Page 73 of Hollywood Undercover
Chapter 31
SEBASTIAN foundit was way too easy to forget he was sharing a house with someone after living on his own for so many years. He remembered Alexandra was here when he woke up, but there were moments during his morning routine where it had slipped hismind.
He stepped out of his bathroom after a quick shower, and after wrapping a towel around his hips he thumped downstairs just like that, without a second thought. He only factored her in again after turning on the stereo to kick off the morning with a squeal of guitars. By then he had to live with it. His knee was still sore from last night, so he decided he would make the trip upstairs afterbreakfast.
Humming to the music, he headed into the kitchen to get breakfast ready. He was in a good mood today, and planned to relax in the living room until it was time for physical therapy that afternoon. After whisking together eggs, chopped peppers and diced onions, he started on some omelets. He stood at the stove with wet hair swooped back from his face, bare-chested, taking in the mouth-watering smells as it cooked. A kickass rock tune was playing in the background when Alexandra walked into the kitchen behind him. She let out a yelp that was so unexpected, he almost tipped thesaucepan.
“Whoa. What the hell.” Sebastian spun around in surprise to see her with a hand to her mouth, eyes wide open and her face blushing as red as rose petals. He instinctively clutched the towel that started to slip from his hips at the sudden jerk. They both stood there, frozen. Under normal circumstances, it would be appropriate to respond thisway.
She’s a woman, I’m a near naked man, and we have so much chemistry between us, safety goggles might berequired.
This particular circumstance wasn’t even in the same realm as normal. She stood there, still fully engulfed in her game, wearing manly slacks with suspenders over a seersucker button-down shirt, seeming pleased that she could still pass for the lead singer in a boy band. Had he not been crushing on her since he was a teenager, long before she became a rock star and moved away to Los Angeles, thenmaybehe would be fooled. Nothing about it could fool Sebastian, not even her short, black hair. Everything about her gave her away, as far as he wasconcerned.
Alexandra Storme grew up next door tome.
She was my high schoolfantasy.
Christ, when will she give thisup?
With the split second panic of almost losing his towel now behind him, Sebastian shrugged. As long as Alexandra was putting on her act, he wasn’t going to call her on it. Fully aware that she was keeping it up to avoid the media attention while her father was convalescing, he left it alone. He wasn’t about to mess withthat.
I almost don’t care anymore that she thinks I’mgay.
Almost.
The thought flashed through his mind, and he resigned himself to let it all be. He relaxed his guard and shot her a laid-backsmile.
“For a minute, I forgot you were here, Alex. Do you want somebreakfast?”
He turned back to the omelet and hurriedly flipped it out of the pan onto a plate. He faced her again, dusting off his hands, waiting for her to saysomething.
“Oh, um…no thanks, man. I’m not hungry,” she said, backing toward the door closest to thehallway.
The flush still reddened her face, and he noticed her gaze had dropped to his abs. He put his hands on his hips to let her take a goodlook.
“Are you sure you don’t want anything?” heteased.
There were definite perks to knowing her secret and her not clueing in to the fact that he knew. He looked on as her eyes darted back to his face and the blushdeepened.
“Yeah…no. I’mgood.”
She dashed from the room, and Sebastian turned toward the stove again, trying not to laugh tooloudly.
She’s not going to give thisup.
If he were a betting man, he would put money onit.
If this was what it would be like to have Alexandra as a guest for the next few weeks, he was ready to let the shenanigansbegin.
