Chapter 10 #2
I slept like a rock. Next morning, I was surprised to find Josie was already awake… mostly. She was lying on the couch, knees pulled up to her chest, staring into space. She looked cute, in long pajama pants and a top. I couldn’t erase the image of that perfect ass of hers from my brain.
“Morning, drunk girl.”
“My head feels like it weighs a ton. Took a shower, but it didn’t help.”
“Alcohol will do that to you.”
“Why are you so chirpy? You had your bachelor party.”
“But I came home earlier.”
“Boo, that sounds like a boring party.”
“Want to take a grand tour of the place?”
She groaned. “I should, right? But I just want to stay like this forever.”
“You need water.”
I brought her a large glass from the kitchen. She reluctantly pushed herself to a sitting position, crossing her legs on the couch.
“I know the house anyway,” she mumbled. “The agent gave us a tour.”
“Yes, but it didn’t have any furniture back then.”
“You’re right. Okay, let me finish this up and you can give me a tour of the kingdom.”
I chuckled, helping her up after she emptied the glass. We covered the rooms where Leonie had set up home offices for us, then the guest room she was sleeping in and the one where I’d put the treadmill once it was delivered before coming to the master bedroom where I’d taken up residence.
“Wow, this room is even bigger than I remember,” Josie said in wonder.
“I sleep on the left side of the bed… not sure if you’ll ever need that detail, but there it is. So the right side would be yours.”
She met my gaze, then quickly looked away. Damn, she was blushing, and she looked gorgeous. This was intimate information, and as a friend, she wouldn’t know.
“You only sleep on one side? That’s a waste of a big bed.” Tilting her head, she gave me a sly smile. “Besides, I sleep on the left side too, even though I kind of roll around everywhere. So you’d have to switch to the right.”
“Or… I could convince you to switch sides.”
She waved her hand. “No chance.”
“I can be very convincing.”
“So you keep saying.”
“You want proof?”
I knew I shouldn’t go any nearer, and still I did. I stepped so close that I could smell the faint strawberry scent of her shower gel. Her breath caught. She licked her lower lip, then laughed nervously, turning to peek inside the bathroom.
I couldn’t wait to see her reaction. She’d showered in the guest bathroom today.
“Wow. Wow. You have a Jacuzzi. This wasn’t here before.”
“Leonie had it installed.”
“I think I’m in love with her. I call dibs on it on Friday evening.”
I laughed. “Whaaaat?”
“You heard me.”
“We’ll negotiate.”
She spun around, zeroing in on me. “Negotiate what? I want one evening, you have six others to choose from.”
I tilted my head, feeling the overwhelming urge to make her blush again.
“Maybe I only want to be in it when you are.”
For a few seconds, she didn’t say anything. She was so close that I had to clasp my hands behind my back to resist the urge to touch her.
Clearing her throat, she said, “Friday’s mine. I don’t want you cramping my style, Hunter.”
“I’m not making any promises.”
She let out a shaky breath, averting her gaze.
Did I know what I was doing? Not a fucking clue, but I didn’t seem to know how to stop either.
“Leonie put all your clothes in my dressing room. Let’s just take everything to the guest room,” I suggested.
She looked at me in surprise. “Hunter, it would look suspicious if my stuff was there.”
“You think anyone’s going to check the bedrooms?”
“You never know when Tess or Skye will say they want to borrow something. Or what about the cleaning lady? What if someone from the immigration services questions her? We can’t ask her to lie. It wouldn’t be fair, and we’re not even sure she’d do it. It’s too risky.”
“Wait, so what are you suggesting?”
“I think I have to keep all my stuff in your bedroom and bathroom. I’ll just sleep in the guest room but do everything else in yours. I can’t use the guest bathroom, like I did today. It would be a dead giveaway if all my cosmetics were there.”
I wasn’t used to sharing my personal space. As stupid as it sounded, this hadn’t occurred to me. And I couldn’t process the implications beyond the fact that Josie would be in my bedroom every day. In my bathroom. She’d shower there.
Fuck. Me.
“Okay,” I said calmly. “Okay. So, then… let’s start with the bathroom. Leonie just put everything in a corner, but I want to rearrange a few things.”
“What’s your morning routine?” she asked while we were making space for her stuff in the bathroom. It was easy. Besides cologne, aftershave, shaving cream, shower gel, and shampoo, I didn’t have anything else.
Josie filled the space with a dozen bottles and jars.
“I get up, take a shower, shave, put on a suit, drink coffee, and eat whatever’s in my fridge. You?”
She laughed. “Wow. Mine’s a bit more elaborate. I get up at five, do thirty minutes of yoga, then eat yogurt with granola before hopping into the shower. I need about an hour in the bathroom, all in all.”
I blinked. “An hour? What can you possibly do that takes one hour?”
She tilted her head playfully. “Have you ever lived with a woman before? Oh wait, I already know you haven’t. Shaving takes some time, and then smearing on the body cream, massaging my skin until it sinks in.”
Fuck, no. I didn’t want those images about my best friend in my head.
“And my hair needs a wet conditioner, a hair mask, and a mousse once I’ve towel dried it. Then I blow dry it.”
“You do this every morning?”
That was just not possible.
She grinned. “You thought I rolled out of bed looking the way I usually do?”
“I’ve known you since you were fifteen. I always thought you were beautiful.”
She gave me a shy smile. “Looking all lawyer-y takes a considerable amount of effort. It’s exhausting, to tell you the truth.”
I leaned in, grinning. “I can help you apply that cream. If it helps ease the load.”
Even I knew I’d pushed things too far. She frowned, as if she was wondering if the flirty comments were a joke. I could also tell the exact moment she realized they weren’t, because her breath caught. When she glanced down at my lips, I nearly leaned in to kiss her.
She swallowed, shook her head.
“Aren’t you a charmer? Keep all that testosterone bottled up for the next three years. You’ll need it afterward to get back in the game.”
Afterward? That seemed so far away, so unimportant right now.
“Let’s set some ground rules for our morning routine,” Josie continued. “I should probably start showering first, since I need longer, but that means I’ll wake you up.”
“I sleep like the dead in the morning. Trust me, I sometimes miss all three alarms.”
“Good. One advantage of having me as a roommate: I’ll make sure you wake up.”
“Okay. That’s settled. Just take care when you come into the bedroom.”
“Why?”
“I sleep naked.”
“Are you serious?”
“No. But it was worth it just to see you blush.”
“I’m not blushing.”
“I think you are. And you know what else I think?” I was so close to kissing her. So damn close. “I think you were just hoping to see me naked every morning.”