The Royal Roommate

by P. G. Van

  “Fuck!” He was getting hard just at the thought of her dripping wet hair trapped between his fingers. He could not afford to be involved with the person of interest in his investigation. So far, his gut feeling of her innocence was proving to be right, but he could leave no margin for error. He needed to be sure she was in no way involved with one of the most radical groups in the world.

  He let his body slide onto the mattress and heard the shower run in her bathroom. He gritted his teeth in frustration, as all he could think about was to walk into the shower and join her. He wanted to run his hands over her soft glowing skin, close his palms over the delectable mounds of flesh that was flattened against his chest minutes ago.

  He stood up and went back into the living area, and the sight in front of him made him laugh. The counter and the floor were half clean, and there was a clear line set up with paper towels for the area that still had water. He shook his head smiling as he picked up the roll of paper towels and went to work. The subject of his interest was turning out to be far more interesting and attractive.

  The warm water felt ice cold on her heated body as she stepped out of the shower. She was not new to her bodily needs and often used her trusted and loyal toys for satisfaction. She hadn’t yet met the guy she wanted to sleep with, but with the one kiss from Sid and what she felt, it was exactly how she had dreamed of going over the edge. The attraction was so undeniable, she didn’t need to question her actions or decisions.

  She may have started it, but he was still responsible for cleaning up half the mess. If he didn’t, she was going to make him clean up, not sure how, but she was determined to make him do it.

  She dried her hair running her fingers through it unable to stop thinking about how it felt to have him grip her hair like he couldn’t let go. She had not met a guy who was capable of setting her on fire the way he did with just one kiss. It wasn’t just any kiss, it was a kiss that ruined her for any other man’s kiss.

  She pulled on a pair of sweatpants and a looser than usual t-shirt and stepped into the living area to find Sid playing a game on his phone. She was furious at the thought that the kitchen may still be wet, but to her surprise, it was all cleaned up and even seemed to sparkle.

  “Thank you!” She stood by the fridge running the towel over her damp hair.

  He looked up from his phone with a wicked smile playing on his face. “For enlightening you that you are a food snob?”

  Her instinctive reaction was to toss the damp towel at him, and before she could stop herself, the towel was flying toward him. A moment later, it landed over his face.

  “Shit, I didn’t mean to do that but…” She lost her words when she saw his face still hidden under the towel, and it seemed like he was enjoying her smell that lingered on the towel.

  She marched to where he sat and pulled the towel off his face, and the wicked grin lingered making her want to slap him just so that she could touch him again. She dug her nails into her palm to stop herself from starting something she couldn’t control.

  “You smell good.”

  “Thank you, but I need you to get your butt into the kitchen if you want to eat something for dinner.” She turned away refusing to show her reaction to the words rolling off his lips which continued to lure her to kiss him.

  “That won’t be necessary,” he drawled making her twitch.

  “Why is that?”

  “Food is on the way.”

  “Fine, you can eat what you ordered. I’ll fix a sandwich for myself.” She walked back to the kitchen after tossing her towel over a chair.

  “Amy, homemade pizza for my not-so-snobbish roommate.” He walked over to where she stood by the fridge looking down into her eyes. “Farm fresh, I promise.”

  “Not possible in San Francisco.”

  “What if it is farm fresh? Will you bring me breakfast in bed tomorrow?”

  “Very confident are we?” she taunted.

  “Yes. You like the pizza, you make me breakfast, or I do the dishes and cleaning for the rest of my stay here.” His eyes twinkled with confidence.

  She held her hand out smiling. “Deal.”

  He took her hand in his and held it firmly. “I’m talking the royal breakfast in bed, sweetheart. You have a hot meal waiting for me when I wake up, and you’re not making one after I wake up and laze around for an hour.”

  “You’re such a spoiled brat. I’m sure you had a butler growing up,” she mocked.

  “You’ll never find out, but I’ll tell you if you have a chance to make a career as a butler.” He laughed making her pull her hand away from him.

  “We will talk when the pizza arrives.” She walked back into her room to dry her hair completely before their dinner arrived.

  Two hours later, an empty pizza box lay on the small dining table. Amy looked at the box as she waited for her mom to answer her phone. Sid disappeared into his room halfway through their meal when his phone started to go off for the thousandth time that day. She couldn’t figure out what kind of a job required him to stay home but receive calls all day. A call center, customer service kind of a job?

  “Hi, sweetheart,” her mom cheered, her voice cutting through her thoughts.

  “Mom, guess what?”

  “What?”

  “I had homemade pizza that tasted just like your pizza, and I didn’t make it.”

  “Homemade pizza in San Francisco? Did you discover a new joint?”

  “I have no idea who made it, but it’s better than Dad’s and came close to beating your pizza.” She laughed wiping the moisture from the edge of her eyes. She missed her family terribly, and all she could think about was to finish college and start her practice in her hometown. She knew she had it in her to fight her way through a corporate environment, but she wanted to do more than make money, she wanted the people she cared about to get justice. She wanted to be the one to fight for the farmers in her hometown when a corporation tries to bully them into selling their land or start a chain of stores that would hurt the local businesses.

  “I’m glad you liked it. So, how did you get the pizza?”

  “My roomy ordered it, and he wouldn’t tell me where he got it.” She laughed.

  “Your roommate is a HE?” Her mother was clearly shocked.

  “Yeah, he showed up a week ago and already earned some brownie points with the pizza.” She turned to make sure Sid’s bedroom door was still closed.

  “I thought you asked for a female roommate. You should consider moving if you aren’t comfortable. You can be snobbish, baby.”

  “Mom, stop it. I’m not a snob.”

  “Oh… please, you and your dad are top-of-the-line snobs. Food, people, behavior…” She shook her head laughing when she heard her dad take the phone from her mom.

  “Hi, sweetie, don’t listen to your mom. We just have high standards for everything,” he declared laughing.

  “Damn right we do, Daddy. I love you!”

  “I love you too, baby. What’s the fuss with the dude?” he probed.

  “My roommate?”

  “Yes, your mom had you on speaker and voices travel in this house.” She knew her dad wasn’t thrilled with the latest news of a male roommate.

  “He’s half decent, Dad. I thought he was an ass when he showed up last week, but he isn’t bad,” she said in a softer than normal voice.

  “Does he treat you with respect?”

  “Yes, Daddy. He is a good guy.” He is a good kisser, too.

  “When do we get to see you, sweetheart?”

  “Dad, you saw me two weeks ago and please don’t forget to pick up my buddy tomorrow morning.”

  “You got it, sweetheart.” Her dad encouraged and gave her a crash course on self-defense before hanging up just in case she needed it while living with her roomie.

  She waited around for another thirty minutes wondering if Sid wanted to watch a movie with her as they had discussed. When he didn’t show up, she cleaned up and checked to see if she had everythi
ng she needed for his breakfast in bed the next day. She had a tough time faking her dislike of the pizza when all she could do was roll her eyes back and moan as she chewed on the cheesy crust.

  *****

  “What the fuck is going on, John?” Sid snarled.

  “Sir, he was in his spot earlier today, but now he is gone, and none of the other homeless guys know where he went. It’s like he disappeared into thin air. His stuff is still here, but he is gone.”

  “John, this is bad. We lost the last clue. She is up to something, and we need to find out what. Pull up all the camera footage in that area, and I want every interaction of hers with that guy pulled up. I want to know if she passed on information she had to him.”

  “Got it, sir!”

  Sid threw his phone on the mattress and raked his fingers through his hair. Did she tease him to the point his decision about her was clouded? Was she messing with his head on purpose? Fuck, her towel smelled so good he wanted to live under it forever!

  He wanted to kick himself for giving into the temptation and going soft on her. She seemed to be up to something even though his heart told him she was innocent, and every reaction to his touch was natural and primal.

  Sid’s phone beeped a notification, and the message indicated she was downstairs tossing the pizza box in the alley. There wasn’t enough time to run through her things one more time like he did when she slept under the influence of the drugs he sprayed on her when he ran past her earlier that morning. It was the safest thing to do so he could continue his investigation but came close to being caught. He had expected an accomplice of hers to show up when she blacked out on the sidewalk after the run but was pleasantly surprised she didn’t have anyone watching her round the clock.

  She had an eagle eye for things. She almost identified the small changes his team made when they swept the apartment for bugs, bugged the house for audio, and collected fingerprints. They rummaged through every inch of the house for anything they could find, but there was nothing.

  For reasons he couldn’t explain, he didn’t want any of the men on his team to look through her stuff and requested specially appointed agents who were women to look through her things. She was something, and if she did turn out to be someone the Eagle suspected her to be, her ass was his to grill for the rest of her life. He would make sure she never saw daylight again; he wanted her tied up for life. The dark thoughts were making him hot, and he gritted his teeth to curb the urge.

  His phone beeped again, and this time with a link to the video footage for the corner where the homeless man was camped out. He pulled up the link on his computer and watched her first interaction with the homeless man. She handed him a sandwich and a blanket.

  In the next video, she talked to him but no food. He skipped ahead to a point where she handed him an envelope and watched as the homeless man pulled out a rectangular piece of paper and a few dollar bills. He saw the joy she brought to the man’s face and wondered what it was that she gave him. He zoomed in on the video to look at the piece of paper which looked like a dollar bill, but he knew it wasn’t.

  He pulled out his phone and called John. “I want the last footage enhanced for the last three minutes.”

  “I have the footage already. She just gave him money, but it wasn’t a lot of money. She handed him four twenty dollar bills, sir.”

  Sid took a deep breath to calm him down. “John, look closely, she gave him three twenty dollar bills, and it was the fourth piece of paper that got him all happy.”

  “Oh… I see it, sir. I am sending you the enhanced image.”

  Sid looked at the still image of the rectangular piece of paper which looked like currency, but it was not. As soon as he saw the perforated line in the middle, he knew what it was.

  “John, it’s a ticket of some kind… more like a train or a bus ticket. Most likely a bus ticket because the guy left all his stuff as they have a limit on how much luggage a person can carry. Pull up all video footage of every bus leaving town and run facial recognition on the tape,” he ordered getting impatient.

  “Yes, sir.”

  “I heard her talking on the phone a few minutes ago. Send me the audio file.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  He hung up, and John sent the audio file. A few minutes into the conversation, Sid was smiling, not only because she thought he was half decent, but he also knew where the homeless guy was headed.

  Sid: The homeless guy is headed to Lanesville in Northern California. Watch him!

  John: Sir, you are fast.

  Sid: I want all audio from the apartment sent to me directly. No one, and I mean no one, gets to decrypt it.

  John: Yes, sir.

  Sid: And John, one more miss like this, and you will need to stop calling me sir.

  John: I don’t call you sir because of the authority you have, I’m just practicing from now on for the day you become the President of our nation.

  Sid: Good night, John.

  John: She is back in the cove but standing on the balcony.

  Sid: Thanks, John. I got her from here.

  The people of his country voted for him as the next best candidate for the presidency in a preliminary poll, but he couldn’t imagine his life not being a soldier and in the field. His thirst for blood was what only he knew—no one knew how badly he needed to hurt and torture anyone who came close to threatening the safety of his people.

  He had a gut feeling she was waiting for him to come out of his room, but he turned off the light not wanting to go out and have a friendly conversation or something more. She was still a suspect and knew she had secrets even if she wasn’t lying to him. It only made him want her more and do dirty things to her while he tortured her.

  Sid was thankful there were only a few people in the room earlier that day when she started talking with the truth serum in her body. His balls turned blue with need when he heard her confess her need to lick the warm beads of sweat off his skin.

  “Fuck it,” he growled annoyed at how hard he had turned just at the memory of her words.

  Chapter 4

  Sid was sure he was dreaming, but he didn’t want it to stop. She was standing next to him, her hair damp from the shower. He couldn’t forget how wonderful her towel smelled and couldn’t wait to smell her hair. There was something floral, fruity, and something else. Something so familiar yet so unfamiliar—the smell made his mouth water, and when he put his mind to it, he realized her hair smelled of bacon. It was an amazing smell, but how could her hair smell of bacon? God, it smelled so good he wanted to eat her, and then he felt her, not in front of him but behind him.

  His eyes shot open, and a piece of bacon was staring back at him an inch from his nose.

  “What the?” He turned to look into her gorgeous eyes. Fucking sexy suspect!

  “Good morning!” she beamed. “As promised, you woke up to the smell of your breakfast.”

  He sat up in bed as she turned to put the slice of meat back on his plate. He reached under his pillow and made sure she didn’t see his weapon he kept hidden inside the pillowcase as he placed the pillow upright against the headboard.

  “What do we have here?” He winked rubbing his palms together.

  “Payback for pizza. I’ll let you enjoy your breakfast in bed, and when you are done, you can come do your share of the cleaning.”

  “Dang! You are one tough roomie.”

  “Yes, your future roommates will thank me!” She turned to leave, and he couldn’t help but call out her name. She turned to look at him, her large eyes glowed making him wonder if she was the dark person she was suspected to be. Something inside him told him not to jump to conclusions without evidence.

  “Yes, Sid.” She smiled sarcastically when he kept looking at her after saying her name.

  “I was kidding when I said I wanted to eat in bed. We should eat together.” He got out of bed with only his boxers on glad his erection was under control.

  “I’ll wait outside while you put on s
omething more decent, and I already ate. You didn’t think I would wait to eat the food till you woke up and taste tested it for me?” She laughed as he walked toward her, his beautiful body on display.

  “You are such a show-off,” she teased heading back to the dining area.

  It was only moments later when he started to wonder if the food angel who lured him out of sleep with bacon was the same person as the one yelling on the phone at the top of her lungs.

  “Daddy how could you? You know how important it was, and you couldn’t wake up on time?”

  She was visibly angry, and he wasn’t sure if he should pretend not to care and leave the room so she could say what she had to on the phone, but before he could leave, she gestured him to sit at the table.

  “Find him, I don’t care if you and a dozen people need to drive along the coast all day until you find him.” She barked on the phone before hanging up.

  “Everything good?”

  “No, but I don’t want to talk about it.” She dropped her phone on the table and slumped into the chair.

  “Can I help?”

  “Unless you have access to a dozen people who might go on a manhunt, then yes!”

  “I might,” he confessed.

  “Stop kidding, Sid. I’ll let my dad deal with the situation.”

  “I can help, just let me know if you want me to.”

  “I will. Do you like the French toast?” She didn’t want to think of the situation at hand.

  “I do, and I’m wondering why you are pursuing a law career when you could be on The Food Network.”

  “Thank you, but I know my limits.” She laughed, her hair sparkling with life. He was itching to touch her hair. He wanted to know if it smelled sweet like a flower with a touch of friskiness.

  His phone started to ring in his room.

  “There you go… go disappear for the rest of the day,” she teased.