Page 29 of A Bossy Roommate

I leaveher to her work and drive to meet Bradley. We arrive at the same time, and the hostess leads us to our reserved table. They have my favorite table ready for us. Bradley and I order our usual, and once the waiter leaves to put in our order, Bradley gives me a sympathetic smile.

“God,” he says, “I’ve never met anyone who fights so hard against change than Huxley. It’s ridiculous.”

“Welcome to my life. I can handle Huxley.”

“Speaking of handling,” Bradley says with a grin. “Now that we’re not in the office, I need more details on thatwifeyroommate of yours. Tell me about the night you spent together. How good was it?”

Annoyance with Huxley aside, I think about the one-night stand. It was definitely memorable. I meet his gaze. “None of your business.”

“Let me guess—you snuck out while she was sleeping?”

“That’s what happened,” I answer, my irritation returning.

Bradley chuckles. “Bet that was a shock walking into work to find your one-night stand there. So why aren’t you two going to knock boots while she’s staying with you?”

“I already told you why.”

“Yeah, but how doesshefeel about the whole thing?”

“She’s sworn off men for the next six months.”

A broad, ear-to-ear smile adorns Bradley’s lips, stretching across his face with exuberant delight. “Ohohoo…wow,dude. Were you really that bad that you turned her away from men in general?”

“Shut up. She was plenty satisfied when I was done with her.”

“You sure? Maybe she was faking it.”

“Maybe.”

“Maybe I could teach you a thing or two.”

I roll my eyes at his joke.

He leans in and lowers his voice. “You know that the louder a woman is in bed, the more she’s faking it. She is desperate to get it over with. The louder the screams, the worse your performance is. She wants you to finally bust. Women think that we think that the louder they are, the more they’re enjoying themselves. The opposite is true.”

“Who told you that?”

“Dude. Life taught me that.”

The waiter brings us our drinks, which we immediately pick up. Bradley lifts his in a toast. “In all seriousness, do you really think you can resist plowing her again?” he asks, tapping his glass to mine. “I mean if she wasn’t your assistant and hadn’t sworn off the opposite sex.”

I picture Eden beneath me.

The way her back had arched when I’d tasted her in the motel room. How her legs parted instinctively for me, how her hips begged for my tongue, and how her whole body shuddered when she came undone, grabbing fistfuls of the sheets, beautiful, desperate moans filling the room. Her eyes were hooded, her nipples perky, top teeth digging into her bottom lip when I’d pushed in. She softly moaned my name as she clutched onto my shoulders, just before I caught a speck of heartache in her pupils, one she’d been effectively concealing behind a façade of confidence all night. She held onto me, onto my shoulders, her arms circling me tightly, fingernails digging into me, fully enveloped in the close embrace I offered her as I slowly filled her.

The way her body had wrapped around mine in the dark still made my heart stutter.

I’d feathered my lips across hers, locked eyes with her and pulled out and thrust back into her, pulsing deeper and deeper, fucking the sadness out of her. As long as she was with me, there would be no past to revisit.

There would only be us.

Her eyes had smiled at me when I’d fucked her. I’ll never forget those green eyes and that look.

She’d given me a similar look last night when I’d put the fire out on her balcony.

“Of course I can resist her,” I tell him. “It’s not going to happen, so there’s no use thinking about it.”

Bradley chuckles, taking a sip of his drink. “Famous last words. Buddy, she’s living with you now. Fake marriage scheme or not, sharing a space with someone you’ve had sex with and are physically attracted to can only go one way.”

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