“You still standing there?” He knew damn well I hadn’t moved if that smirk was any indication. “I’m sorry. Guess I should’ve extended an invitation. But you wanted your boundaries, right?”
“You apparently don’t know what that word means. Enjoy your shower.” I lifted my chin and strutted from the room with an extra sway to my hips. Tit for tat and all.
Once I couldn’t feel his eyes on me any longer, I picked up my pace. I breezed through the kitchen, picked up my purse, keys, and phone. No way in hell was I doing roommate night or whatever he called it. Not when all I’d be able to think about was him . . . naked . . . and wet.
I leaned against the wall as I waited for the elevator. Wasn’t he the one who was supposed to be having illicit thoughts? Instead, it was me who had soaked panties and heart palpitations.
Nope. I was going out. And if all went to plan, I wasn’t coming back home to face more of this tension. How had this suddenly gotten so complicated?
Chapter Four
Holt
“Easy?”
The apartment was quiet. Too still.
I readjusted the towel around my hips and went in search of her in the kitchen. No luck. If her missing purse was any indication, she’d bolted.
Had I scared her? In a creepy, pervert kind of way?
I’d meant to keep my clothes on, but that red dress had me going straight out of my mind. I was torn between wanting to leave it and those sex-kitten shoes she was wearing on and getting her naked as fast as possible. For the first time in my life, it was well and truly a toss-up.
Fuck me, I was hard again just thinking about those pouty lips and what they’d feel like on me. Anywhere. I’d take anywhere.
I grabbed a beer out of the fridge. If I was a pervert, I’d still turned her on. Those crimson stained cheeks and dilated pupils didn’t lie.
Damn it all to hell. She made it easy to forget she’d been abused. In what way and by who, I didn’t know, though I was determined to find out.
That right there—my inability to keep my clothes on around her—was exactly why I hadn’t come home last night. Look where it had gotten me. Alone. No Baker anywhere to be found. And wasn’t that why I’d moved in with her in the first place? To make it impossible for her to avoid me.
Clearly, I didn’t think this through.
I tossed my towel on the bed and shoved one leg into my jeans. What did I want from her? A relationship? I laughed, a mirthless sound. God, no. Sex? God, yes. But it was more than that. I didn’t know for sure, just that I wanted. And whatever that something was, I wanted it from her. Only her.
Three months in and I’d already screwed up. Hence, I was here by myself wondering where she took off to.
I yanked a gray Henley out of the clean clothes hamper I’d yet to fold and pulled it over my head.
My brother was going to kill me, but I had to call in a favor. I hoped Trish was on board to help me out.
This wasn’t her kind of place.
The thought was rich, considering I didn’t really know her at all. But the thumping bass and throngs of bodies mashed together weren’t Easy. She’d like a dim bar with a softer music so she could actually have a conversation.
I scanned through the backlit club. This wasn’t my kind of place, either. Leather and lace abounded on men and women who hopped around like the music pumped straight into their veins.
Suddenly, I felt like an old man. There was a time when I would have eaten this scene up, been right in the thick of it with all these people. Now, I just wanted to find Baker and go home with her.
This was like finding a needle in a haystack. Thank goodness I was a patient man.
I circled the perimeter, checking the few tables and the parts of the dance floor I could see. She was nowhere to be found.
I scaled a set of stairs and pushed my way to the railing of a balcony.
Like a beacon, my eyes landed on her in the center of everything. Her hands lifted above her head and she moved with a sensuality that had me leaning closer. I couldn’t take my gaze from her. That red dress glowed under the lights. She tossed her head back as if drinking in the scene. Gathering strength or peace or maybe a little bit of both.
Guess I was wrong. This was definitely her kind of place.
My feet were moving before I realized it. Back on the main level, I snaked my way to the middle of the dance floor until Baker was in my sights. Her smile lit me up, but as I caressed down her body with my eyes, I had to get my temper in check. Hands that most definitely didn’t belong to her gripped her hips.
I closed the distance between us. Her eyes rounded when they found me before they dared me to take what I wanted.
“Easy On The Eyes,” I murmured in her ear as I slid a hand between her back and her dance partner.
I gently pried her away from him, pulling her body flush with mine. Heat streaked through me, possession hot on its heels.
A glare came at me from over her shoulder, but I had zero regrets when she relaxed in my hold. I fired a look back that left no room to doubt she was mine. The guy shrugged and started dancing with another woman nearby.
Baker’s arms hung loosely at her sides. I took her hands and twined them behind my neck. Her touch against my skin was like wildfire. I replaced my hands on her back and circled my hips, taking her with me.
“If this was what you wanted to do for roommate night, you should have said something,” I rasped, my lips ghosting the shell of her ear.
“We’re not having roommate night.” Her words came out firm, yet she yielded, her body following my lead.
“You want more than one?” I gave her a curious look and finally shrugged a shoulder. “I guess we can do that.”
She dug her nails into the back of my neck, and I hissed.
“None. I want none.”
Her chest pressed against mine, breath short and fast. I didn’t think it had a damn thing to do with the dancing.
“Aww, Easy. Don’t be that way.” She stared straight at my chest. I slid my hand up her spine until I cupped the back of her head. Livid eyes met mine. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’re acting like you want me to ignore you.”
Indecision flickered on her face. That stung, but I got it. I’d spent the better part of two days in the push and pull of needing to get away from her and be close to her.
Our hips clashed as we moved to the beat. “That what you want, Baker? Radio silence?”
I held her so she could feel me. How much I wanted her. She gasped, a sweet, sharp sound that I heard clearly over the house music.
I leaned in and got lost for a moment as I breathed her in. She smelled delicious. Like honey. “I didn’t hear you.”
She shivered at my breath on her ear and dug her fingernails farther into the back of my neck, struggling to hang on to her sanity. Just like I was doing to mine. The woman made me crazy.
“No.” The word was a whisper, but it went straight to places I didn’t allow anyone.
“No what?” I asked huskily.
“No, I don’t want radio silence.”
I grinned, and her eyes went wary. “Good.” I ran my nose along her jaw until my lips were against her ear. “Because I couldn’t give it to you anyway.”
A little growl escaped her. I wanted to hear that again and soon. Preferably with my name attached.
I turned her so her back was to my front. Immediately, she stretched until her hands were latched around my neck. My fingers trailed down her sides, memorizing the feel of her lean body. She ground that perfect ass against me.
“You drive me crazy.”
“In a good way?” she asked saucily, pressing back into my erection.
“In every way.”
My hands had a mind of their own, not content to stay glued to her hips. They wandered across her flat stomach, over her ribcage, and back down her sides. Her silk dress was hardly a barrier between us, yet it might as well have been a concrete wall. I knew just how soft her skin was and burned to to
uch her again.
She rested her temple against my jaw. “You mean you don’t go throwing all of your roommates out of the shower?”
I wrapped my arms around her at the tease in her voice. My body relaxed into her even as she wound it up tight.
“Nope. That’s all you, Easy.”
“This would be the moment when you say you’re sorry.” She smiled against my cheek.
“Can’t do that.” I nibbled at her ear as if I had the right. “Especially when sorry is about the last thing I am.”
Her breath was hot against my skin, blasting me in short pants. She buried her nose in my neck and inhaled. “This is a bad idea.”
“Being roommates? No way. Best idea ever.”
She giggled. Baker giggled. And it was the sweetest sound I’d ever heard. I tickled her ribs, and she squirmed in my arms, another laugh escaping her.
“Can we go home now?” I smiled against her hair, filled with something I hardly recognized.
We were in the middle of a sea of gyrating bodies, yet it was just her and me.
Baker made me forget everything else.
She shimmied, her ass brushing my cock again. Baker twirled, her eyes playful when she pushed at my chest. “You can. You weren’t invited anyway.”
I clutched my heart. “You’re killing me here. You can’t leave your roommate out.”
“You do realize that ‘roommate’ means we live together. Not that we’re attached at the hip.”
I glanced where my hands gripped her. “Looks to me like we are.”
Her eyes followed my gaze and her mouth did this little ripple like she wanted to argue and was fighting a smile all at once. I wanted to find out what that tasted like.
She lifted her chin, and then I was the one fighting my own grin at her defiance. “I’m not ready to go.”
I dug my fingers into the soft flesh of her hip. “We both know you’re only here because you were running from me. From this.” I motioned between us.
Her throat worked as she swallowed hard, but fire blazed up at me from her eyes. “There is no this.”
“Oh, there is so a this.” I inched my face closer to hers. She held her breath and backed away. “The first time I kiss you won’t be in a crowded club.”
“I’m not kissing you.” Her voice tripped over the words.
I smirked. “Yeah. You’re gonna kiss me. And Easy? I’m gonna kiss you right back.”
I spun Baker before I pulled her back against me. “You wanna dance? Then let’s dance.”
Chapter Five
Baker
He came here.
For me.
And he wanted me.
Down, down, down I went, consumed with how good it felt to be desired again. I hadn’t been with anyone since I’d arrived at Paths, hadn’t even considered it. Yet Holt had my mind going places it hadn’t been in years . . . maybe ever. I could easily get addicted to this feeling, which meant I couldn’t have him. Even if he wasn’t my roommate, he was still off limits.
Too dangerous.
Too easy to get sucked into.
My body moved of its own volition, following where he led. My hands threaded through the back of his hair and pulled in punishment for being so damn irresistible. But it was me who paid the penance when a low rumble escaped him, his chest vibrating against mine. Dark eyes threatened me with the promise of pleasure. All I had to do was reach out and take it.
And then I remembered that he hadn’t come home last night. Had probably seduced some unsuspecting woman with his sweet talk and sexy smile.
He brushed his thumb across my lips. “I thought we were having fun.” The playfulness in his tone from minutes before had vanished. He didn’t get to act like he cared about me. Not when he’d been with someone else less than twenty-four hours ago. Hell, less than twelve hours ago.
Ugh.
The thought of him waking up in another woman’s bed nauseated me.
I shoved at his chest, no longer thrilled with his tainted hands on me. Holt didn’t budge.
“Let me go,” I hissed.
“Can’t do that, Easy.” He was far too calm for my liking.
“You’re the easy one,” I said petulantly, the green streak of jealousy on display for him to see.
Confusion flitted across his face. I pushed again, somehow managing to break out of his hold.
I wrestled my way through the wall-to-wall dancers, my anger propelling me forward. Stupid. I was so so stupid. This was how it had all started before. When I’d gotten myself in more trouble than I could have ever imagined.
The room spun as I made it to the fringe of the dance floor. Pounding bass throbbed until my heart matched its rhythm. All I could hear was the thump, thump, thump, but what I saw terrified me. I was no longer in the club, but back in the car that had been my nightmare. I’d thought it was the safest place in the world.
“We’re gonna leave our mark, baby. You and me. Nobody’s ever gonna forget us.”
That slow grin. The way I’d believed the words he’d spoken. He’d been right. I just didn’t know I’d spend the rest of my life trying to make people forget me.
I stumbled, throwing out my arm against a wall for support. Steady hands found my waist. Endless pools of concern peered down at me.
I jolted, slapping his hands away. “You—you don’t get to do that.” I shoved a finger into his chest, shouting above the music. Nobody had ever heard me because I’d never put up a fight. But those days were done.
“Baker?”
My heart twisted with the reverent way he spoke my name, but I pushed my anger toward the surface. “No. Go use your sexy words on somebody else. Maybe the woman from last night wants to hear them again.”
“Last night?” He blinked at me in confusion. “What are you talking about?”
“You can’t just brainwash me.” There was an edge of desperation in my voice. I tried to remember techniques I’d learned in therapy to deal with stress, but they all escaped me.
I am strong. I am strong. I am my own woman.
He took me by the hand and tugged. I tried to remain rooted in place, but he was too strong. Holt stopped when he felt my resistance.
“We need to talk and we’re not having this conversation here.”
He waited until I gave a subtle nod before he led me down a narrow hallway. I cursed myself for giving in so easily. I didn’t owe him an explanation. Didn’t owe him anything. Yet I felt compelled to follow where he led.
Just like I always did.
Holt moved with determination. The music had only faded a fraction, still too loud to be heard without shouting. He pushed through a door with an exit sign lit above it into a stairwell. The echo of the door closing bounced off the concrete block walls. The music muted.
He released me and raked a hand through his hair, pacing in a small circle. “I know my behavior,” he paused and looked at me, yanking on his thick locks, “hasn’t been the best.”
I wrapped my arms around my middle and hugged myself, staring at the ground.
“Brainwash? Baker, I don’t know what to say to that. I’d never . . .” Anguish filled his eyes. “Why would you think that?”
I lifted my gaze to his. “It’s what men do.”
He froze. “Not all men,” he said quietly.
All men, I argued in my head. Instead of saying anything, I just lifted my chin.
“Seduce you? Yeah, I’m totally guilty. And obviously I’ve done a bang up job of it.”
“Seduce. Brainwash. They’re really one in the same.” I shrugged, but my insides had gone cold.
Holt’s stare burned into me. “What happened to you?”
His voice was lethally low, as if he were furious on my behalf. When he figured out who I was, that anger would evaporate in an instant.
“Nothing that matters.” It was a lie. What happened to me defined the person I was today no matter how I tried to get away from it. I’d managed a new start, only a few people I’d conf
essed the truth to.
This . . . the woman in the dress who had a dream job working at a fashion magazine? She was a facade. Nothing more than a thin veil disguising the ugly truth.
He stepped closer. “I think it does. A whole hell of a lot.”
I held my ground, though I hugged myself more tightly. “I don’t care what you think.”
Holt recoiled as if I’d slapped him. Instant regret flooded me. Was this my new tactic? Hurt him before he hurt me?
A vein pulsed in his temple, but he nodded once. “Fair enough.” He let out a frustrated breath. “Then let’s get to what exactly you think happened last night.”
I lifted a shoulder and painted a look of indifference on my face. “I know you didn’t come home.”
Light dawned in his eyes. “And where exactly do you think I was?”
“Never gave it a second thought.” More lies. And he knew it.
“Then why’d you bring it up?”
I shrugged again, wishing I hadn’t.
He edged closer to me until I felt the heat radiating off of him. “Why do you think I spent the night out?”
“Not my business.”
“Because of you. You.”
He shoved open the door before the weight of his words settled on me. It slammed, and I jumped before sagging against the wall. He didn’t deny it.
It was always because of me. I just couldn’t figure out why I drove men to do horrible things.
I shivered and resisted the urge to go after him. Instead, I hugged myself harder and rocked until my heart slowed to a normal pace. I couldn’t go home. Not after that.
I couldn’t face if he didn’t come home, either. I was afraid to find out that he didn’t.
The shelter.
Mrs. Quinn wouldn’t mind if I spent the night there again. She’d welcome me. I closed my eyes and settled a bit more at the thought of somewhere familiar. Safe. Somewhere without Holt.
No. That felt wrong.
I straightened, picked up my head, and squared my shoulders. I’d promised myself I was ready to live out in the real world. When I’d agreed to be Holt’s roommate, I’d known it wouldn’t be trouble-free. Nothing in life was . . . and I’d learned that the hard way. But I wasn’t her any more. “When you accept you are the strong woman who tried to do the right thing and started a new life, you’ll know. You’ll have the strength to take another step forward.” Another step forward . . .
Trust Me: A Roommates To Lovers Romance Novel (Free Book 2) Page 3
