Accidental Roommate Read online

  Accidental Roommate

  A Friends to Lovers Romance

  By

  Katie Kyler

  Copyright

  First Edition, May 2018

  Copyright © 2018 by Katie Kyler

  This book is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is entirely coincidental. Names, characters, businesses, organizations, places, events and situations are the product of the author's imagination.

  All rights reserved. No parts of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without written consent from the author.

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Thank You

  Chapter 1

  Grayce

  I woke up slowly to the delicious scent of coffee. It took me a couple of seconds to remember I was currently crashing on Ella’s couch. Sighing, I opened my eyes and blinked twice to find Noah, Ella’s three-year old son, staring at me.

  “You snore,” he said.

  “So, do you,” I replied.

  He giggled and ran off. He was wearing his diaper and that was about it. The exhibitionist phase. He was my godson and I loved him dearly, but six months of living on a couch in a small apartment in New York’s Astoria Park in Queens had worn me out. It was a great area for a single mom, but I was neither of those things. I, Grayce Gladden, hadn’t been blessed with children.

  To emphasize that point, my cell phone vibrated. Carter. My ex-husband. Ignoring the call, I rolled my eyes as I sat up, then followed my nose to the French roast brewing in the kitchen. Barely waiting for the coffee to fill the pot, I poured it into the chipped mug captioned with It’s only good if it hurts.

  It hurt plenty.

  A year before, I had married my husband, Carter, on a beach in Jamaica. We had been together since we started at the same law firm five and a half years earlier.

  “Noah!” I heard Ella cry out from the other room.

  I followed the sighing to Noah’s room. Round curlicues in Vamp’s Promise, Ella’s favorite lipstick shade, decorated Noah’s wall in a beautiful design. A phallic-shaped design in the same shade was closer to the door.

  I touched her gently on her shoulder. She whirled around, blond curls flying and brown eyes glaring. Her glare quickly softened when she saw me. Ella Murphy had left a hell of a husband when she was pregnant with Noah. The abusive bastard had sent her down a flight of stairs in an alcoholic rage. She’d moved out that morning with my help and never looked back. Since then, she had viewed men as wash and wear and throw out, on a consecutive basis.

  I sipped my coffee, black and perfect.

  “Nice color,” I said, gesturing at the wall. “Is that a penis?”

  Ella laughed, husky and low. “Morning, Grayce. I think it is.” She turned to Noah. “Time to clean it up.”

  The next half hour was an argument between two stubborn wills. I hid in the bathroom. Looking myself quickly over, my brown hair still a bedhead from the couch, I quickly ran a brush through it. I was heading to the gym before anything else today. It was the only place I felt normal. I was a beast on the elliptical. The last six months had taken the wind out of my sails and I was so glad my dad wasn’t around to tell me “told you so.” I smiled. My dad wouldn’t have said that. He would have just touched my shoulder the way he did to let me know he was there.

  I felt that touch as if he were still here with me. I put my hand to my left shoulder. Six years earlier, he had taken me aside at Thanksgiving to tell me he didn’t think it was a good match between Carter and me. Two years later, he was taken from us in a car accident, and I was so glad we had managed to mend the crack in our relationship brought on by that moment. I was never one to hold a grudge, and Dad always had a blunt way of putting things. I missed that. I needed a little bluntness over the past year to put things in perspective.

  I headed back out to the living room and rummaged through my suitcase for my gym clothes. Ella came out of her room, fully dressed, not a hair out of place. How does she do that? I wondered.

  “Can you get Noah to day care? I would, but I want to make sure I have everything ready for our client in case he gets there early. Thanks, bye.” She asked the question and made the statement without waiting for a response to either.

  Before I could say anything, she ran out the door.

  Typical.

  I shook my head. It might have been my lipstick she was wearing. I didn’t blame her, Noah was in rare form, but this was getting old.

  Ella and I had left the law firm together after finding out Carter had been fucking our legal assistant. Building a new law business in New York City was like trying to start an auto repair shop in Detroit. One on every corner. Using my ex-husband’s last name had helped, but it would only be a matter of time before I changed it. I hadn’t made the decision to do that, yet, as much as I wanted everything related to him behind me.

  Carter Gladden was known in many circles from art, to law, to finance. He came from a wealthy family and he seemed to really like my common upbringing with a dad who was an insurance agent and a mom who worked as a hairdresser. I was in awe of him when we first started working at Thomas and Thomas, six years before. He soared up to junior partner in no time, while I was had only gotten as far as an associate.

  Noah ran into the room and started stripping off his clothes.

  “Not on your life, mister,” I said, chasing him down the hallway.

  After wrangling him into some clothes, I got Noah into the car seat and set off to day care before I headed to the gym. I needed the gym feeling—the way I felt when my muscles were wobbly at the end of a good workout: spent, stress free, and strong. Like I could conquer the world.

  I had a meeting with a new client at ten. I was excited. First client in two weeks. The first client, a corporate start-up company, was challenging. Most of our clients, the few that we had, had been in business for a while so their needs were usually mundane.

  My phone rang again, and it came through the speakers of the Mercedes. Carter again. Jesus, what the hell did he want?!

  I hit the green phone button. “Good morning, Carter.”

  “Carter!” Noah yelled from the back seat. I heard Carter chuckle on the phone.

  “Day care duty again, Grayce? Is that because we didn’t have any kids—you feel the need to take care of Ella’s?”

  Not caring who saw me, I stuck my tongue out at the dashboard as I maneuvered through the traffic of early spring in New York. I retorted, “Carter, if you had the goods, maybe I would have had kids.”

  Silence. Good. Asshole.

  When he came back on the phone, his tone was different. “I need the papers signed and I’m coming by sometime this week to drop them off.”

  “Feeling pressure from Kay?” She was my former legal assistant.

  “It’s not like that Grayce. We both want this behind us, and I’m trying to help you out. I’m trying to give you money, you just need to sign the papers.”

  Carter felt that paying me off would make his guilt go away. The divorce had been final for a few months, but I refused to take some of the money from his retirement. Even though we had only been married a short
time, Carter insisted give me something.

  I had to admit, there was a part of me that thought about it, but I had resisted. I tried hard to view it as him paying me for wasting years of my life with him, but the moment I caved it would be like me having forgiven him for screwing someone behind my back.

  “I’m not doing it.”

  I heard the dial tone. I smiled grimly to myself. What did I ever see in him?

  I dropped off Noah and headed toward Flex, the gym I had just started going to the week before. Since Carter and I went to the same gym by Thomas and Thomas, I’d had to find a new one, and this one had single men in spades. Not that I was anywhere near wanting that yet.

  However, I had caught sight of a fine specimen the other day. He seemed to be a trainer of some sort, wide shoulders, tight ass, racerback t-shirt on, and drool inspiring pecs. He was working with some young, early-twenties yoga fanatic, so I only got a side view…and what a view it was. He was a few years younger than me, but just thinking of him made parts of me clench that I had forgotten I had.

  Maybe today I would learn his name.

  The music blared inside Flex, and I scanned the gym. That hot trainer was over at the desk and I had to pass in front of him to get to the ellipticals. Luckily one of the machines was free. As I passed by the desk, I took in his brown hair, longer than fashionable at the moment, and as he looked up, I saw that his eyes were an emerald green. What an enticing combination! He smiled, and his white teeth shone out from his tanned face.

  Feeling myself flush, I continued over to the free machine and saw the reason why it was open. Broken. I lowered my head and noticed I had two different gym shoes on. I took a deep breath before I checked my watch. More than enough time to take a long shower and get ready for work without Noah and Ella wanting the bathroom.

  Half an hour later, I went to the overpriced coffee shop and picked up a simple black coffee. As I was leaving, my phone rang. Glancing down at it, I felt hot coffee splash all over me. I eyeballed the guy who’d just run into me. Of course! It would be the hot trainer.

  “I’m so sorry.” He grabbed some napkins and started patting down my chest.

  “Really?” I asked as my body responded to his touch on my breasts.

  He glanced at me and then my chest. “I’m so…”

  “Got that the first time,” I replied.

  My body responded to his touch as well as the hot coffee stinging my skin. It was the first time a man had touched me since I left Carter and this was the way it had to have happened.

  Embarrassed, I seized the napkins from him and dabbed at my now ruined white shirt. I had an extra at the office. I should have time to change before my meeting with my client.

  “Thanks for trying, but I think it’s ruined,” I said over my shoulder. I just wanted this to be over.

  Mortified at the reaction of my body, I left and jogged over to my car. As I put it in gear, I thought, I never did get his name and now I can probably never look at him again.

  After fighting the never-ending New York traffic, I pulled up in front of my office in a newly gentrified area, where the rent was more than the mortgage of the home I’d shared with Carter. I ran up the front steps and caught Ella in the reception area of the small three-room office. No donuts and no coffee.

  I snapped. “Ella, coffee and donuts?”

  “Damn, I knew I forgot something,” she said as she shook her lion’s mane of blond curls.

  I put my hand to my temple, trying to stop the tension headache threatening to break through.

  “I can’t do this anymore, Ella. I had to get Noah ready, drop him off at daycare. I watch him while you head out on dates during the weekend, and I really needed to have just one thing go right today. And going right would have been as easy as having the coffee and doughnuts ready when I got in.”

  Tears threatened her eyes and I felt they were mirrored in my own. “You’re right.”

  “I’m sorry,” I said as my mouth dropped open, realizing what I had just said. “I shouldn’t snap at you.”

  She shook her head and sighed. “It’s okay. I also think it’s time you find a place of your own. Working and living together is no longer working out for me, and you’re right, I’ve been taking advantage of you. ‘Three weeks’ has turned into six months.”

  I collapsed on the seat across from her. The chairs were hard, I thought, and I was going to need something more comfortable for guests.

  Ella spoke, and I focused on her, instead of the plank-like chair I was sitting on.

  “You’ve made it easy for me, but it can’t be good for you,” she said. “I know Carter has been texting and calling for the last few days. And I’m going to have to do it the hard way. The couch is no longer available for you. I’m sorry. I have to stop enabling you.” She gave me that Ella look and we both laughed.

  “This sounds like an intervention,” I giggled.

  “Right.”

  I opened my mouth to continue when our new client, a handsome blond, blue-eyed Viking walked in. Ella sat up in her chair. I nodded to him as I stood up.

  “Mr. Jensen, it’s a pleasure. My assistant, Ella, will have some paperwork for you and I’ll have you come back in a few minutes. We’ll get started shortly,” I said in the most professional tone I could muster.

  He responded in a slight Nordic accent, “I’m looking forward to it, Ms. Gladden.”

  Ella stared at him.

  I cleared my throat. “Ella, paperwork?”

  She blinked as if she was waking up and pulled out a clipboard with the paperwork and pencil attached.

  Now isn’t that something. I had never seen her without something to say and I’d known her since we were kids.

  I walked into my office and closed the door. Ella knocked a second later.

  “Yes?” I asked as I raised my head. Ella came in with my other shirt.

  Gratitude rushed through me. “Thank you.”

  “No problem,” she replied calmly.

  “I’m such a bitch.” I sighed.

  “You are, and I love you. But you still need to move out.”

  I smiled. “You’re right. It’s time to face the music.”

  As she went to leave, I teased her. “Mr. Jansen’s a nice-looking man.”

  Her face flamed. “Bitch.”

  I laughed as she closed the door.

  The meeting with Mr. Jensen went well. About ten minutes after it was over, I called out to Ella.

  When she came in, I pointed to my computer. I had pulled up a rental website and had found a beautiful apartment in Queens. The first and last month’s rent would be tight, but I had money left over from my corporate law job. I felt the building tug at me as I looked at it. I could make a place like that into a home.

  “It’s gorgeous,” Ella gushed.

  “It’s furnished,” I replied, trying to sound practical.

  “Even better. Pick up and call now. Nice places get snapped up like that.” She snapped her fingers.

  I made the call to the real estate agent for an appointment in an hour. Before I headed out the door, I hugged Ella. She hugged me back, as if she were saying everything would be okay, but I wasn’t as sure.

  “Friends since kindergarten. Go get it,” she smiled. “You deserve something nice after Carter. It’s either this or get back with him.”

  “Not going to happen,” I replied sternly.

  “Glad to hear it.” She winked.

  I smiled at her until my phone rang, showing another person I did not want to deal with.

  I answered, grimacing. “Hi, Mom.”

  Chapter 2

  Tyler

  The music pumped in the background as I walked the length of the gym. I had just finished with the latest model wannabe. Someone let it leak on the staff that I was a semi-successful model as well as a trainer, and suddenly I was stuck training guys who wanted a body like mine.

  Nick, one of the other trainers, slowed down to walk next to me.

 
; “Working at Twist this week?” he asked.

  I moonlighted as a bouncer at the hottest bar in town. The best and most-sought-after all went there.

  “A few days,” I replied with a shrug.

  “Think you can get me in?” he asked hopefully.

  “Come talk to me when you’re twenty-one.” I smirked.

  I shook my head as he went over to a girl waving to him on a treadmill. I caught sight of myself in the mirror as walked over to the desk. From a professional standpoint, I looked pretty good, but then, I’d started young.

  Working with my uncles in construction through high school started me in the fitness lifestyle. Then again, I also didn’t spend time after work drinking and partying. Those guys were the ones that gave gyms a bad name. You want the body, you put in the time, the effort to get ahead. No one ever said Tyler Becker didn’t go the extra mile.

  I walked over to the desk to check out how many more clients I had before I headed to my agent that afternoon. At twenty-seven, I was nearing the end of my range and was considered an old man for the modeling I did. But it worked well while I planned my next step.

  The thought tugged at me again. What’s the next step? I was six foot two and built like a tank, so I’d had jobs in security. I could always do something physical, but my uncles’ bodies started breaking down in their thirties and by the time they were in the forties, if they weren’t wearing the white helmets, they were on disability. That wasn’t the life for me.

  I caught a black and lavender vision in my peripherals. I looked up into the most gorgeous blue eyes I had ever seen. She smiled slightly at me as she headed for the ellipticals. I checked out her ass because that’s what you are working on if you’re using those machines. Hers did not disappoint. I watched her as she saw the “out of order” sign, looked down at her feet and headed to the showers. I always did appreciate good looking women.

  Up until four months before, my roommate, Shane, and I had been playing the field, finding hookups on a constant basis. If it didn’t interfere with his teaching, he was as good to go as he had been in college. Then, he met Becky. It was like the world came off its axis for him. They were seldom apart. It had thrown me for a loop when he’d proposed to her a month before. They had only known each other for such a short time. We’d shared our apartment for the past six years and been lucky to find it when we did. Now, it was in a nice up-and-coming area.