Manila Takes Manhattan by Carla de Guzman

Author:Carla de Guzman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Harlequin Enterprises ULC
Published: 2024-03-07T18:13:58+00:00

Eight

Now Playing: “I Can’t Make You Love Me”—Kinda Blue feat. Hwasa / “Cuida” (Live)—Ebe Dancel /

“Too Much”—Carly Rae Jepsen

Olivia: Moning, are you here yet? I bribed one of the grips to buy us CHEESECAKE—!!

Mon: What flavor?

Olivia: There is no better flavor than P L A I N I keep telling you this

Teddy blinked at Mon over the video call, his face betraying absolutely nothing of his thoughts. Mon liked to tease and call Teddy a cat, all calm and quiet and unemotional until the feline demon swiped an entire vase of flowers off the table, for some reason. You could never tell what a cat was thinking, just like Teddy Mertola.

Until, of course, he started laughing.

“I leave you alone for a month and you go fall in fucking love with Olivia Angeles,” he said, crossing his arms over his chest as he continued to laugh. “Fucking typical.”

“What do you mean typical? There’s nothing typical about this.” Mon frowned, holding up a shirt against his front to look at it through the video screen. “Yes?”

Teddy wrinkled his nose in distaste, as if he didn’t wear a black shirt and cargo pants every day. His hair was also getting long, curling at the edges like he was a J-pop star. “That’s too formal for a midnight cheesecake booty call.”

“It’s not a booty call,” Mon protested, tossing the tie-dyed button-down shirt among the other rejected tops on the bed. How many shirts did he bring on this trip? “It’s a live recording in Times Square, and she wants to have cheesecake. It’s perfectly normal for people who are...”

Are what? More than friends but not quite lovers? Was sex the only requirement to call someone your lover? Would she be comfortable with Mon declaring to the world that he was in love with her? That he thought about her constantly, that he’d spent his entire day with the music for her track because he couldn’t find the right hook? That she inspired music in him, made him happy to see her be herself?

Teddy nodded his approval at Mon’s final choice—a denim vest over a white T-shirt and his usual jeans. Mon worried it teetered a little too close to TikTok farmer or beekeeper.

But then again, a stranger had asked yesterday if he was a horticulturist when he was walking through Central Park. Unironically. It was hilarious. They ended up in a brief conversation about Philippine native trees.

“Stop. You look good.” Teddy pulled him out of his thoughts. “So you admit it. You’re in love.”

“Why do you say that like it’s a bad thing?” Mon asked, hunting around the room for a clean pair of socks. He didn’t love living out of a suitcase, but it wouldn’t be forever. “It’s a good thing. A many splendored thing. It’s all you need.”

“So you’re leaving on a jet plane?” Teddy snorted, sarcasm dripping in his voice. But when the silence stretched too long, and Mon hadn’t said a word, his business partner’s eyes went wide. “Oh babe.”

“I

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