One Hot Roomie

by Durand, Anna

  "You are not a disappointment."

  "If you knew me, you wouldn't say that."

  "Does your family say that?"

  "No. They're always supportive." He scrunches his mouth up again. "Well, except for one time. When Chance found out I'd shagged a girl and run away while she was asleep, he gave me a lecture about respecting women. The girl in question was best friends with Chance's girlfriend, so that's how he found out."

  "You don't run out on women anymore."

  "No. I did that three times, but never again after my brother's lecture." Reese glances at me, his mouth twisted into a wryly crooked smile. "Chance will call me an arsehole and a complete fuck-up when he finds out what I've done to you."

  "You haven't done anything to me. We did it together." I move closer, leaning into him. "From what Elena says about Chance, he would never call you anything nasty."

  Reese leans into me. "You're right. I'm feeling sorry for myself, that's all."

  "Because you slept with me after promising not to."

  "Not only that. I also lost my job."

  I slip my hand into his big palm, threading my fingers through his, and rest my cheek on his arm. "What happened?"

  "Does it matter?"

  "Maybe it's not my business, but I'd like to know."

  He closes his fingers around my hand. "I was a copywriter at an advertising agency, but I was made redundant three weeks ago."

  "Redundant?"

  "It means I was let go. 'Laid off' I think is what Americans call it."

  "That's awful. What will you do now?"

  He shrugs. "I'm getting redundancy pay, but I need to find a new job. I probably shouldn't have come here for a holiday instead of searching for a new position, but I needed... I don't know. A break."

  "That's understandable. I'm sure your family gets it."

  Reese squirms, his face pinching into a tight expression. "I haven't told them yet. They think I took time off from work."

  "Why haven't you told them about getting laid off?"

  "It's humiliating. Chance is a successful lawyer, even has his own firm now with Elena. Dane is successful too, has his own company, which leaves me as the unemployed loser in the family."

  "No one would say that." I turn toward him, still holding his hand. "Getting made redundant doesn't mean you're a loser. It happens to a lot of people."

  He angles toward me and studies me for a moment. "What about you? What's your profession? If you're from a wealthy family, do you even need to work?"

  Though I would completely understand it if he were envious of my family and my life, he doesn't sound like that at all. He seems curious, not irritated.

  Starting with the less shocking truth seems like the best plan. "I'm a freelance fact checker."

  "Fact checker? What does that mean?"

  "Authors and publishers hire me to make sure they got the facts straight in the stuff they publish, which means I do a lot of research. I specialize in science topics."

  "I guess that shouldn't surprise me, since you're very clever." He gives me a playful smile. "Even if you are barmy."

  "You should know by now that I'm not sensitive about how weird I am. I like being kooky."

  "And you should be proud of your barmy nature. It's endearing." He pauses, glancing down at the ground, then looks at me again. "You didn't answer the other question. Do you need to work, or do you just like to?"

  I want to tell him the truth, but that's never worked out well for me. Over the years, I've used the truth as a means of testing guys to find out if they're really interested in me or if they like the prestige of dating Celeste Arnaud's granddaughter. Ninety-nine percent of them fail the first test---my kooky behavior. Their eyes light up when I tell them the part hardly anyone knows about. And ninety-nine percent of the one percent who pass the first test will fail the second one.

  Reese is different. I feel it. He passed my kookiness test, and after a couple days with him, I get the sense he might pass the other test. Do I want him to? He lives in another country, and we're such opposites.

  What have I got to lose? I gave this man my virginity, so maybe I should go ahead and tell him everything.

  "Did I push too far?" he asks.

  "No, not at all." I take a deep breath and dive in. "Grams set up a trust fund for me when I was born. On my eighteenth birthday, I started receiving a monthly stipend that more than covers anything I might need or want. I can request more if I have an emergency or something. When my grandmother dies, I'll get the whole enchilada. I hope that doesn't happen for a long, long time."

  Reese seems to be waiting for me to go on.

  I suck in a breath and blurt out the rest. "My trust fund is five hundred million dollars."

  His jaw drops. He keeps hold of my hand, but he doesn't move or speak for several seconds. "Five hundred million?"

  I nod, biting my lip. "Grams is very generous."

  "Well, that's bloody fantastic for you."

  He's smiling, like he means that.

  "You're not, like, disgusted?" I ask. "Or seeing dollar signs floating in front of your eyes? You don't feel the urge to ask me to marry you?"

  "No," he says, laughing. "I don't do relationships, Arden, I told you that. But I'm glad you don't need to worry about money. It's awful having to think about that all the time."

  "Chance has a lot of money, right?"

  "He does, and I'm happy for him too."

  "Not being well off doesn't make you a loser or a disappointment."

  He lets go of my hand to scratch his chin. "I know that, but knowing it and feeling it are different things."

  "You can have half my money if you want."

  He chuckles at my offer. "That's generous, but no thank you. I don't know you well enough to accept a gift like that, and I wouldn't accept it even if we did know each other well. It's too much."

  "You mean that, don't you?"

  "I do."

  I clasp his hand again and lead him away from the butterfly garden. "Tell me about your brother Dane. You said he invents things."

  "Let's not talk about Dane right now."

  "Why not? Does he make nuclear weapons for terrorists?"

  Reese chuckles. "No, love, he doesn't work for terrorists. He started his own company a few years ago, to sell the devices he designs."

  We pass the gorilla exhibit, but I keep us headed down the path because I have a destination in mind. And an activity in mind. He'll say no, but I'm determined to have my way. Reese doesn't seem like he can say no for long, which means I'll get what I want.

  Him. His body. His incredible dick.

  Maybe I'm going a little crazy with the "shagging," as Reese calls it, because I was a virgin until last night. But no, I'm sure it's more than that. It's him. Reese Dixon is so... lovable. Getting to know him a little better makes me want him even more.

  "What kind of devices?" I ask.

  "Devices? Oh, you mean the bits and bobs Dane makes." Reese grumbles, and if he's saying words, I can't understand them. Finally, he says, "My brother designs, manufactures, and sells sexual wellness devices."

  I stop, bringing Reese to a halt with me. "Sexual wellness?"

  Reese bows his head. "Dane makes sex toys. Vibrators. Dildos. Anything that helps women satisfy their needs."

  "Only for women? He doesn't make things for men?"

  "No. Only women." Reese's mouth jacks up at one corner. "As you can imagine, Dane is very, very popular with the ladies."

  "Making sex toys doesn't mean he's great in bed." I seize a handful of Reese's shirt and drag him closer. "Nobody does it better than you."

  "I appreciate the compliment, but I'm the only man you've been with."

  "Maybe I should do your brothers, so I have something to compare you to."

  "That's not funny." He slides an arm around my waist. "I'd love to do you right here in the zoo, on the main path, but we'd both get arrested for
that."

  I put my arms around him and raise onto my tippy toes, intending to kiss him.

  He pushes me away and stumbles backward a few steps. "No, Arden, we're not doing that anymore."

  "Who knew hot sex would make you so uptight?"

  "I am not uptight. I'm trying to do the right thing, which I admit is a bit of a stretch for me. But I'm giving it a go, and your constant attempts to break my willpower aren't helping."

  Am I being a total slut? If I am, it's kind of his fault for being so great at sex. Still, I don't want to scare him away. "I'm sorry. You're being so nice, and I'm acting like a crazy person. I promise to stop trying to seduce you."

  "That would be helpful."

  Guess I have to nix my plan to drag him into a secluded, shady spot and beg him to corrupt me some more. Well, let's say I'm pressing pause on that plan.

  I turn and wave for him to follow me. "Come on. We've got plenty more places to see."

  Chapter Eleven

  Reese

  Arden tows me down various paths until we exit the zoo. She stops us outside the entrance and smiles so brightly it gives me a different sort of warm feeling, the kind that makes me want to hug her instead of doing dirty things to her.

  "Should we go to the aquarium or museums first?" she asks.

  Her excitement about zoos and museums makes me like her even more. I know she loves science---she told me she specializes in that subject in her fact-checking job---and I want to see how excited she'll get about it. "Museums first."

  "Awesome. I love museums even more than the zoo. Should we start with history or science?"

  "Your choice."

  She grabs my hand again and leads me away. "Science it is."

  A taxi takes us to our destination, and now we're inside the New York Hall of Science surrounded by children and their parents. I don't see any other adults without children, only me and Arden.

  "Is this a children's museum?" I ask.

  "Technically, I guess. But the exhibits are fantastic." She eyes me sideways, her hand clamped around mine and her lips curling up in a teasing way. "I know you're a naughty boy, but surely you know how to have innocent fun too."

  Christ, I wish she wouldn't say things like that. Or look at me that way. Or... exist. Nothing short of annihilating her from history seems likely to keep my cock at bay.

  I let her guide me through the museum and can't help smiling every time she gets excited about something, anything, everything. I've never met anyone as happy as Arden. She takes pleasure in the simplest things, from a display of orange pink flagging tape that hangs above our heads to an exhibit about health and human evolution. Arden insists I pose next to the articulated human skeleton on display there so she can take a picture. Then she asks me to take a picture of her posing with the skeleton. Finally, she has us both pose with it while she takes a selfie of us.

  Strangely, it's the most fun I've had in ages.

  Next, she takes me to the American Museum of Natural History. I love watching her enjoy these places. She's so alive and engaged, excited by every little thing even though she tells me she's visited these museums many times. I've gone to museums with my parents when I was younger, but I never had such a good time doing it. My parents are plenty of fun, but no one on earth relishes life the way Arden does.

  She insists we buy tickets for the Hayden Planetarium, which has some sort of show about alien planets. I let her decide where we sit once we're inside, and she chooses seats in the third row because, she assures me, "it's the absolute best place to see everything and feel like you're right in the middle of it all." We're very close to the giant black ball that she tells me is the projector for the movie-like show.

  "Will your grey alien friends pop out of the projector?" I ask.

  "No, they're way too covert to do something like that."

  Lately, I've gotten to know her playful looks, and she's giving me one of them right now.

  I smirk and say, "I'm sure you've been to these alien worlds we're about to see."

  "Oh yeah, loads of times. I'm a frequent flyer on the ET Express."

  The room goes dark as the show begins. Arden holds my hand throughout it, and we both lean our heads back to take in the experience. I find myself ignoring the film projected above our heads and instead watching Arden. The delight and wonder on her face captivates me, and rather than thinking about sex, I imagine walking through the park with her again, or having dinner with her, or... doing all sorts of normal, boring things that I know won't seem normal or boring if I'm with her. I realize with a mental jolt what it is I really want.

  I want to date her.

  We've known each other for a few days, but I want---no, I need more time with her. Time to see more of the world through her eyes. Time to hold her hand like I'm doing right now, and time to hold her in my arms while we talk or watch the telly or... anything.

  Chance and Dane will never believe this if I tell them.

  After the natural history museum, we go back to the apartment, having had our fill of fun for the day. Arden collapses onto the sofa, pretending to be so exhausted she can't stay awake. She has one leg hooked over the sofa's arm, the other on the coffee table, her arms flung out to the sides, and her eyes closed. She's also fake snoring.

  "I'll make dinner," I say. "What are you in the mood for? Grasshoppers on a bed of wild rice?"

  She cracks one lid open. "Ha-ha, you're hilarious. Do you even know how to cook rice?"

  "I told you about the exploded egg incident."

  "Right." She starts to heave herself off the sofa. "I'll make dinner."

  "No, you won't." I grasp her shoulders and push her back down. "Relax. I'll figure something out."

  And by figuring something out, I mean I'll ring a pizza place and have our dinner delivered right to our door. I even order one of those apple pizzas for dessert. Don't I know how to impress a woman?

  We eat on the sofa and talk more in between mouthfuls of cheese-laden food.

  "Tell me more about your parents," I say. "You mentioned they're hippies."

  "Yep. They own a really cool shop in Stockbridge. That's in Massachusetts, which is right next to New York. The state, not the city. Anyway, Mom and Dad have a New Agey store called the Emerald Eye. Don't ask me why, but that's what my parents decided to call it."

  "I thought you were from New York."

  "No, I'm from Stockbridge. My grandparents are from New York, and Grams's company is here." Arden consumes a bite of pizza before continuing. "My parents aren't into the whole corporate lifestyle, even though Grams tried to get Dad to take a job at her company. More than once she's tried. Dad always says no. When he married my mom, they moved to Stockbridge. It's a cool, artsy town. That's where Mom's from, and where I was born and raised."

  "How did you meet Elena?"

  "In college. We both went to Northwestern. That's a university in Illinois." She studies her half-eaten slice of pizza for several seconds, then sets it down on the paper plate on her lap. "I wanted to see a new place, so I decided going away to college was the right option for me."

  Eating a couple mouthfuls of pizza gives me a chance to think about what to say next. I want to ask her a million questions, but I don't want to seem like an annoying prick who's poking his nose into her life.

  Finally, I settle on a question. "If you're not from New York, how do you know all the museums so well? And the zoo? And all the restaurants?"

  "Because I've visited Elena lots. She lived here for years and years."

  "Chance has lived in America for a long time, but I never visited him."

  "You said once you never 'got round' to it. Why is that?"

  I shrug. "Never thought about it. I grew up in the country, just outside one of those chocolate-box villages. I went to uni in London, but that's the extent of my travels, until now."

  "What's uni?"

  "University."

  She sets her plate on t
he table. "What did you study in college?"

  "Business." I give her a wry smile. "I know that sounds odd coming from someone like me, but I always wanted to have a business of my own. Hasn't worked out that way, though."

  "What do you mean 'coming from someone like' you?"

  "I'm not the serious type, like my brothers. Shagging and playing sports are my favorite pastimes."

  "Seems like shagging is Chance's favorite pastime too. Elena says he's completely obsessed with getting her naked and---"

  "You stop right there." I hold up a hand to emphasize how much I want her to not talk about my brother's sex life. Chance told me he screwed Elena five minutes after they met, but he didn't give me the graphic details of their elevator encounter. "I don't need or want to know anything about what Chance and Elena do in bed."

  "Point taken." She tears off another bite of pizza and speaks with her mouth full. "When are you going to tell me why you're afraid of relationships?"

  I open my mouth to deny it, again, but freeze. Ever since Arden first suggested I'm scared of relationships, I've kept thinking about that. Whether she's right. Whether there is a reason behind my behavior. I can't believe I want to talk to her about this, but I suddenly realize I do want that. "Let me start by saying I'm not afraid. But I might be... reluctant."

  "Okay. I'll accept 'reluctant' for the moment."

  Setting down my paper plate, I rub my hands up and down my thighs. "When I was at school, girls didn't pay much attention to me until I joined the rugby team. I was sort of shy back then. Sports helped me get over that. And when I started scoring the winning goals, girls started propositioning me. I guess I learned that sports and sex go hand in hand, and that women only want me for one thing."

  "Hmm. Did your parents know what was going on?"

  "Do you think I'm an idiot?" I say. "I learned how to hide things from them. They caught me with a girl in my bedroom once, and I got a stern talking-to. But by then, I liked sex too much to give it up. I got better at hiding what I was up to."

  She chews her last mouthful of pizza and swallows before she asks, "Do you still think sex is all you're good for?"