Vaswani teased. Their heads were covered by white plastic helmets, and they were almost 15 stories high. Wind would have blown their hair around their faces if not for the helmets, and Chleo was still shaking with fright.

“Are you ready to sit?” Arjun asked her patiently. His hands were on a steel beam above them. They could see the entire city before them as well as the eerie streets below.

“You know this seemed like a good idea until we actually did this,” Chleo said.

“Most bucket lists work that way, my dear.”

Arjun kissed the top of her head, but he was stopped short when he found he was kissing a hard hat.

“Great. Curiosity plus adrenaline minus will to live equals bucket list,” she said. She was loosening the grip on Arjun now and doing her best not to look down. Arjun in turn wrapped one arm around her waist. It was impossible to pull her in any closer, but he tried just the same.

“No need to worry. I’m right here with you. Like when your bucket list had
steal something expensive
and we got that pearl brooch somehow like in Breakfast at Tiffany's. And when your list had
run around a block in just underwear
. What makes you think that could change now?”

“Oh, I don’t know. The looming fear of imminent death if either of us takes a tentative step in any direction? And they stole animal masks in Breakfast at Tiffany's. But I think there was a pearl brooch in it somewhere,” Chleo said once she finally released Arjun. “And we ran around the block just last week. Sweet words about staying right here with someone usually requires months or maybe even years of dating.”

“I thought three months was a good enough time as any; especially since apparently there’s the possibility of imminent death with any tentative step in the wrong direction. Maybe we should sit,” he said. His voice cracked just the slightest bit. Chleo was so concerned about her own fears that she didn’t stop to consider that Arjun could possibly be afraid too.

Chleo had written 76 things on her bucket list, and Arjun had written 53. Some of their items meshed, and they thought it was better for them to tackle those together.

Have lunch on top of an unfinished building
was number 51 on Arjun’s list and
Have an unusual romantic anniversary dinner
was 63
rd
on Chleo’s. They decided to combine the two and have a picnic on a widened scaffold of a building under construction. They were both harnessed at the waist in case they fell, but that didn’t stop them both from being afraid that they were out in so much open air 15 stories up.

They were standing on a thick plank that was securely fastened to the steel beam. Chleo sat on it with her legs crossed while Arjun let his feet dangle over the edge. There was a picnic basket with wine and leftover food from the restaurant they were in the night before.

Arjun had had enough of his helmet, and he took it off of his head. His thick wavy hair flew free with the breeze. His hair was long enough to be tucked behind his ears and it was getting almost long enough to touch his shoulders. His hair was one of Chleo’s favorite things about him. Her hands were constantly in his hair, searching and exploring. It was soft and luscious and always smelled of rosemary mixed with peppermint.

Chleo watched him run his hands through his hair then. The wind blew it around his face and wouldn’t keep it still no matter how much he tried. He soon gave up and gave into the wind being in control of his hair.

Arjun had dark piercing eyes, thick eyebrows, and a prominent jawline that made him seem more serious than he really was. His lips were an unusual shade of pink and they looked beautiful against his caramel skin. He had started growing out his beard, and it gave him a different sort of allure. He looked like a scientist so involved in his work that he had no time to worry about frivolous things like shaving a beard and mustache, and Chleo would tease him about it before kissing him on both cheeks and then once on the lips.

To her (and to anyone who had functioning eyes), Arjun was gorgeous. He stood over 6 feet tall and he looked like something straight out of a magazine. Instead, Arjun was a veterinarian. His passion was medicine, but he also loved all kinds of animals. He decided to mix the two, and that was where his heart was.

Chleo was beautiful herself. She had long curly black hair, almond shaped brown eyes, and dimples in both of her cheeks. Her smile gave her an air of innocence, but Chleo could be pretty silly and vulgar when she wanted to be. She was voluptuous and was unfazed by any negative energy that told her that she needed to lose weight or do anything to change herself.

She owned Any Blooming Thing, a flower shop in the heart of the city, with her best friend of almost 20 years. A lot, but also nothing, had changed since Jessica got married almost three months prior. They were still a dynamic duo, but now Jessica had a husband and step daughter to think about. That didn’t bother Chleo though. Things changed without getting worse…but the change reminded Chleo that she didn’t have someone of her own.

She met Arjun when her friend and coworker Petey had kittens. To be honest, she wasn’t a big fan of cats, but she took it in because, to her, it was a last resort to quiet her feelings of loneliness.

“You know, once you get over the initial fear of plummeting, it's actually quite beautiful up here,” Arjun said. He scooted closer and closer to Chleo who was opening a Tupperware container. There was leftover shrimp Alfredo with black olives and salad on the side. Arjun put a hand in the container and popped an olive into his mouth.

“I’m just happy we got permission to do this and we have harnesses.”

“I guess if you’re sweet and pretty enough, you can get away with doing a lot of things,” Arjun said.

“Are you talking about yourself?” Chleo teased. Arjun scooted even closer until he was sitting with his side up against one of Chleo’s folded legs. His fingers grazed her knee. His touch was always gentle and always so sure. Chleo had no doubt in her mind that he cared about her. It was like they could both tell what the other was feeling at any given moment, even without words.

“I could be talking about both of us,” Arjun said with a smirk. His hair blew in front of his face and Chleo’s heart melted. She still wasn’t used to just how beautiful he was. And he was hers.

“I keep saying that you and I would make an amazing crime couple. We’re very smart and persuasive, you and I,” he said when he ran his hands through his hair.

“Once we get through the rest of both of our bucket lists, then it’s something I’m willing to consider,” Chleo said. Arjun tried to steal another olive from Chleo’s container, but she playfully jabbed her plastic fork in the direction of his greedy fingers. He pulled away, but she pierced an olive with the fork and fed it to him.

Arjun turned around and pulled his own container out of the basket and then picked up the bottle of wine to start fiddling with the cork. When he managed to get it open, he let the excess foam spill out into the breeze and plummet towards the earth below. He poured a plastic cup with some of the white wine and did the same to another cup.

“I’d like to propose a toast,” he said. He kept having to brush his wavy hair out of his face, and eventually he kept one hand on his head with his hair pulled back.

“What are we toasting?” Chleo asked. The butterflies in her stomach floated up towards her heart.

“Us,” Arjun said. He furrowed his eyebrows and moved his head back a bit as if to say, ‘what else could we be toasting?’

“Yeah? And what about us?” Chleo asked. She wanted to be coy. She wanted to play dumb so that he could spell it out for her. He had never said he loved her, and she didn’t want to say something like that so soon into their relationship.

Arjun’s romance was more playful than anything. She hadn’t really seen him vulnerable or extremely romantic. She didn’t want to change him, she was just curious to see how their relationship would blossom over time.

Arjun lowered his face shyly and eventually took his hand out of his hair. It wasn’t so windy anymore so the coils fell about his face and neck. She was expecting him to say something silly, and to tease her like he usually did. He used his free hand to brush against her cheek like he did the first time that they kissed. His thumb paused and grazed against her bottom lip. She smiled and turned her head to rest her cheek in his hand as if it were a pillow.

“I’m just grateful that I have this time to spend with you. I’m grateful that out of all the vet offices, you chose mine. I’m grateful that it’s been three wonderful months with you and it feels like the first day, and at the same time it feels like I’ve known you for a lifetime,” Arjun said. His words surprised her. He wasn’t his usual casual self. His fingers were still rubbing against her face and she looked up at him.

Words escaped her. She wanted to say the same to him. In her mind she was telling him more. She was going to let him know that she was happy that he had been there to encourage her, to remind her to never give up on anything that made her happy, and just for being the man in her life who truly cared. She wanted to say all of that, but her words caught in her throat when she thought of how happy he had made her by his words.

Chleo swallowed the lump that was forming in her throat and held onto the hand that Arjun had still rested on the side of her face.

“Happy three months, Arjun,” she finally said when she had collected herself enough. She turned her head and kissed the palm of his hand.

“Happy three months to you too, Chleo.”

Chapter 2

It was a beautiful morning in the middle of fall. The leaves on the very few trees that were in the city had faded to amber, shades of maple, to a bright pumpkin color. It was time to say hello to the pumpkin lattes and goodbye to the bright sun dresses. That didn’t stop Chleo at all though. She stepped into Any Blooming Thing in a bright green sundress with teal and darker green paisley patterns; wrapped around her waist was a thin rope belt. She had on shin high black boots, a jacket, and a big smile on her face.

“Well aren’t you stylish and chipper this morning,” Petey said when she stepped into the store. He outstretched his hands, and Chleo did a slow turn to show off her outfit.

“Clee, as pretty as you are, especially today, I’m holding out my hands so you can hand me a Danish and my cup of coffee.”

Chleo pouted, but took out a coffee she had in an egg tray, and then handed Petey an entire bag full of donuts and Danish. He thanked her profusely; ever the dramatist, and then set the items onto the counter.

“Ok,
now
let me look at you,” he said. He stretched out his hands again and Chleo rolled her eyes and twirled for the second time. Petey nodded his head in approval, silently judging her from head to toe. “Where’s Jess?”

“I left her at The Coffee Cup. She was too busy canoodling with Alfie,” Chleo said. Alfred Reynolds was Jessica’s long time crush when they were in high school. When Alfie and Jessica bumped into each other just around three years ago, they rekindled something that had never actually started when they were teenagers, but beamed at the idea of getting a second chance at potential romance.

It was more than a coincidence that Alfie’s store, The Coffee Cup, and Any Blooming Thing were less than a block apart from each other.

“Ugh, gross,” Petey groaned. He pulled out a brown sugar and cinnamon sprinkled donut and stuffed it in his mouth. His eyes rolled in the back of his head and then closed as he took in the sweet flavor. The Coffee Cup definitely had the best donuts and Paninis on this side of town. The fact that they knew the owner made it all the more wonderful for them.

“I know, right?” Chleo said with a giggle. She was still giggling when Jessica came waltzing through the bright red Dutch door.

“And what are you two snickering about?” Jessica asked mid stride. She had a small bag of extra donuts and sandwiches inside, but Chleo had already brought in her coffee.

“About how totally gag worthy you and your new husband are,” Petey said. He sounded so matter of fact about it that Chleo burst into a new fit of giggles. She pinched her nose with her fingers and covered her mouth with her hand to avoid too much attention to herself.

Jessica’s mouth flung open, her eyes darting back and forth between Chleo and Petey. She raised an indignant finger, just about ready to retort until she stopped herself. She lowered her finger, shrugged, and then nodded.

“It’s true,” Jessica admitted. “We’re pretty touchy-feely huh?”

Petey put a finger in his mouth and imitated gagging sounds. Chleo looked at everything in the store except directly at Jessica. She was trying to be the innocent party in this whole thing.

“
You’re
one to talk Mr. Falls-In-Love-Every-Week. And I can still see you, Ms. Third-Month-Anniversary,” Jessica crossed her arms over her chest and harrumphed. Petey offered a middle finger rather than a verbal retort. Chleo was beaming. She was surprised that Jessica remembered. “What wacky adventure were you and your beau up to this weekend?”

BOOK: Crazy Sweet Love: Contemporary Romance Novella, Clean Interracial Romantic Comedy (Flower Shop Romance Book 3)

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