Off-Limits Roomates

22. Ella

22

***Ella***

B ooth was sitting on the couch watching TV after Vaughn dropped me off and left to get his dick sucked. I was still reeling from how much those words had pissed me off. I wanted to stab him in the penis with a fork. I was even reeling from why I felt so pissed off. For a second, the dinner with Vaughn had felt almost like a date, which was crazy. But it had. And then he said that and I felt betrayed. It was all so screwed up that I didn’t want to think about it for another second. Seeing Booth was a relief so I didn’t have to be alone with my own thoughts. I didn’t care if Booth and I had our own awkwardness going on. It had to be better than feeling like my ex-step brother was cheating on me.

I sat on the opposite side of the couch as Booth and stared at the TV. “How was your day?”

Booth grunted. “Long.”

I swallowed. Maybe sitting with Booth hadn’t been a good idea after all. Something was seriously wrong with me. I felt like a bunny rabbit in heat. Everything felt more than what it was.

“How was tutoring Vaughn?”

“He’s still a jerk.”

Booth laughed and as tense as the room had been, it lightened up at that sound. He looked over at me and smiled. “Vaughn will always be Vaughn.”

I pulled my feet under me and turned to face him. “I think he was put on this earth to make me crazy.”

“I’ve felt like that at times, too.” He muted the TV. “There’s ice cream in the fridge if you want some.”

“Booth! You don’t have to keep buying me ice cream.” I patted my stomach. “I’ve been eating way too much of it. If I don’t stop, I’m going to have to actually work out.”

“Your body is perfect the way it is, Ella. Eat all the ice cream you want.” His eyes heated as they moved over my body. “Is that a new dress?”

For some reason, I went up on my knees to show him the full dress. “No. I just don’t have my cardigan on over it. I left it at the library.”

He reached out and lightly tugged on the bottom hem. His knuckles brushed my thigh and he smiled at my quick intake of breath. “You look really pretty.”

I blushed and inched closer to him. Sitting back on my heels, I took in his deep brown eyes and his ever present dimples. He was beyond handsome. “You do, too.”

He grinned and I groaned. His laugh was deep and velvety as he pretended to fluff his hair. “I feel pretty today, too. Thank you.”

I rolled my eyes. “Shut up.”

Shrugging, he smiled and unmuted the TV. “We don’t have to talk.”

We didn’t have to, but I wanted to. I crawled across the couch until I was kneeling right next to him, leaning over so I blocked his view of the TV with my head. “Pay attention to me.”

His laughter filled my stomach with butterflies. “What if I don’t want to?”

Pouting, I sat back and sighed. “Then I guess I should go.”

He wrapped his arm around my waist and pulled me into his lap. I forgot to breathe when he searched my face from that close. After a few seconds, he turned his eyes back to the TV. “I don’t feel like either of us can handle my full attention on you, Ella.”

“I could.” I wiggled to get his attention on me again. “In the gym…I liked your full attention.”

His dimples faded as he made his face as neutral as possible. “Has anything changed since then?”

“My sanity has gotten more and more questionable.” I leaned closer and pressed my lips to his cheek, where his dimple should’ve been. “Don’t hide your dimples from me.”

“What are you doing, Ella?”

I kissed the other side of his mouth. “I don’t know. I just want to know what it would feel like to have you touch me again.”

His eyes flickered with a heat he quickly masked, a muscle in his jaw ticking as he pulled back, just out of reach. “How do you feel about playing a game, Ella?”

I perked up. The tone of his voice promised more fun than any game had ever brought me. “Pretty good.”

He put me aside, stood up, and brought out two controllers for a game station. The look on my face made him laugh.. He sat on the floor in front of me and glanced back at me. “You’ve got a dirty mind, Ella.”

I blew out a sigh and settled on the couch behind him. “Yeah, yeah. Just set up the game, Booth.”

The first couple of rounds we kept it civil. After Booth cheated and beat me on the third round, the gloves came off. I reached forward and covered his eyes with my hands. He reached back and tickled my sides. I put my feet on his shoulders and pushed him around. He grabbed my feet and tickled them. I was laughing so hard my abs hurt.

Everything was normal until it was Booth’s turn to play and my normal tactics weren’t distracting him enough. He was closing in on my high score and I panicked. I went up on my knees behind him and used my dress as a blindfold over his eyes. What I didn’t think through was that I’d just pulled my dress over a grown man’s head while I was wearing it. Booth reached up to uncover his eyes and I was rethinking my life choices when a throat clearing in the doorway made us both freeze. Only my dress was still over Booth’s head.

I yanked it off and back down while flashing a smile at Fisher. He stood in the doorway with a scowl on his face to rival Vaughn’s. I was mortified and I did the only thing I knew to do while mortified. I made it worse. “It wasn’t weird. I pulled my dress over his head so he couldn’t see the screen and beat me.”

“You pulled your dress over my head?” Booth looked back at me with an incredulous look on his face.

“Not in a weird way!” I covered my face with my hands and groaned. “It didn’t feel weird at the moment!”

Fisher walked farther into the room and stared at us with his hands on his hips. He frowned down at Booth and then took a big breath. After a second, he loosened his shoulders and shook his head at me. “You’re nuts.”

I nodded. “Yeah. I’m aware. Can you believe I’m going to be a lawyer someday?”

Booth stood up and moved towards the door. “You can take over my spot in the game, Fish.”

“No, stay.” I got up and grabbed his hand to pull him back. “We can all play. No cheating this time.”

Booth and Fisher exchanged a look that I couldn’t decipher but they each sat on the couch, leaving just enough space for me between them. Fisher patted my thigh and then took the controller from me. “I’m going first.”

I sighed and leaned into him. “This isn’t going to turn into Booth and Fisher play games together time. I refuse to be left out.”

“You don’t have to be left out. You could always be a team player by making us dinner.” Fisher grunted when I elbowed him in the side. “Shit. You’re strong for such a tiny thing.”

I scowled at him. “First of all, I’m not little. Second of all, because of that comment, you and Booth can make me dinner. I’m craving pasta.”

Booth raised his eyebrows at me. “You want food poisoning? Because asking me and Fish to cook for you is how you get food poisoning.”

Acting more put out than I felt, I groaned and stood up. Putting my hands on my hips, I frowned at them. “Up. Both of you should know how to make pasta. Come on. I’ll help you.”

“Will you make more cookies?” Fisher waited for Booth to stand up and then pushed him back down.

Booth grabbed Fisher’s leg and dropped him to the floor. “Cookies would be amazing.”

Rolling my eyes, I stepped out of the way as they both ended up on the floor, wrestling with each other. “If you both get up and act even remotely like adults, I’ll make cookies.”

Booth caught my leg and pulled me down on top of them. He laughed until I bit his leg. “Shit! You can’t bite me.”

“Little Vampire is back.” Fisher didn’t think his comment was so cute when I elbowed him in the thigh. “Whoa! Watch the family jewels.”

I climbed back to my feet and hurriedly got out of their arm’s reach. “I’m going to make cookies and save them just for Vaughn. That’ll show you.”

A chorus of complaining went up as I blew a very mature raspberry at them and walked out of the room. I was just pulling butter from the fridge when Fisher appeared in the kitchen, a serious look on his face.

“You two seem cozy.” He saw me start to say something and held up his hands. “I’m not going to stop you if you want something with him. I just can’t promise I’m not going to keep trying for myself.”

“I don’t know what I’m doing, Fisher.”

His smile was full of dark promises. “You’re sampling. I’m okay with it. I have faith in my skills. You’ll be back.”

Booth walked in and shoved Fisher out of the way. “Okay, wise one. Teach us your pasta ways.”

I swallowed down my nerves and nodded. “Yep. My pasta ways. No problem.”