Welcome to Recipe for Romance!
Each weekend, I share a snippet of a tale that either takes place in the current month (in this case, April) or is coming out in the current month, and a recipe that either goes with the tale or goes with the month.
Confused yet? Excellent! lol
Let’s get started. I’m sharing a snippet of MR. FIXIT’S BILLIONAIRE, a standalone and my first billionaire romance. Amanda is the billionaire and she needs a husband. She just met Mike and they’re going out for pizza. Their daughters are in the same play and are already friends. Amanda is starting to notice other things about Mike.
They might have sat in uneasy silence forever if Val hadn’t looked over at her and squeezed her hand. “Mommy, can Sierra stay over this weekend after the play?”
Thank goodness for the boldness of little girls.
“That’s okay with me, honey.” Amanda met Mike’s gaze. “If it’s okay with you? She’s totally welcome to stay and play in our pool.”
“You have a pool?” Sierra’s jaw hit the floor. “Ooh, I love swimming pools. Can I please, Daddy? You said it might be okay after the play. Pleeeeaaaassee?”
Mike rolled his eyes, but he grinned. “Since it’s okay with Amanda, it’s okay with me.”
“Yay!” Both girls cheered.
“They’re not thrilled with this plan at all,” he remarked dryly.
“Yeah, it does seem like we might have to convince them.” She laughed as Valentina rolled her eyes.
“That’s sarcasm, Mommy.”
“It sure is.”
The pizzas arrived and everyone dug in. The server graciously brought them extra napkins to keep the red sauce from overflowing onto faces, hands, and clothing. At one point, Valentina almost dropped her water onto her lap, but Mike rescued it before their seats became the swimming pool.
Amanda watched in awe at his smooth moves. It looked so natural and easy, how he cared for Valentina as much as Sierra, like they were actual sisters. In fact, he reminded Val to wipe her hands using a napkin rather than her pants just like Amanda usually would. They fell into a parenting pattern together as if they’d been doing it for years.
You know, he’d make a good husband.
Amanda blinked. Could he be the solution to her issue? She needed a man who was good with Val, even if it was a short-term gig. They could sign a contract to make their marriage legal for only one year, and she could save her company. He would get an easier life. She could offer to pay for Sierra’s tuition until high school and help Mike with any financial issues he faced. She would get a temporary husband that fulfilled her father’s will.
The question was, would Mike go for it?
Basic Pizza Dough
This can be made gluten free if you don’t mind rolling it out between pieces of wax paper. GF bread isn’t as elastic so it takes less mixing time, but more patience to get it into the shape you want.
Basic Pizza Dough
Ingredients
Basic Pizza Dough
- 1 cup + 2 Tbsp warm water
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tsp sugar
- 3 cups flour
- 2 tsp yeast
- Basil, oregano, garlic, black pepper to taste
Throw in the bread machine and select the dough setting in the menu.
Once it’s finished its cycle, take the dough out and form into as many personal pies or one large pie as you like.
Pizza Toppings
- 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1 Cup grated mozzarella cheese
- Pepperoni
- 1 bell pepper of any color
- 1 sweet yellow onion, sliced
- Any other topping you prefer – I myself like Kalamata olives and tomatoes
If you prefer red pizzas, put tomato sauce on before all the other toppings.
Set your oven to 375 F and bake for 15 minutes.
Cute snippet! I genuinely love that Amanda is the billionaire. Can’t say I’ve seen a lot of gender swaps on this trope.
Yeah, I haven’t, either. I wrote this one in the Flip the Trope: Endless Summer anthology and that was the trope I flipped. 🙂
And now I’m ready for pizza! Enjoyed the snippet, this was a favorite story of mine.