The Roommate Agreement

But that was weird.

I was weird.

This was my best friend. This was Jay. This was the guy who’d checked out my dates and cornered the people who’d tried to take advantage of me. This was the guy who’d slotted into the big brother role so easily until he’d moved in and screwed everything up.

He was my best friend.

What was wrong with me?

Why did I want to jump him like he was a trampoline?

I wiped the final bit of mask from his face and swallowed hard, stepping back. “There. Done.”

His eyes opened, flashing with something I couldn’t place. “Thanks. I’m never doing that again.”

“Yeah.” I shrugged one shoulder in an attempt to be nonchalant. “Green isn’t really your color.”

Jay smirked, moving away from the sink. “It’s not yours either, but it probably won’t be the last time I come home and see you looking like a swamp monster.”

I rolled my eyes, turning my back to him. My heart was still racing from being so close to him, and I didn’t want him to see my flushed cheeks. I didn’t want him to know how my body had reacted to him—twice.

There would be no coming back from it if he knew.

“You missed some on your face.” He took a step closer to me and took the cloth, his fingers brushing mine. “Right here.” He touched the side of my head, right near my hairline, and lifted the cloth to it.

Slowly, I drew in a deep breath, focusing on the tiny scar on his cheek that existed because he’d scratched when he’d had chicken pox as a kid. It was preferable to looking into his eyes as he cleaned a bit I’d apparently missed.

I could swear I’d gotten it all—I was no rookie at the old facemask, after all—so I didn’t know what he was doing. Did he want to make this awkward? Could he tell that I was being awkward?

Why was I being awkward?

What was I doing with my life?

Oh, God. I was a bad adult.

“I can get it,” I said quickly, taking the cloth and facing the sink before he could say another word.

I was right—there was no mask left on my face, so why…?

“I got it already,” he said, just as quickly as I had. “Ocean’s Eleven is starting soon. You want me to make some popcorn?”

I grabbed the towel to dry my face, then I shook my head. The last thing I needed was a cozy night on the sofa with him right now. “I have work to do. Sorry.”

It wasn’t a lie. I did have work to do. I had to start writing up the article and work on my book and check emails and—well, I’d find something, wouldn’t I?

I’d write the phone book to avoid him at this point.

“Right. The people in your head shouting again?”

I jerked my head his way, expecting him to be snarky, but he was grinning. “Yes. And they’re trying to figure out how to kill a man named Jay.”

Laughing, he left the room. “Make it violent. If I’m going to be murdered, I want to go out in style.”

“Good to know.”

CHAPTER TEN – JAY

No Dates In The Apartment

Thank fuck she said no.

That was the only thought that rushed through my mind as I dropped onto the sofa. I ran my fingers through my hair and blew out a long breath, hoping it took the tightness of my muscles with it.

I’d never been so weirded out yet so turned on at the same time in my life.

Facemask. Fucking facemask. She’d gotten me damn good, and in hindsight, I should have just let her put it on me.

She was always going to.

If I’d let her, we never would’ve ended up in that position on the sofa.

That precarious fucking position where it took everything in me not to let my dick get hard.

It twitched now as I thought about it. About her sitting snugly on top of me, legs on either side of my hips, leaning right over my body and plastering me with that fucking stupid cement.

Jesus.

Then she’d wiped it off my face.

Fuck me dead.

I was ready to grab her and kiss her, facemask be damned. She’d leaned right up against me, her body all but pressed against mine as she’d removed it. She was so gentle at first, not wanting to hurt me, then she’d scrubbed harder.

Her eyes had touched every part of my face. I would put money on that. She was so thorough, so methodical, so precise in everything she did.

And when she’d wiped flakes of it from my jaw…

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath in.

Her touch was so soft. A fleeting one, just strong enough to register and send a shiver down my spine.

The worst part was that it wasn’t like it was the first time she’d touched me like that. No, she’d done it before. She’d teased me about my stubble for months now, coming up and scratching my chin when she thought it was getting too long. She’d grin and tug at the small hairs, somehow managing to get them between her fingers.