6. BODI
6
W hen I set foot in my penthouse with Kayla following in my tracks, I’m grinding my teeth because I’m fully regretting this decision now.
I’m playing with fire the second she enters my personal space. Every single surface seems like a good place to find out if she still feels as good underneath me as I remember. The countertops, my cream-colored U-shaped couch, my country white hardwood floors.
I shake my head before I close the front door behind her.
“Damn, McKay. This looks amazing.” She glances around the spacious living room before moving a few steps forward to look at the big kitchen on the left. Her slender fingers trail the gray marble of the oversized kitchen island while her eyes are focused on the view of the floor-to-ceiling windows.
“Wauw. You wake up to his view?” She saunters forward, past the big couch, to get closer to the window. My attention gets captured by the curves of her hips, swaying from left to right in the sexiest way without her even trying.
Fuck, she would like great pressed against the glass, her hands above her head while I slide home inside of her, staring at the city of Atlanta.
Get it together, Bodi.
“You must feel like a rockstar every day.” She turns around, whipping me out of my excruciating fantasy, and I rapidly bring my focus back to her face instead of her lower body.
“Pretty much, yeah.” I point at the hallway leading to the left side of the house. “That’s the guest area. There are two rooms, one bath. Take the room on the left, because Jason is still sleeping in the other one, so be quiet.”
“Jason is here?”
“Yeah, we went out last night. He’ll be flying back to LA at the end of the day.”
“You’re not bothered with me staying here with him?”
I tilt my head, eyes challenging. “Are you gonna do anything that will bother me, Kayla?”
I step closer, and suddenly two deep blue eyes blink rapidly at me.
“Like what?”
“I don’t know. You tell me.”
Her lips part as a hint of mischief dances over her face. A rush of jealousy ventures through me like a tidal wave, fueling my racing heart. She better not be planning to hook up with Jason, because I swear I will kill someone.
Her eyes expand before they roll to the ceiling as her nose scrunches up a little, an exasperated chuckle coming from her plump lips. “He’s not my type, Bodi.”
Relieved, I run my hand through my now messy hair, studying her flushed cheeks, while refraining from making a flirty come back. Let’s not dive into the deep end. I’m already in enough trouble as it is.
If I had known this was how my day would start, I wouldn’t even have bothered getting up in the first place.
“You can throw your laundry in the hamper, and my cleaning lady will take care of it every three days.”
“You have a cleaning lady?” She slowly ambles back to me.
“That surprises you?” I quirk up a brow.
I like my house clean, tidy and organized, but that doesn’t mean I like doing it myself.
“I guess not. If you live in a place like this, you sure as fuck can afford to never clean again.”
She halts right in front of me, just close enough for me to smell a hint of that intoxicated honey and rose shampoo, but not close enough for me to scold her about the lack of distance. My stomach flutters and I suppress the groan that wants to follow.
“So, where do you sleep?” Her voice is lower than I want it to be, and I do my best to keep a straight face, ignoring the small jolt of my dick.
Here’s a thought; wherever I get to fuck you first.
God, I hate being the sensible one.
“The right side of the house is mine. Don’t go there.” I sound angry, but really, I’m not. Or maybe I am. I don’t really know. “I gotta go make some calls, then get back to the office. You get settled in and start tomorrow.”
I need to get the fuck out of here, because I’m just a nano second away from deciding that I don’t want to be the sensible one anymore. So before she can hold me there with just one more glance, I make a straight line to my side of the apartment.
“Do I need to do anything? Cook dinner or something?” she calls out behind my back.
“Nope, I’ll bring some dinner when I get back,” I retort, without turning around. “If there’s anything you need, just ask Jason when he gets up.”
At a fast pace, I stride into my suite before I slam the door behind me. I push the air out of my lungs, dropping my back against the door as I close my eyes.
Fucked doesn’t even come close to what I am.
If this is how my body responds to having her around me for an hour, how the hell am I going to be able to keep her here for a month if I can’t touch her. I was being a dick to her earlier, but I can’t seem to find a response that’s anything in between.
Either I want to kiss her, or I’m mad at her. Mad at myself. Because I piss myself off for not being able to stop looking at her like she’s going to warm my bed whenever I want.
I bounce off the door with a grunt, then throw myself onto the bed, pulling out my phone. With my arm covering my eyes, I call the one person to bitch about, ready to throw out all of my frustration.
You better fucking pick up.
“Before you start yelling at me,” Rae says as soon as the dial tone stops, “I didn’t know she was going to sneak out in the middle of the night. Though she did sneak out of Stanford, so that could’ve been an indication.” The last sentence comes out in a mumble.
“You couldn’t have given me a heads up?”
“I saw the note five minutes ago!” she defends. “It’s my day off. I got to sleep in, and Jensen doesn’t notice shit when he sleep walks out of here for practice.”
“She was in my office with a suitcase, Rae.”
“I can imagine.”
“Oh, but that’s not all!” I disclose, sharply. “She has no place to stay. She just hopped onto the first flight out here, winging it.”
“What?! Where is she staying?” The sound of her voice is laced with worry, and I roll my eyes at the denseness of her question.
“Where do you think?”
Silence.
More silence.
Until I snap. “With me , Rae!”
A soft “Oohhh” is audible through the line, and I push out a sarcastic chuckle.
Oh ? That’s what she has to say? Oh ? That doesn’t even cover it a little.
This is not an oh moment. It’s not even an oops moment.
It’s a what the fuck moment.
“Yeah! Seems like a job isn’t the only thing I’m giving. Nope, she also claimed a room in my house. Apparently, I’m not just an unemployment office now, I’m also a freaking hotel.”
The sound of a gust of breathe rustles in my ear. “You’re being dramatic, Bodi. You two got along perfectly last year. I’m sure it’s only for a couple of weeks. Just until she gets back on her feet. As long as you don’t sleep with her, you’ll be fine.”
Which is the exact problem, ain’t it?
But my pride is too big to admit that.
“She’s nineteen,” I huff.
“Didn’t stop you before.”
Don’t I know it.
“Shut up.”
“Gladly, because I haven’t had breakfast yet.”
“No! Rae, wait.” I sit up, running another hand through my hair, before it drops on my knee. “Help me out. She can’t stay here.”
I will not fucking survive it.
She stays quiet as I wait for her to save me from this trainwreck waiting to happen.
“What if it ruins the whole dynamic of our friendship and shit?”
I mean it’s in her benefit to help me out with this. It will be awkward if we sleep together again, then we fuck it up, and it will affect our whole group of friends. Or worse, this whole living together makes us dislike each other. It’s really in everyone’s best interest to just have her live with someone else.
You know, so we can keep our whole group of friends intact.
“I’ll talk to Jensen. Maybe he has some friends in the city that can take her in.”
A relieved feeling washes over me. “Thank you.”
“Just be nice to her in the meantime, okay?”
“I will,” I agree, even though I don’t believe my own bullshit.
***
Jason is an early bird so it doesn’t surprise me when my phone rings barely an hour later, and I pick it up from my desk.
“Yeah?”
“Am I still drunk?” his groggy voice asks, “Or is Kayla sitting on your couch?”
“Considering the amount of shots we had? Probably both.”
“What the fuck, Bodi? I almost walked out of there naked.”
My anger flares up. “You what?”
The thought of my friends flashing my girl… Excuse me ? Never mind.
“I said almost , dickface. Relax. Breathe. ”
A little busted, I settle deeper into my leather chair, rubbing my eyebrows.
I inflate my lungs until there’s no more room, then exhale as long as I can.
“You good?”
“Yeah, I’m good.”
“Great, now you wanna tell me what she’s doing here?”
I inform him of my morning until I can imagine his smug face as I close my eyes.
“I told you, you’re fucked.” His grin is audible.
“Yes, Jason. We have established that. Now that you’re sober, wanna talk about Julie?”
The silence is as loud as the fourth of July fireworks, before he changes the subject, chipper as fuck. “So, anyway. What do you want me to do with her?”
Yeah, that’s what I thought.
“Just keep an eye on her. I don’t want her wandering off into the city, because chances are I’ll either have to drag her out of a bar or pick her up from the station for underage drinking.”
He laughs. “She’s fun, though.”
“She’s trouble, Jason.” A whole lot of it.
“Yeah, that too. I’ll hang out with her until you get home.”
“That would be great. Are you staying for dinner?”
“Nah, I’ll grab something at the airport.”
“Okay, see you later,” I tell him, then hang up the phone as someone knocks on my door.
“Come in.”
Rachel, one of my senior editors, struts in with a beaming smile on her face. Her hips are tucked into a pencil skirt that’s a little too short for my taste, while her chest is covered by an orange sweater that stands out against her red lipstick. And not in a good way.
She holds up a file in her head as she approaches my desk. “I got you that manuscript from my friend.”
Right, I promised her I’d have a look. The last twenty four hours are filled with bad ideas. I’m sensing a theme. The stack of papers lands on my desk with a flat noise, and I glance at it, the title already urging my eyes to roll to the back of my head.
I pick up the file, flipping the pages. There’s a good chance I’ll skim over all of the…250 pages this holds.
“Who’s Rae’s hot cousin?” Rachel says, and I frown at her as she peeks at something on the surface on my desk.
“What?” I follow her gaze.
“Oh, shit.” I reach for my phone that’s displaying Kayla’s contact. “No one.”
“One of your nightly conquests?” Her lashes quiver as she leans her hip against my desk.
“Something like that.”
I dig into my phone, quickly changing Rae’s Hot Cousin to something normal.
You know, like Kayla or something.
When Rachel stays put, looking at me, I shoot her a bored look. “Do you need anything else?”
She jerks, her cheeks growing flush from embarrassment as she straightens her body. “Oh, I thought maybe you wanted some backstory for the manuscript.”
“Thanks, but I’ll just read it and get back to you.”
My fingers are itching to text Kayla back, and I don’t want to do that with one of my editors watching my every move. She’s already lucky I’m giving her friend a chance by reading it; I don’t need her hovering while I do it. Don’t want my expression to give me away before I give her a well thought out no, because I’m solid that it’s shit.
Dismissing Rachel, I give her a tight smile. “Can you close the door on the way out? I got some stuff to do.”
“Right. Yes. Thank you.” She looks bummed when she leaves, and I raise my brows, not having the patience to find out why as I watch her get out of my office.
When she’s finally closed the door behind her, I open my phone.
Rae’s Hot Cousin: I’m disappointed.
KAYLA: Are you ignoring me?
KAYLA : I see the blue ticks you know
BODI: I’m working
KAYLA: Then why pick up your phone if you’re busy.
BODI: because you were listed as Rae’s hot cousin on my phone, and I needed to change it before someone sees. .
KAYLA: I’m flattered. You’re Sexy Booknerd.
BODI: You’re joking, right?
KAYLA: I never joke about sexy booknerds
BODI: technically I’m your boss right now
KAYLA: So you prefer sexy boss nerd? *wink emoji*
I shake my head. This girl.
BODI: Why are you disappointed?
KAYLA: Why are you changing the subject?
BODI: Do you wanna get fired before you even start?
KAYLA: No flirting with the boss. Noted.
BODI: Do you ever answer a question in one go?
KAYLA: What was the question? *laughing tear emoji*
BODI: Bye Kayla
KAYLA: I believe you mean Rae’s hot cousin.
BODI: I’ll see you tonight.
Five minutes later, my phone dings again, and I empty my lungs.
KAYLA: I remember now.
BODI: what?
KAYLA: Why I was disappointed.
BODI: Enlighten me.
KAYLA: You have no food.
BODI: What are you talking about? I have plenty of food in the house.
KAYLA: You have vegetables.
KAYLA: And protein shakes *barf emoji*
BODI: That’s food.
KAYLA: It’s shit.
BODI: I’ll go to the store after work. What do you want?
KAYLA: Anything with sugar.
KAYLA: Definitely butterfingers!
KAYLA: oh and Candy Corn.
KAYLA: Twinkies?
BODI: I’m not buying that crap. How can you eat that?
KAYLA: I could ask you the same question.
KAYLA: Jason is up!
BODI: Great, go annoy him.
KAYLA: But I like annoying you!
BODI: I’m going back to work.
When I get back later that night, I can smell her when I walk through the door. Her sweet scent is already lingering around my apartment, surpassing the smell of the takeout I brought with me.
She looks up from the couch with a wide grin, her baby blue eyes sparkling at me with excitement. She really shouldn’t look at me like that. It does all kinds of weird things to me. Weird things I’m pretty sure I shouldn’t be feeling as her boss .
In general, I like being the boss. But fuck me, I hate being hers.
Such a fucking bad idea.
“I didn’t know what you’d like—that’s somewhat healthy—so I ordered Japanese.” I put the bag on the coffee table, doing my best to not shamelessly let my eyes roam over her body as I plop my ass on the other side of the piece of furniture.
“Takeout isn’t supposed to be healthy.” She lowers the volume of the TV, then starts to open the containers.
“We’re not all nineteen and still surviving on junk food.” I drop my arm over the back of the couch, locking my eyes with hers, and I can’t resist glancing down.
She’s wearing a grey Stanford sweater with some black yoga pants, looking cozy as fuck with her brown hair up in a messy bun. It makes me want to cuddle her, pulling her against my chest in the corner of the couch. Or bed. Whatever she prefers. Maybe trace the swell of her legs underneath that tight fabric.
I really, really hate this.
Aware of my approving gaze, she cocks an eyebrow but doesn’t mention it.
“What did you get?”
“Some ramen, beef teriyaki, chicken katsu. Tempura shrimp.”
Her features change as if she hit the jackpot. “You got fried shrimp?”
I give her a reprimanding look. ” Tempura shrimp. Yes.”
“Anything fried is a win. Are you a plate person, or can we eat this straight from the containers?”
Answering by illustrating, I open a container and reach for a set of chopsticks. “Please tell me you’re not as obsessed with fried stuff as your cousin?”
“Who? Rae?” She follows my example and reaches for the other containers, checking their contents one by one.
I nod, with a mouthful of ramen.
“Oh no, it’s not fried stuff in general for Rae. It’s fried chicken. Preferably Nana’s. And to answer your question, no.” She finds the tempura shrimp and pulls one out, then sinks her teeth into the crunchy thing.
Her eyes close when her lips are wrapped around the shrimp, completely savoring the moment like it’s the most delicious thing she’s ever tasted. Like it’s her first drop of water after a week-long drought.
Hot damn.
Did I mention I hate being her boss?
I swallow hard before licking my lips at the pretty sight, wanting to be that damn shrimp. Who knew eating could be such a turn on?
“It’s burgers.”
Still focused on her plump lips, I blink. “What?”
“What I like. It’s burgers.”
Oh, right. We were talking about food.
“So you like trash?” I put my focus back on my ramen to try to not torture myself, and stay focused on the subject instead of her mouth, her legs or any other part that I wouldn’t mind being my dinner instead of these salty noodles.
“What is wrong with a burger?” she cries.
“Everything.”
“I’m not talking about McDonalds or anything. The best burgers are freshly made from ground beef with cheese and bacon. Though I’ll take a Junior Bacon Cheeseburger from Wendy’s any time of day.”
“You’re crazy.”
“It’s a good burger, Bodi,” she scowls.
“There is nothing good about Wendy’s.”
I hope to age better than my dad, so I put effort into eating as clean as possible, and Wendy's is not clean.
“Fine,” she huffs. “What’s your favorite food?”
“Lasagna. But not the store-bought kind. Fresh. With fresh lasagna sheets, ground beef, tomato sauce, béchamel, and pumpkin slices in between.” My mouth waters at the thought of it and suddenly my ramen tastes like shit. That, or my appetite is changing now that she’s sitting just a yard away from me.
“Lasagna is good, but it doesn’t beat a burger from Wendy’s.”
“Nothing from Wendy’s beats a homemade lasagna. I’m going to prove it to you.”
She frowns, though amusement sits in her eyes.
“Before you move out, I’m going to cook you a homemade lasagna and fresh burgers. You can tell me I’m right after.”
She gives me an incredulous expression, like she’s just bit into a lemon wedge. “Look, I can eat. But lasagna and burgers? Not sure I can handle that in one night.”
“Who says anything about one night?”
She leans back on the couch, relaxing while resting her food on her chest. A fuzzy feeling wraps around my insides, taking in the sight of her looking all comfy against the soft cushions. As if she’s been laying there every night her entire life.
Like she belongs.
“Hold up. You’re going to cook for me more than once?”
“You think we’re going to eat takeout every night?” I cock a brow, mimicking her stance, while I keep my eyes in place, unable to look away from her mischievous smile. She does something to me. I’m not sure what it is, but she ignites something in me that feels brand new and exciting.
Dangerous too.
She points her fork between the two of us. “We’re going to be eating together every night?”
No .
I’ll avoid you for as long as I can until I find somewhere else for you to stay. That’s what I should tell her. But when I think about letting her fend for herself, there’s an even louder no screaming in my ear.
“Is that a problem?”
“No,” she replies with enthusiasm, and the little ache that was forming inside of my stomach quickly disappears. “I’m just surprised you have time to have dinner with me every night. Figured you would be busy.”
“With what?” I pull a face, before I find her blue eyes again, and then I realize where this is going.
“You know...” She averts her gaze, yet her smile stays intact. “Business, friends, girls .”
“Are you asking if I’m seeing anyone?”
Wait, is she…jealous?
“Noooo!” She drags out the word way too long to make it believable, shaking her head slightly, before turning it back to the TV, holding still for just a few seconds before she asks, “Are you seeing anyone?”
“Would it bother you if I say yes?”
She dismissively waves her hand in the air with a stretched smile. “Nah, just wondering if there will be any people roaming around the house at night. You know, don’t want to get a heart attack from one of your conquests.”
The only conquest that is giving heart attacks is her.
“You’re much of a sleepwalker?”
“Oh, no. Only when there are hot men around. So, you’re safe.” She winks.
Little troublemaker.
I want to yank her feet toward me and torture her for teasing me, preferable with my tongue between her legs.
“You’re playing with fire, Kayla,” I grunt, though there is a smile I’m hiding behind my clenched jaw.
“What’s up, kids?” Jason strolls out of the guest room hallway, wearing slacks and a hoodie, a rare look for him. He volleys his smirk between the two of us, and I give him a warning glare.
“How’s your hangover?” I nudge my chin at him.
The motherfucker’s wolfish grin just expands.“Not as big as the problems you’re facing.” He points his finger our way. “Can I leave you two alone? You’re gonna behave?”
“Shut up, Jason.”
“Define behave ,” Kayla chimes in at the same time.
“Oh, boy. See?” Jason’s brows spring to his sandy hairline, as he stifles a laugh, jerking his brown leather overnight bag over his shoulder.
I flip my chin to the definition of trouble next to me, pinning her down with a stern expression.
“What?” She mouths, then shrugs, before sinking her teeth in her food again.
“Good luck with that, buddy.” Jason salutes me, then waves at Kayla. “Stay out of trouble, Kayla.”
“I can’t promise anything!”
“Yeah, bye.” I swish my friend away, my gaze fixed on the far more interesting person in the room, until the front door closes with a loud thud.
“Don’t tiptoe the line, Kayla,” I try to sound reprimanding.
It has zero effect, because her brow quirks up in a dare.
“You want me to cross it instead?”
“I want you to hold onto our deal. No crossing anything.”
“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” She waves me away, like I just did to Jason.
She doesn’t give me another glance, her eyes plastered on the TV.
That little brat.
“Kayla, I mean it.”
“Ssssh, I’m watching this.”
If she was any other girl, I’d tell her to never shush me if she wants to stay on my good side, but I just look at her, amazed by her brazen attitude.
Feeling like a fucking pussy, might I add.