by Elyse, Drew
Finally, after a few minutes, she looked at the coffee still in her hands, as if it had some kind of answer. Then, she gave a little shrug before looking to me with her lips turned up just a touch.
“I’d like to see it first, but I think… I’ll take you up on it.”
The mix of relief and—fuck me—happiness that hit me with the words illustrated one thing without question:
I was fucking screwed.
Chapter Fourteen
Gwen
“What am I doing? This is ridiculous. I’m making a huge mistake, aren’t I?”
Caroline didn’t even look up from the box she was taping closed. “You’re freaking out again.”
As if saying that had ever, in the history of people freaking out, made someone go, “Oh, yeah, I am. I’ll just quit it now.” And magically stopped them from freaking out.
But, yes, she was right. I was freaking out.
This was because the box she was taping up was one of the mess of them littered around the room that contained everything I owned. In other words, I was moving. It had been a week and a half since I got coffee with Park to discuss becoming his roommate, which made it just about a month and a half since I’d met him.
And that afternoon, I was moving in.
“Seriously, though. You don’t think this is the dumbest thing I’ve ever done?”
Caroline sighed. I’d been like this all morning—and all week, honestly—and I think she was losing patience with me. “Gwen, if this is the dumbest thing you’ve ever done, you need to get out more.”
I was tempted to point out that she had not answered my question.
“I’m just…” I didn’t even know. Worried, anxious, neurotic maybe.
“You’re just nervous and overthinking things,” she supplied. “Is it different? Yes. Would I—or Steve, for that matter—be here helping you move in with him if I thought anything bad was going to happen to you? Of course not. Just take a breath and maybe try acknowledging that at least some of this apprehension stems from the fact that you think he’s cute, not because this is a bad idea.”
I didn’t want to acknowledge that. Nothing good could come from acknowledging that I had more than a slight crush on my soon-to-be roommate that seemed to grow every time I talked to him. Particularly when that crush wasn’t just being a woman with eyes that recognized an attractive man when she was one, but closer to infatuated teenage girl that was liable to start combining our names on the inside cover of my notebook.
In the privacy of my own thoughts, though, I could admit that it would be much easier if I were moving in with a guy that didn’t keep popping up in my dreams to do things to me that I definitely did not need in my head if I wanted to act like a normal person around him.
Steve came back in the room, tapping Caroline on the ass to get her to step aside so he could grab more boxes. She made no move to hide the fact that she returned the favor by watching his as he squatted down to lift two and carry them from the room.
“Thank you,” I called after him.
“Stop thanking me every damn time, Gwen,” he shouted back as he kept leaving.
“Well, when he won’t let me pay him,” I grumbled. I felt guilty, since Steve had, at this point, carried every single box while I paced, and Caroline made sure they were all good to go.
“Oh, he’s getting paid,” Caroline said, the suggestion not the least bit subtle.
“I really wish you wouldn’t talk about your guys’ sex life when he’s actually here.”
“We could talk about your sex life.” She snickered.
Meaning my complete lack of.
“Shut up.”
She shrugged. “Maybe Park could—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.” I said it like a command, but it was really a plea.
“Fine.”
“Let’s just get this done. I told Park we’d be there around three.”
She grinned at his name, but I ignored her and got back to shoving the last of my crap in a box.
“I can’t believe you’re really leaving.” Kelly had that big, doe-eyed expression going that she did when she was getting emotional.
I didn’t bother pointing out that she’d asked me to do it. “End of an era.”
“But we’ll still hang out,” she said, leading. I didn’t miss the way Jeff scoffed, and I doubted she did either.
“Yeah.” I doubted it. Even if we both decided to put that effort into maintaining our friendship, Jeff was going to have something to say about it. Kelly might make promises now, but she wouldn’t follow through when it meant going up against him. I was sure I’d see her a couple times, but those would dry up fast if he stuck around. I just hoped that if I kept at her, she’d know that line of communication was open, even if she wouldn’t go against Jeff to use it.
If the time came that she was ready to cut him loose, to stop accepting the way he treated her, I wanted to be there for her.
I took the keys to her place from my pocket, having already separated them from my car keys. I handed them out to her, but Jeff swooped in and snatched them from my hand.
Asshole.
“Text me, let me know how you settle in.”
“I will.”
She gave me a tight hug before I got in my car, Caroline waiting in the passenger seat. Steve was already driving to Park’s in his truck. As we drove away, I said aloud what I’d been biting back during that whole scene.
“I’m worried about her.”
“I know.”
I sighed. “I tried to make her see him for who he is.”
“There’s only so much you can do. You’ll be there if shit goes south and she needs you.”
“Yeah.”
“One way or another, she’ll be okay.”
I hoped so.
When we pulled up at Park’s building—and my building now, too, I supposed—he and Steve were at the back of the truck, grabbing boxes. I got that lip quirk as I approached. I gave him a smile back, trying to ignore how good his tattooed arms looked as they flexed as he reached for a box of my… oh boy, that box being “pajamas and top drawer.”
In other words, underwear and bras.
Oh, and a couple battery-operated items that were usually tucked away in my nightstand.
“I can take that one,” I volunteered.
Having full hold of it, he hefted it up to test the weight. Once he confirmed it was light—possibly the lightest box of the whole load—he handed it over. I went for the door that was propped open, ignoring Caroline’s grin. Obviously, she had also seen the label on the box and remembered what was in it—well, the underwear, anyway, since I’d snuck in the rest without her knowing either.
Brat.
Upstairs, I found the door to the apartment just pulled to instead of fully shut, and I nudged it open with the box to get inside. I took in the spacious, airy apartment again, feeling some of my earlier panic settle. Park was a good guy. I felt confident in that both in listening to my gut, and Caroline’s phone tree. The apartment was definitely better than anything I’d been finding. So, it came with having to bury my crush down deep and pretend it didn’t exist? That wasn’t that bad. I started to calm down.
Until I caught sight of the cat tree by the living room window.
“Oh shit!”
I frantically started looking around, searching out Thaddeus and not finding anything. I dumped the box and turned back to the hall to see Park coming up behind me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Thaddeus. I didn’t think and I didn’t shut the door behind me. Is he—”
“Gwen, breathe,” he cut in, and I saw his eyes were dancing. “I’ve got him closed in my room. He doesn’t like it much, but he’s fine.”
Oh, right. Okay. I was acting crazy.
“Right.” I could feel my cheeks heating.
“Should’ve mentioned that before you came up.”
He was so nice. I was the one panicking over nothing and essentially a
ccusing him of not being careful enough to think of that. Was it too soon to hide in my room?
“No, I’m sorry. I think we’ve just had a few too many little guys try to pull a runner at work. It makes me a little neurotic.”
“At least I know I’ve got a roommate that won’t let him bolt.” Seriously, so nice. “Also meant to say out there, why don’t we just unload in here so you’ve got space to unpack?”
“We can put the boxes in my room. I don’t want them in your way.”
“They’ll be fine here,” he insisted. “So long as you don’t mind that Thad is gonna climb all over them.”
“I don’t mind. I love cats,” I blathered like an idiot.
And cue the lip twitch. “I know.”
Something that barely counted as a smile should not be so effective. And his cologne, the spice and amber smell I’d only caught before when he was working right at my shoulder was intoxicating. Was spontaneously jumping your roommate a faux pas?
Just then, I heard Caroline and Steve coming up to the door. I took a step back from Park, wondering when in the hell we’d gotten so close. I’d been less than a foot from being fully pressed against him, and I’d been too distracted by him that I hadn’t noticed. I was going to need to start paying far more attention, and not just to his face and the way he smelled.
“Let’s get your things in,” Park said. “The sooner we do, the sooner you can unpack and settle.”
If I was even capable of settling when I was in his space. “Right.”
Chapter Fifteen
Park
It was getting late. Gwen’s friend and her husband had left a couple hours ago after we’d gotten all of her stuff in and the furniture set up. I’d gotten out of her way then after making it clear I was there to give her a hand if she needed it. She’d been unpacking since. Figuring she had to be hungry by that point—and unable to help myself any longer—I got off the couch and headed to her room.
Thad was sitting in the open doorway, watching her. I stepped up behind him, but he kept where he was. It didn’t matter, I didn’t take the step further I’d intended to and knock on the doorframe or speak up so she’d know I was there. I was fucking frozen. That was because, inside, Gwen was bent over a box. Not squatting or something, bent right at the hips with her back to the door. Her sweet, perky ass was pointed up, looking so inviting I nearly swallowed my own tongue. She’d changed out of the jeans she’d been in earlier and had on a pair of black fabric shorts that hugged her cheeks perfectly. Bent as she was, they also allowed just the smallest peek of the curve of those cheeks that I wanted to drop to my knees and worship.
I dropped my gaze because the last fucking thing I needed was to be caught the first night she was here staring at her like an asshole. When I did, I noticed Thad had started looking up at me. I didn’t need his judgment to tell me I was doing wrong.
“I should have gone through things instead of just throwing them into boxes,” Gwen said and I focused back up at her. I didn’t realize she’d heard me approach. “I mean, this probably doesn’t even fit anymore. I haven’t worn it in forever.”
She straightened with a sky blue dress in her hands. As it hung in front of her, it was easy to see that it would be short. Really short. Short enough that I was sincerely hoping she was going to try it on and I’d get a chance to see her in it. She threw it onto the bed, and the motion turned her head enough that she saw me, and she startled.
“I didn’t know you were there.”
“I thought you were talking to me,” I said like I’d just walked up rather than stood here taking in the show.
“Oh, well, no. Not exactly. I was talking to…”
“Thaddeus,” I let her off the hook.
She winced. “If I say yes, do I sound like a crazy person?”
“I talk to him all the time, so no.”
She gave me a relieved smile. I tried not to get caught up in it by focusing on my actual reason for coming back here.
“I was going to order a pizza. Figured you might be hungry and want to join me.”
Somehow, that smile brightened until I swore it would blind me. How she did that every time, I hadn’t the slightest.
“That sounds great. My treat.”
“I’ve got it.”
“Park,” she argued. “You got the coffee.”
“And you just dropped half the security deposit—” That she insisted on even though I told her it wasn’t necessary. “Not to mention moving.”
“I bought some boxes and tape, it hardly tapped me out.” Her arms crossed, and it might have been meant as a sign not to mess with her, but what it did for her chest was too distracting to take that in.
“Still,” I fought back, my voice cracking a bit, “I got this.”
“The whole reason I wasn’t finding a place was because I didn’t want to be rent-poor and not be able to do things like get pizza. Moving in with you, that’s not an issue. Since you were nice enough to give me that opportunity, I will be paying for the pizza.”
I wanted to argue, but it was clear this was becoming a pride thing for her. She didn’t want me thinking she couldn’t afford it, not that I did. It was the only reason I gave in.
“Fine. Your treat. This time.” The last was a warning. One, based on her triumphant smile, she was not heeding.
“Great. You want to order while I wrap up in here?”
“Got it. What do you like?”
She bent back to her box, though luckily—or really fucking unluckily—she was now at an angle to me instead of giving me that view straight on. “I’m good for whatever.”
“What do you like?” I repeated.
“Really, Park, whatever is fine.”
Why was every woman in my life a pain in my ass?
“So I go out there and call in for a white sauce, banana pepper, and anchovy pizza, you’re good?”
She straightened and looked at me like I’d grown a second head. “Is that really what you get on pizza?”
“No. But I might be tempted if you don’t tell me what you want.”
She caught that I wasn’t joking. I’d order it and eat it if I had to. I’d certainly eaten worse.
She rolled her eyes. “I like pepperoni and extra cheese.”
That sounded a hell of a lot better. “Right. Anything else?”
“Breadsticks.”
“Okay.”
Before I could walk away, she tacked on, “And buffalo wings. But only boneless ones. I hate having to wipe the sauce off my fingers constantly.”
“Got it.”
That time, I started to leave when she called, “And, Park…”
I turned back. “Babe, you already ordered half the menu. What else could you want?”
She gave me a faked sneer, and I was glad she caught I was teasing her. “I was just going to remind you to tell them it’ll be cash since I am paying.”
The warning not to renege on our deal wasn’t lost on me.
“Fine.”
“I’ll be out in a bit.”
I went out to the living room, hoping I could get the hard-on that was being confined by my jeans to ease up by then. If not, I was in big trouble.
Not that I hadn’t been that since I’d offered her that room.
“Did you do that?”
I faced Gwen to see her lifting a piece of pizza to her lips, but her eyes were fixed on the long canvas hanging on the wall. On it was a tattoo gun leaving a trail of color through a black and white mess of designs. It wasn’t subtle, but that hadn’t been the goal.
“Yeah.”
“It’s beautiful.”
Not how a lot of people would describe it. It was busy, loud. The colors were too bright for most.
“I felt like this place needed something. It was too boring. Started working on that without any real plan,” I explained.
She turned back to me. “You’re very talented.”
It wasn’t something I hadn’t heard before. Fuck, it was somet
hing I heard a lot. I still wasn’t used to it though, and getting it from Gwen made that even more so.
“Thanks.”
She grinned like I’d said something funny. “Not good with praise, huh?”
“Not something I had a lot of experience with until the last handful of years.”
Why the fuck did I say that?
Her head cocked to the side, and I could actually see her trying to puzzle me out. My past wasn’t something she needed to solve, though.
“You need another drink?”
Her eyes darted to her cup that was still two-thirds full, then back to me. “No, and I get the message. Off limits topic. I get it.”
She didn’t seem upset by that at all, just kept eating her pizza and looking back to the painting. The TV was on, but neither of us were paying it a lick of attention. I was far more interested in her, she was more interested in my work.
“Did you go to art school?”
It was the past, but not a big deal to answer that one. “No. A lot of the team at the shop did, but Carson didn’t so he never required it. Though, my apprenticeship under him was longer because of it.”
She nodded. “So did you start there pretty much right after high school then?”
I wasn’t feeling the love for telling the pretty, smart, probably college-educated woman next to me that she was living with a high school dropout. Or that I’d only finally gotten my GED a little over a year ago.
There weren’t a lot of evasive ways to answer that one, though, so the best I came up with was, “Not exactly.”
She gave me that same knowing look that told me she understood there was another boundary there. I didn’t want her to think I was blowing her off because I didn’t care to get to know her at all, but this shit just wasn’t open for discussion. My best move was to turn it to her.
“Did you go to college?”
She brought a hand up in front of her mouth, nodding as she finished chewing before she answered, “Yes. I got my bachelor’s in business management. I didn’t really have a plan or some dream I’d always wanted, so it was just something that I felt good about being able to get a job with.”
