by L.H. Cosway
Her eyes took on a sympathetic look. “Is it really that bad?”
I nodded. “I’ve been having some trouble with one of my contractors. Bit of a nightmare. I’m in the middle of trying to find someone more reliable to replace him, but it’s tough. There are so many cowboys out there.”
She frowned empathetically. “I’m sorry. That sounds horrible. I’m happy to help coordinate things if you’d like. I am your PA, after all.”
I shook my head. “That’s kind of you to offer, but I think you have enough on your plate.” I didn’t need to be taking any more help from her. Michaela already did so much for me, and dealing with my home renovations definitely wasn’t part of her job.
“Well, let me know if you change your mind,” she said as the doors to the lift opened and I gestured for her to step off first.
Michaela knocked on Callum and Leanne’s door since I was still holding the cake. Paul let us in, his tall frame and bright red hair filling the doorway.
“Hey, you two!” he greeted with a wide smile. Paul was rarely found without a grin on his face. He took the cake from me while I went to give Leanne a hug and wish her a happy birthday.
“Didn’t Diana come with you?” she asked, glancing over my shoulder.
“She’s feeling under the weather, but she sends her best.”
Leanne gave a wry snort. “I’m sure she does.”
I shook my head at her, mildly amused. “I’ll never understand why you two rub each other up the wrong way so much.” My mum had a similar attitude towards Diana, but I’d always put it down to her not thinking any woman was good enough for her special boy. Most mothers had a hint of that in them, I was sure.
“Maybe it’s because I’m jealous she snagged one of the last truly good men in this city,” Leanne teased, flicking me on the shoulder.
“Hey!” Callum exclaimed. “What does that make me?”
She turned to him, reaching up to tug on his shirt collar. “You, my dear, are a dirty rotten scoundrel, but I love you anyway.”
“Yeah, ya do,” he grinned before dipping his mouth to hers for a kiss.
Leanne and Callum were a fiery, passionate couple, and they weren’t shy in showing public affection. I glanced at Michaela and she gave me a small smile and shrugged. I found myself holding her gaze for a moment longer than usual before I dropped it.
What was going on with me tonight?
I definitely wasn’t getting enough sleep.
“Can you two please give it a rest?” Paul complained. “I know it’s your birthday and all, but some of us singletons could do without the up-close PDA.”
“Technically,” Callum replied as he came up for air, “it’s not public since we’re in our own flat.”
“Yes, well, there are young, impressionable minds present,” Paul answered back before shooting Michaela a wink.
She rolled her eyes.
I’d never seen her as particularly young or impressionable, but then again, she was only twenty-two. She was also a vicar’s daughter, which made me imagine her upbringing was probably quite strict and sheltered.
“Happy birthday, Leanne,” Michaela said, handing her a small gift-wrapped box.
“You shouldn’t have!” Leanne exclaimed. She opened the box to reveal a small gold necklace with a sparrow pendant. “Oh my goodness, I love it,” she went on.
“It reminded me of you,” Michaela said shyly.
“It’s beautiful. Thank you so much.” Leanne came forward to give her a hug just as Isaac entered with a tray of drinks.
“Okay, I hope everyone likes rum because I’ve whipped up a batch of my signature punch.”
“I’ll pass,” I said. “The last time I drank one of your cocktails, I blacked out for half the night.”
“Isaac does favour a heavy pour,” Paul grinned.
“Lightweight,” Isaac teased when he offered me a glass and I shook my head.
“Diana doesn’t like it when I come home drunk,” I responded.
“Speaking of Lady Di,” Callum said. “Will she be gracing us with her presence tonight?”
“She’s sick,” Leanne told him, and I nodded, adding, “She’s sorry she couldn’t make it.”
“Which reminds me,” Paul said. “Trev and Reya can’t make it either. I believe their official reason was ‘Reya’s too pregnant to go anywhere.’”
“A viable excuse,” Leanne accepted.
“I hope there’s one for the cap and the hoodie,” I told Callum. He was dressed like he was about to head to the gym, not host his girlfriend’s birthday party.
He shot me a conspiratorial wink. “All will be revealed in due course.”
I frowned, no clue what he was talking about until an hour later, when he announced he had a very special surprise for Leanne. He pulled a chair into the middle of the room and gestured for her to sit.
“I’ve been working on this for the last few weeks,” he said, “so you better be impressed.”
“Oh my God, do I even want to know?” Leanne said while Callum disappeared inside the bedroom. I glanced at Michaela questioningly, but it seemed she was just as lost as I was when she shrugged her shoulders. Then Paul hit play on the music and “Pony” by Ginuwine came on.
I had an unfortunate feeling I knew where this was going.
Five
Michaela
The bedroom door flung open and Callum stepped out, a sultry look on his face as he started to dance.
“Oh no, I can never unsee this,” Isaac said dramatically.
“Perhaps we should leave, give them some privacy,” Neil suggested. My very professional co-assistant looked far from comfortable in what he was witnessing.
I put my hand to my mouth, unable to hold back my nervous giggle. What on earth was Callum doing?
“I think I’m going to faint,” Leanne said, jokingly fanning herself as Callum did a backflip right there in the middle of their living room. He pulled off the white vest he’d been wearing under his hoodie, then dropped to the floor, thrusting and gyrating his hips before popping back up. He took his discarded vest, briefly shoved it inside the crotch of his sweatpants, then pulled it back out and threw it at Leanne. She caught it, giggling away, while Paul shouted, “Eww, unhygienic!”
I felt my cheeks heating despite myself. I’d never witnessed an actual striptease in real life.
“This better end before he reveals a thong under those sweatpants,” James muttered quietly, and I suppressed a chuckle.
“It’s a very impressive routine,” I replied. “If I didn’t know better, I’d say Callum once did a stint as an exotic dancer.”
“It’s impressive because he stole it,” James scoffed then cast me a speculative glance. “Haven’t you seen Magic Mike?”
“No,” I answered, raising an eyebrow. “Have you?”
His smile fell a little, and I enjoyed the hint of embarrassment on his face. “My sisters made me watch it last Christmas. I wanted to watch Die Hard, but I was outvoted.”
I grinned wide. “Sure, you were.”
James shot me a look that was half narrowed-eyed scowl, half-grin and I realised quite starkly that I was flirting with him. Just a little. I needed to rein it in. My plan was to kill my crush, not expand it.
My attention returned to Leanne as she squealed. Callum had lifted up the chair she was sitting on – with her still in it – then dropped the chair out from under her. He carried her to the middle of the room, then laid her down on the floor before performing a very risqué and seductive move that featured even more hip thrusts.
“Okay, I think we’ve all seen enough now,” James announced.
“Yeah,” Paul added. “Save it for the bedroom!”
Callum stood and helped Leanne to her feet, a pleased expression on his face. “To be continued,” he told her with a possessive smirk before casting James a cheeky glance. “I don’t want James getting too hot under the collar.”
James chuckled, and I snuck a glance at him. Some pe
ople are radiant when they smile, I thought absently. His head turned to me, and I looked away quickly, mortified to be caught admiring him.
Look, I knew I could never have James, but maybe I could use him as a template for the sort of man I wanted to end up with. Somehow his combination of looks and personality made up “my type”, so that meant I should try to find a guy who was like him, but with the bonus of actually being available.
While doing my best not to ogle James again, I mentally drew up a list of all the things I found attractive about him.
He was mature and level-headed.
He was kind.
He was supportive and protective of the people he cared about.
He was patient.
He was very, very physically attractive. Though I couldn’t tell if it was just the way he looked, or if his personality combined with his looks made him so very appealing to the eye. Or my eye, more specifically.
All I knew was, meeting someone like him wasn’t going to be easy. It was hard to find genuinely good, loyal people these days when it was so easy to use and discard others through dating apps.
“The food’s ready,” Neil announced, interrupting my thoughts. “There’s a choice of a few different pastas, pizza bites, and salad,” he went on.
His mention of pasta made my mind immediately return to the argument I overheard between James and Diana. I just couldn’t seem to get her cutting tone out of my head, the way he tried to appease her even though he hadn’t done anything wrong. It bothered me because I knew all too well how it felt to be bullied by a loved one.
***
When I got home from the party, it was well after midnight. The flat was blissfully quiet and I wanted nothing more than to crawl into bed and sleep. I’d been on my feet practically the entire day and I ached all over. Then, a sharp female cry of pleasure cut through the silence and I froze. Moving closer to the bedroom door, I pressed my ear to the wood and sure enough, were the sounds of two people having sex.
Clearly, Sarita had invited her new girlfriend, Mabel, over for the night. Normally, I wouldn’t mind, but I couldn’t exactly walk right into our bedroom while they were in the middle of things.
Their enthusiastic noises made me think of my own sex life and how lacking it was lately. I hadn’t been with anyone in months, not since I met James, in fact. Not too difficult to figure that one out.
Too exhausted to wait, I flopped down onto the couch, closed my eyes, and tried to sleep. It was difficult to get comfortable in the cramped space, and there was also the fact that Sarita and Mabel were still going at it rather enthusiastically. My mind inevitably wandered to James. He was probably sound asleep next to Diana right now, and the image gave me a painful pang in my chest. I pushed thoughts of him aside. He wasn’t mine to obsess over and he never would be. He was a friend and a boss and nothing more.
The sooner my feelings caught up with that logic, the better.
***
The next morning I regretted my decision to sleep on the couch. I woke up full of aches, still fully dressed, the buttons on my blouse and the zipper on my jeans having dug into my skin. I’d also slept with my head on the armrest, resulting in a pattern etched into my cheek and an almighty crick in my neck.
I fumbled for my phone and saw it was only 6 am. I’d gotten less than five hours of sleep, but I had to get up. I didn’t usually work on Saturdays, however Neil and I had agreed to meet at the gym for a few hours to go through some things we were behind on.
I dragged myself into the shower, scrubbed myself clean, then went to get dressed and grab some breakfast. Sarita, Mabel, and Afric were all still in bed, and I tried not to be too jealous about that.
When I arrived at the gym, Neil was already there, laptop open as he typed.
“Hey,” I said, greeting him with a little wave. “I’m just going to get a cup of coffee, then I’ll be right with you.”
“No worries. Can you make one for me, too? I haven’t had the chance yet.”
“You haven’t had coffee yet? How are you so awake?”
“The secret is getting up at the same time every day, whether or not it’s the weekend,” he answered cheerfully.
I grimaced as I turned in the direction of the coffee machine. A couple of Saturdays ago, Neil had called me at 9 am. My groggy voice had made it obvious he’d woken me up, and I think he was still judging me for it. Don’t get me wrong, Neil was a great guy, but he was one of those people who were so organised and together they made you feel like a messy slob by comparison. And that was really saying something since I was considered to be the organised, together one among my group of friends.
I was standing by the coffee machine, watching the dark, seductive liquid shoot into my cup when someone else entered the room.
“Morning, M,” James greeted brightly. He walked to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of chilled water.
My heart sped up like it always did when he was near. Silly heart. I reminded myself of the conclusion I’d come to last night and endeavoured to act normal. “Oh, hi, James. I didn’t expect you here so early. I thought everybody would be sporting hangovers this morning.”
He uncapped the bottle, lifting it to his mouth. “I actually didn’t drink last night, so I’m fresh as a daisy.”
He swallowed a gulp and I tried not to fixate on the movement of his throat. It was one of those universally sexy gestures created by God to tempt weak-willed women like me. Or maybe I was just a perv.
“That was smart,” I said, turning my attention back to my coffee.
“You look a little tired,” James said as he came to stand next to me. “Did you sleep okay?”
I shook my head, my cheeks heating when I thought of why I was so tired. Normally, I wouldn’t feel weird telling someone that Sarita had commandeered our room last night for sex, in essence, leaving me with nowhere to sleep. But with James, I avoided discussing stuff like that, probably because a part of me feared if I mentioned sex he’d somehow be able to see all the naughty fantasies I’d had about him in my head.
But maybe I should tell him. If nothing else than to prove to myself that I could get over this crush and eventually treat him like everyone else I worked with.
With renewed determination, I replied, “When I got home last night, my roommate and her girlfriend were in our bedroom doing…something that it would’ve been impolite to walk in on. So I opted to sleep on the couch instead and now everything aches.”
There. I said it. The world didn’t shatter and James didn’t suddenly develop the ability to read minds. His eyes wandered back and forth between mine, his lips forming a flat, sympathetic line. “You and your roommate share a bedroom?” he asked, bringing the water bottle to his mouth for another swig. Don’t look at his throat.
I nodded. “London rents are no joke. Sarita and I have been friends for years, so we don’t mind sharing. It’s just when one of us wants to have an overnight guest, or say, use the bathroom at the same time, things can become crowded.”
He stared at me now, a little too intensely, which caused a funny, hot sensation to take up residence in my chest.
“What?” I said. “Do I have something on my face?”
“No,” James replied. “I was just thinking…I, um, I might have a temporary solution to your overcrowding problem.”
“Oh?”
He ran a hand over his jaw, like he was thinking a moment, then replied, “It’s unconventional, but you know how I’m in the middle of renovating the new house for after the wedding?”
“Yes,” I answered. How could I forget? As if James wasn’t already perfect, he’d gone and bought a house and was renovating it as a surprise wedding gift for his fiancée.
“Well,” he went on. “One of the bedrooms is finished and sitting empty. So, if it suits you, you could move in there for a few weeks, get a little space to yourself for a while.” He paused to let out a small chuckle. “I grew up in a three-bedroom house with three other siblings, so I know how it is l
iving in a cramped space.”
A mixture of nerves and hope swarmed in my belly. Nerves because I’d be living in James’ aka, the object of my secret affections’ house, and hope because the idea of having an entire house to myself seemed like a dream. But then, I knew I couldn’t just live in his house rent-free. That would feel way too weird, like charity or something. Or worse, like I was taking advantage of his generosity. There had to be a way to make it even…
I remembered our conversation from last night, when I’d offered to help him out with the renovations. Perhaps we could both get something out of it.
I brought my attention back to him. “What if we both benefited?”
His eyebrows rose. “I’m all ears.”
“I’ll take you up on your offer, but only if you let me help with organising your renovations. You said yourself that it’s been a nightmare, and not to toot my own horn but I have fantastic organisational skills. So, I get a room and in return, you get my services. It’s a win-win.”
He frowned now, staring at the coffee machine. He didn’t seem to like my suggestion. Had I said something wrong?
“I’m not sure I’m comfortable with you working for free,” James said.
“But I wouldn’t be. I’d be living in your house without paying any rent,” I countered. He still didn’t look convinced.
“It feels weird,” James went on and I looked away. Maybe he was right. Maybe it would be weird, especially when you factored in my feelings for him. I’d been so eager about having a room of my own that I hadn’t fully thought things through. On the one hand, it’d be amazing to have a whole house to myself, even if said house was still in the process of being renovated. But on the other hand, saying yes would mean being in contact with James even more than I already was. Given my feelings for him, and my plan to get over said feelings, that could lead to some bad emotional headspace for me.
I realised I’d been quiet, lost in my thoughts for far too long, when I glanced up and found James studying me with the oddest expression. I couldn’t for the life of me decipher what it meant.