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“Okay, next room!”
We move on to the spare bedroom down the hall, and once again, he rubs the back of his neck nervously as I step inside.
“I got you a red comforter, since you said your favorite color is red, and those are new pillowcases and sheets too. I also thought the red-and-black throw pillows were cute, so I grabbed those as well. If you don’t like them, you can just toss them in the closet,” he rambles adorably again, making my heart beat faster in my stupid chest. “Come on. I’ll show you the bathroom.”
He’s out the door and across the hall before I turn around, and I walk out of the room and into the doorway of the bathroom to join him. It’s still a little hot and steamy in here from the shower he must have jumped out of right before I got here, and I’m suddenly hit with the smell of his soap again. I’m so distracted by how good it smells and noticing a red bottle of Old Spice body wash sitting on a ledge in the shower, wondering when in the hell Old Spice started smelling so fucking delicious, that I miss the first part of what Ryan says.
“—a half bath off the kitchen. Sorry, we’ll have to share a shower.” He clears his throat and then looks away from me to point out a few things, while I’m still stuck on the part about us sharing a shower. I’m fairly confident he didn’t mean it in the way my dirty brain interpreted that statement, but the image of his naked body standing under the spray while I soap him up is now in my head and stuck there forever.
“I got you some new shampoo and body wash, and a new loofa and toothbrush, but you know, if you don’t like any of it, you don’t have to use it. Oh, and I put this basket of stuff here, but if I forgot anything, let me know, and I’ll go back to the store.”
I look at the white basket on the back of the toilet, filled with a few boxes of different brands of tampons, several bags of different-sized pads, Midol, a pink packet of feminine cleansing wipes with a matching bottle of freshening spray, a brand-new heating pad still in the box, and a little stuffed animal dog. My heart starts racing like it’s about to run right out of my chest, and I have to blink away tears before I start crying like a baby.
“My grandma, Dottie, got me that dog when I was little,” Ryan explains while I wonder how it’s possible a man this thoughtful actually exists in real life. “He’s filled with flaxseed and dried lavender, and you put him in the microwave, heat him up, and put him wherever you hurt. I know, it’s silly and a little juvenile. I just thought you might want to borrow him while you’re here. Sometimes that little guy works better than a heating pad to take away your pain.”
“It’s not silly. It’s really nice.”
He smiles at me, and butterflies start flapping in my stomach.
Asher would have thrown a fit if I asked him to run to the store to get me tampons. If I so much as winced with a cramp, he would roll his eyes and tell me he didn’t need to know about the gross shit that was happening to my body.
Ryan just happily filled his shopping basket with every feminine hygiene product on the shelf at the store and gives zero shits about it sitting out on the back of his toilet for anyone to see.
Needing to get out of this bathroom before I start weeping because of some damn tampons and a stuffed dog, I quickly turn and leave the room, walking down the hallway and back out into the living room.
“What do you say? You still want to be roommates?”
“It is reassuring there weren’t any dead bodies in your closets,” I tell him, turning around to face him and crossing my arms again when he joins me by the couch.
“Oh, I keep those out in the shed.”
He says it with such a straight face that the laughter just flies right out of me.
“I don’t know about this…,” I trail off, looking around the room again and noticing a plate of homemade chocolate chip cookies in the middle of the kitchen island I missed before.
Jesus, the man even bakes.
“Is it because of the kiss?”
Here we go. Time to discuss the elephant in the room like rational adults.
“It does make this situation a little… awkward.” I nod.
“You don’t have to worry about me crossing the line again,” he quickly reassures me, like that kiss in the pizza place washisidea. “That willneverhappen again. Trust me.” He laughs like it’s the most ridiculous idea in the world we would ever kiss again. I try not to feel a little rejected as he continues, even though I have absolutely no business feeling any sort of way toward this guy.
“You’re Tristan’s sister, and I’m his friend. I have no desire to cross any boundaries with you, so don’t worry about that at all. It wouldn’t be respectful for anything to happen between us, when I’m supposed to be helping you. Right now, you just need a friend.”
God forbid Mr. Good Guy do something disrespectful to me, like bend me over that bathroom sink and—
Wait, what am I saying? He’s right. Anything happening between us would just be bad and wrong. It still doesn’t mean I should pack up my shit at the hotel and move in here. I can already tell this would be another complication in my life I really don’t need.
“Right.” I nod, backing up toward the door. “I just…. I need to think about it. I’m paid up at the hotel for a few more days anyway.”
“Okay, sounds good!” Ryan happily nods, walking me toward the door and holding it open for me. “Do you want me to follow you back to the hotel? I don’t mind.”
Stopping when I get out onto the porch, I just stare at him. He doesn’t seem to mind anything very much at all.
Must be nice not having any worries in life.
Promising him I’m perfectly fine getting back to the hotel on my own and that I’ll text him with my answer when I make a decision, I walk back to my golf cart and quickly drive away.
Wondering if I could actually live with a guy I’m stupidly attracted to, who seems completely oblivious to me. Even if it is only temporary.
