Page 22 of Roommate Wars
And my chef was nowhere in sight.
I strolled through the apartment, glancing in Elise’s bedroom. Her bed was made, but she was nowhere.
Guess I was fending for myself tonight.
“Hello!” came her voice, followed by the front door slamming closed. “Sorry I’m late. I’ll have food ready in just a minute,” she called out.
I was taking advantage by asking Elise to cook three meals a week. Or maybe I wasn’t. Shewasliving here for free. But I could have asked her to do any number of things less personal. Run errands. Buy groceries. Somehow cooking was personal, and I’d wanted it that way. Granted, I’d freaked out seeing how she’d set the table the first time with womanly attention to detail because it had reminded me of my mother, and my knee-jerk reaction was to back away from that intimacy. But dinner with Elise was growing on me.
I changed and walked out to help her. As much as I justified to myself asking her to cook, she worked hard at the health department and supporting her sister, and I was beginning to feel guilty.
It turned out I didn’t need to.
Fast-food cartons were strewn on the kitchen counter, and I sniffed the air. “Indian?”
She looked up from where she was setting out utensils. “Is that okay? You said you liked curry. I ran into a place near Soph’s shop on my way home. Takeout tonight made the most sense, with both of us working and me getting home late.”
“It’s great,” I said. “I should have messaged and told you not to worry about dinner. I’ll reimburse you.”
She waved me off. “My treat. I appreciate your letting me stay here.”
If my suspicions were right concerning how dire Elise’s savings account was, I wasn’t okay with her paying for anything. Taking advantage of someone pressed for cash went against every cell in my body.
I sat in one of the barstools, plotting ways to return the cash she’d spent, and in no time we were both scarfing down butter chicken and naan.
She moaned, and a shiver ran down my spine straight to my groin. I stopped chewing and stared at her mouth.
Her plump lips were pressed together, juices making the flesh glisten, and her beautiful face was happily focused on the food in front of her.
So just me thinking about moaning and the bedroom and pleasure.Fuck. “This is great,” I said, voice tight. “Thanks for picking it up.”
“No worries. How was your day?” She looked over eagerly, like she actually cared.
The only women in my life who’d ever cared about how I was doing were my childhood friend, Lizzie, and Elise’s sister, Sophia. Lizzie couldn’t help herself. She was like a sister and nagged me like one. And Sophia was just a good person. This caring gene must run in the family.
I considered how to answer the question because it was complicated. “Going okay.”
She set her fork down, studying me. “Just okay?”
“Thalia’s on top of everything with the new company. She’s got the employees working on tasks that push the mission forward. She’s much better at being a taskmaster than I ever was.”
“That’s why you hired her, isn’t it?” She sipped a glass of water and wiped her mouth with a paper napkin she must have gotten from the Indian place, because I wasn’t organized enough to keep that shit around.
“Basically. I’m good at coming up with ideas and bringing in the right people. Not so good at managing them.”
“So this is a good thing. Having Thalia run the day-to-day?”
“Mm-hmm.”
She set her fork down. “Jackson, why the glum look?”
I shot her a glare, and she smiled. She was killing me with the nickname. “Thalia is a littletoogood at bringing people together. She wants everyone to meet up for drinks in an hour.”
Elise scratched her head. “I’m not seeing the problem here.”
I shrugged. “I don’t like hanging out with strangers.”
She squinted. “First of all, you work with these people, so they’re not strangers. Second, how do you meet new people if you don’t like being around people you don’t know? You’ve dated because Soph has regaled me with your dating misadventures.”
