by Emma Hart
That was a no, then.
Still, I poked my head into the living room and kitchen and gave a cursory glance toward his room. Nothing.
I pulled up the text thread again and detoured to the bathroom. May as well pee while I was up and all that. I told Brie that Jay wasn’t here, but I’d call him and see if he could find him.
It probably wasn’t the most soothing thing I’d ever said to her, but there was a reason I was never an agony aunt for my high school newspaper—or the college one, for that matter.
I wasn’t always the most sympathetic person in the room.
I pushed the bathroom door open and stilled as I slammed into a wall of moist air.
And there, standing in the middle of the bathroom, butt naked, was my best friend.
Jay froze, clutching the towel in his right hand, and my eyes did a quick flick up and down his body of their own accord.
I did the only thing I could do.
I screamed.
Slammed the door behind me.
And ran into my room and slammed that door, too, only just catching Jay’s shout of, “Shit!” from the bathroom.
My heart thundered against my ribs. I’d just seen Jay naked—completely naked. No pants or underpants or towels hiding his modesty. No, the towel had been firmly in his hand as he’d dried off his thigh, but that didn’t mean I’d missed everything else.
I hadn’t missed the way his dark hair had flopped over his forehead, dripping down onto his face and body. I hadn’t missed the way water droplets had cascaded down his body, using the dips and curves of his toned stomach as their own personal playground.
And I sure as shit hadn’t missed the way they’d run right down over the ‘V’ muscles that pointed to one very specific body part.
His cock.
His semi-hard cock.
And it hadn’t been because of the water temperature, because last I knew, hot water didn’t make cocks hard.
Then again, I wasn’t a man, so maybe they did, but still.
Part of me wanted to storm out of my room and demand he cleaned the shower, but the other half of me wanted to stay in here and only come out to forage for food when I knew he wasn’t home.
There was no way I could look him in the eye again.
Why was he semi-hard? Was he getting himself off in the shower? Why hadn’t he locked the door?
If he was getting himself off, who was he thinking about?
Oh, my God. Did it matter?
No.
It wasn’t my business. I didn’t care who he thought about when he fondled himself. He was a grown man who could think and tug any time he liked.
He didn’t need my permission.
Why was I even thinking that?
Why did I have to open the door?
Damn it, Brie, if I hadn’t gone looking for him, then I wouldn’t have found him. And found a hell of a lot more than I needed to.
I didn’t want to know what Jay looked like naked.
All right, that was a lie. I did want to know, but I didn’t want to, you know, know.
Imagining it was so much easier. If I could imagine him naked, I could give him a flaw. Like… wonky testicles or a really, really tiny penis. Maybe an unfortunately placed mole or scar or something.
Now, though?
No.
Now, I was shit outta luck. He didn’t have wonky testicles—not that I could see, anything. There were no sadly-placed moles or scars or spots.
And his penis was most definitely not really, really tiny. Not even really tiny. Not even just tiny. Or mediocre.
Nope.
If it were a machete, you’d be able to take down forests with it.
Thank God penises were, as a rule, ugly. Otherwise I’d really be able to romanticize this moment.
There was nothing romantic about it.
There was nothing more awkward than walking in on your best friend totally naked.
Your best friend who you had a crush on.
Whose disco stick you kinda totally did want to take a ride on.
Two knocks at my door made my heart skip a beat. “Shelby? Are you in there?”
If I stay quiet, will he know?
“I was being polite. I know you’re in there.”
Guess so.
“Can I come in? We need to talk.”
We really, really don’t.
“Shelbs.”
I sighed. He wasn’t going to leave me alone. “It’s not locked.”
Gently, he tested the handle, almost as if he thought I was lying to him. The hinges creaked as he pushed it open and poked his head through the crack. “Hey.”
I ran my tongue over my dry lower lip. “Hey.”
“Can I come in?”
I nodded, tucking my feet beneath my butt and leaning against the headboard. “Sorry. About that.” I jerked my shoulder in the direction of the bathroom.
“No, listen.” He ran his hand through his still-wet hair, pushing it back from his handsome face. “It’s my fault. I knew you were in here working so I didn’t even think about locking it since I knew it’d be quick. Sorry.”
“It’s both of us. I had my headphones on and must have taken them off when you were already out of the shower. I blame Brie.”
He drew his brows together, perching on the edge of my bed.
Not a place I needed him to be when my heart was still calming down.
“Brie? What does she have to do with this?”
I quickly explained the situation that she’d told me about. “I called for you, but I guess you didn’t hear.”
“No, I didn’t. Shit. He wasn’t scheduled to work today.” He chewed on his lower lip, and I wanted to reach out and pull his lip from between his teeth because, well, lips that pretty weren’t meant to be nibbled on.
Except by someone else.
Preferably me.
Whoa—what was this? One glance at his penis and suddenly I’m choreographing getting him under my sheets?
Geez.
I needed a vacation.
“You want me to try to call him?” Jay leaned back and rested on his hands, turning to face me. “He might know why I’m calling, though.”
“Could he be at the gym still? Uh—is the new girl working today?”
He shook his head. “She’s training under me. She’ll be in tomorrow when I get there.”
Ugh.
Damn it.
Not my business.
“Where could he be?” I asked, pushing a wisp of hair behind my ear. “Brie was drunk, and that doesn’t excuse what she accused him of, but it was pretty shitty behavior. I don’t know, Jay.”
“You think we should keep out of it?”
I hesitated. “They’re our best friends, but…”
He raised his eyebrows, lips tugging up at one side. “They’re adults and have to sort out their own relationship issues?”
“Something like that.” I deflated with a sigh. “Maybe try calling him. If he picks up, tell him Brie’s worried about him and wants to know he’s all right.”
“What if he doesn’t want to go home?”
“Then you can make up the sofa for him and bring me pizza to apologize for the unexpected house guest.”
He stared at me for a moment then burst into laughter. “You’ll use any excuse for pizza.”
“Wine would be good, too. And—”
“Oreos. I know.” His tiny smile became a full-fledged one that made his eyes light up.
My tummy flipped.
“Don’t worry. I’m on it.” He reached out and flicked my ear. “By the way, I think your scream deafened me.”
I wrinkled up my face as he headed for the door. “Yeah, well, seeing you naked scarred me, so we’re even.”
His laughter followed him out of the room.
I wished he’d taken my attraction to him with him.
CHAPTER EIGHT– JAY
Bras Do Not Live On The Sofa, Shelby
“You think you can handle it?” I turned my
head to meet my new employee’s eyes.
Georgia nodded, her blond ponytail swaying as she held her finger out and pointed at everything on the counter. “Let the phone ring two times before answering, people coming for the first time need a forty-five-minute guided tour of the machines before they can go alone, the schedule for classes is in the calendar, and the price list is right here.” She finished by tapping the price list. “I got it. You can go for lunch. One hour alone isn’t going to kill me.”
“All right. Are you sure?”
“I have your number if there’s a problem.”
“I won’t be far. Just down the street. I can be back in two minutes.”
“Stop panicking!” She laughed. “It’s not like I’m here alone. Lisa’s over there and, uh…” She paused, her finger hovering in the direction of the tall, heavy-built black guy who was currently instructing a young woman on how to use the treadmills.
“Liam,” I said, lips twitching. “Lisa and Liam. Are you sure you can remember?”
“Yes. I’ll be fine.” She smiled at me.
“All right. See you soon.” I knocked on the counter and left the main floor of the gym, heading for the staff room and the lockers there to get my phone and wallet. Sean was already waiting for me in there, and he looked rough as hell.
“Took you long enough,” he grumbled, rubbing his hand through his hair.
“That’s a lot of thanks for someone who gave up his sofa and had to spent sixty bucks on pizza, wine, and Oreos for his grumpy roommate last night,” I retorted, tapping the combo for my locker in and opening the door. “I didn’t even get any of the pizza. She squirreled it away into her room before she went to your place and spent the night with Brie.”
He grunted.
“Still not talkin’ to her, huh?”
He followed me out to the staircase to the lower floor. “We spoke this morning. She’s going to her mom’s tonight because her grandma’s going over for dinner, so I guess we’ll talk tomorrow.”
“You guess you’ll talk?” I snorted and pushed open the glass gym doors. “You’ve been together for two years. You’ve lived together for six months. And you’re going to stop talking to each other because you were texting a woman you—actually, yeah, never mind. I think I might be on Brie’s side here.”
Sean groaned, shoving his hands in his pockets. “She assumed I was only texting her. I was texting my mom most of the time, and anyway, Georgia’s texts were completely innocent. She’d forgotten to write down her hours, and I was talking her through logging into the employee portal.”
“Did you tell Brie that?”
“While she was blind drunk? No. I fed her Advil and water and put her ass to bed.” He shuddered. “The more pissed she got at me, the more she drank. I told her I was texting my mom, but she didn’t listen.”
“Why were you texting your mom?”
“My grandpa’s in the hospital getting tests done. She didn’t get back until late the other night. It’s a three-hour drive either way, and she needed more clothes.” He shrugged.
“And you didn’t tell your long-term girlfriend that?”
He side-eyed me. “If I did, would I be here bitchin’ about it to you?”
“You could try calling her and telling her, you know. It won’t kill you.”
“Yeah, but I don’t know what’s up with him yet.”
“And you think keeping it a secret is going to make it better?”
He stopped on the sidewalk outside the restaurant. “Yeah? How’s it going since you told Shelby you’re in love with her?”
“I’m not in love with her,” I ground out, shoving past him to get into the restaurant. “I’m attracted to her and have unwelcome feelings for her, but it’s not love.”
Sean snorted. “Yeah, all right; I believe you.”
I shook my head and went up to the counter, turning my attention to the menu like I didn’t come in here every day when I was working.
He could believe what he wanted. He was keeping something important from his girlfriend—I was keeping inappropriate feelings from my best friend.
I had no desire to make things awkward with Shelby. There wasn’t a chance she felt the same way about me, and we lived together.
Lived. Together.
I liked living with her. I liked what we had, even if she was going to bankrupt me with her love of Oreos. There were some things better left unsaid, and telling your best friend you had feelings for her was one of those things.
Nothing or nobody could change my mind about that.
Besides—I didn’t want to tell her. I didn’t need to. It was just a crush, an awareness of how fucking gorgeous she was now that we were together more than normal.
An awareness of my attraction to her, the conscious thoughts of how badly I was attracted to her, mixed with basic human lust.
Nothing more, nothing less.
If I told myself that, I had to believe it.
The last thing I wanted was for this to get any worse.
Especially since she knew what I looked like naked. Accident or not, the way her gaze had strolled all over my body before she’d screamed blue bloody murder said she’d taken a damn good look.
I didn’t care. Her seeing me naked wasn’t embarrassing for me, but I knew it would be for her. That was why I’d skirted on over it. I knew she’d had a good look; she knew she’d had a good look. Bringing it up would make it awkward.
And, honestly, I’d have a damn good look if I saw me naked for the first time, too.
Hell. I see myself naked every single day and still take a good browse of my abs every now and then.
It’s good for the ego—mostly because I now live with a woman who doesn’t think twice about bringing me down a peg or ten.
I placed my order, paid, and took a seat at the nearest empty table. Sean quickly followed behind me and put his receipt on the table next to mine.
“All right,” he said. “So you’re not in love with her. Fine. That I understand. We’ve all seen Shelby on a deadline.”
My lips twitched. Deadline Shelby in public was a lot different to Deadline Shelby at home.
I still have nightmares from the time I woke up and found her rummaging in the fridge with her hair looking like she’d stuck her pinky finger in a power outlet.
I’d thought we were being robbed.
Nope. Just Shelby having a midnight snack and breaking the diet she swore she’d start on Monday.
Such was my life.
“But,” Sean continued. “You live with her now. Do you really think that whatever this crush is is just going to disappear by itself? If you can make it beyond the Oreo and dry shampoo obsession and get the girl to shower daily during a deadline, she’s a real catch.”
I rubbed my mouth to hide my laughter. He did have a point—her showering habits during a deadline sometimes left some things to be desired, and if it happened with the next one, I already had her favorite deodorant in a box under my bed.
I planned on slipping it through her door with a packet of Oreos on day three.
Friendly reminder, sly dig… You pick.
“I don’t know, man. It’s probably just because we live together now and I’m seeing a different side of her.”
“Even when she makes you do your own laundry?”
“It’s a valuable skill. I even figured the dryer out all by myself.”
“Don’t tell Brie. She already has me vacuuming daily. I don’t need any other chores.”
“Really? You only vacuum? No wonder she gets pissed when you’re on your phone.”
He shook his head. “Don’t fucking judge me. How many chores did you do until Shelby took your lazy ass in?”
We weren’t going to discuss that. “Point is, I’m a changed man.” I nodded at him as our food was brought over. I pulled my lettuce burger toward me, taking a second to look at it. The cheese was melted, the bacon was crispy, and the sweet potato fries on the side looked like I’d inhale them in
two handfuls. “She’s even drawing up a chores schedule. Something about making me into a man some poor woman will have to marry one day.”
“That or she’s trying to teach you to look after yourself for when she’s finally able to get you to move out. Like when she gets a boyfriend.” The look on his face was sly.
“Shut the fuck up and eat your lunch, or I’m putting you on bathroom cleaning duty this afternoon.”
That wiped the smile off his face. He knew I wouldn’t, but it drove home the point that I didn’t want to talk about this right now.
I knew he was doing it to wind me up, but I wasn’t going to fall for that shit. I was going to nip it in the bud before he took it too far.
I didn’t care what he thought—I knew this crush was just that.
A fucking crush.
It’d pass, like so many of them had before and so many in the future would.
Screw the fact that if she’d walked into the bathroom five minutes earlier yesterday, she’d have seen me with my hand wrapped around my dick while thinking about her and hating myself.
She was my best friend.
My roommate.
I’d write it in graffiti on his bedroom wall and mine and hire a plane to fucking write it in the sky if that’s what it took to make it clear.
No matter how badly I wanted to see if she tasted like Oreos and milk—I wouldn’t.
Shelby Daniels was the one woman in this world who was off-limits to me.
Nothing could change that.
Nothing would change that.
• • •
The sky was darkening outside as I stepped out • • •of the elevator on our floor and glanced out of the window. It overlooked the town, not the beach like the apartment windows had a glimpse of.
And it was just that—a glimpse. We had a sliver of a view between two buildings that housed apartments not dissimilar to ours.
Still, it was a “sea view” if you asked the realtors.
I hoisted my gym bag up onto my shoulder. I’d had a cardio class and two personal training sessions in the afternoon, and nobody wanted to be near a guy after that, so I’d showered and changed at work.
Mostly, I didn’t want Shelby to accidentally walk in on me again because I’d forgotten to lock the door.
I stuck my key in the door and twisted it until I heard the satisfying sound of it clicking. The door edged open an inch, and when I pushed, the faint sound of music came from inside the apartment.
