Room Mated: Standalone Reverse Harem Romance

“Jude quotes from obscure British comedies that no one’s ever seen.”

“Mason—”

“Enough,” Kylie said, holding up her hands. Far from being daunted by our rapid-fire recital of true—and not so true—habits, she broke into an impish smile. “What about Parker?”

“He’s a madman,” I said with a grin.

“He’ll talk your ear off,” Mason added with the hint of a smile.

Kylie grinned. “I’ll have to watch out for that.” She probably hadn’t heard Parker say more than ten words since we’d found her, Goldilocks-style, in our suite.

“We’re not moving the beds back,” Mason said firmly. “The plan all along was to have them in one room so that we’d have more space out here.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to,” Kylie said quickly.

“And I wasn’t kidding about Jude’s snoring,” Mason said.

“Noted.”

“It’s your ass on the line if you get caught,” he warned.

“Understood.”

He shook his head. “All right, if the others are game, I’ll give it a shot.”

Kylie’s grin of triumph lit up her face as she turned to me. “I’m on board,” I said.

We all turned to Parker. Oddly enough, he needed no prompting. “I’m okay with it, too.” Maybe he was starting to emerge from whatever dark place he’d been in?

I smiled at my new roommate. “Looks like you won’t spend all day at the housing office tomorrow after all.”

5

Kylie

They’d caved. I couldn’t believe it. For a while, I thought I was going to have to lure Mason out to the balcony and push him off. But I was in. I got to stay here in this beautiful suite with the fireplace and the balcony and best of all, that incredible mountain view. The sun had almost set, but rays of orange and pink filled the sky behind the snow-capped peaks. It was gorgeous.

Jude got to his feet. “Where’s your stuff?”

“In my car in the south lot.”

“We’ll go get it,” he said.

“You will?” That took me by surprise.

“Yeah. First off, no offense, but you look dead on your feet. Secondly, it might not be a good idea for the guys in the hall to see you moving a bunch of your stuff in. Come on, Mason.”

To my surprise, Mason rose to his feet without complaint.

“Thanks,” I said, still a bit shocked as I gave my keys to Jude and described my car.

“If we have to carry up a bunch of pink shit, you owe me a beer,” Mason said as he and Jude headed out, Parker trailing after them.

“If you find a bunch of pink shit, then you’ve got the wrong car,” I called after him, grinning as they left.

Holy crap. Once the guys were gone, the suite looked even bigger. It was freaking enormous. It was probably as large as my uncle’s entire house. And it was certainly a lot newer and nicer.

All summer long, I’d worked my ass off at the bar. Mixing drinks late into the night. Enduring the flirting and come-ons. Making sure inebriated customers got home safely. But it was all worth it for the chance to go to graduate school. To get my MBA and get a good job. No, not a job. Serving drinks was a job. I wanted a career.

For some reason, this seemed like it was the first step on that path. Surely I’d get more studying done at that great table with the amazing view. And it was a bonus that Parker was studying business, too. Maybe, if I ever got more than a handful of words out of him, he’d have some tips for me.

I wandered around the suite until the guys got back. “Thank you,” I gushed as they set it all down next to the sofa.

“I think we got everything,” Jude said, handing me back my keys.

“I thought you’d have more stuff,” Mason observed as he scanned my assortment of boxes and mismatched bags.

“Because I’m female?”

“Yeah.”

I narrowly avoided rolling my eyes. “Maybe this’ll work better if you don’t fall back on tired stereotypes of women.”

To my surprise, Mason grinned. “Weren’t you the one who implied that men cuss and leave their wet towels on the floor and—what was the other thing?”

“Scratch our balls while we watch TV,” Jude supplied, and I felt my face flush. Had I really said that?

“Right. I’ll have to remember to do that next time.”

“All right, I’ll try not to stereotype you, either.”

“Sounds like a good policy all around.” Jude sat down in one of the armchairs. “Let’s settle a couple more things while we’re being open-minded.” Once we were seated, he looked toward the bathroom across the way. “I think Kylie should have that bathroom. We can share the other one.”

“All three of us?” Mason asked sharply.

“Why not? We shared one last year.”

“The whole point of this place is it’s spacious,” Mason argued. I didn’t point out that the bedroom wasn’t very spacious, with four beds in there, but I didn’t want to antagonize them. Truth be told, it would be nice to not have to share a bathroom and worry about privacy.