by Noelle Adams
He was wearing his jeans and had slid on some shoes, but his chest was still bare and his thick hair—just a little too long—was sticking up in all directions. He grabbed his key card from the dresser and opened the door to the room.
They walked out of the building and down the block in silence. When they reached her car, she turned to look up at him. “Hey, thanks. For everything. I had a really good time.” She could see her building from where she stood, but one didn’t tell a one-night stand where one lived, no matter how nice he was.
“Me too.” His eyes were warm and slightly sleepy. “I really did.”
“Good. Okay. I… uh, better get going.” She felt self-conscious again since this was such a new thing for her, but he was as nice and casual about it as she could have hoped for. She gave him one last smile and then got into her car.
She waved as she pulled out onto the quiet street.
He waved back, and when she glanced into the rearview mirror, he was standing on the sidewalk, still looking in her direction.
She drove around the block and was relieved that he’d gone back inside when she returned to the block. Then she parked her car in the lot behind her building and climbed the stairs to her apartment.
It was quiet when she walked in. Michelle and Steve were obviously asleep in their room, and the other room was empty until the new guy moved in later today.
Feeling like she’d won some sort of victory, she went to her own room, changed into pajamas, and got into bed.
She’d done it.
She’d had a one-night stand.
She’d had a really good time.
And it hadn’t had any lingering consequences at all.
MUCH LATER THAT MORNING, Jill was sitting on a stool at the kitchen island in the apartment, texting her mother, drinking coffee, and eating cereal.
Michelle, pretty, brunette, and serious, was sitting on the stool across from her, drinking orange juice and working on her laptop. She was a graduate student in electrical engineering at Tech and spent a good portion of her time working—either from home or from campus.
Steve was stretched out the leather couch with a newspaper on his chest. He still insisted on reading paper newspapers, so they were stuck with a pile of them at the end of the week to recycle. He’d been reading one earlier but now had dozed off. He was wearing orange-and-maroon-plaid flannel pants and a T-shirt with about ten holes in it.
Jill liked Steve a lot, although she’d been worried when he moved in seven months ago. She’d originally gotten this loft apartment with Michelle and Chloe—her two best friends—and it had been the perfect setup since none of them could afford the price of a downtown rental as nice as this. Then Steve had moved in with Michelle when they’d gotten serious in their relationship, and a few months later Chloe had moved out. Jill was still coming to terms with the change in her living situation.
She liked Steve, and she was glad Michelle had a man she loved. But instead of living with two women, she was going to be living with two men and one woman. It was an entirely different setup.
And one of the men she didn’t even know.
He was a friend of Steve’s from college named Lucas. Steve kept saying he was a nice guy and wouldn’t be an annoying roommate, but Jill had no evidence yet of those claims.
She didn’t like change—particularly change she wasn’t in control of. She liked to feel comfortable and settled. She wished she was still living with Chloe and Michelle.
“You were out late last night,” Michelle said, looking up from her laptop for the first time since Jill had gotten up.
“Yeah. You all were in bed when I came in.”
“So I guess the date went pretty well?”
“Uh, yeah, not really.”
Michelle’s brown eyes widened. “It didn’t? What happened? You were sure out late for a bad date.”
“The guy I was supposed to meet never showed up, but I got to talking with this other guy at the bar.”
“Oh really?” Michelle prompted, a sparkle in her eyes.
“Yeah. He’s just visiting Blacksburg, so there’s no potential there or anything, but I liked him. I had a good time.”
Michelle glanced over at Steve, as if to verify he was asleep. Then she asked in a whisper, “Did you do anything more than talk?”
“Maybe. A little.” Jill was having trouble not giggling with a bubbling excitement. Maybe it was strange to be proud of herself for having a one-night stand, but she was.
“Ooh. Exciting.”
“What did you and Steve do last night?”
Michelle made a face. “I wanted to go out, but Steve was tired, so we just sat around and watched the news.”
“I said I’d go out with you,” Steve objected from the couch, obviously not as asleep as they’d believed.
“Yeah, and then I’d have had to hear whining the whole time about how tired you were. No thank you.”
Steve grumbled something wordless and picked the newspaper up from his chest.
Michelle gave her head a shake and her eyes a roll. Jill tried to suppress a little snicker.
“When is this guy supposed to show up?” Jill asked, her voice loud enough to get Steve’s attention.
“I don’t know. He said he’d be here this morning sometime. I don’t keep tabs on him.”
“Is he one of those guys who can’t follow a schedule?” Jill asked.
“He was usually on time for class in college, but who knows what he’s like now. What does it matter?”
“I like people who are on time.”
Michelle laughed at that, and Steve muttered, “I’m sure he’ll be glad to know that.”
“I’m serious. We don’t even know if the guy has a job.” Jill briefly wondered if this was more common than she’d known. Guys hanging around without jobs. The guy last night had said he only worked when he felt like it. And now her new roommate was arriving in town with very dubious job prospects.
“I told you before. He’s going to give us a check for all six months’ rent as soon as he gets here. He’s obviously got enough money to live on. Anything else isn’t our business.” Steve sounded slightly impatient but not genuinely bad-tempered.
Maybe the guy had a trust fund or something. Hopefully he wouldn’t be spoiled and entitled and obnoxious.
But if he had that much money, why was he moving into a shared apartment?
Jill sighed loudly and leaned her upper body onto the granite countertop. “Why did Chloe have to move out?”
“It’s not her fault she lost her job and had to move back in with her parents.” Michelle’s voice was sympathetic.
“I know. I don’t blame her. But she was a way better roommate than some random guy.”
“Lucas is a nice guy,” Steve said from behind his newspaper. “You don’t even know him. And if you don’t end up liking him, he’ll be moving out again in six months, and maybe Chloe can move back in then.”
“I’m sure he’s a nice guy. But he’s a guy. And I don’t know him.”
“You’ll get to know him.” When his phone chirped, Steven picked it up and glanced at the screen. “Soon. He’s on his way up.”
Jill put down her coffee cup and glanced at herself. Her hair was a mess, and she wore a pair of pink-and-purple fleece pajamas. Both Michelle and Steve were in their pajamas too though, so there was no reason to be self-conscious.
If he was going to share their apartment, then he’d be seeing her in her pajamas fairly regularly.
She was finishing up her cereal when there was a knock on the door. Steve went to open it, and she heard him say, “Hey, man! You made it!” Then he gave the guy at the door a brief hug.
It wasn’t until Steve had moved out of the way and the man had stepped inside that Jill saw who it was.
It wasn’t a stranger. It wasn’t some random guy whom Steve had gone to college with.
It was the man she’d had sex with last night. The good-looking, smart, funny guy who had been so
considerate with her. Her one-night stand, whom she was supposed to never see again.
Standing right there in her apartment.
“Hey, this is Lucas Bradford,” Steve said with an easy smile. “This is Michelle, my girlfriend, and Jill, our roommate.”
Jill stared at Lucas, trying to wrap her mind around the fact that she’d had sex with her roommate last night and hadn’t even known it.
He was clearly surprised too. His eyes met hers, and he looked momentarily stunned.
This wasn’t supposed to happen.
There were supposed to be no consequences.
She was supposed to have gotten through last night without any lingering regrets.
And yet here he was. Standing in her apartment.
Not just a one-night stand.
In her life to stay.
LUCAS HAD SPENT THE morning thinking about his hot night with the little blonde and vaguely wishing he knew who she was, even though that wasn’t something he did.
He couldn’t get her out of his mind.
He kept telling himself he might as well enjoy the memory since it wouldn’t do any harm. And he still had her in the back of his mind when he went down the street to the apartment building where he was planning to live for the next six months.
At first he was sure his thoughts about the blonde were affecting his vision. He thought he must be imagining her sitting at a stool at the kitchen counter as he stepped inside the apartment.
But a second look confirmed the first.
It was her. Her hair was as tangled as it had been when she’d left his hotel room early that morning, and now she was wearing fuzzy, oversized pajamas that hid any hint of her gorgeous body.
But it was definitely her.
Staring at him like he’d just walked out of her nightmares.
She’d had a good time last night. He was sure of it. Just as good a time as he’d had.
She didn’t have to look at him like he was the last person she wanted to see.
He wasn’t sure how to handle the situation, but he quickly decided that—since she was here first—he’d let her clue him in on how to behave. So when she got off her chair and walked over to him, sticking out her hand and saying with a stiff smile, “I’m Jill. It’s nice to meet you, Lucas,” he understood that she wanted to act like they’d never met before.
He was fine with that.
He gave her an easy smile and said, “Nice to meet you too. Thanks for letting me take your empty room.”
“It’s no problem. We needed a short-term roommate, so it worked out perfectly.” That was Michelle, Steve’s girlfriend, whose smile was a lot more relaxed than Jill’s was. “Do you want some coffee?”
“Sure. Thanks.”
He dropped the overnight bag he’d carried up, then walked over to the counter to sit on the stool next to Jill’s. She’d returned to her seat and was scraping the bottom of her cereal bowl and occasionally slanting him little looks.
She didn’t look angry or annoyed or anything. She looked… stunned and a little defensive.
He could understand. Who wanted their random one-night stand to move in with them? They weren’t supposed to ever see each other again.
He accepted the coffee Michelle handed him and looked over at Jill again, trying to keep his gaze casual. She gave him a flustered little smile. “So this is the place. What do you think?”
He glanced around the apartment. There was one big, airy common room with high ceilings, big windows, and exposed brick on the exterior wall. He liked the old hardwood floors and the updated kitchen, separated from the main room by just the big island they were sitting around. “It’s nice. I like it. It’s not bad rent for a place like this.”
“It’s high for Blacksburg, but not big-city high. And you can’t beat the location.” Steve had come over to the kitchen to grab a bottle of water out of the refrigerator. “We’re pretty easygoing here, so we only have a few house rules.”
Michelle said, “Clean up your own mess. Ask before you eat any food you didn’t buy. Keep sex in your own bedroom. And don’t be an asshole.”
Lucas chuckled, although his eyes had shot over to Jill at the mention of sex. She was resolutely not meeting his eyes. “Sounds reasonable. I can do that.”
“Good. I’m sure it will work out fine then,” Michelle said. “Do you need some help with your stuff. We’ll need to put some clothes on, but then we can help you.”
“That would be great. Thanks. I don’t have much. Just whatever fits in my car.”
Steve and Michelle went into their bedroom to change, and Jill went to the sink to rinse out her bowl and coffee cup.
Lucas lingered, so he was waiting when she turned back around.
She stared up at him with big blue eyes.
“I had no idea,” he said softly.
She nodded. “I know. Me either. I thought you were just visiting Blacksburg.”
“I never said that.”
He could see her thinking back, trying to remember if he’d said so or not. He hadn’t. He tried to make a point of not lying even though he told almost no one the whole truth.
Finally she nodded again, as if accepting his words were true. “I guess you didn’t. I just assumed.”
“Sorry.”
“Are you? You look kind of smug.”
He wondered if that was true. “I’m not trying to be obnoxious or anything, but it is kind of funny. That we ended up…”
“Roommates,” she finished for him. There was a glint of irony in her expression, relaxing her face for the first time since he’d gotten here. “Funny isn’t the word I’d use. It was supposed to just be…” She sighed.
“One night. I know. But that hasn’t really changed, you know. It’s still just a one-night thing. You don’t think I’m looking to be your boyfriend, do you?”
“No!” She spoke quickly, obviously sincere. “I know you’re not. It just feels a little awkward to me.” She took a deep breath and squared her shoulders. “Okay. It will be fine. It just took me by surprise. If it’s all right with you, I’d rather the others not know what happened.”
“I won’t tell them.” For no good reason he felt a little disappointed about the idea of acting like what had happened between them had never occurred. There was no reason for that response, of course, so he told himself to be reasonable.
“Okay. Good. Thanks. We’ll just pretend the whole thing never happened.” She smiled at him, more like her real smile, the one he’d seen a lot last night. “I’ll show you your room if you want.”
He went with her down a short hallway with four doorways off it. He tried to focus on the apartment, but his eyes lingered on her little round butt in her fuzzy pants.
There was no way he should be attracted to her at the moment—wearing those baggy pajamas—but he was. He definitely still was.
“Michelle and Steve’s bedroom and my bedroom have their own bathrooms,” she said, looking at him over her shoulder and almost catching him leering at her ass. “Your room is here, and you’ll have to use the hall bathroom.”
“That’s fine,” he said. The room was a decent size with two big windows and the same exposed brick on one wall. There was a basic twin-sized bedframe and mattress in one corner.
“Chloe left that bed here, so you can use it if you want to. Or we can move it out. You said all your stuff was in your car? Do you have furniture?”
“No. But I can buy what I need. I’ll use the bed if she doesn’t mind.”
“She said she didn’t.” Jill pushed her tangled hair back behind her ears. “Okay. The bathroom is just across the hall. It’s the only one in the apartment with a bathtub, so Michelle and I sometimes use the tub, if that’s okay with you.”
“Sure. It’s fine with me.”
He was looking around, but when he focused back on her, he saw that she’d been peering at him closely. He couldn’t help but wonder what she was thinking.
“All right,” she said with another s
mile. “That’s it then. I’m going to get dressed. Welcome to the apartment, I guess.”
“Thanks,” he said, returning her smile. “I guess.”
She’d started to leave when she suddenly turned back. “We’re going to pretend last night never happened, right?”
“I’ll do my best,” he told her.
He meant it.
But he had some serious doubts about his ability to forget what had happened with Jill the night before.
Four
ON MONDAY MORNING, Jill overslept.
She usually had a fairly regular schedule—going to bed by eleven or so on weekdays and getting up promptly at seven. Since she worked just a couple of blocks away from her apartment, she didn’t have to leave until five minutes before eight, so she normally had almost an hour to dress, eat breakfast, and get ready for the day.
But on Sunday evening, she hadn’t been able to go to sleep. She was still in a weird emotional flurry about her one-night stand becoming her roommate, and she stayed awake half the night thinking about Lucas, trying to figure him out and trying not to replay in her mind having sex with him over and over again.
As a result, she’d only had four hours of sleep, and she’d accidentally hit snooze on her alarm. Three times.
It was seven thirty-five when she finally woke up. As soon as she registered the time, she flew out of bed and ran to the bathroom.
She hated being late. As much as it annoyed her when other people were late, she hated it even more when it was her.
She took a three-minute shower, grabbed an outfit that wouldn’t take any effort to pull together—a knee-length A-line dress in a vintage print—and snatched a handful of jewelry that might possibly work with it. She’d barely gotten her shoes on before she was rushing into the kitchen to get some coffee.
Michelle was at the counter with her laptop as she always was, eating cereal and working. But what surprised Jill was finding that Lucas was up too.
He didn’t have to work. He didn’t have a schedule. He could still be in bed.
But there he was, sitting at the counter with a cup of coffee, putzing on his phone. Wearing nothing but a pair of old sweatpants. His hair was mussed, he needed to shave, and he wasn’t wearing a shirt.
So the first thing Jill saw as she came into the kitchen was a whole lot of gorgeous male back and shoulders and arms.
