“Yes, thank you for agreeing not to crash the site again while Ican’tbe here.” If it came out slightly sarcastically, I wasn’t going to feel bad.
Neither did Eli, evidently, because he smiled and straightened. “I’m happy to help.”
“Thanks.” I was surrounded by crazy people; no wonder my own sanity wasn’t able to keep up with all the wild fantasies running through my mind.
Closing everything down for the night, I started heading out of the office. “You coming?”
He smirked. “Not yet, but give me a bit and I could be tempted.”
“Eli.” Rolling my eyes, I just started walking away.
Eli laughed and bounced out of the room after me. “What are we doing for dinner? You’re clearly bored.”
I had to laugh. I was bored? “I don’t want to be out late. I have to pack tonight.”
I glanced back to see Eli waving his hand like I was being ridiculous. “You’ve been living out of a suitcase. You have like fifteen minutes of packing, tops.”
Unfortunately, he was right. But in my defense, it was two suitcases and a couple of boxes in my car. As we headed up the stairs at the end of the hall, I gave him a firm look. “I’m still not going out late. No dragging me to weird bars.”
“Hey, at thatweird baryou found a roommate. So I think you owe me.” Eli perked up and almost danced up the stairs.
There was no ignoring his state of dress anymore. “Why are you naked?”
“I’m not naked.” He stopped in front of me and wiggled his ass so the panties flashed in my face.
“Fine, why are you dancing around here in just panties?” I knew better than to ask, but there was just something about working there that had my common sense leaking out my ears.
Glancing back, he winked at me. “It’s a bet.”
I was stupid. “What kind of bet?”
Beaming, he stopped and posed on the stairs. “I have to work in just panties or lingerie for the next two days. Then I win.”
My inner idiot couldn’t be held back. “Why and what?”
Eli must have understood what I was asking because he grinned and kept walking. “One of the people who regularly comments on the blog wanted to find a way to drive Roman crazy and came up with the bet. If I win, then he’s going to donate two thousand dollars to the LGBT youth center downtown, and he gets to claim that his idea made Roman nuts.”
“He doesn’t know what you look like or anything, does he?” The guys had been lucky when it came to not attracting crazies, but after seeing some of the comments on his blog, I wanted them all to be careful.
Eli just waved his hand and started down the hall on the top floor, obviously heading for my room. “Of course not. He’s agreed to let Preston be the one who says that I completed the terms of the bet, and I’ve said that I’m going to post lots of selfies to the blog.”
“To the blog?” Was that what he’d said?
Shit.
“Oh, that’s what I forgot to tell you.” That didn’t seem to bother him. He just shrugged and waved his hands around dramatically. “It will be fine. I was going to mention it, but I got distracted. You were moaning about your new roommate and got me right off track.”
“Of course, it’s my fault.” My sarcasm was clear as I unlocked the door.
“See.” I was rewarded with a huge smile as he gave me a look like I was a child who’d just said something smart.
Unlocking my door, I just shook my head. “Eli.”
“It will be fine. No site crashing, just posting a few selfies to show I’m playing along with the bet.” He was as earnest and sweet as he could be when he was nearly naked. Lord, I was going to have to deal with a panty-clad Eli for days?
Letting us both in, I watched him walk over to my bed and plop down. “What’s Roman saying about the bet?”
The rooms had pull-out couches that turned into pretty comfortable beds, but I hadn’t bothered to put mine up that morning. I was starting to regret that. Eli just stretched out comfortably, thoroughly enjoying making me squirm.
