Page 298 of His Virgin Romance Series

“Can you not mention to Seth that you’re my new roommate?” she asked.

I paused for a second. “Um… Seth?”

“Surely you’ve met Seth?” Gabby asked, with a frown. “He works at the same station.”

Seth, I reminded myself. He was the one guy at that damn station who was actually decent to me. He was the one I spoke to almost every day when I signed in and then signed out. Gabby knew Seth… I realized that I had never asked her why she had brought those cupcakes to the station or why most of the men there seemed to know her. I had just assumed that she was one of those people who brought food over for the firemen when she could… like a gesture of thanks for the public service they provided.

“Seth is… your brother?” I asked, putting two and two together.

“Yep.” Gabby nodded. “You… didn’t know that?”

“Not until just now.”

“Really?” Gabby asked, frowning. “It never came up? The guys talk all the time when they’re in the lounge between calls.”

How on earth could I admit to her that I wasn’t actually a fireman now? I had taken it too far, and I hadn’t ever corrected her assumption. It would look like a bald-faced lie as opposed to an innocent omission. Even worse, I would be forced to admit to her what I was really doing there at the station, and that meant revealing to her that she was now living with a pot dealer… an ex-pot dealer, a distinction I wasn’t sure she would appreciate.

I swore in my head, but the fact that she was asking me to keep our living situation from Seth worked in my favor. I knew in the back of my head that this couldn’t possibly last indefinitely. Something was bound to come out sooner or later, but if I played this just right maybe, I could contain it. I decided that once she got to know me a little better, once she trusted me, then I would come clean to her and explain the reasons I had turned to dealing in the first place.

She would understand, wouldn’t she? I mean… she was an artist too. And she loved what she did. Surely, she could understand the lengths one would go to make sure they could live their truth and do what they were passionate about.

“I… well, I do a lot of the grunt work,” I said. I knew the ship had sailed, but I was still trying to avoid an outright lie. “And Seth’s a lot senior to me, and we don’t really… talk a lot.”

“It’s still odd that none of the other guys mentioned it to you even in passing.”

“I tend to keep my head down over there,” I said.

Gabby looked a little curious, but then she shrugged. “Okay, well… I suppose it’s for the best. Seth’s not going to be asking you a lot of questions that might get me caught.”

I frowned. “And you’re scared of being caught because…?”

“Oh.” Gabby smiled. “It’s silly really. He’s just being an overprotective big brother. He doesn’t like the idea of me moving in with a strange man. Not that I can really blame him… I haven’t had the best track record with roommates.”

“No?”

“I’ll have to tell you about it later when I have time,” Gabby said. “Right now I have to run to class.”

“Right.” I nodded, glancing at the clock and realizing that I was already late. “Fuck… I have to get going too.”

Gabby was heading towards the door when I stopped her. “Oh, wait, hold on,” I said. “You forgot your key.”

I handed it to her, and Gabby accepted it with a smile. “Thanks, Miles,” she said.

“No problem, roomie.”

She gave me a small chuckle, waved goodbye, and headed out. I took a deep breath, realizing that I was going to be playing a delicate balancing act the next few weeks until I worked up the courage to tell Gabby the truth about me. Then I raced out of the apartment and took the alternate exit out of the building to head towards the station.

By the time I got there, I was twenty minutes late, and a couple of the guys were out front when I arrived.

“Well,” Trent said, shaking his head at me. “Someone took his sweet time getting here today.”

“Where’s Seth?” I asked, panting a little.

“Out,” Benjamin replied. “His team was called in.”

“Is Samuel around?”

“Day off.”

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