The Roommate

THE ROOMMATE

Jessica and Rosalind have had a BFF Chip since 7th grade--the ultimate best friend favor. At age twenty-five,
Ros
calls in her chip. Her brother lands in an hour. And he needs a place to crash.
For more than one night.
No problem, right? It's not Patrick's fault his big sister forgot he was moving to L.A., so Jess picks him up at LAX, expecting the same slight and nerdy boy she last saw in high school.

Patrick's still a nerd—coming for a new IT job—but he's all grown up and more gorgeous than any best friend's little brother has a right to be. Jess makes a concerted effort to see him as a friend, but it's difficult when he walks around her apartment in only a towel. Nevertheless, when
Ros
completely bails on them, Jess proposes pooling their money into a two-bedroom and officially becoming roommates. Patrick is polite, sweet, clean, and cooks. What could go wrong?

Jess could fall in love with him.

This story is intended for readers over the age of 18 due to adult language, sexual content, and adult situations.

eBooks
are
not
transferable.
 
They cannot be sold, shared, or given away, as this is an infringement on the copyright of this work
.

All Rights Are Reserved.
 
No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

By Carla Krae

Published by Willowick Publishing

Copyright 2016

The right of Carla Krae to be identified as the Author of the Work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First Edition

This book is a work of fiction.
 
The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real.
 
Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

Chapter One

“Jess, thank God! Where have you been? Never mind—I need to call in a BFF chip.”

“Slow down,
Ros
.
What’s wrong?”
 
It had to be big if she was calling in a best friend favor.

“Patrick lands in an hour and I’m stuck in Chicago.”

“Ricky’s coming to town? Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Uh, ‘cause work has been crazy and I forgot? I need you to give him a place to crash.”

“Okay, I can pick him up and he can sleep on my couch until you get home.”

“That’s not the favor. Jess…”

Uh-oh.
 
“Spit it out,
Ros
.”

“My building is closed for repairs, as you know. I’m living out of hotels. Patrick got a job that asked him to be in L.A. in three days, so he’s moving here with no time to find an apartment. Do you see what I’m getting at here?”

I sighed.
 
“You can’t host your little brother until he’s on his feet so you’re making me do it.”
 
The BFF chip was a pact we made in seventh grade.
 
Name it and the best friend had to accept the favor, as it was meant for emergencies.
 
We’d never used it as adults.

“I love you, you’re the best. I’m sure he won’t be any trouble! I’ll forward you the flight info so you know where to pick him up.”

“Wait—
”
 
But
she’d already hung up.
 
I tried calling her back and it went to voice mail.
 

My phone buzzed, telling me I had a new e-mail.
 
Patrick’s info.
 
I grabbed my purse and headed to LAX to meet him in Baggage Claim for his terminal.
 
Ros
owed me
big time
for this.

Last time I saw Patrick—Little Ricky to family—was high school graduation night for me and
Ros
.
 
That was seven years ago.

He was an
oops
, born eleven months after his sister, and a nerdy, skinny, quiet kid.
 
Since
Ros
and I had been
BFFs
since kindergarten, Ricky had tagged along on many occasions, until we reached high school.
 
You know how it is.
 
Last thing
Ros
wanted was to be seen on school grounds with her decidedly
uncool
little brother.

Went through the nightmare of parking at LAX,
then
searched for the right terminal.
 
I’d found a piece of paper to write his name on the back in case we didn’t recognize each other.
 
Been a long time, after all.
 
As one of the biggest and busiest airports in the country, LAX was a zoo except in the middle of the night, so I was doing my best dodging and dancing around people and luggage.
 
I’m not a big girl.
 
People running into me tend to knock me over.

I ducked to avoid a tall man’s backpack only to get my legs run into by someone else’s cart, and landed on my butt.
 
A large hand appeared in my vision and I accepted the hand up before looking at who it was attached to.

“You alright, miss?” asked a deep voice.

Tilted my head up—and up.
 
The guy must’ve been six-foot-three at least.
 
“Thanks, yeah.”
 
Thick frame glasses, the curly hair…
 
“Ricky?”

His eyes widened.
 
“Jessica. Did you come with Rosalind?”

I was staring.
 
Anyone could see it.
 
I couldn’t help it.
 
In place of the scrawny kid barely taller than me was a hunk of hotness too yummy to be real.

“Jess?”
 
That voice saying my name…dear God, there was no way he could stay with me arriving with all of
that
.

“Sorry. You, uh, you look different than…um, no,
Ros
isn’t here. She’s in Chicago. Surprise… She asked me to pick you up.”

“I see. Well, I haven’t picked up my suitcase, yet, so we should—”

“Right, the carousel.”
 
Pivoting on my heel, I led the way to where other passengers were waiting for their belongings.
 
Get a grip, Jessica!

I could do this.
 
I could get my best friend’s surprisingly-hot younger brother—never think of him as little again—to a meal and a place to stay.
 
Easy-
peasy
, right?

Patrick grabbed a large black suitcase that matched his carry-on.
 
“You’re parked nearby?”

“In the closest parking structure, yup.”
 
God, everything out of my mouth right now sounded idiotic.
 
“So…
Ros
said you got a job here?”

“Yes, as a System Analyst.”

“I have no idea what that is.”

“It’s an IT job.”

“Oh.
Computers.
You were always good with ‘em.”
 
Shut up, shut up!
 

“I appreciate you coming to get me on assuredly short notice, so you can drop me off at Rosalind’s apartment and I’ll be out of your hair.”
 
Where I’d had to dodge all the people coming and going, the crowd naturally parted for Patrick.
 
Tall guys had all the luck.

“Yeah, that’s…not possible.”
 
He quirked a dark brow.
 
Why did I keep looking at him?
 
“
Ros
’ building has some code violation and they’ve temporarily evacuated all the tenants.”

“And she’s in Chicago.”

“Right.
Stuck.
Probably weather or something.
She called me an hour before you were supposed to land and asked for a favor. Sorry.”

“I’m guessing she asked for more than giving me a ride.”

Oh, I’d ride him alright—
augh
, no!
 
Bad brain!
 
“You know your sister.”

His lips pressed together in a firm line.
 
He knew.

We reached my car and I pressed the unlock button on my fob,
then
popped the trunk.
 
Patrick heaved his luggage into the compartment with ease.
 
Where had all those muscles come from?
 
IT guys usually didn’t look like they went to the gym.
 
Shaking my head, I opened the driver-side door and sat down.
 
The trunk lid closed,
then
he sat next to me a couple seconds later, and moved the seat back so his knees weren’t hitting the glove compartment.

“Jess, I don’t want to be a bother—”

“You’re not!
Of course not.
We’re practically
family
.
Ros
is the PITA, not you.”

“Okay…well, normally I’d ask you to drop me at a motel, but…this is embarrassing to admit—”

“What?”

“I can’t afford one,” he said quietly.
 
Color tinted his cheek.

“Oh. Because the new job hasn’t—”

“Started.
Yes. Rosalind was supposed to—”

“I understand.”
 
Better than I did when she called, now.

“Thank you. I assume Rosalind has somewhere to stay while her apartment is under repair. Do you have a key?”

Curse
Ros
’ lack of communication.
 
“There’s no key. She’s been living out of hotels, since she travels a lot for work, anyway, so I have nowhere to take you but my sofa.”

Take you…sofa
…geeze, I was a total gutter brain around this guy.

“I see. When is she coming back?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.

“Jess—”

“It’s okay.
Really.
A night or two won’t kill us. Did you eat on the plane?”

A shake of his head.
 
“Colorado isn’t far enough away for them to offer a meal anymore, at least not in Coach.”

“Like Chinese food?”

“I can feed myself.”

“Well, my pantry and fridge are empty, so I was ordering takeout tonight, anyway. It’s not a big deal to add an extra entrée to the bill.”

“As you wish.”

The whole ride, Patrick hadn’t looked at me.
 
Well, turned his head toward me.
 
His eyes would flick over or his head would tilt, but he’d avoided eye contact since the airport.
 
Poor guy’s wounded pride.
 
Probably bad enough to take help from your sister, but then to get foisted upon her best friend by surprise…this couldn’t get much more awkward.

I did my best to actively remind my libido that even though my best friend’s brother now came in a very tasty package, he was still
my best friend’s younger brother
and probably still the shy nerd at heart.
 
Wouldn’t do any of us any good to make moves on him just because my lady parts had decided he was the antidote to my drought of men.
 
He was
family
.

He obviously wasn’t interested in me, anyway.
 
And too tall.
 
Too young.
 
Too—I glanced at the prominent
pecs
in his
henley
shirt—beefy.

While Rosalind lived closer to Downtown L.A., I was in the more affordable ‘burbs.
 
My apartment building was only three stories, if you counted the parking garage under the units.
 
I parked the car in my designated space and popped the trunk again.
 
Patrick wasted no time getting out.
 
We took the elevator upstairs and I led him to my apartment.

“This is home…door for the bathroom is over there.”
 
I dropped my keys and purse on the kitchen counter like usual.

He carried his luggage to the empty corner at the far end of the sofa.
 
I’d never decided on what to put there, so it’d been blank since I moved in—a good thing, now.
 
His carry-on was more of an oversized backpack, which he was pulling a laptop out of.
 
“Do you have an empty outlet?”

“For the charger, right.
Uh, should be one in that corner,” I said, pointing where his big case was.
 
He bent over to look, displaying a round ass you could bounce a quarter off of.
 
Seriously, did he live in a gym the past seven years?
 
I picked up the Chinese restaurant menu and studied it like my life depended on it.

Which it totally would if
Ros
found out I mauled her little brother.

“Do you like moo goo
gai
pan? Personally, I can’t get enough fried wontons. Or chow mein. But you can order anything you want.”
 
Great, babbling.
 
Yeah, that sounds totally normal
.

“Whatever is easy for you.”
 
He stood at the door to my balcony, looking out the window.

“Are you still allergic to nuts?”

His head whipped around in surprise.
 
“Yes. I’m surprised you remember.”

“I did stab you with an
epi
pen on your sister’s sixteenth birthday.”

A small close-mouthed smile.
 
“So you did. Guess I owe you one, Jessica.”
 
My name sounded like melted chocolate with his voice.
 
I’d never thought it was sexy until it came from his lips.
 

I waved the menu at him.
 
“You better choose, then. I’m going to…”
 
Slip into the bathroom.

Ran the faucet and splashed water on my heated cheeks.
 
What was wrong with me?
 
My hormones were acting like I was fourteen again.
 
Taking out my phone, I texted
Ros
that her brother was here and she’d better get home pronto because it was not my job to babysit.
 
Send.

Patrick was sitting on the sofa with his phone when I opened the door.
 
“I circled some options.”
 
On the menu.

“Okay.”
 
I called in the order.
 
“They’ll have it ready by the time I get there, so, make yourself at home. TV remote is in the little box on the coffee table.”

I left.