Page 4 of Mistletoe Madness

“Of course it is.”

“Don’t stay too late!” she called, pushing the double doors wide and leaving me to lock up for the night.

Again.

I didn’t blame Aubrey for the fact that this was the fourth Friday night in a row I’d been stuck at the office while everyone else was out enjoying their lives. When I’d been promoted the year before, I’d mistakenly assumed Summer would hire a junior account executive to take over my job. Unfortunately, she hadn’t, so now I was stuck doing the work of two people, while only being paid the one salary.

Thank goodness I’d stumbled on Nick’s ad when I had; there was no way I’d have been able to afford a place of my own when I’d moved out of Brayden’s loft. The fact that Nick’s Victorian was exactly the type of home I would have wanted for myself even if money were no object was the icing on the proverbial cake. I really had struck the roommate lottery when I’d found him, and I couldn’t risk messing it up with any more of my voyeuristic shenanigans.

I opened up my browser and clicked over to Amazon. Maybe with it being two weeks out from Christmas they’d have a good deal on an inexpensive pair of noise canceling headphones so Nick could enjoy himself in peace without having to worry about me listening in at the wall with a glass to my ear. Not that I’d donethat, but between walking in on him that first time, and then getting myself off to the sounds of Nick getting himself off, I may as well have.

I clicked on a listing for a pair of headphones that wouldn’t break the bank as my phone rang. I reached blindly for the receiver, expecting it to be my client wanting another change to their press release. “Hello, this is Mikayla Jacobs speaking. How may I help you?”

“Mikayla?”

Unfortunately, it wasn’t my client.

“Oh! Hey, Nick,” I squeaked, my words coming out sounding like a mouse whose tail had just been caught in a trap. I picked up my water bottle and swallowed down two huge gulps. “Is everything okay?” He never called me at work.

“Um, yeah. Everything’s fine. I just wanted to check in to make sure you were okay. I texted you earlier to find out if you’d be home tonight so we could … um … talk. When you didn’t respond, I got worried. You always respond.”

“Oh. Yeah, sorry about that. I um …”

“No, it’s cool. I get it. Things were kind of weird between us this morning, and I wanted to make sure I hadn’t scared you off.”

“I’m not scared,” I rushed to assure him. We’d had a number of conversations since I’d moved in covering all the ways men frequently intimidated women, to the point where even walking down the street could be fraught with anxiety. This definitely wasn’t one of those situations, and I needed to make sure that he knew it. “More like embarrassed beyond belief, but definitely not scared.”

“Oh,” he breathed. “That’s good.” He paused for a beat, and I heard the sound of a light hum coming through the receiver. I wondered if he knew he did that when he was thinking deep thoughts. Briefly, I wondered when I’d noticed. “Look, I’m the one who should be embarrassed. I didn’t realize—”

“It’s your house, Nick. You should be able to … um … you know … ” I trailed off, my face flushing scarlet in my darkened office as my armpits grew damp with perspiration. I’d watched and listened to him masturbating, but I couldn’t bring myself to actually say the word.

“It’s your house too, Mikayla.” His voice was warm when he spoke.

We both knew it wasn't. Not technically, at any rate. But that didn't matter to Nick. As far as he was concerned, regardless of whose name was on the title, it was my home as much as his. He'd been clear about that the day I'd moved in, and he'd never wavered. See? Perfect roommate. If only I hadn’t accidentally seen his dick.

"I appreciate that, but—"

“I’ll be sure to limit—”

“No!” I cut him off. I couldn't stand to hear him say what I thought he was about to say, all because I was a pervy perv who’d perved. “It’s fine. We’re adults, and you have needs. Like you said this morning, it’s been a long time since you were … um … with someone. Yeah, so, yeah. Don’t worry about me, okay? It’s great. I’m fine. Everything’s—” I slapped my hand over my mouth in a futile attempt to prevent anything further from slipping out. For the first time in my life, I fully understood the term ‘verbal diarrhea.’ I simply couldn’t stop the shit that was coming out of my mouth. I screwed my eyes shut and dropped my head into my upturned palm as mortification washed over me.

In the silence that followed my tirade, Nick was chuckling quietly on the other end of the line. “Okay, got it. Everything’s cool.”

“Everything’s cool,” I repeated.

“But just in case itwasn’tcool, you’d tell me, right?”

“Of course, I’d tell you.”No, I’d never tell you.

“Good, because I really like living with you Mik, and I’d hate for this to ruin our friendship.”

“It won’t ruin our friendship,” I promised, hoping like hell it wouldn’t come to that. Unfortunately, if Nick ever found out what I’d accidentally witnessed that night, I didn’t know if he’d ever be able to forgive me. I still wasn’t sure I could forgive myself.

Nick could never know what I’d done. Which meant I needed to get over myself and start acting normal around him again, not like some deranged, sex monster. And that started with extending an olive branch.

“And to prove it to you,” I continued, “I’m stopping at O’Brien’s on the way home tonight to pick up a six pack of your favorite beer. I’ve been neglecting our TV time, and I have every intention of making that up to you, starting with those episodes ofLutherwe’ve been meaning to watch.”

He groaned. “Can I get a rain check on that?”

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