The Roommate Equation

by Jillian Quinn

  “And I’m supposed to be the actor in the family,” I say to lighten the mood. “That’s a bit dark, big bro, don’t you think?”

  “I’m serious,” he says with zero emotion. “If he hurts you, there’s no more talking. We’re done.”

  Dylan cups my shoulders with his big hands and gives them a quick squeeze. “I meant what I said earlier.”

  “And I mean what I say now. If Ash is another girl you want to fuck, we can dissolve Date Crashers right now.”

  “Someday,” Dylan says, his hands shaking. “I’ll marry Ash… if that’s what she wants.”

  Sloan looks at me, and I nod.

  “So, it’s settled,” Sloan says, lifting his beer from the counter. “I’m going to bed.”

  Sloan finishes his beer, throws it into the trash can, and then heads upstairs. When his door slams shut, Dylan spins me around, pulling me into his strong arms. He dips down to meet my height, and his lips brush against mine.

  After we kiss for a while, Dylan carries me to his bedroom. A weight feels as if it has been lifted off my shoulders. Now that Sloan knows about us, we can finally be together.

  Dylan lowers me to his mattress and crawls between my legs. He cups the side of my face with his hand and smiles, and my expression mirrors his.

  “What you said to Sloan—”

  “I meant it,” he breathes against my lips. “Every word. I love you, Ash, always have.”

  “Then, you should know something.” I pause for a second to think about the best way to tell him about the past, hoping it doesn’t impact our future.

  “Do you want kids?”

  He strokes my cheek with his thumb. “Someday, yeah, but not anytime soon.”

  “I can’t have kids,” I blurt out.

  “Yes, you can.”

  I shake my head. “No, not anymore.”

  “You were pregnant five years ago.”

  “I should have told you sooner,” I admit. “I wasn’t sure if you would go through with telling my brother about us, and now that you did, I feel like you should know the truth.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I told you I had a miscarriage, but I lied.”

  His expression darkens. “Please tell me you didn’t have my baby and give it up for adoption.”

  “No. I was pregnant, but it was an ectopic pregnancy. My fallopian tubes are damaged… and I can’t get pregnant again.”

  “Ash,” he says in a hushed tone. “I’m… I’m so sorry.” Dylan props himself up on his elbow and leans closer. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have been there for you. I wouldn’t have let you go through that by yourself.”

  “I didn’t know how to tell you. I just wanted to be alone.”

  He kisses my forehead, my cheek, and then my lips. “This doesn’t change how I feel about you, Ash.”

  “But what if you want kids someday?”

  “Your chances of conceiving might be unlikely, but nothing is impossible.”

  “How can you be so okay with this?”

  “Because I love you. I want to be with you.”

  “You really don’t care?”

  “I care about you,” he says with sincerity in his tone. “If it’s just you and me forever, I’m okay with that.”

  “I don’t want you to get your hopes up,” I whisper.

  “I’m willing to take the chance,” he says with a grin. “As long as I have you, I’ll be happy whether we have kids or not.”

  “You know, I think I may love you a little more than a burrito with extra rice and sour cream right now.”

  His laughter shakes through me, and then he kisses me.

  Chapter Thirty

  Ash

  Three months later…

  Willow strolls into the café, dropping her bag on the ground as she takes her seat. I slide her favorite non-fat latte across the table in front of her with a smile.

  “Two Splenda, extra foam, just the way you like it.”

  She beams with delight. “Thanks, babe. This is exactly what I need after that long plane ride back with Burke.”

  “How did that go?”

  Weston Burke is one of Vinnie’s partners at Brenton-Lake. A few hours ago, Vinnie decided to drop Nico Chase, and I messaged Willow on her way back to Los Angeles from a business trip. Her boss said she could start signing new clients but only with his approval.

  “Good, good,” she says, taking a sip from her cup. “We signed Carrie LeBlanc.”

  My mouth widens in shock. “No way. That’s amazing.”

  She nods. “I helped close the deal. And now, Burke is letting me work directly with our clients. I talked to him about Nico. He doesn’t want him, but he gave me the green-light to pursue him.”

  “I feel kinda bad for Vinnie,” I admit. “After he got off the phone with Nico, he told me to cancel the rest of his afternoon and slammed his door.”

  “So, why did he let him go?”

  “All of the bad press. Plus, his movies haven’t done well at the box office in years.”

  “The scripts for those movies weren’t very good,” she says. “He can turn his career around with the right project.”

  I shake my head. “I doubt it. None of the studios will work with him.”

  She leans forward, resting her elbow on the table. “If I approach him, what am I getting myself into? How bad is he?”

  “You’ll have to repair his relationships with the studios. Do you remember when he cut his thigh while he was filming a scene in Off Road?” She nods, and I continue, “The studio made Nico take a drug test. The results came back negative for drugs but positive for alcohol. He’s a mess. Every time I’ve gone to his house, he was drunk. No one can get through to him.”

  “What do you think? Is Nico worth the time?”

  “I don’t know,” I admit. “Vinnie’s been trying to get Nico another movie for close to a year.”

  “If I could help him get back on track,” she says, her tone hopeful, “I could become a legit agent. I could have my own client list instead of following Burke around like his lapdog.”

  “He could also ruin your career.”

  Willow glances at the cars passing by as she drinks her latte. People are bustling past us on the sidewalk, the city humming with life.

  “Maybe I should approach Nico first and see what he’s like.”

  “I have a favor to ask.”

  She shoves her dark hair behind her ears. “Name it.”

  “I need an agent.”

  Willow grins so wide it reaches up to her eyes. “What do you have in mind?”

  “I’ve been working some nights at Date Crashers.”

  “With their Crashers, right?”

  “Yeah, I help Sloan teach the new Crashers how to break up dates. But last week, I had this idea for a movie…”

  “About Date Crashers?”

  “I don’t know what happened,” I confess. “I pitched the idea to Sloan and Dylan, and then I couldn’t stop writing. I wrote the first draft in one weekend.”

  “What’s the screenplay called?”

  “Date Crashers. It’s loosely based on how Sloan and Dylan started the company, but it’s a romantic comedy with parallel storylines that cover both Dylan and Sloan’s real-life romances.”

  “Is there any date crashing in the movie?”

  “That’s how the fictional version of Sloan meets his girlfriend.”

  Her face illuminates from the smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. “We could totally sell that to a studio.”

  “You think?”

  She bobs her head. “Yeah, for sure. Date Crashers is so hot right now, especially with the new dating app Dylan created.”

  “I’m proud of him. He put his foot down with Sloan and refused to work with Exact Match, and now look at how well they’re doing.”

  “You look happy,” she says.

  I can’t help but smile. “I am.”

  She takes one last sip of her coffee and rises
to her feet, grabbing her bag from the ground. “I have to get back to the office. I wish I could stay and chat, but Burke wants to talk about our new acquisitions.”

  I wrap my arms around her. “Let me know how you make out with Nico.”

  Willow hugs me back. “Wish me luck.”

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Ash

  Six months later…

  Dylan threads his fingers between mine, leading me toward the water. Now that our living situation is permanent, we end our nights on the beach without having to sneak around. It feels nice to be with Dylan and not have to hide our relationship.

  Sloan has adjusted over the past few months. The first few were a bit rocky, especially when Sloan would catch us kissing or making out. Now, he groans and walks away. I don’t think Sloan will ever get used to seeing his best friend kissing his sister, but he’s accepting it.

  We stop at the edge of the water, feeling the wet sand between our toes. Dylan grips my shoulder and turns me until we’re facing. He curls his finger around a loose strand of my hair and then pushes it behind my ear.

  “You’re beautiful, Ash.”

  “You’re pretty hot for a nerd,” I joke.

  He laughs, and surprisingly, he lowers to one knee in front of me, ignoring the water hitting his thigh. My throat feels as if it’s about to close up as he reaches into his pocket and produces a blue box. He flips open the box to reveal a massive diamond, the band inlaid with diamond chips. Tears form in my bottom lids, threatening to spill over.

  “Ash, I have loved you since we were kids, before I even understood that what I felt for you was love.” He holds up the ring for me to see. “When I kissed you for the first time, I knew that you were more than a crush. I made a lot of mistakes along the way, and if I had a time machine, I would take all of the stupid shit I did back. But we’re here now, happy and more in love than I ever thought possible. You took a chance on me, and I’m hoping you’ll take another one.”

  He takes my hand and inches the ring along my finger. “Will you marry me?”

  I smile so hard my cheeks hurt. “You know, I will.”

  I sink to my knees and hook my arms around his neck. He rolls me onto my back, and his lips crash into mine. Stray tears fall from my eyes and wet his cheeks as our tongue tangle. He kisses me until my tears are gone, and I’m struggling to catch my breath.

  I reach between us, feeling his hard cock over his shorts before I roll down his zipper, sliding my hand up and down his shaft. With a groan, Dylan pushes my shirt up my stomach along with my bra to expose my breasts. My nipples are painfully hard, so when he rolls his tongue over the tiny bud, I cry out his name.

  He shoves my wet panties to the side, moving between my spread thighs. He rubs himself against my clit, and I rock my hips, greedy and desperate for him. Dylan inches inside me, and the sexiest sound escapes his lips. His sweaty forehead touches mine, and then he dips his head down to kiss my lips. It’s a soft kiss that’s all lips and little tongue.

  Waves crash in the distance, stifling the sound of our heaving breathing. Dylan has a look of determination on his face as he rocks into me. Digging my fingernails into his back, I moan his name, and his groans match mine.

  Dylan looks so sexy and uninhibited at this moment. And this beautiful man is going to be my husband. I feel like the luckiest woman on earth, with his ring on my finger and his cock pulsing inside me. My orgasm builds, one after the other, shaking through me with the ferocity of a hurricane.

  Dylan’s arms tremble first, and then his legs. He sucks my bottom lip into his mouth, his tongue tangling with mine as he comes inside me. We kiss for what feels like hours before Dylan rolls off me. Out of breath, we glance up at the stars in the dark sky. He slips his fingers between mine, and heat shoots through my fingertips as he holds my hand on the sand.

  We stay this way for a while before Dylan carries me to the house. I guess he wants to practice for our wedding night. Once inside his bedroom, he sets me on the floor and brushes the sand out of my hair.

  He extends his hand to me. “Get in the shower with me.”

  I follow his lead. We have sex again in the shower, and then he cleans every inch of my body. We emerge from the shower, our skin scented from his soap, wrapped in warm towels that smell like Dylan. I’m exhausted and so ready for bed… until my brother’s voice cuts through the silence in the room.

  “Did Sloan invite a woman over?”

  Dylan shakes his head.

  Sloan’s loud voice booms through the house.

  “We should check on him.”

  Dylan hands me a pair of his boxers and a Legend of Zelda t-shirt. With my curves, I fit into my man’s clothes.

  We rush into the living room, where we find Sloan tugging at the ends of his hair, his cell phone raised to his ear.

  “You have no idea what you’re talking about, woman. Who the hell do you think you are?”

  I nudge Dylan in the side. “Who’s on the phone?”

  “Sounds like the owner of Cupid’s Angels. He’s been fighting with her all week.”

  “The dating service in LA?”

  He nods. “Yeah. She’s been ripping us apart in the LA Times and pretty much any paper that will listen to her story.”

  I read the article in the Los Angeles Times. This woman blames Date Crashers for why people in the city are having trouble finding love.

  “Sloan likes her,” Dylan admits.

  “Doesn’t sound like it to me.”

  “The last time a woman got your brother this mad, he took her to Paris for the weekend.”

  “I hated Clarissa.”

  “Me too. She was using him for his money. Sloan was too obsessed with her to see it.”

  Dylan slides his arm behind my back. “I have one more question I wanted to ask you.” I peek up at him, and he continues, “We need to hire a new President of Crasher Relations.”

  “Doesn’t Sloan have that covered?”

  “He’s the CEO.”

  “But he loves teaching the Crashers.”

  “Sloan needs to focus on CEO duties, not breaking up dates.”

  Most of the people who crash dates for their company are actors looking for work between jobs.

  “And you want me to be the new President of Crasher Relations?” I bite the inside of my cheek, thinking over his offer. “I don’t know. Do you think it’s a good idea for us to work together?”

  “It won’t affect our relationship.” He cups my shoulder, holding my gaze. “I promise. If you ever feel like it’s not working or getting in the way of us, you can quit. The job comes with a substantial pay raise.”

  “Vinnie will be upset if I quit.”

  “He’ll get over it.”

  “After he let Nico Chase go, things haven’t been the same around the office.”

  “At least Willow got a new client out of it.”

  I smile at the thought. “Her career is taking off now. She’s performing small miracles for Nico.” I lean my head against Dylan’s chest, and he hugs me. “I guess everything is falling into place.”

  “It’s time to move on from Vinnie,” he urges. “Come work with us. Date Crashers is a family business. We need you.”

  “What about my writing?”

  “You can still work on your screenplays.”

  I hold up my fist, and Dylan bumps his against mine. “You’ve got yourself a deal, Mr. Banks.”

  “You won’t regret this, Mrs. Banks.”

  Epilogue

  Dylan

  One year later…

  Ash runs through the house, her bare feet sandy and her hair wild. She’s wearing a cranberry-colored bikini that leaves almost nothing to the imagination. Her tits are practically bouncing out of the top as she enters the kitchen.

  Out of breath, she stops in front of me, her cell phone raised in her hand. “Oh, my God.” She bends forward and rests her palms on her thighs. “You won’t believe this… Big news.”

  I scoop her
up and set her on my thigh. “Calm down. Take a breath. What‘s going on?”

  “I sold it,” she chokes out. “Well, Willow sold it for me.”

  My mouth drops in shock. “You sold the screenplay for Date Crashers?”

  She nods, a bright smile on her beautiful face. “We did it.”

  My face hurts from smiling so hard.

  I kiss Ash’s sweaty forehead and then her lips. “No, you did it, baby.”

  Ash became our President of Crasher Relations last year, but after a few months at our company, she asked Sloan and me if she could write a screenplay about us. The movie opens with Sloan’s meet-cute with Thea Roberts, the owner of Cupid’s Angels. He’s changed a lot since he met her. Sloan needed a good woman to ground him.

  Of course, Ash used a lot of elements from our relationship. It feels weird knowing my real life will be featured on the big screen, but I am so proud of Ash and all of her hard work.

  I grab the phone from Ash’s hand and call Sloan on speaker phone. He answers on the first ring.

  “Get down here. We have something to tell you.”

  “Spit it out,” Sloan says.

  “Nope. You need to hear this in person.”

  Sloan throws open his bedroom door, taking the stairs three at a time. He strolls into the kitchen, not even out of breath. Sloan has always been in better shape than me. While I was busy coding apps in high school, he was busy banging chicks and playing football.

  “I sold the screenplay,” Ash says, sliding off my thigh. “You’re going to be in a movie.”

  Sloan’s eyes widen, and then he hugs Ash hard enough to knock the wind out of her. “Congrats, sis. You worked so hard on that script.”

  “Willow says the studio wants to green-light the production.”

  He releases his grip on Ash and holds her at arm’s length. “So, this is legit. They’re making the movie?”

  She nods.

  Sloan smirks. “Who will play me?”