“That’s really sweet of you. Thanks.”
She had kind eyes, and I could tell we were going to be good friends.
Ryan nudged Tarah, kissed her forehead and looked at me. “I told you she was awesome.”
It was obvious that Ryan had it bad. Feeling like a third wheel all of a sudden, I excused myself to go finish unpacking, even though I had already put most of my stuff away earlier.
“I’ll come say goodnight later,” Tarah said as I waved to her.
When I got to my room, I turned on the only light, a small lamp, and lay down on the bed, staring at the ceiling. It had been a long day, and even though I should have been resting, my mind kept racing.
I decided to take a shower. Gathering all of my toiletries and placing them in a caddy, I grabbed my robe and walked down the hall to the bathroom.
The sound of some kind of alternative music was coming from Jake’s room, but the door was closed. It occurred to me that from now on, every time I used the bathroom or showered, I’d have to do it next door to Jake, since his room was right outside of the bathroom.
As the hot water poured down on me, I tried to relax. I had a lot on my mind, from anxiety about classes starting Monday to my unwanted attraction to my tattooed, pierced, smoking hot roommate, who based on first impressions, was quite likely a man-whore.
I wrapped my wet hair in a towel, securely tightened my robe and grabbed my dirty clothes off the floor. Cautiously peeking out into the hallway before I escaped the safety of the steamy bathroom, I tiptoed back to my room and closed the door.
After I brushed the tangles out of my wet hair, I slipped into a pink camisole and shorts and grabbed my Kindle to do some light reading before bed.
About twenty minutes into the book, there was a knock at the door. Assuming it was Tarah, I didn’t think twice before opening it with no bra.
The sight of Jake standing there completely shirtless and fresh out of the shower with his hair wet nearly knocked the wind out of me. He smelled like the men’s body wash that I had sniffed in the bathroom. The one I would be bathing in from now on.
Trickles of water dripped down his defined chest onto his six-pack. His chest had no tattoos, but I now saw that he had tribal ink on his side torso and upper arms. I knew he was attractive, but it truly stunned me how beautiful he was bare.
I swallowed, hardly getting the words out. “Ha…hi…what’s up?”
Jake’s heated stare burned through me as he quickly glanced down to my braless chest and back up to my eyes. He licked his lips, and I swear, I felt it. I could describe it as electric, but it was more like a dragon breathing fire down my throat, igniting a wet explosion at the site of my vagina.
Then, he reached into his pocket and handed me…a pair of underwear. “I found these on the bathroom floor…thought you might want them.”
I reached for them, mortified. They were the dirty underwear I had been wearing all day and must have fallen out of the clothes pile I carried out of the bathroom.
Covering my chest with my arms, I clutched the panties and was pretty much speechless as he stood there in my doorway. “Thanks.”
He stared at me for a few seconds, grinned impishly but said nothing else as he turned around. I watched him walk away and noticed that his back was just as defined as the front as he sauntered down the hall, his black pants hanging low on his waist, almost but not quite low enough to display the top of his tight, round ass.
Shaking my head, I took a deep breath and slowly closed my door.
This wasn’t the type of guy you lived with every day. This was the type of guy who came out to play only at night in your deepest, darkest fantasies.
Stay. Away. Nina.
I was sweating, even though I had just showered. After a few minutes, when my hormones finally stopped doing the Macarena, I went back to bed and tried to focus on something other than my new roommate. Just when I had finally gotten my mind off of him, I looked over to my right and noticed something on my nightstand that I must have missed earlier.
Oh my God.
Someone must have put it there when I was in the shower.
Someone. I knew exactly who it was.
It was an origami bird made out of black construction paper, just like the ones Stuart used to make. But wait…it wasn’t a bird.
It was a bat.
I held it in my hand and covered my mouth to contain the stupefied laughter. I looked around as if someone was in the room watching me, but of course, I was alone.
I unfolded the bat and noticed a message written underneath the left wing in silver gel ink.
Welcome to the “House.” --Jake
How’s Uncle Jesse?
CHAPTER 3
It was Saturday morning and Jake was already gone before I could thank him for my little gift. Like Ryan explained, he took off for Boston every weekend and generally came back on Sunday nights in time to work on Monday.