Accidental Roommate Read online

  “Can I have some?” He was looking me up and down again. I never knew someone could make me feel so objectified and so damn sexy at the same time.

  “Excuse me?” I asked.

  “The coffee?” he said, pointing to the coffee maker.

  “Oh, yes, of course.” My arms were still crossed, and I pushed my thighs together tightly as I stepped back out of his way.

  “Don’t worry about what you’re wearing on my account,” he said, clearly sensing my discomfort. “It looks pretty great on you. Besides, you can walk around without a stitch on as far as I’m concerned. I promise I won’t mind.” He smirked and held up the mug of coffee. “Thanks for the joe,” he said, walking back to his room.

  After he walked away, I collapsed back against the refrigerator and let out a deep sigh. Holy shit, that body. I’d never seen anyone with shoulders like that before, not to mention the washboard abs, and the v-lines pointing to the thing my body couldn’t help but crave.

  A little exercise would help me work off some of my nervous energy. Putting on my running pants, sports bra and tee, I did four miles, music blaring, around the park and past the waterfront. When I returned, I decided to do some yoga for good measure. I grabbed my yoga mat and set up on the hardwood floor of the living room.

  “Your form is great,” I heard Tyler say behind me as I was in downward dog, “but if I could make a suggestion…” He walked over and put one hand on my hip, the other pushing the back of my shoulders gently to align my position. “If you go a little more inverse with the shoulders, you get more stretch across the hips. Do you feel it?”

  Frequent embarrassment and sexual frustration, I thought as my ass was in the air, this is my life now.

  “Yeah, I do, actually,” I replied. “I forgot you were a trainer.”

  I came out of downward dog and faced him. He was in a charcoal suit that was a better fit and looked more expensive than anything I’d ever seen the most successful attorney wear. “Whoa,” involuntarily passed my lips as he straightened his cuffs.

  “I’ll take that as an endorsement of my suit?” he said, arching an eyebrow.

  “Sorry, I’ve just never seen you dressed like that,” I replied.

  “Well, as the best man, I’m kind of expected to bring it.” He chuckled.

  “Oh right – wedding. Have fun.” I smiled.

  “Not exactly my cup of tea, but he’s my best friend, so I’ll make the best of it. Have a great night,” he said as he turned to walk out the door. “Oh, and the wedding is upstate, so I won’t be back until tomorrow night. You might want to put on the deadbolt. Or keep your kettlebell handy. Have a good one, Grayce.”

  As soon as he left, I grabbed my phone and called Ella.

  “Well, thank God! I was going to call out a search party. How’s the X-Factor, Roommate Edition going?” she asked.

  “Well, I have a roommate,” I said. “Moved in yesterday, actually.”

  “Wow, that was fast! What’s she like?” I could hear the faintest hint of jealousy in her voice.

  “Well, she’s…a dude. It’s a guy.” I braced myself for her self-congratulations.

  “So, you did listen to me after all! Tell me everything,” she said.

  “Funny story,” I started. “He actually works at Flex, my gym. He’s the one that poured coffee all over me that first morning before Mr. Jensen came in.”

  Ella was quiet for a moment. “But, he just replied to the ad? A coincidence?”

  “Yes, and the agency messed up his name on the application. I thought he was a woman named Taylor, not a guy named Tyler,” I said. “His references were great, he makes plenty of money – he has several regular jobs, actually, but that’s not the problem.” I sighed.

  “So, what is the problem, Miss Roommate-Has-To-Be-Perfect?”

  “The problem is, he’s fucking insanely hot. He’s a model, in fact. I think that’s his new billboard in Times Square.”

  “No. Fucking. Way! What’s his last name?” she asked, and I heard her typing on her laptop.

  “Tyler Becker,” I replied. “I swear to God, Ella. He came in from a run this morning, and I nearly had an orgasm just looking at his abs.”

  “Holy shit!” Ella squealed. “No way this guy is your new roomie!”

  “Yeah,” I said with a defeated sigh. “Yeah, he is.”

  “Noah is with my Mom on Monday. I’m coming over after work to check him out. But Grayce, you know what I think.” I knew what she was going to say.

  “Hmm, let me think about that…you think I should, I don’t know, do him?” I replied sarcastically.

  “You know the fastest way to get over a guy is to get under a new one,” she replied. “Oh, shit. Noah!” I heard the crash from her apartment. “Gotta go. I’ll see you Monday.”

  Chapter 10

  Tyler

  I hung my jacket in the back seat of my SUV and started the drive upstate. Becky was from Connecticut, and her parents had a little money, though not serious money by Connecticut standards. The wedding was taking place at a fancy hotel in the Hudson River Valley. Shane had generously taken care of my hotel room as a best man gift. With the added expense of my new place, and the death knell ringing on my modeling career, he knew I was trying to be cautious with my money.

  On the long drive up to Greenwich, I tried my best to put her out of my mind, but she just wouldn’t go. Grayce. My Lavender Girl. Of all the apartments in New York, I couldn’t believe it was hers that I had answered the ad for.

  My mind kept going back to the sight of her last night when I came in. The thin, racerback t-shirt nightie she wore was short enough to give me a nice view of her legs. I could see her nipples poking through the thin, pink fabric. I felt her body react when I put my hand on her shoulder.

  That morning, after my run, had been even worse. She was stretching when I walked in, and she didn’t hear me. She was wearing the same nightie as before, and it was riding up higher on her thigh as she stretched her arms above her head. With her arms up, her breasts lifted, exposing the delicate curve of pale flesh at the side of the nightgown.

  I could’ve bent her over the kitchen counter right then and there. All I could think about was what her skin would taste like, or what it would feel like to sink my cock into her wet, waiting flesh.

  To top it all off, when I came out of my room before I left, she was doing yoga in those damn lavender and black yoga pants that had first caught my attention. Her fine ass was up in the air, practically beckoning me. Is she messing with me? I couldn’t help but wonder.

  This woman wasn’t like other women, though. She didn’t do any of the teasing or flirting that was so common at the gym and the club.

  In any case, I had to be careful. I hadn’t been with a woman in weeks. My last attempt had been thwarted when Shane caught me coming into the apartment with that woman from the club. I wanted to fuck Grayce, definitely. It was weirdly just about all I could think of since I’d first seen her. Still, I couldn’t afford to be out on the street, and if I didn’t time it right, I could find myself looking for another place to stay.

  Unless I could convince her that we should enter a roommates-with-benefits kind of situation, I wasn’t sure how I could make it work. I shifted in my seat and made an adjustment to my pants as my cock reacted to the thought of her. Maybe I could get some action at the wedding. Becky’s friends at the bachelorette party had been a bust, but that didn’t mean there wouldn’t be new options at the wedding itself.

  The wedding venue was an old mansion called Hudson at Round Hill. The small boutique hotel was just across the grounds from the venue itself. I went into the hotel and checked in, texted Shane for his room number, and went up to start my best man duties.

  I knocked on the door and Shane answered it. He, too, was already suited up. He was pacing back and forth, though. His cousin Jeremy was there, and his brother-in-law Todd. “Dude, talk your boy down,” Jeremy said. “He’s freakin’ out.”

  “What’
s up, Shane? You okay, buddy?” I asked, patting him on the shoulder.

  “Yeah, I’m just…fuck, I’m nervous,” he replied.

  “Dude, do you need to bail? I can pull up the Escape and have you out of here in like fifteen minutes. Hey – it’s an Escape, get it? It’s the perfect vehicle for the job.” I chuckled.

  “No, definitely not. It’s not that,” he replied.

  “Then…what’s going on exactly?”

  “I just—I love her so much. And she’s about to marry me.”

  “That tends to happen when you ask a girl to marry you and she says yes. A wedding usually follows those events.”

  “I know, but, I mean, I’m going to be responsible for her. Her life will literally be in my hands. What if I’m a crappy husband? What if I can’t take care of her? What if I fail?” His eyes were wide as he shook his head back and forth.

  I looked at Jeremy and Todd. “Guys?”

  “We’ve been having this conversation all day, man. He won’t listen to us,” Todd said.

  “Shane, buddy.” I put my hands on his shoulders and leaned toward him. “Dude, you got this. You’ve never failed at anything in your life. Besides, for some reason, Becky seems to be in love with your lame ass, and if she really loves you, you’ll never disappoint her.” I gave his arm a firm pat.

  He looked up at me and shook his head in agreement, seeming to calm down.

  “Except in bed,” I added. “You’ll definitely disappoint her in the sack.”

  We all laughed, and the tension was broken.

  An hour later, the vows had been exchanged, and I had given my best man speech. We were finishing up a dinner that was nicer than I expected when the bride and groom took the dance floor for their first dance as man and wife. They didn’t do any of that club dance bullshit, for which I was grateful. Instead, they did a slow dance to “Heaven’s Gate.” After that, all the groomsmen, Shane, some of our buddies from the old neighborhood, and me got out on the dance floor and tore it up to the Beastie Boys song “Sabotage.”

  As I walked back to my seat at the wedding party table, I could feel someone watching me. One of Becky’s cousins came up to me.

  “Hi, I’m Emily,” she said. “Nice moves out there.”

  She was a tall, slim, leggy blonde. I could see a little resemblance to Becky in her figure, but her face was cuter, her features less chiseled.

  “Thanks,” I responded. “I learned from the best. Patrick Swayze in Dirty Dancing.”

  “We can hardly deprive the wedding party of such talent! Care to dance?” She scanned me up and down as she asked the question.

  “Why not,” I replied.

  We stepped onto the floor and danced to a couple of upbeat songs by Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran. She had some pretty good moves herself. She wasn’t exactly grinding on me, but she definitely put enough hips into her movements to give me an idea what was on her mind.

  A slow song came on and she moved in close, putting one hand on my chest and wrapping the other around my neck. I slid my hands around her small waist, my palms on her back. After a few seconds, she laid her head against my chest. It felt nice to have a woman in my arms after the frustration of the previous few days.

  I slid my hands up her back, holding her close as we swayed to the music. As she pressed into me, my body was starting to react to her. Just then, I looked across the room and saw a woman from behind that looked familiar. She was small but had some curves, and a nice ass. Long dark curls fell down between her shoulder blades. No, it can’t be, I thought. She looked a lot like Lavender Girl from behind.

  Emily was saying something, and I didn’t catch what it was. “Sorry,” I asked. What did you say?”

  “I was asking,” she said quietly, “if you might want to get out of here.”

  The dark-haired woman turned around. It was an older woman – definitely not Grayce. Shit! What was wrong with me? I had a pretty, willing, and I suspected limber woman in my arms, and all I could think about was my new roommate back in the city.

  I looked down at Emily. Her eyes were soft, and I knew she was definitely up for it.

  “Sorry, I’m not feeling so hot,” I said. “I think I better call it an early night.”

  Her brow furrowed. “Fine, whatever,” she said, letting go of me and walking back to her table.

  I sat back down with Jeremy. Todd had already gone back to his room with his wife, Susan, who was Shane’s sister. She was heavily pregnant with their first child, and undoubtedly needed some rest.

  “Dude, what did you do to piss off the hot blonde?” Jeremy asked.

  “Oh, her? She’s not my type, so I cut bait,” I said nonchalantly.

  “I’d love to see who you’re screwing if you think that isn’t worth your time,” he chuckled. “Must be nice.”

  “I just wasn’t into her.” I couldn’t exactly tell him that the hot chick I lived with was somehow cock-blocking me via remote control when she wasn’t even here.

  “Hey guys!” Shane walked up and put an arm around Jeremy and me. “You guys are the best, you know that?” He had clearly been enjoying the reception. “Tyler, dude, that speech, was just…man, it was great,” he said, hugging me.

  “You’re welcome, man. We’ve been friends a long time. I’m glad to see you so happy.”

  “You deserve to be happy too, Tyler. It’s gonna happen. I know it’s gonna happen,” he half-slurred into my ear.

  “I’m sure it will, buddy,” I replied.

  If this happily-ever-after thing was going to be part of his regular life outlook, I was glad I had moved out. I knew he wanted me to be happy, but Jesus! Six months before, he thought seeing to my happiness was being a good wingman by helping me spot the hottest piece of ass in the bar. Now, all of a sudden, he was all about relationships and marriage. How did that even happen?

  I decided to find a more low-key conversation, so I went over and sat with Shane’s mom for a little while.

  “Hi, Mrs. Sutton,” I said, giving her a kiss on the cheek as I sat in the empty chair next to her. “It’s been too long. How have you been?”

  “Oh, Tyler! It’s so good to see you,” she said. “I’m doing well, how about you?”

  “Pretty good,” I replied.

  “Shane tells me you moved out of the apartment this week. Did you find a nice place?”

  “Yeah, I did, actually. A great place in Astoria. It’s next to a park, and right by the river. It’s kind of a nice change from the hustle and bustle of the city.” I smiled. I had always loved Mrs. Sutton, and after my parents died, she had been especially good to me.

  “That’s good to hear. So, my boy is a married man now. That’s both of them.” She wiped her palms together as if she was wiping the dust from them. “My work here is done until Susan’s baby arrives and I can start being a horrible influence on my grandchildren.” We both laughed. “I wish Frank were here, though.” She smiled bittersweetly. Shane’s dad had died of a heart attack about three years before.

  “I’m sure he is, in a way,” I said, putting an arm around her.

  She smiled up at me, her eyes full of kindness. “So, now, I’ve got Susan married off, and now Shane. You were in my house so much growing up, you’re practically one of my kids too. What do I have to do to get you paired up, hmm?” she asked. “Are you seeing anyone regular?”

  I chuckled. “No, Mrs. Sutton, I’m not. Most of the women I’ve gone out with are just…well, it can be hard, sometimes, to find someone that’s really special.” I lied, hoping to appease her, at least for the moment.

  “You’ve met someone, Tyler Becker. I can see it all over your face, and don’t you lie to me. You know perfectly well I can tell when you’re lying.” She gave me the most motherly look I had ever seen.

  “No, it’s not…I mean we’re not dating or anything,” I said. “I ran into her a couple of times, then it turned out she was the one renting out the apartment, and now we’re rooming together.” Shit! Why was I telling her thi
s? “I mean, there’s nothing going on. I’m not even sure she’s interested.”

  I took a deep breath, forcing myself to stop talking. I was babbling like an idiot about a woman I knew almost nothing about, but who had kept me from scoring at a wedding.

  “Mm-hmm,” she replied. “I see.” She had a look of smug satisfaction on her face.

  “No, seriously, it’s just…could you please stop mom-ing me for one minute and promise you won’t say anything to Shane? Or anyone else? I really don’t know if there is anything even there.”

  She patted me on the knee. “I promise, dear, I won’t. But, you know, you really are a great guy. Any girl would be lucky to have you, and I’m not just talking about your looks. You deserve real love, you know. I’m sure you’ll find it.” She smoothed a strand of hair that had fallen onto my face, and I nodded.

  It was just this type of thing that I missed so much from my own mom. Mrs. Sutton had done her best to take me under her wing. She’d been so kind after my parents had died. I wasn’t sure she knew, but sometimes I would stop by in the afternoons after classes to see her, even when I knew Shane wouldn’t be home. She would fix me something to eat and ask me about my week. It was stupid, I knew, but it was something my uncles just couldn’t do for me. I missed both my parents terribly, but a woman who loved you unconditionally, and just wanted to care for you, and for you to be happy – that was a special kind of gift that only moms seemed to have.

  “It’s getting pretty late. I think I’m going to turn in. Goodnight, Mrs. Sutton,” I said, kissing her on the cheek and giving her shoulders a squeeze.

  “Goodnight, dear,” she said. “Oh, and by the way, I’m glad you didn’t hook up with Becky’s cousin Emily. I hear she can be mean the next day.” She winked and I laughed, rolling my eyes.

  I headed over to the hotel building and went up to my room. At the reception, in the hotel bar, hell, even in the hallways there were people hooking up left and right. Tyler, you’re an idiot, I thought. It could’ve been me. I could’ve been walking back to my bed with a willing, and very able-bodied blonde on my arm, but I wasn’t.