Page 56 of Friends with Benefits

‘I am not a commitment-phobe.’ I pondered that. ‘I’ve just never had to commit to anything before now.’

‘Mm hm. Gotcha. Well, think it over. I have someone else looking at the place tomorrow and I can’t afford to pass up any offers, but I’d like you to take it. I can already tell we’re going to be good friends.’

She said it so seriously, as if it genuinely didn’t matter whether I chose to be her friend or not. I started to laugh and something took hold of me: wine, fear, the oddness of having been in the UK for the last few weeks. It kept my laughter coming until my sides hurt. It felt too good to stop.

I stayed with Jenni that night, taking her sofa. I was going to leave in the morning without waking her. If her head felt as groggy as mine was, I figured she’d be thankful. But she caught me as I was folding up the duvet she’d loaned me.

‘When you accept my offer, I’m thinking you’ll need a place to live?’ She padded through the lounge and into the kitchen to boil the kettle.

‘I told you, Jenni, I need to think about it.’

‘Okay. But, when you do accept, I know a couple of guys who are looking for someone to take their third room. It’s small but a good price. Do you want a bagel?’

I was going to say no but my stomach growled at me, and I thought maybe it would alleviate some of the sick feeling I had inside, so I said yes.

I still wasn’t sure I could commit to being in London for six months. In fact, my gut was telling me to turn the place down, but I took the number of the apartment Jenni gave me and I texted some guy called Jake to see if I could view the spare room.

* * *

When I arrived at the door of the apartment, the top floor of a split house in west London, I double checked the number and knocked. Seconds later, the door was flung open and a man, naked but for his boxers, was standing in front of me.

‘Jesus,’ I said, recoiling.

‘All right?’

The naked man winked at me, then his hand went to his boxers as he shuffled his piece. I almost ran right then. No way in hell was I staying in this place with this pervert.

‘I’m Alex,’ he said, holding out a hand.

I considered his hand, then his tall, slim, pale body. ‘You just touched yourself and now you’re asking me to shake your hand?’

He laughed and scrutinized me, head to toe, from my heeled boots and skinny jeans to my leather jacket and my hair pulled across my shoulder.

‘She’s got my vote, Jake,’ he said, leaving me in the doorway.

I stepped inside for some unknown reason.

‘It’s been fun, kids,’ I could hear someone say, ‘but I’ve got to go. Someone is here to view the spare room and Alex is naked.’

‘Alex is always naked,’ a second voice said. ‘Okay, son, be safe. We love you.’

‘Love you too, Mom.’

I leaned farther into the lounge and saw the source of the voice, a man standing in the kitchen, talking into a laptop that was on the kitchen counter. The first thing that struck me was that his voice was deep and smooth. The second thing was it had an American accent.

‘See you, baby brother,’ a new female voice said.

‘Bye, Mill. Take care of my niece and nephew.’

‘Catch you later, jackass.’ Those words came from a man and they made Jake smile, a smile which pulled on only half of his mouth and caused a dimple in his cheek.

‘Fuck off, dickhead.’ He closed the lid of the laptop, then lifted his head so I could finally see his full face under the peak of his black cap. And, damn, did it hit me full force. That smile wasn’t all he had going for him. Dark stubble lined a sharp jaw – not too sharp, just perfectly sharp.

His dark eyes narrowed on me as he stared without moving. Something leaped inside me. It jumped from my stomach to under my breastbone and made me close my eyes for a moment.

‘Hi, I’m Jake.’

As he stepped from behind the counter, giving me the full view of his broad, muscular body under his fitted white T-shirt and dark jeans, I swallowed to wet my dry throat.

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