You're The One (Very Irresistible Bachelors 1)

She looked at me in surprise. “Hunter, it would look suspicious if my stuff was there.”

“You think anyone’s going to check the bedrooms?”

“You never know when Tess or Skye will say they want to borrow something. Or what about the cleaning lady? What if someone from the immigration services questions her? We can’t ask her to lie. It wouldn’t be fair, and we’re not even sure she’d do it. It’s too risky.”

“Wait, so what are you suggesting?”

“I think I have to keep all my stuff in your bedroom and bathroom. I’ll just sleep in the guest room but do everything else in yours. I can’t use the guest bathroom, like I did today. It would be a dead giveaway if all my cosmetics were there.”

I wasn’t used to sharing my personal space. As stupid as it sounded, this hadn’t occurred to me. And I couldn’t process the implications beyond the fact that Josie would be in my bedroom every day. In my bathroom. She’d shower there.

Fuck. Me.

“Okay,” I said calmly. “Okay. So, then... let’s start with the bathroom. Leonie just put everything in a corner, but I want to rearrange a few things.”

“What’s your morning routine?” she asked while we were making space for her stuff in the bathroom. It was easy. Besides cologne, aftershave, shaving cream, shower gel, and shampoo, I didn’t have anything else.

Josie filled the space with a dozen bottles and jars.

“I get up, take a shower, shave, put on a suit, drink coffee, and eat whatever’s in my fridge. You?”

She laughed. “Wow. Mine’s a bit more elaborate. I get up at five, do thirty minutes of yoga, then eat yogurt with granola before hopping into the shower. I need about an hour in the bathroom, all in all.”

I blinked. “An hour? What can you possibly do that takes one hour?”

She tilted her head playfully. “Have you ever lived with a woman before? Oh wait, I already know you haven’t. Shaving takes some time, and then smearing on the body cream, massaging my skin until it sinks in.”

Fuck, no. I didn’t want those images about my best friend in my head.

“And my hair needs a wet conditioner, a hair mask, and a mousse once I’ve towel dried it. Then I blow dry it.”

“You do this every morning?”

That was just not possible.

She grinned. “You thought I rolled out of bed looking the way I usually do?”

“I’ve known you since you were fifteen. I always thought you were beautiful.”

She gave me a shy smile. “Looking all lawyer-y takes a considerable amount of effort. It’s exhausting, to tell you the truth.”

I leaned in, grinning. “I can help you apply that cream. If it helps ease the load.”

Even I knew I’d pushed things too far. She frowned, as if she was wondering if the flirty comments were a joke. I could also tell the exact moment she realized they weren’t, because her breath caught. When she glanced down at my lips, I nearly leaned in to kiss her.

She swallowed, shook her head.

“Aren’t you a charmer? Keep all that testosterone bottled up for the next three years. You’ll need it afterward to get back in the game.”

Afterward? That seemed so far away, so unimportant right now.

“Let’s set some ground rules for our morning routine,” Josie continued. “I should probably start showering first, since I need longer, but that means I’ll wake you up.”

“I sleep like the dead in the morning. Trust me, I sometimes miss all three alarms.”

“Good. One advantage of having me as a roommate: I’ll make sure you wake up.”

“Okay. That’s settled. Just take care when you come into the bedroom.”