Laughing, I shook my head. “Paranoid nut.”
He grinned. “You say that like it’s a bad thing. Okay, got to go.” He pointed at some of the guys who were waiting not-so-patiently. “I’ll see you on Monday. Have fun with the sexy roomie. I couldn’t have picked better myself. I’m very proud of you.”
I had a feeling he’d be even more pleased if he knew Houston’s sexy secret—not that I was going to tell.
I still wasn’t sure if it was something he discussed openly or kept quiet, but until he brought it up again, I wouldn’t say anything. It wasn’t quite an elephant in the room; it was more like sexy panties hanging from the ceiling. But either way, it was going to get ignored.
Laughing, I called out after him, “You’re insane.”
He grinned and gave me a little pose. “And you love it.”
Grinning, I started heading for the building as everyone else drove away. I was enjoying getting to know them and really appreciated their help, but the peace and quiet were going to be nice—as long as things didn’t get weird between Houston and me.
Had he just been ignoring the teasing comments from Eli and the group, or had he not understood what they were hinting at? I wasn’t sure which it was, or if I was being honest, which I wanted. Even simply being attracted to a roommate was a bad idea. When I tossed in everything else, it was aterribleidea.
That didn’t mean it wasn’t tempting.
As I went up in the elevator, I tried to push it out of my head. Houston wasjustmy roommate. Nothing else.
He couldn't be.
Letting myself into the apartment, I saw Houston heading out of the kitchen and called out to him, “I hope they didn’t drive you crazy at lunch.”
“No, it was fun.” He paused in the doorway. “And I don’t think I drove them nuts, either. Although I’m not sure if Eli liked me or not.”
It almost looked like he was going to say something else, so I waited, but he must have changed his mind because he just shrugged. I wasn’t sure how to explain Eli’s odd behavior. Repeatedly throwing Houston and me together hadn’t been subtle. “He’s just Eli.”
If Houston hadn’t seen what Eli was trying to do, I didn’t want to draw attention to it and make everything awkward. And if Houston noticed but didn’t know how to stop Eli’s meddling without telling me flat-out he wasn’t interested, I didn’t want to hear it either.
That conversation would just be terrible.
I’d rather live with the fantasy.
Not that I was planning on fantasizing about my new roommate. Nope. No imagining what his sexy lingerie might look like or what he might do as a Dom. Bad idea. I was smarter than that. Or at least, I was going to pretend I was.
I needed to get laid.
Houston gave me a crooked smile and nodded. “I can agree with that. I’m just glad that your friends will be easy to have around. That hasn’t always been the case.”
I got the feeling that Houston hadn’t necessarily had the best luck with picking people who lived with him. Hopefully, I’d break the pattern and not end up being another person who drove him nuts. “I’m not going to make things hard, and they're great, for the most part.” Just crazy and nosy. “So I don’t think it’ll be a problem.”
He nodded but clearly didn’t believe me. He seemed…guarded and distrustful, like he was ready for everything to go sideways and was simply waiting for the crash. Or maybe I was overthinking it. “Thanks for helping.”
I was never this awkward. I couldn’t have been, or I’d never have gotten laid. I was going to start talking to him about the weather next if I didn’t get my shit together. It wasn’t like I’d never had a roommate. I understood how to get to know people. I’d flirted, and the women I’d dated and had scenes with hadn’t thought I was a hopeless dork.
Right?
Them being in charge had probably helped things, but still…
Hudson gave me another nod, his standard I-don’t-know-what-to-say move, evidently, and jerked his head toward his room. “I’ve got a few things I need to get done, then I’m going to head out to the gym. You’ve got keys, so just make yourself at home, and let me know if you need anything.”
“Great. Thanks.”
As he walked away, I pushed the stray thought that wanted to know what he would be wearing to the gym out of my head. Not. My. Business. Giving my head a shake to help clear the random images that wouldn’t go away, I tried to figure out the plan for the evening. Unpacking and organizing needed to come first. The room was big, and we’d already gotten most of it done, but I wasn’t sure I liked the layout.
“Okay, caffeine and then tackle the room. Once that’s done, groceries.” I was hoping “make yourself at home” was also code for “Yes, you can use some of my coffee,” because I was going to need it. I’d been up too late the night before and too early that morning. Work had been great about giving me the day off, and even not scheduling a shoot so most of the guys could help me, but there’d still been some things that I’d needed to go in and do.
For one thing, Eli had posted some candid shots that he’d taken in the mirror late the previous night, and I’d wanted to make sure the site was handling the extra traffic. Luckily, everything had stayed up and running. Even my brain—although I was never going to get the image of those panties out of my head.
