“By the way. The entire house is yours to use. You can come and go as you please. The kitchen, the game room, the garden, the pool. Any of it. Except for my office. My office is off-limits,” he says.
“Why? Is that where you hide the bodies?” I joke, but he doesn’t smile. “I’m kidding. Sheesh.”
“The office is off-limits,” he echoes, and he waits until I nod to walk off.
I’m less interested in the hot tub than I am in the bathroom. I shrug it off and walk over to check things out. Then I see the tubhe is talking about. I make a mental note to take advantage of it soon. I look down at the edge of the tub where there is a plethora of candles, soaps, and lotions. All the things that I would like.
I narrow my eyes and grab one of the candles, marching back into the kitchen where Zane is refilling a water bottle. I realize then that he’s in gym clothes.
“Why do you have candles in the bathroom?” I ask.
“Because women like candles,” he answers casually. “From my experience, anyways.”
“So you bought these for another woman?” I smile, sucking my teeth.
“No,” he says, walking around me and down another hall. I didn’t notice it the last time I was here, but this place is huge. Like a labyrinth. “I bought them for you.”
I follow him, candle still in hand. “You bought candles for me?” I ask.
“Yes. Candles. Soaps. Lotions,” he says, walking into a room that looks like a public gym. Not that I am surprised.
“How did you know I like freesia? Apple? Honey?” I ask, and he turns halfway around to face me.
“Because that’s what you smell like,” he states as if it’s the most obvious thing ever
“My perfume?” I ask, and his eyes drag down to a lower region of my body.
“Among other things…”
For the second, maybe third, time my jaw unhinges at this man’s audacity. Yeah. I’m going to have to up my game.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me,” he says, setting down his water bottle and laying back on the bench. “I have a very strict workout regimen that isn’t going to change just because I have a new roommate.”
A smirk crawls across my face. Because two can only play this game if I actually play the game. And believe it or not, I do know how to play the game. Not from experience. More like from watching a lot of Billionaire Hearts with Demi.
I slink over and carefully step over him so I am straddling him while standing up. Then I bend down, careful not to touch him in the motion. Luckily for me, I do a lot of yoga.
“Is that what we are now?” I ask softly. “Roommates?”
Zane’s hands are on the bar as he stares up at me.
“Unless…you want to be more…” he says.
“That sounds…complicated…don’t you think?” I ask, holding the bar as well to hover over him.
“Complicated isn’t always bad…” he says.
I let the smirk crawl further across my lips, which are close enough to his to feel the heat of his mouth. Then, as I go to stand up, Zane slides out from under the bar and grabs me. He sits up and tugs me down onto his lap. Suddenly, I realize that this kind of backfired. But before I can protest, his lips are on mine.
And by that time, I’m not so sure I want to protest.
“I really nailed it, didn’t I?” he asks as his lips suckle a trail down my neck.
“Nailed…what…exactly?” I ask breathily as he finds a sweet spot and teases it relentlessly.
“The candle,” he asks as he continues kissing my neck. “It smells just like you. Though I doubt it tastes as good.”
I bite my lip between my teeth, squirming in his lap. Part of me thinks this has gone too far, but I also think if he stopped, I’d die. So he continues to suckle and I continue to squirm until finally, he pulls back, leaving my skin numb and my head racing.
