Page 10 of Role Play

Chapter Nine

Jane

The clinkof a coffee cup woke me from a sound sleep. After a good twenty minute argument about who should sleep on the couch, I pulled the nuclear option and insisted that if I didn't get to sleep on the couch, I would go back and sleep in my apartment, shredded door and all. It had taken me a bit of tossing and turning to fall asleep, but that was more due to the unexpected turn of events in an otherwise dull evening than to the comfort of the couch. In fact, the apartment might have been shabby, but the furniture inside was far from it. The couch was more lush than my bed.

I sat up and quickly tried to comb my hair into some semblance of a normal hairdo. Aidan was turned around facing the kitchen counter, unaware that I was awake. I took a few silent moments to admire the incredible width of his shoulders, made to look even more imposing by the snug fit of his t-shirt.

He turned around with a cup of coffee. "Did I wake you? I was trying to be as quiet as a mouse, but it's kind of hard when you are more the size of a bull."

"That's all right. I needed to get up. I've got to study before my shift starts." Not completely sure what the proper attire was for sleeping on a new neighbor's couch, especially one of the opposite sex, I had slept in my t-shirt and shorts. Social nerd that I was, I'd even put my bra back on. Definitely not a comfy way to sleep.

Aidan, who had already showered, was glistening with animal magnetism. As I crossed the room to the kitchen, I wished that I'd considered whisking on mascara along with the bra. "Thanks so much for the use of the couch. I'll get out of your way."

"What? No, I just stirred up some eggs. I can't eat all six by myself." He lifted a big shoulder. "Ah, who am I kidding? Six is no problem. But I cracked them open to make you breakfast. I'm still trying to rack up points to make up for last night's disaster. Which brings me to a little piece of bad news."

"Some desperate thief ransacked my place last night and took all my worthless junk?"

He placed a cup of coffee on the counter. I climbed up on the cherry wood bar stool. It was upholstered in black leather and had a nice brass footrest. It looked totally out of place in front of the fake granite counter.

Aidan busied himself at the stove cooking the eggs. "I talked to Milo, the building maintenance guy, and he said that he'd have to special order the door." A pat of butter sizzled on the frying pan, and he swirled it around. "I told him I'd go out and buy a door, but he said it has to match the rest of the apartments."

"So I have to have a Saltine cracker door just like the rest of the tenants. I guess that makes sense, otherwise I might start finding nasty messages in my mailbox about my fancy door."

Aidan's phone was sitting just inches from my elbow, close enough for me to see the names on the texts as they came through. The first was Cindy. Eve's text followed close behind. I stopped short of reading the texts, deciding that snooping about to read the names was low enough for me to sink at such an early hour.

"Hmm, those eggs smell good. I guess I'm hungrier than I thought. Apparently, my red licorice dinner wasn't as hearty as I thought."

He laughed as he held up a piece of bread. "Toast?"

"Yes please. How long will it take to get the paper thin front door? There can't be too big of a demand for those." Another text. Cindy was at it again.

He dropped the bread in the toaster. "There must be a lot of cheap landlords out there because he says it will take three days."

"Oh crap. Maybe I could put up a piece of plywood." That idea sounded silly the second it left my mouth. "Or maybe I should go out and get a really big dog."

"No. You can stay here. Or I can rent you a hotel room, anywhere you want. The Ritz?"

"No, that's not necessary. I think I'll be perfectly safe in my apartment. I could sleep with one eye open." I pushed an eye wide open with my fingers.

Eve's text popped through next. Dueling texts, it seemed.

"Nope. It's settled. You'll stay here and you'll sleep in the bed. I'll put on clean sheets tonight."

I opened my mouth to protest, but he lifted his hand. It was massive. "I won't take no this time, Jane. Please. Help me to get over this fiasco with some of my dignity left."

"Would you please stop. You did a brave thing. You had no idea what was happening behind my door. The attacker might have had a gun."

"Except that the attacker was invisible."

"Aidan," I said firmly, "give yourself credit for doing the right thing. Most people would have scurried into their apartments and turned up the volume on the television just to drown out my pleas for help. Besides, you made me laugh again, and after a few rough weeks, I needed it."

He was polite enough not to ask me to elaborate, and I was glad. Brock was a subject I liked to avoid.

Aidan's phone buzzed, and my eyes darted toward it again. "So, I guess the search results on Google weren't exaggerating."

Aidan looked confused. I motioned with my head toward his phone and he seemed to understand my comment. He had the decency to look slightly ashamed.

"Yeah, I guess there are a few stories and pictures out there about the owners of Plaything. A lot of them are true. Trey, Chase, Zane and I grew up with barely enough money to keep us in shoes. We all struggled a long time before we started the company. Sudden wealth and success sort of went to our heads, and we might have gone a little wild. Of course, wild was sort of my thing anyhow. I didn't have much supervision growing up. I was basically left to do whatever the heck I wanted. Which I did. Sometimes I'm amazed that I lived to adulthood. Not trying to make excuses for those Google stories, but that's where it stands. My three partners are all in steady relationships now. I'm the only one left to carry on the playboy reputation."

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