Page 5 of Warming His Bed

“My plans are great,” he protested.

“Oh man,” Ben laughed, “you’ve missed some doozies while you’ve been hiding away.”

“Tell him about their anniversary this year,” Will said.

“That was a romantic gift,” Brody argued.

“It was five pounds of worms,” Ben deadpanned.

“Lydia said she wanted us to be more green. I built us a compost bin, but I couldn’t exactly wrap that up, now could I?” From Brody’s expression, it was clear he still believed he was in the right.

“Wait.” It took me a second to do the math in my head. “You mean to tell me you gave your wife worms for your tenth anniversary? And you think you have any business getting involved in other people’s love lives?”

“Or lack thereof,” Ben said under his breath.

“Can it,” I said, then turned back to Brody. “How did you think this was going to pan out?”

“I thought she’d see the amount of research and labor I put into building that compost bin and be enamored by my engineering skills and physical prowess.”

My head hit the back of the booth as I stared up at the ceiling, willing myself to keep my shit together. “Not the worms,” I gritted out. “How the hell did you think setting up a random stranger to think they were renting a room from me would help me?”

“You need to change things up. Break out of your shell. And since you seem resigned that no one here in town is worth coming out of your sad little bunny burrow for, I thought a little variety would spice things up.”

“By renting out a room of my house without talking to me?” I couldn’t shake my disbelief.

“It’s got to be one of my best plans, by far.” Brody beamed with pride.

“What if the rental was booked by a family, or some executive here on business?” Ben asked.

“Right,” Will agreed. “Jessica mentioned all the hotels in Rosewood are full because of some conference going on at the university.” Will’s second cousin ran the front desk at the motel I’d directed that woman to.

“Hot ladies can be executives,” Brody countered. As if Ben and Will were the ones being unreasonable. “Besides, I took care of that with the ad.” Brody whipped out his phone, thumbed through it and handed it over to me.

My gut sank as I read the listing aloud. “Single room for rent in gorgeous Kelly Bay historical home. Queen bed, shared bathroom. Renter must be heterosexual female…” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Jesus Christ.”

“Don’t stop there,” Ben goaded. “Actually, hold on. Let me order some popcorn before you keep going.” He waved at the owner, Paul, to come over.

“Single, aged twenty-four to thirty-five—”

“I figured plus or minus your age by a few years was a safe bet.” Brody explained, like this was a totally rational plan.

I was thirty-one, but that was beside the point. “Nothing about this was a safe bet.” I said, then trudged on through his ludicrous ad. “All races, religions and body types welcome—”

“You seem like an equal opportunity kind of guy,” Brody chimed in, still grinning like the time he hit a grand slam in one of our summer league softball games.

“Must have limited geographical ties so your family won’t be disappointed if you fall in love with our beautiful town and decide to relocate.” My voice hit a pitch only dogs could hear when I read that last sentence.

“Fuuuck,” Will said.

“Oh Brody.” Ben laughed.

“What?” Brody stared at them with his mouth open like they were the idiots.

“At best, this sounds like I’m a total perv, and at worst like I’m a serial killer who’s too lazy to go out and find my own victims.”

“Well, it worked, didn’t it? That cute little brunette showed up to stay with you.”

My eyes narrowed on him. “How do you know she’s a brunette?” I leaned in. “Were you watching my house?”

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