Page 82 of Roommate Wars
“Yes, that. It’s a lot, but I can wrap my head around it.”
“Don’t you want to fly on my private jet to the Bahamas?” I teased. “My exes found that to be the biggest perk to dating me.”
“I think we’ve established I’m not like your exes. And what do you mean, private jet? Do you have one?”
“No.”
“Then why would you suggest it?”
“Max owns one, so we share. It might be fun to go on a trip somewhere exotic with Sophia and Max.”
She breathed in and let it out slowly, as though to calm herself. “So you’re going to let Max use his own jet, and you want to take a couples trip on it? Does this sound the least bit normal?”
I glanced up. “Suppose not. Wasn’t normal for me either in the beginning, but it is now. As for letting Max use his jet, what can I say? I’m generous like that.”
Her mouth twisted, but I detected a smile. “It’s a good thing you’re cute and wear sweatpants and aren’t fussy. I have no use for fussy, rich boyfriends.”
I pulled her to me. It was the first time I’d had her in my arms since she got here, and it made everything better, even telling her the dirty truth about my wealth. “I never understood how Max and his family accumulated so much money. Then I built my own fortune. Now I understand that rich people hold their money in assets instead of houses filled with cash. It comes and goes if you’re not good at managing it. So far, I’ve been pretty good.”
“Pretty good?” She waved her hand around. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
Her question was facetious, but I answered honestly. “I brought you here to ask if you’d consider moving in.”
“To my old studio apartment?”
“If you wish. Or you could skip the studio and move a few floors upstairs into one of the three-bedrooms with me. It’s more spacious. Eventually, I’ll get my dad into the building too, where I can keep an eye on him.”
She smiled softly, and her shoulders relaxed. “You’re a good son, Jack.”
“And a good boyfriend?”
She bit her lip, and the tension behind her eyes worried me. “A wonderful boyfriend. But I can’t move in here. I need my own accomplishments.” She laughed sardonically. “Sadly, mine consist of paying my own rent, but it’s an important rite of passage. Does that make sense?”
I gave her a small smile. “It does, and I understand.”
“Do you still want to date even if I move out to get my life together?”
I made a disgruntled sound. “I’m not happy about it, but if it’s what you need, I can deal. And of course I want to date you. I said I’d wait as long as it takes.”
She leaned up and kissed me on the mouth and then wiggled her nose. “I think I can still smell curry. Wouldn’t the renovations have removed the smell?”
“Oh, that. I paid to move the tenants and their things out during construction. No one who cooks curry that good should live in the dump this place used to be. The family came back to a better apartment, but I kept the rent the same. Your old neighbor must be making dinner.”
She reached up and cupped my cheek. “What am I going to do with you, Jackson? Who even does this?”
“A reluctant billionaire?”
She laughed and squeezed my waist, pressing her body to mine. “I guess I can live with that.”
ChapterThirty-Five
Jack
Elise moving out sucked.I’d wanted her to either stay or move into the building I’d bought, but that wasn’t what she wanted, and I realized my entire world came to a screeching halt if Elise wasn’t happy. So Max and I, with Elise and Sophia’s direction, helped her move into the shoebox-sized apartment she’d found, and I dealt with the change. I also visited often.
I jogged down the steps to her basement apartment in the Haight District a month after she’d moved and knocked on the pale blue door.
Elise answered wearing my boxers, tee, and a sweatshirt from my closet she’d declared was hers before she moved out, because it smelled like me. “Hi!” She jumped into my arms and kissed me all over my face, and I carried her back inside.
