by M K Dwyer
“One sec.” He pulled his phone out of his pocket. To his dismay, when he saw the caller ID, he knew he wouldn’t be sticking around to find out what the seductive beauty was going to say or do next.
Chapter Two
Nikki
“I’ve got to take this,” the future star of every wet dream for the rest of Nikki Sparks’s life said as he stood from the stool, threw a twenty on the bar and strode toward the exit.
Well, I’m never going to see him again. She watched the door close behind the most perfect ass she’d ever seen. Good thing too because she had no idea what her next move would have been. She wasn’t usually at a loss for words, especially considering her profession, but one look in his light blue eyes and she momentarily forgot where she was. If his phone hadn’t rung, she might have voiced the thoughts running through her head. Like how the light blue t-shirt he wore perfectly matched his eyes, or that his well-worn jeans might have looked ratty to some, but just made him sexier to her. Or, forget talking, she might’ve tussled his sandy blonde hair like her fingers were itching to do.
Back at her table, surrounded by friends, she sat and let out the breath she’d been holding. She should have been relieved she was saved from the most embarrassing moment of her life, but for some inexplicable reason she was only sad. She gave herself a mental shake and smiled at the ladies around her giggling like school girls. It was a dare from her best friend, Joyce Cross, that sent her over to him in the first place. Maybe they were all a little too old to be playing a slumber party game, but it was the last week of summer vacation and they were dead set on enjoying themselves before responsibility set in again.
“I can’t believe I actually did that.” She handed the reading glasses back to Joyce. She wasn’t the type to go around throwing herself at random men in bars. Then again, she was making a lot of changes in her life recently, maybe that was one of the things that needed to change too. Perhaps if she’d been more adventurous, her life would have turned out differently. Shish kabobs! No. She knew she had to shut down that kind of negative thinking immediately—it got her nowhere.
At twenty-seven, she wasn’t where she thought she’d be, but she needed to believe she was exactly where she was meant to be. Already, the girl she was two years ago wouldn’t recognize her now, and that thought made her smile.
“Oh, come on.” Joyce shouted a little too loud thanks to the Long Island Iced Teas and Lemon Drop shots she’d over imbibed. “You can’t say that wasn’t a little thrilling, at the very least. Plus, the dare was to get a stranger turned on, and based on the bulge straining behind the man’s zipper, I think you succeeded.” She winked. “The glasses were a nice touch too, if I do say so myself.”
Joyce was the librarian while Nikki and the rest of the ladies at the table were teachers of different grade levels at Clairemont Elementary. Despite being easily twenty years Nikki’s senior, Joyce was the sister Nikki always wanted and the rock she needed in her life. They became fast friends soon after Nikki accepted a position teaching third grade math the year before. Joyce didn’t know the whole story about why Nikki had moved to San Diego, but Nikki loved that Joyce never made her feel like she had to spill her secrets. She’d moved there broken, beaten down, and in need of a friend. Joyce was a big part of her rediscovered self-confidence which probably has something to do with Joyce always pushing her outside her comfort zone. Things like daring Nikki to talk to a strange man was just par for the course with Joyce, and she loved that about her. She was working up to the day when she would confide everything in Joyce, but she kept telling herself she needed to get a little further past the pain first.
Going into her second year at the school, she was excited for the first time in a long time. She was surrounded by such a great group of ladies, even if they did take it upon themselves to set her up with every single-dad who came to the school. Turning down their help would probably mean explaining why she wasn’t interested in their matchmaking services. She knew it was all in good fun, and they just wanted to see her happy, but she had no desire to get serious with anyone again anytime soon and certainly didn’t want to be anyone’s stepmom. She might not have dated anyone in years, but that didn’t mean she was ready to start again with any Tom, Dick or Harry they paraded her way. Not only did she think it was too soon, but not one of them sparked her interest anyway.
In that moment, the hunk at the bar came to mind. She stood corrected. One man had sparked an interest—more like a blazing inferno of interest—but she would probably never see him again. She didn’t even know his name. It was probably something simple, but sexy, like Cade or Jake. She’d chosen him for her dare from Joyce because she thought he’d never remember the plain girl that hit on him at the pub, but she would never forget him.
Chapter Three
Will
“What do you mean you need me to come get him?” Will patted himself on the back for sounding calmer than he felt as he paced the parking lot of the pub.
“I’m going out of town, and I can’t take him with me,” his ex-wife, Theresa, barked into the phone.
“Where could you possibly be going that he can’t tag along?”
“None of your business!”
He stopped pacing, closed his eyes, and pinched the bridge of his nose. “It is my business when you call me out of the blue begging me to drive to Yuma and pick up our son!”
“Why are you fighting me on this? It’s your weekend to have him in a couple days anyway. It’ll just be like an extended weekend.”
“I’m not fighting you. I would love to have him stay with me longer than the weekend, but I need a little notice. I can’t drop everything and drive to fucking Arizona because you got a wild hair to leave town.”
“Fine. I’ll just have my grandmother watch him. She’ll love that.”
“No! God no. Don’t take him to your grandmother. The judge agreed with me that she was not an appropriate babysitter. She’s getting too old, he tires her out too easily and she smokes in the house for Pete’s sake.”
He would never raise his hand to a woman, but the thought of reaching through the phone to strangle her, did cross his mind. In fact, the thought calmed him.
“Give me a few hours to work things out. I’ll be in Yuma by his bedtime.”
“Fine. Don’t be late.”
Without waiting for a response, she hung up, and he roared into the phone in frustration to no one. She made him so crazy. Not just sometimes, but all the damn time. So many instances, he wished he could go back nine years and take back that one fateful night, but if he did that then he’d have to give up the one bright spot that came from it. His son, Joe. He hated dealing with Theresa, but he wouldn’t trade his son for the world. Now he was going to rearrange his whole week, drop everything, and drive over six hours roundtrip through the mountains in the dark all because she knew she had him by the balls where their son was concerned.
First things first, he needed to reschedule with Adam and hope he held the room for him. He’d also have to ask if Adam minded his son hanging around a little longer than the “few days every couple of weeks” like he’d previously promised.
He dialed Adam and waited while the call connected. Assuming he was still at work, he was prepared to leave a voicemail, but was pleasantly surprised when he picked up the phone on the third ring.
“Hey man. Are you calling to tell me how excited you are to see us tonight?” He sounded amused.
“No. I mean, yeah. I’m excited about coming by, but something came up tonight. I need to reschedule.”
“Oh, so you’re not excited about the awesome room I have for rent? Man, that’s a shame.”
“No. I said I am excited. I just can’t come by tonight.”
“I see. You know, this room is very sought after. I’ve had five more calls about it today. What could possibly be more important than this? Why should I hold the room for you?”
“You want to know what’s more important?” Will’s patience was
wearing thin with the jackass. “My kid, asshole, and the fact that I have to haul ass to Yuma tonight to pick him up because my ex is a fucktard that has never been able to think of anyone but herself, including her own child!”
“Oh, shit man. Sorry. This is actually Jesus, Adam’s roommate. I was just giving you a hard time. Here’s Adam.”
Will heard some shuffling over the phone while he attempted to cool his temper with the jokester who, as far as Will was concerned, was not the slightest bit funny.
“Might as well get used to him now. That is, if you still plan to rent the room.” The real Adam chuckled as he got on the line. “You were on speaker, so I heard you. We’re all home now. Do you have a minute to stop by before you head out? You don’t have to make a decision today, but at least check out the house, and see if it might be a good fit for what you need.”
“Ok. Yeah. Sure. I’ve got about an hour before I have to be on the road, so I can swing by.”
“Sounds good. 737 Melrose. See you soon.”
“Got it.” Will smirked at the reminder of the address… again. A control freak, for sure.
Will hopped in his truck and headed for the house he hoped to call “home” soon. Pulling away from the pub, he thought about the hot brunette who’d come up to him at the bar. He wished he’d run back in and at least asked her name. If he had her name and number, it would make seeing her again that much easier. He had no doubt he would see her again though. If he had to go back to Kelly’s Irish Pub every evening that he wasn’t at the fire station or with his son until he saw her again, he would. Hopefully, like him, she had no life and would be there the next time he walked through the door.
Less than five minutes later, Will pulled up to the house at 737 Melrose Lane to find all three current occupants standing in the driveway. The men couldn’t have looked more different from one another. An outsider looking in would never peg these three as roommates, but Adam assured Will they coexisted under one roof peacefully. Well, mostly. The man in the middle wearing office-appropriate black slacks and a dark blue button-down dress shirt had to be Adam Morris. If Will was honest with himself, based on his profession, he expected Adam to look more like a scrawny geek instead of Clark Kent. At six and a half feet tall and over 200 pounds of muscle, he was far from the image Will had built in his mind, and now he wondered if he hid a spandex costume under his dress shirt.
The smiling, heavily tattooed man on his left in a white tank top, khaki cargo shorts and flip flops was a bit shorter, but wider than Adam. He had to be Jesus Benavidez, a local tattoo artist and fellow separated Marine. On Adam’s right, a man who could have a career in Hollywood as The Hulk’s body double—and trumped both men in height and width—was most likely Warren O’Donnell, or “War” as Adam had called him. Now, after seeing the man in person, he couldn’t think of anyone with a more apt nickname. The guy looked like a walking war machine, especially in his black cargo pants and black t-shirt that supported the logo of the gun range where he worked. No surprise, he was also a fellow Marine.
“Hey Will. Glad you could make it.” Adam shook Will’s hand. He was no good judge of handsome men, but he guessed Adam could have done very well for himself as a model if he wasn’t into numbers and shit. He had striking blue almost teal eyes, and brown hair cut close on the sides but slightly longer than usual on top.
“Me too.” Will said as he turned to the guy on Adam’s left.
“Hey man. I’m Jesus.” He pronounced his name like heh-soos. “But most of my friends call me Jesus or Buff Jesus.” He continued with a wink, that time pronouncing his name like jee-zus as in Christ, Our Lord. At about six feet tall, he was the shortest among all four men, but he had arms that could crush Mac trucks. That plus an epic thick-but-trimmed beard and deep brown, almost black, hair that hung past his shoulders, meant he looked every bit the part of “Buff Jesus” too. “Sorry again about earlier. I didn’t know you had an actual situation.”
“Already forgotten.” Will shook Jesus’s hand.
Will turned to the third man and offered his hand for a handshake, but instead War just stared at him with his arms crossed. Never mind that he could crush Will without breaking a sweat, for a minute he looked like he wanted to crush him. Then he schooled his features, and the look was gone. Looks like I found the resident asshole.
“That’s War,” Jesus spoke up. “Don’t mind him. He doesn’t talk much.”
War grunted in agreement.
“Okay.” Adam drew the “A” out further than normal. “Why don’t I show you around?”
As Will followed the guys through the front door he looked up and noticed a camera pointed at the front stoop. He thought he’d also seen a camera under the eaves of the roof pointed at the driveway when he introduced himself and wondered if there were more. The cameras weren’t bulky or obvious; they were sleek and expertly hidden. Will was an observant person, but even he almost missed them. He felt every home should have some form of security, but he wondered why Adam felt a home of trained Marines would need so much. He smiled imagining Adam as some paranoid, conspiracy theorist, hacker who was a computer genius, but thought the world was out to get him.
The outside of the house was the typical California beige stucco one-story with a reddish-brown clay roof, and the inside was much of the same. The walls were beige, the floor was wood, and the furniture was brown. Not that he would have done anything differently, but the lack of homey touches and high-tech security screamed “bachelor pad”, and really, that was just fine with him. As Adam guided him further into the living room, droning on about “respecting others in the common areas”, he noticed the leather couches looked expensive and were large enough for guys their size. Well, not large enough for War, but he wasn’t sure anything was large enough for War. Then he turned and saw the TV. Hell yes. I can get used to this, he thought, eying the monster TV directly across the room from the monster couches.
They turned a corner into the kitchen, and the room was as different from the living room as night and day. With stainless steel appliances, black granite counter tops and stark white cabinets, the room may not fit in with the rest of the house, but it was a cook’s dream. Usually Will didn’t cook much outside the fire station, but he knew he could get more into it with a kitchen like that.
“I plan to remodel the whole house, but the kitchen is the only project I’ve completed so far. When I bought the house, the kitchen needed renovation the most.”
“Well good job, man. It looks awesome. I could do some serious damage in here.”
“You like to cook?”
“Uh yeah. I guess.” He scratched his neck. He hadn’t meant to say that out loud. “I just started cooking more at the fire station, and it’s growing on me.”
“Good because the three of us can’t cook for shit.” Adam laughed.
“All right, I’ll make you a deal then. If you all buy the food, I’ll gladly cook it when I’m not at work.”
“So, you’ll rent the room?”
“I want to see my bedroom first, but yeah. I think it’s a good fit for me.”
“Good. Glad to hear it.”
Adam led Will to the bedroom that would be his while War and Jesus stayed in the kitchen. He closed the door to another room as they walked down the hall, but not before Will spied a desk loaded with computers and monitors that would make NASA mission control jealous.
“That your room?” Every new thing Will learned about Adam made him more curious than the last.
“Uh. Yeah. And here’s yours.” Adam opened the door to the room next to his. It looked like the average, empty twelve by fourteen room with the same beige carpet and beige walls as the rest of the house plus a decently sized closet.
“There’s only two bathrooms in the house, so you’ll share with me. It’s technically the master bath, but I installed another door leading to the hallway, so you don’t have to go through my room to access it.”
Considering the impressive command center in his
room, he thought Adam wouldn’t want anyone traipsing through his room but didn’t mention it. “That’s fine. I’m not picky.” They walked back to the living room. “It was good to meet you, Adam, but can we finalize things tomorrow? I need to get on the road if I’m going to make it to Yuma by Joe’s bedtime.”
“Joe. That’s your son’s name? And you said he’s eight?”
“Yes. Turned eight last February. I know I told you before that he would be over here every other weekend, but I have no idea if my ex plans to make this a habit. Do you all mind if he’s here more often than that?”
“Not at all. War and Jesus will be fine with it too. Don’t even worry about it. We are Marines, so I can’t promise we’ll always keep it PG. The cursing gets out of hand sometimes, but he’s welcome here whenever he’s in town.”
“That’s good to hear. I used to rent a hotel room when I had him, but that gets expensive. I have some money saved from my deployments, but if I’m going to spend it on hotel rooms, I’d rather there was a woman involved.”
“Understandable.” Adam chuckled. “You want company going to Yuma?”
“Are you serious?”
“Of course. I know how much that drive sucks.”
“Hell yes. If you’re sure.”
“I’m sure. Let’s go tell the guys the good news that you’re taking the room, and then we can head out.”
Chapter Four
Nikki
After Truth or Dare at the pub, Nikki bowed out of karaoke, deciding a quiet dinner at home sounded better. As much as she loved being with the girls, and she knew they wouldn’t have the time to hang out for the next few weeks, she just couldn’t deny her introverted tendency to gravitate towards home.
Unfortunately, the surprise waiting for her when she pulled into her complex made her wish she’d opted for the karaoke. Her stomach turned when she saw his car. She didn’t need him to step out of it to know it was his. She could spot his pretentious Mercedes with “NOTURZ” vanity plates anywhere. Again, she wondered what she’d seen in Aiden Malone. Had he always been an ass? The answer was yes, but she was so in love, or what she thought was love, that she overlooked a few glaring flaws. Flaws that, if she was looking for anything serious now—which she adamantly was not—would be total deal breakers. She would forever be comparing men to that man to make sure she never ended up with another like him.
