STRIPTEASED (Roommate Reverse Harem Romance)

“Well, you know the job search hasn’t been going very well.”

“I’ve got my fingers crossed for the one you interviewed for today.”

“Me too,” she said. “But the truth is, I think it’ll be a while before I have a job and am earning enough to look for a place of my own.”

My smile vanished. The thought of her moving out wasn’t a pleasant one. “You know you can stay here as long as you’d like.”

Now she finally looked at me. “I do know that—because you guys are incredibly generous. But if I’m going to be here for a while longer, I hate keeping you from your room. This is your house, you shouldn’t have to share a bed with Austin.”

“I told you I don’t mind.”

“Share a bed with me instead.”

“It’s really not a—what?” I probably wouldn’t have been more surprised if she’d pulled out a gun and shot me.

Emma was studiously looking at the floor again. Were it not for her pink cheeks, I might’ve thought I misheard her. “I think you should move back up here and share the bed with me. Or, it would be me sharing the bed with you since it’s your room.”

My heart pounded faster, but my voice was even when I spoke. “What exactly are you asking me to do, Emma?”

“I don’t mean to sleep with me,” she said hastily, her face in flames. “But to sleep next to me, like you do with Austin.” She glanced over at the bed. “We’ll have plenty of room, and I’ll be able to sleep better because I won’t feel so guilty.”

“You don’t have to feel guilty.”

“I know, but I do anyway. And besides… I think it might be nice to wake up next to you.”

That was pretty hard to argue with. What’s more, I really didn’t want to. “We could try it. For one night, and see how it goes.”

“Tonight?”

It would’ve taken a far stronger man than me to say no to that sweet face. “Works for me.”

11

Emma

“Truth or dare?”

“Truth,” I said. I wasn’t usually brave enough for dares—not that the guys went easy on me. They could ask some pretty probing questions. It was Sunday night, so no one had to go to the club. We’d had so much fun two weeks ago when our movie night turned into a question-and-answer session that we’d kept it going, only now it was more like the party game from my teenage years.

“Whose bed do you like sleeping in the best?” Austin asked.

Ugh, that was a loaded question. I’d slept next to Denver in his bed three nights before Austin suggested I take a turn with him. Soon, I was regularly rotating between all of their beds. It sounded slutty, but nothing ever happened. Usually I was asleep when the guys returned from the club, so all I registered was a quick good-night kiss when they climbed in next to me.

Mornings were more fun, though. It was nice to snuggle next to a big warm body in the morning. Austin always put his arm around me the moment he woke up. Denver would prop himself up on his side and stare into my eyes as we talked. Tonio often woke me up with a heavenly backrub. And Knox would often get up early to go take pictures, but he’d always tuck the covers carefully around me before he left.

“That’s impossible to answer.”

“But you have to. It’s the name of the game, darlin’,” Austin said with a drawl. He and Denver had apparently put together a new routine in which they dressed up like cowboys, and ever since, he’d been affecting a Southern accent from time to time.

“I like sleeping in all of your beds,” I said diplomatically as I looked at each one in turn. Knox was in the biggest recliner, and Tonio was in the smaller one. I was sitting on the sofa sandwiched between the twins. “Though I do admit that when Knox isn’t there I sometimes roll over to his side and get stuck in the gigantic indentation in his mattress.”

The others laughed as Knox rolled his eyes. “Need help flipping your mattress?” Tonio asked.

Knox flexed his biceps. “Nope.”

Ooo, that was hot. He was so quiet and unassuming that sometimes it was easy to forget how incredibly strong he was. “All right, my turn,” I said. “Denver, truth or dare?”

“How come you never pick me?” Austin complained.

“Because you always choose dare and I can never think of anything to ask you.”

“You could always hit him up for money,” Tonio said.

That made me laugh. “I don’t think that’s quite how the game works. Otherwise, it would be called Truth or Extortion. Come on, Denver, which do you choose?”

“Truth,” he said, as I’d known he would. It wasn’t that he was afraid of a dare, but he was less willing than Austin to put me on the spot—which I appreciated.