Roomies with Brother’s Best Friend
Sofia T Summers
Contents
Description
Prologue: Emma
1. Parker
2. Emma
3. Parker
4. Emma
5. Parker
6. Emma
7. Parker
8. Emma
9. Parker
10. Emma
11. Parker
12. Emma
13. Parker
14. Emma
15. Parker
16. Emma
17. Parker
18. Emma
19. Parker
20. Emma
21. Parker
22. Emma
23. Parker
24. Emma
25. Parker
26. Emma
27. Parker
28. Emma
29. Parker
30. Emma
31. Parker
32. Emma
33. Parker
Epilogue: Emma
Accidentally Married to Brother’s Best Friend (Sample)
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Copyright © 2020 by Sofia T Summers
All rights reserved.
The following story contains mature themes, strong language and sexual situations. It is intended for mature readers.
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.
Description
I didn’t think I could hate him any more than I already did when he broke my heart years ago.
You don’t claim someone’s V-card and then disappear like nothing happened.
I wanted to scream when I realized that he was about to be my roommate.
My brother’s best friend.
The father of my (secret) baby.
And the man I desperately wanted but couldn’t touch.
How would I keep my distance from him knowing that he has my heart?
Keeping my daughter from Parker had been hard enough.
I didn’t think he wanted a family at the time.
But living with him as his roommate while hiding this secret is going to kill me.
Years ago, I felt his betrayal.
And once he discovers my little secret, he’ll feel mine.
Could we even have a second chance at love?
Prologue: Emma
The summer heat had been nothing short of insane this year.
I’d been swimming literally every day this summer, since the heat first started in June. I mean, what else was I going to do in this small town? Sure, there are rich people around letting their kids throw parties but I was never much of a party person. I wasn’t going to get into an Ivy League by goofing off, and now, Harvard was calling my name. I wanted to spend this last summer relaxing in the local pond, preparing for my classes, and getting ready for the rest of my life outside of this small town.
Nothing against Rehoboth, of course. It was a beautiful town, really. Historical, lovely, one of the oldest towns in Massachusetts. But it wasn’t where I wanted to spend the rest of my life, for crying out loud.
So every day, I would take some time to go swimming in the afternoon, dreaming about what it would be like at Harvard. But tonight, it was the middle of August and the heat had been especially oppressive. It was evening and I was still tossing back and forth in my bedroom, the one fan that we had hooked up in that room doing nothing to relieve it, and I just wanted to take a dip in the water.
My parents would probably kill me for this, but hey, I wasn’t sneaking out to go to parties, right? And I was eighteen now. Technically I could do whatever I wanted as an adult.
It was easy to open up my window and shimmy down to the first floor, then sneak out through the backyard to head down the road towards the pond. My parents were both heavy sleepers--my dad more so than my mom, but Dad also snored so I doubted she could hear anything. Lucas, my older brother, snuck out all the time and my parents had no idea.
Then again, Lucas was also really hardworking and responsible, so maybe they did know and just figured it wasn’t something they were going to bother lecturing Lucas about when he was always being good about showing up to work on time and not skiving off because of a hangover.
Lucas was twenty, and learning the tools of the trade from Dad. It was why we’d settled in Rehoboth, because of the large number of historic houses. Dad’s job was renovating them and fixing them up while preserving the historical features and complying with the preservation society’s rules. Lucas loved that kind of thing and he’d never let a party get in the way of it. But I had bigger plans with my life. Nothing wrong with it, of course, I was glad they were happy and doing such wonderful work, but I wasn’t going to be stuck in a small town, no matter what happened. Come September, I was going to be in a big city, going to a fantastic college, and when I graduated I would get a job in New York City or Boston or somewhere else, a center for culture, vibrant with life and diversity, and it was going to be fantastic.
But that was all in the future. Right now, I was enjoying the walk through the woods towards the pond, even though the heat was making the air stick to my skin like a thin blanket. Ugh. Soon the cool water would be embracing me, I told myself. Just endure the heat for a few more minutes. Hopefully by the time I got out it would have cooled down.
Headlights flashed over me as a car pulled up from behind, and I stepped out of the way to let the person pass. Probably somebody my age on their way home from a party.
But to my surprise, the car stopped. It was only then that I recognized it in the dark, and my heart sped up immediately, like a horse bolting.
Parker. It was Parker’s car.
Parker was Lucas’ best friend. Only two years older than me, but it might as well have been a chasm. Parker was smooth talking, handsome, popular… I was popular enough, sure, but I was also aware that I was a Grade A nerd and not exactly the partying type. Parker definitely was. He was the kind of guy that all the girls in town had crushes on, even if they didn’t want to admit it.
I would never admit it, except to Van, my best friend. Van was always telling me to go for it, to take a chance, but I couldn’t do that. I didn’t have her confidence. I much preferred to deal with my books and my plans for the future, not embarrass myself over my brother’s best friend.
He leaned over, throwing his car into park. “Emma? That you?”
“The one and only,” I chirped back. I could banter with Parker, at least. Spending most of my life growing up around him while he goofed off with Lucas had given me that one advantage. If I blushed about him, it was only when he couldn’t see it.
“You shouldn’t be out so late, especially on your own.”
“What am I, still fourteen? I’m just going for a swim, Parker, it’s fine.”
Parker narrowed his eyes at me. God he was so handsome. Dark blond hair and green eyes, a sturdy frame that was definitely strong from all the helping with construction he did for Logan and Dad. Just seeing him made me weak at the knees. “It’s not safe.”
I looked around. “Um. I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but we’re in Rehoboth, not the middle of Skid Row. It’s been safe here since the 1600s.”
Parker chuckled. “You know what I like best about you, Emma?”
My heart beat even faster, which I hadn’t thought was possible. “What’s that?” He liked things about me? Multiple things?
“Your sense of humor.” Parker unlock
ed the car and pushed open the passenger door. “C’mon, get in. I’ll drive you. You’re going to the pond, right?”
“Why, does the pool have late-night hours I don’t know about?”
Parker chuckled again and I felt a flush of triumph. I often felt like, despite it being a small town and my being Lucas’ sister, I had a hard time standing out to Parker. Part of it was that I didn’t want to make an idiot of myself in front of him and part of it was, well, I was his best friend’s younger sister. How could I possibly stand out?
But right now, there was nobody else around. Just the two of us.
Parker jerked his head. “C’mon, Emma. Just to help me feel better about it, okay?”
I climbed inside. It was sweet that he was worried about me, even if he didn’t have to be. “Don’t you have to be somewhere?” This time of night he was probably heading to a party.
“Nah. Nowhere’s more important than here.”
Oh God. He was going to make me swoon, saying things like that. I buckled myself in so that Parker wouldn’t tease me for it, and we drove off.
It wasn’t long until the cut off where you had to get out of your car and walk to the pond, and I fully expected him to leave me there, but Parker just shook his head and turned off his car. “C’mon, it’s dark, are you kidding me? Lucas would kill me if I let anything happen to you because I left you alone.”
Well. I wasn’t going to complain about getting to be around Parker some more. “If you insist.”
Parker grumbled a little as he nearly tripped over a tree root following me through the well-worn path to the pond. It was just a little out past Johnson Farm, and the path snaked around the outskirts of the farm’s territory, winding through the woods down to the swimming hole.
“You sure you want to do this?” he asked.
“I can’t sleep until I cool off.”
“By the time you get back to your house you’ll be all hot again.”
“The heat will have broken a bit by then, right? Besides, if I’m not going to sleep either way, might as well do it here.”
Parker tilted his head as if to concede that point and let me keep leading the way. The water shimmered in the moonlight as it came into view, turning this simple place where I’d splashed around with friends for as long as I could remember into something more, something almost magical. There was next to no breeze right now, thanks to the heat, making the air still and sticky, but it also made the surface of the swimming hole like glass, and with the reflection from the moon, it was almost entirely silver.
“It’s beautiful, isn’t it?” I gushed to Parker, already starting to take off my clothes. I’d thrown on shorts and a shirt for walking to the pond, just in case. With Parker here I couldn’t strip all the way down like I’d planned originally, but my underwear would be fine.
Well, I could in fact strip down all the way if I wanted to, but… I wasn’t sure I was that bold. Then again, Parker wouldn’t accompany me if he didn’t… but no, I was just his best friend’s sister, he was just being protective because he was a good guy… right?
You should still go for it, a voice in my head whispered. It was a voice that sounded a lot like Van. Vanessa was her full name but I’d called her Van since we met in kindergarten. If she was here, in my situation, I knew she’d just go for it, strip down and leap into the water naked without a second thought. But I wasn’t Van, and I didn’t have her guts.
I left my underwear on and got into the water, groaning with relief as the cool water hit my skin. This was so much better than lying in bed with the fan on me. I heard a strangled sort of noise coming from the shore, but when I looked up, I couldn’t read Parker’s expression well in the half-light of the moon. He seemed normal, just staring at me.
I splashed at Parker a little, just to tease him. Parker shook his head at me, grinning. “You’re impossible.”
“I’m impossible!?” I pouted up at him. “You’re the one not going swimming in this crazy heat. I’m just trying to cool off. I’d say I’m the sensible one here.”
“You sure are something, all right,” Parker agreed. I could see the flash of his teeth in the moonlight.
I splashed at him some more. “You should join in. It feels amazing, really. Totally worth it.”
“Y’know I still remember when we were kids and you were scared some monster would swim up from the bottom and eat you.”
“I was like, five years old, Parker, give me a break.” I couldn’t believe he’d remembered that silly thing from years ago. Had he really paid attention to me that much?
“Are you going to keep splashing me until I say yes?”
“Maybe.” I grinned up at him and kicked hard at the water, sending it crashing into his thighs, soaking his legs.
“All right, that’s it you little punk.” Parker started stripping down and I shrieked, immediately trying to swim away.
My whole body was thrumming with excitement and nerves. He wouldn’t be joining me in the water for no reason, right? Could I dare to hope?
Parker got down to his boxers and then leapt into the water, splashing me everywhere. I swam desperately for the opposite shore but he grabbed me and dunked me under, hauling me back up again as I continued to shriek like a cat.
“What, you’ll dish it out but you can’t take it?” Parker teased, still holding onto me, his arm around my waist. His voice was low and teasing in my ear and I shivered. It thrilled me all the way to my toes.
I twisted around to face him, splashing him with more water in the process. Parker spluttered. “You little shit.”
“Takes one to know one.”
Somehow I ended up with my arms draped around his shoulders and Parker’s hands under my thighs, keeping me held up in the water. Only a little more movement and I’d get my legs wrapped around him, have all of that firm muscle completely pressed against me. I could feel myself heating up despite the cool water, and knew it had nothing to do with the warm summer temperatures.
Parker stared at me, almost like he’d never seen me before and now couldn’t stop staring. His eyes were dark in this light, so that I couldn’t see the green of them, but they were still magnetic, still drawing me in and pinning me.
“Emma…” Parker’s voice was soft. “I should get out.”
It was so stupid and childish of me but I found myself clinging to him, pulling him in. “No, don’t. Please.”
Parker shook his head. “You’re barely eighteen.”
“You’re only two years older than I am, Parker, it’s not that big of a deal.”
“You’d be surprised what a difference two years can make. And you’re Lucas’ sister.”
“My brother isn’t a part of this, unless you two were dating this whole time and just forgot to tell me.”
Parker laughed, sounding like it was startled out of him. I just didn’t want him to stop touching me, didn’t want him to let go of me. I might not have gotten it on with anyone before--I’d been too busy studying and doing homework--but that didn’t mean that I was naive. I read smutty books, I watched TV, I heard gossip in school. I knew what I wanted and what I was in for.
“You’re like a whole different person,” he murmured. He reached up, his thumb brushing along my cheek. “I feel like I’ve never seen you before.”
“Maybe you haven’t,” I pointed out. This whole time he’d been seeing me as Lucas’ little sister instead of as just Emma. Just as myself.
Go for it! The voice in my head screamed at the top of its lungs, and I was kind of inclined to agree with that part of myself. In the dark, in the water, surrounded by trees and with the moon overhead, it was like we were in a completely different world. Like I could maybe actually be flirtatious and daring.
And, well, what did I have to lose, exactly? It was the last summer before I went off to college. If things went badly and I embarrassed myself because Parker rejected me, then we only had to put up with each other for, what, another month? Before I went away and we could pretend
that nothing had happened.
I’d spent what felt like my entire life with a crush on Parker. Now was the time to just give in and go for it.
Taking a deep breath, I slid my hands up to cup Parker’s face. “See me now,” I told him, and then--before I could lose my courage--I leaned in and kissed him.
Parker went stiff against me, and for a second I worried that I’d done the wrong thing. That I had misstepped and messed it all up.
But then he surged against me, like a tidal wave, his arms coming around my back and holding me up, pinning me against him, as he kissed me back.
I could admit that I was totally ignorant about… the practical applications of kissing and all that. I’d read stuff, seen and heard things, but I’d never so much as been kissed before. I think there were a couple guys over the years where I could’ve gotten a boyfriend or at least a good makeout session if I’d felt like it, but I’d never really wanted to pursue it. Now I was regretting that as I prayed that I was doing well enough for Parker.
Parker pulled away, chuckling, and then got his hand in my hair, tugging, his other hand gently cupping my jaw and getting my head exactly where he wanted it as he kissed me again. I let him take control of the kiss and oh. God. Parker knew what he was doing, kissing me firmly but not overwhelming me, taking his time slipping his tongue inside to curl against mine.
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