STEP 1: Buy A House

The Nerd-Girl’s Guide to Landing a Man Series Book One of Five STEP 1: Buy A House Book One of A Nerd-Girl’s Guide to Landing a Man Series BY ALLI ELLIOTT Copyright © 2023 By Alli Elliott All Rights Reserved. No parts of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other non-commercial uses permitted by copyright law. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either a work of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. To The Journey, I make this offering of the first step. Contents Prologue Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Epilogue Acknowledgements About the Author Prologue Jules, Two Years Ago… “Hello?” I called from the porch, reaching through the open door to snatch a flier from a little table without actually stepping inside. All I could see was a small entryway and my spidey senses told me I wasn’t alone. It was an open house, not like I wasn’t supposed to be there, but I tip-toed in and ninja-peeked around the wall first, in case there was a murderer waiting for me or something. Safety first, right? It looked okay so I took a chance on going in, and instead of finding a serial killer, a beautiful, bulky specimen of a man spun around on a stool at the kitchen island, utterly ruining my perusal of his muscles with what I could only assume he thought was a million dollar smile… on his freshly shaven face. Real estate agents. Pssh. “Hi there,” he said, standing from the stool and pocketing his phone. He reached a hand out in greeting but made the tiniest bit of a shocked face before recovering his salesman schmoozer schtick. It’s the eyes, they’re disconcerting to some people. “I’m Booker Lark. I see you already have the flier. Let me show you around.” Oh dear god, his name was Booker. “Making love to a book is every nerd-girl’s dream,” I said on a sigh, making his dark eyes widen. He immediately, and awkwardly, let go of my hand. “R-Really?” he muttered, scratching the back of his neck and glancing away to compose himself after my weirdness. Laughter was on its way up my throat, my chin quivering with the effort to keep it down, but instead of giving him an out I tipped my face down and raised my eyebrows. Answer me, pretty boy! He sidestepped. Smart man. “Let’s start with the kitchen shall we?” he suggested. I grinned and adjusted the purse strap across my chest, practically forcing him to look at it. Instead he read the words on the shirt, which said, “Books Make Wizards out of Muggles’ and smiled. Dang it. I was already friend-zoned if he didn’t even notice my boobs. Not smart enough. “I don’t really have time for the whole house, “ I stated, a deadpan proposition. “Just pick your favorite room.” “What?” he asked, trying not to scrunch up his face and failing. Laughter bubbled up and by the time a beat had passed I was giggling. Oh, poor guy. Poor, beautiful, wavy haired, dark eyed, big muscled man in gray slacks and a button down. Get the picture? He was yummy. Scratch that. Poor me for having no ability to flirt whatsoever. “Alright, you got me,” he chuckled. “But I actually don’t let people call me ‘Book’. It’s a stupid nickname.” As I headed toward the kitchen I called, “You’ll have to make an exception,” over my shoulder, satisfied when a huff came from behind me. Twenty minutes later I made a low ball, cash offer on the house. Booker looked mildly insulted but two weeks later at the closing he asked me if I liked The Lord of the Rings or The Hobbit better. Could he get any sexier? I leaned closer to him, a giant conference table between us, and whispered, “Are you incognito?” His square chin jerked back then his dark chocolate eyes squinted at me as he leaned in. “What?” “You’re a nerd in disguise, aren’t you?” Slowly the corners of his mouth turned up and he pursed his lips, trying to contain a grin. “Are you?” I laughed at the appropriate volume, considering I was at a business meeting. “Have we met before? I ain’t hiding it, kid.” After closing we bantered long enough to end up having lunch at a cafe down the street and the next thing I knew we were texting and calling on a regular. He never asked me out though. Go figure. Booker, Two Months of Friendship… I was at the office when the first text buzzed my phone. Jules: I’m gonna puke. This isn’t right. I can’t do this. Booker: She’ll be fine. Find something to distract yourself. Jules: I’m going out of my mind. I can’t concentrate long enough to distract myself. I’m gonna pull my hair out. Booker: That would be tragic. I’m coming over. Jules had a daughter that I hadn’t met, and today was her first day in daycare. Over the last couple months I’d really enjoyed joking around with her, but we hadn’t hung out at all since lunch after the closing, the one that made me almost no money. Would’ve been a waste of my time if it hadn’t brought me a new friend. She’s lucky she’s cute. Not that I was interested in dating Jules Mackey in the slightest, but there was a bond there that I couldn’t describe other than to say we were meant to be