The Roommate Agreement

Maybe this really was worth the risk.

• • •

Jay handed the cab driver fifteen dollars and helped me • • •out of the car. We were still breathless from dancing and laughing for the better part of two hours, and even though we didn’t live far from the bar, there was no way I could walk.

My feet were screaming at me. I didn’t wear heels, ever, so I could barely walk. I only just made it inside the building before I used the wall to prop myself up so I could take the damn things off.

I moaned as they came off and my toes finally had some freedom.

Jay laughed, hitting the button for the elevator. “Do you think that cab driver thought we were having a one-night stand?”

I shrugged, grinning. “Think of it this way—there’d be no walk of shame.”

“I don’t know, that ten feet between our bedroom doors is one helluva stroll.”

I hobbled into the elevator after him. “Yeah, and that window at the end of the hall could really give things away.”

He looped one arm around my waist. “Are your feet okay?”

“No.”

He did a double-take before a laugh snorted out of him. “I told you we should have sat out the Cha Cha Slide.”

“Are you kidding me? After seeing you do the Birdie dance, I had to see you do that. I was kinda sad nobody put the Macarena on.”

The doors opened, and he helped me out. “Yeah, especially after the line-dancing club came in in their cowgirl finery.”

“Oh, my God. Don’t. I’ll never look at seventy-something-year-old women in denim skirts and cowboy boots the same again.” I shook my head as he fished his keys out of his pocket.

Apparently, it was the fifteen-year anniversary of the club being formed, and so they’d thrown it back to their younger days with their outfits. Let’s just say their skirts were a little on the short side.

“I think your dad is scarred for life.” Jay pushed the door open.

“Well, he’s not much of a dancer. Especially when he’s being shared by ten women who could be his mother.” I dropped my heels next to the shoe stand and pushed the door shut. “If they ever come in again, he’s going to hide out the back.”

“Especially since the leader of the club gave him her number.”

“It was after their third round of tequila shots.”

Yeah. It’d been that kind of night, and we only had one drink each.

We’d been too amused to even think about getting another.

I took the bottle of water he handed me and looked up at him through my lashes. “I had fun tonight.”

His grin was lopsided. “So did I. Even if the whole beginning of it was the stupidest thing ever.”

“I said it was!” I laughed for the hundredth time tonight. “But you demanded we carry it on.”

“Yeah, but wouldn’t it have been awkward otherwise?”

“Maybe.” I fiddled with the label on the bottle. “Do you really think it helped?”

“What else would we have talked about? Our mutual friends?” Jay snorted and walked over to me, bopping me on the nose so I scowled. “It is weird. We both know that. In a strange way, it took away all that weirdness despite how fucking ridiculous it was.”

He was right. It really did take it all away. “All right. I admit it wasn’t a bad idea. But you are a terrible dancer.”

“I’m an excellent dancer, I’ll have you know. I rocked the shit out of that tweet-tweet song.”

“Five-year-olds can do those moves.”

“Yeah, but their arms don’t look as good as mine.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “That’s the selling point for me.”

“That was also why you looked absolutely ridiculous doing it.”

“Ha!” He tapped my nose again. “I knew you were perving on me.”

“Well, yeah. Have you seen your ass?” I clapped my hand over my mouth.

I was not supposed to say that out loud.

“I have, and it’s a pretty great one. Why do you think I sing that Ed Sheeran song in the shower? I’m admiring the shape of me. I can see it in the mirror until the door steams up.”

I blinked at him, then turned around and rolled my eyes. And he said I was the crazy one.

His laughter followed me as he did, and I turned at my bedroom door. “Goodnight, Jay.”

“Hang on.” He undid the top button of his shirt and took my bottle of water to set on the floor. His eyes found mine, and he gave me a sexy half-smile that made my heart stutter. “If we didn’t live together, I’d have kissed you at the door, but since I don’t want to sleep in the hall…”

I raised an eyebrow. “Really? Why not? I bet the whirring of the elevator is very soothing.”

He pressed one finger against my lips despite his chuckle and pulled me to him. His eyes searched mine for the longest moment, and I took a deep breath, resting my hands on his chest.