“Pure logic, Trina. It’s the only way to go.” He gave her a confident nod. “Cold, hard facts will never steer you wrong.”
The man would say anything to garner her agreement. And yet, she couldn’t deny the simplicity of the idea appealed to her in a way it never had before. Perhaps it was time to stop letting instinct drive her decision-making, and give logic a turn behind the wheel—it might have a better sense of direction.
She needed a flatmate. Jeremy needed a place to live. The solution was obvious and there was no logical reason to allow his gender to get in the way.
“Let’s give it a shot.” She barely recognised the sound of her own voice as she said the words. “I’ll show you the room and if you like it, it’s yours.”
Oblivious to her epiphany, Jeremy heard only capitulation. Whooping in delight, he rose from his chair and held out a hand to her. “Come on, I have the rest of the afternoon off. Let’s go prove to you we’ll get along just dandy.”
She put her hand in his and allowed him to pull her from her seat. “What did you have in mind?” Wherever they ended up, it had to be better than where her instincts would have told her to go.
“I have two words for you Trina, my love,” Jeremy said as they left the coffee shop together. “Miniature golf.”
Chapter 2
A few weeks later, Trina stared at her laptop screen as she pondered her latest set of options. Having settled the flatmate problem, she’d decided to try out her shiny new logical approach to life in other areas of discontent. The two obvious choices had been her career and her love life. A better person might have chosen to work on their career first. Trina had quickly decided she was not a better person and set about focusing on her love life. After taking some time to reflect on ways she could approach the problem logically, she’d come up with the perfect solution: Online dating.
She’d spent the morning hunched over her laptop on Jake and Kelly’s couch while she obsessed over every word she put on her dating profile. Now it was finished, all she had to do was choose a picture to add. She brought the two finalists up on the screen side by side before turning the laptop toward the kitchen, where her cousin was slicing bread to go with their lunch. “Jake, you’re a man. Look at these two photos and tell me which one makes me look hotter.”
Jake’s eyes widened in horror. “Absolutely not. Trina, when I look at you I see a blood relative, not a hottie.”
“You’re no help at all.” Rolling her eyes, Trina got up off the couch and carried the laptop to the other end of the counter. “Kelly, please, I need an opinion here.”
“Let me see.” Putting down the knife she was using to chop tomatoes, Kelly cleaned her hands before studying the two photographs. She pointed to the picture on the left. “This one is hotter. That dress makes your boobs look fabulous.”
Trina nodded in agreement. “I thought so, too.” The photo had been taken a few weeks ago at the wedding of their mutual friends, Amber and Lincoln, and it was a great shot.
“But,” Kelly continued, pointing at the picture on the right, “the lighting is better in this one and it’s a gorgeous photo of you.” Taken during a recent lunch with friends, an overcast sky had provided the perfect amount of natural light for a clear, simple headshot.
Trina sighed in indecision. Now she’d decided to try this whole online dating thing, she wanted her profile to be just right. It had to reflect her unique, if somewhat quirky, personality and showcase the best of her physical attributes. That way she would be more likely to attract her perfect mate. She knew the process wouldn’t be as quick and efficient as it sounded, but it had to be better than waiting around for her future husband to find her in the grocery store.
She never used to be bothered by the lack of a steady partner. Then she’d turned thirty, and the empty space on the other side of her bed had taken on new meaning. There were certain milestones she’d thought she would reach before she blew out the candles on that particular birthday cake. Like having a husband and children. Oh, and a house filled with expensive crap that sparked joy on a daily basis. None of these desires seemed outlandish or extravagant. Her siblings had managed all of them, between the two of them, and by a much younger age.
Lauren, her sister, had been married for eight years and had two adorable, cheeky little girls to show for it. Her brother, Derek, had been with his partner, Scott, for even longer and they owned a business together. Now they’d found Julia, the perfect third for their relationship, Derek looked like he was on cloud nine every time Trina saw him—every freaking time. Trina was happy for them, of course, but she couldn’t help feeling left behind.
“Which one should I use?” She hoped the desperation she heard in her voice wasn’t quite so obvious to her friend.
“You want a man who’s after more than a good set of boobs,” Kelly declared as she went back to her chopping. “Go with the other one. It makes your eyes look amazing and that’s what you want to reel a man in with. The boobs can be like a bonus prize.”
The logic in that was a little twisted perhaps, but it was logic nonetheless. Trina decided to go with it and uploaded the second photo. “Thank you,” she said, heaving a sigh of relief.
“No problem.”
“That right there was the conversation I was not about to have with my cousin.” Jake sidled closer to steal of few slices of mushroom from the chopping board. He grinned when Kelly shooed him away. “What’s brought this on anyway? You used to say online dating was lame.”
Trina winced at the reminder. Her instincts had always insisted online dating was a terrible way to find love. How could anything real and lasting possibly come from such a contrived, commercially-driven process? As far as she’d been concerned, the only way to find true love was through a spontaneous meeting of souls—end of story.
How had she ever believed such drivel? What were her options for finding love through spontaneous means in this day and age? Maybe she was supposed to stumble over some sweaty Adonis at the gym. Or catch the eye of a random stranger across the bar of a nightclub. Was that supposed spontaneity somehow more real than liking the look of someone on a website and sending them a wink to show her interest? Trina was no longer convinced.
“I changed my mind,” she told Jake, not wanting to get into the messy details surrounding her recent epiphany. “I figured if I can find a flatmate by putting an ad on a website, why shouldn’t I find a boyfriend the same way?”
Jake smirked at her. “The way I heard it, you picked Jeremy up in a coffee shop and took him home with you.”
Gasping, Trina grabbed a stick of celery and threw it at his head. “I did not pick him up. He’s not a stray dog, you know.”
“How are things going with Jeremy anyway?” Kelly asked.
“Great. He’s great.” She added a nod for emphasis. “Easy to get along with and he paid his share of the rent on time. Oh, and he doesn’t leave makeup all over the bathroom so, he’s a step up from my last flatmate.”
“Hey,” Kelly cried as she looked up, her face the very picture of indignation. “I did not leave makeup all over the bathroom.”
Trina shrugged one shoulder, a teasing glint in her eye. “If you say so. Anyway, the point is, Jer is… great.”
“You keep using that word.” Kelly turned speculative eyes on her. “Why do you keep using that word?”
“What word?”
“Great.”
Trina shrugged again. “Maybe because he is great.”
Kelly held her silence for all of about two minutes, which Trina thought was very reserved of her. “Jake, honey,” she said as she covered the freshly made salad with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge, “would you mind grabbing one of the bottles of white wine I put in the fridge in the garage? I want to serve it with lunch.”
Jake glanced back and forth between the two of them before rising from his stool. “Sure thing. I might head into my office for a few minutes first. I wanted to call Danny, see how he went at his conference la
st week. Sound good?”
Kelly beamed at him. “What a great idea. I’ll call you when lunch is ready. Say hi to your brother for me.”
“Uh-huh.” Jake muttered something under his breath about secret women’s business as he headed down the hallway and into the second bedroom currently serving as their home office.
“Okay, spill,” Kelly demanded the moment they were alone. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing’s going on,” Trina cried as she dropped her head into her hands. “I live with a gorgeous specimen of masculine gay beauty, of course nothing is going on.” She put her hands over her face with a groan. “Do you see why I need to get a move on with finding an appropriate man? I need to lust after someone I can actually have sex with.” To top it all off, she’d flattened the batteries in her vibrator twice in the past fortnight. She’d begun to wonder if her pink friend just wasn’t that into her anymore.
Kelly put one hand on her hip. “Is Jeremy doing anything he shouldn’t be doing to make things harder for you?”
“Yes.” Trina pouted. “He works out every other day. He set up his equipment on the balcony because his bedroom is too small and he ‘doesn’t want to get in my way’,” she said, adding air quotes. “If I have to watch him do another push-up through the glass door I’m going to scream.”
A snort sounded as Kelly pulled a cooked chicken from the fridge. “You could always not watch.”
Trina gave a self-deprecating grin. “True, but he’s so pretty.”
Laughing, Kelly asked, “Does he mind you leering at him when he’s all sweaty?”
“I don’t think so.” The only time he’d alluded to it, was one morning the previous week when she’d headed out onto the balcony to say good morning. He’d been naked except for a pair of exercise shorts, his abs glistening in the morning light as he completed a set of tricep dips. She could hardly be blamed for drooling into her coffee cup.
Finishing his set, he’d dragged himself up onto his workout bench and stared at her with a wicked smile. “You keep looking at me like that and you’ll turn my head.” His voice had been rough from exertion, his eyes flashing with some emotion she knew couldn’t be arousal.
She’d murmured an apology and scurried back inside, embarrassed at having been caught staring. A few minutes later, she’d sneaked another glance through the door to find him still sitting there, his head in his hands as he took slow, deep breaths. Maybe he’d done too many dips.
“You’re not falling for him, are you?” Kelly asked, pausing in the act of shredding chicken. “Because falling for him would be bad.”
“No.” Trina waved a dismissive hand. “I mean, we’re friends and I love him to death but, not that kind of love.”
“The two of you do seem to have clicked very quickly.”
“Yeah.” Trina’s smile was relaxed and genuine this time. “It’s nice. We’re so comfortable with each other. I wasn’t expecting it, but now he’s a part of my life I couldn’t imagine being without him, you know?”
“Of course,” Kelly assured her. “It’s how I felt when I first met you.”
“Exactly.” They gave each other a grin, before Trina added, “Of course, I never actually fantasised about stripping you naked and having my way with you. I can’t say the same about dear Jeremy.”
They both broke down into giggles.
Chapter 3
Jeremy watched Trina scroll through the same list of men for the tenth time that evening. He hadn’t known her long, but she’d never struck him as the obsessive type—until now. It made him antsy. “You know scrolling through the list over and over won’t make new guys show up on it, right?”
She glared at him out of the corner of her eye before returning her attention to the monitor. “Yes, Jeremy. I’m aware of that.”
“Just saying.”
They’d spent the last hour slumped beside each other on the couch. Some chick flick Trina had put on played on the television, but he was pretty sure she’d spent more time agonising over the info on her dating website than she had watching the movie. Occasionally she drew her bottom lip between her teeth, biting down into the pink flesh as if it helped ease her nerves.
Jeremy had spent the time on his phone browsing Reddit, and trying not to stare at Trina’s lip.
“You’re right.” She heaved a sigh as she closed the lid of her laptop. “I’m driving myself nuts.” Leaning forward, she placed the computer on the coffee table before flopping back on the couch. Her whole body radiated tension as she stared at the television screen with her arms crossed over her chest.
Glancing at the screen, Jeremy saw the movie drawing to a close as the lovers were reunited. Cue the rising music and soft blur lens. Fighting the urge to roll his eyes, he turned to Trina, hoping to cheer her up with a witty crack about music not being the only thing rising. He stopped when he saw the deep frown and big dewy eyes. She seemed so sad.
He dragged himself up into a sitting position and dropped his phone on the table next to her laptop. “Come here, you big gushy girl,” he teased as he snaked an arm around her shoulders and drew her closer.
“Don’t make fun,” she grumped, giving him a light smack on the arm. Still, she snuggled deeper into his side and rested her head on his shoulder.
They watched in silence for a few minutes before he gestured to the television screen. “Is that what you’re looking for with this dating thing? Something all sickly sweet and boring?”
“It’s not boring. It’s romantic.” She lifted her head to glare up at him, but ruined it by sticking out that bottom lip. It was slightly swollen from the way she’d been abusing it all night. Damn, she was kissable.
“If you say so,” he muttered, turning away before he did something stupid. He really shouldn’t be holding her like this. He’d spent the past month doing his absolute best to not touch her, knowing full well she would never allow it if she knew the truth about him. But then, if she’d had any idea who he really was, she never would have allowed him to move in with her in the first place. On the day they met, he’d been desperate enough for a place to stay, deceiving her had seemed like a necessary evil. He hadn’t lied outright or anything, but he had been selective with the truth. It seemed harmless enough at the time.
Now he’d gotten to know her better, however, his secret was getting a hell of a lot harder to keep. She was kind and had a wicked sense of humour and every time she looked at him with those hungry eyes of hers, his libido went into overdrive. He knew she only allowed herself to look at him like that because she thought he was ‘safe’—that he would never requite her desire. Except she was wrong, and he wasn’t safe, and he should be keeping his fucking distance.
“This feels nice,” Trina murmured as she turned to nuzzle her face into the curve of his neck. She hummed a sigh against his throat and his eyes slid closed as heat shot through him. Damn, he was getting less safe by the second.
He kept perfectly still as they watched the final scenes of the movie in silence. Before long the credits were rolling, accompanied by some power ballad theme song. All he had to do now was extricate himself from their current snuggle so he could go to bed—alone—and jerk off until the thought of Trina’s bottom lip no longer had him hard as nails.
Just as he opened his mouth to say goodnight, he glanced down to see Trina wiping at her cheek with the back of her hand. “Hey, what’s wrong?” He slipped one hand under her chin and tilted her head back. Her enormous eyes were glassy with unshed tears. “You’re not crying over some dodgy movie, are you?” he teased, stroking the curve of her cheek with his thumb.
“No, of course not. That movie is stupid.”
He smiled at the petulant way she said it. “Then what’s going on?”
“It’s silly.” She sat up a little straighter, pushed her dark hair back behind her ears, but didn’t move out of the circle of his arms. “I just wish I could find someone to love me like that,” she said quietly. “I’m surrounded by all these blissfully
happy couples. My brother and sister are both settled for life. Lincoln and Amber are married. Now, Jake and Kelly are heading in the same direction. Then, there’s me.” She gave a shrug, as if ‘her’ was something less than amazing. “I guess, I never thought I’d be the spinster of the family.”
He raised his eyebrows at her choice of words. “Aren’t you a little young to be a spinster?”
“Not anymore,” Trina argued. “I’m in my thirties now. I could get wrinkly at any moment.”
Leaning a little closer, he narrowed his eyes as he inspected her face. “Actually, now you mention it—”
“Oh no, you don’t,” she cried, launching herself at him.
“But I’m searching for wrinkles.” He grabbed her forearms in an attempt to stop the threatened assault and tumbled her back onto the couch. “I’m sure I can find some somewhere.”
“Stop looking!” she cried between peals of laughter. They scrambled about on the couch until he managed to pin her down, his hands gripping her wrists on either of her head. “Pinned you,” he told her with a delighted cackle.
It wasn’t until his laughter began to die Jeremy realised the enormity of his mistake. The one woman he was supposed to be staying away from was now pressed into the couch beneath him. They were both breathing hard from their play and the slight movements of her body against his were a temptation of epic proportions. Her long legs were splayed on either side of his hips and his dick pulsed at the nearness of her soft, wet heat. If he didn’t move now, he really would give himself away. Still, he couldn’t seem to make himself move.
Releasing her wrists, he brushed strands of hair out of her face as her own laughter faded. He watched in fascination as she realised the intimacy of their position. Her breathing picked up again. She swallowed hard. That bottom lip disappeared between her teeth as she licked her lips. And through it all, she made no move to push him away.
Everything We Need (Finding Forever Book 4) Page 2
