Page 28 of Breaking the Alpha
“And who is everyone else?Who do you think I’m bringing along?”
She huffed and wrinkled her nose.“I don’t know.Friends?Your ex-wife?Crazed fans?Flings?Anyone could break through the door separating the suite from the rest of the house.I just…the thought of someone being able to come into my room at night…”
His stomach rolled.“Angel—”
“No, you need to understand…I’m not scared of you.”Her eyes hardened.“But I can’t live like that again, barricading my bedroom door or sleeping on the floor of the bathroom with a kitchen knife.And I will if I let you rent the suite.Rational or not, I’ll spend every night waiting for someone to come for me and I can’t do it, River.”
He took one deep breath.
Then two.
Three.
Four.
Once he figured he had enough control over his voice to mask the rage he felt toward the nameless, faceless men who still had their claws in Angelina’s memories, he ran his hand through his hair.“And last night?”
“What about last night?”
“Did you barricade your door?Sleep with a knife?”
She shook her head.“Of course not.Like I said, it isn’t you.”
“Right,” he agreed.“It’s the hordes of fans and flings I’ll have parading through.”
Her eyes narrowed.“And friends.Parties.Bonfires.Raves.I don’t know what you’ll get up to once you aren’t sleeping on this sofa.”
He bit his lip and tried not to grin.“I take it orgies are included in your suppositions?”
The flash of anger he’d seen earlier evaporated and she nodded.“And hoedowns.”
“Of course.”All levity disappeared and he sighed.“Angel, I’m not going to lie to you and tell you I’m not itching to pay off a hacker to find the names and addresses of every shitty home you were subjected to.I’m not going to hide the fact that I’m all kinds of happy you feel safe enough to not have to barricade yourself in your room when I’m around.And I’m not going to ask you to rent your basement out to me if it’ll give you even one sleepless night.But would you consider it if I give you my word that no one but me will step foot in that suite?”
Her fidgeting increased as her fingers squeezed and turned the beads on her bracelets one by one.“Would you really be okay with that?”
“Yeah, Angel.I’d really be okay with that.”
He sounded so sincere.But when didn’t he?Maybe it would be good for her to become accustomed to having another person in her space again.And who better than River?She already felt safe around him, already trusted him in her home.
If she was being honest with herself, the biggest hurdle she foresaw was simply having him in such close proximity.Their friendly, flirty relationship was perfect as it was right now, with him and his eventual return to LA keeping him off-limits for anything serious and her being a little too damaged, a little too guarded, and a little too old for something more than friendship with him anyway.
Two flights of stairs would be the only physical barrier between them and she wondered if he was thinking the same thing.Was he contemplating his own self-control or was he completely confident in his ability to remain platonic?
“Angel?”
She blinked, snapping back into the moment.“Right.Yes.Sorry.”She extended her hand and smiled.“Welcome to Casa Watson, roomie.I hope you enjoy your stay.”
His brows lifted and his lip quirked up as he looked down at her hand before shaking it.“I’m sure I will, roomie.”
Chapter Twelve
Four days.Fourlong days was how long River managed to stay a respectable distance from his roomie.The first two days were easy.Angelina was working long hours; he was busy at Serpent’s Tongue and working out in preparation for his next campaign shoot.He was also exhausted, and those first two nights on a good mattress with fresh sheets had him sleeping like the dead.
But on the third day, he made the mistake of opening his social media accounts.
He’d left them in Jodie’s capable hands since he left LA, forwarding photos to her on demand and trusting her summaries of how well her counterattack was going.Her requests were easy enough to fulfill: a snapshot of the sunset behind Tower Hill, a few selfies at the gym, a short video of the horse that got loose over on Broad Street.Nothing too telling, nothing too personal, nothing too deep.He figured the responses would be as boring as the images Jodie was posting for him.
How wrong he was.
