The Royal Roommate

by P. G. Van

  “That’s it, I’m coming in,” he declared making her squeal when she heard the shower door open.

  “Hey, I’ll be fine. I just need a few more minutes,” she said pretending to be unfazed by his bare-chested image in front of her.

  “No, you won’t until you get out of your clothes and let the warm water take care of the cold.”

  “Not yet, I’m too cold.”

  “Are you okay, Amy?”

  “That was scary, Sid. I didn’t realize those cute animals could hurt people.”

  “It’s okay, it’s a good thing you saw what happened.”

  “Yes,” she shivered visibly.

  “Two minutes is up, my turn to shower.” He laughed.

  “No… I’m not done, but I can share the shower if you’re cold.” She offered and bit her tongue a few seconds too late.

  Sid’s mouth twisted up wickedly on one side. “You’re willing to share the shower?”

  “Yeah, you did jump in for the rescue.”

  “I jumped… you did the rescue. I had no idea why I you dove into the water.” He ran his fingers through his damp hair while standing by the shower door as he held it partially open.

  “Why did you jump into the water?” She asked her voice surprisingly steady.

  “Hey… you jumped into the water, so I jumped.” He laughed shaking his head.

  She held her hand out to him cautiously looking into his eyes. He took her hand after a moment of hesitation and stepped into the shower and stood a foot from her.

  “Why did you jump into the water?” She repeated like she wanted a different answer.

  Sid looked long and deep into her eyes like he didn’t know the answer himself, and she decided not to probe.

  “You can step under the water if you like. I won’t bite.” She managed in spite of the rage in her chest from his proximity.

  He took half a step closer to her and let the warm water roll down his skin. She closed the gap between them to place her cheek on his chest. She shut her eyes tightly and held onto his hand and circled her other arm around his waist. She drew in the heat from him as they stood in silence.

  He did not object to the invasion of his private space. She held onto him for what seemed like the best few minutes as she took in the smoothness of his skin layered over rock-solid muscles doused in his beautiful scent.

  She wanted to hold on until he moved, but he stood under the water with his other hand to his side. She wondered if he was going to pull her in tighter to him and knew he was fighting the urge.

  She finally stepped away and took a step toward the door without looking into his eyes. “I’m good now. I’ll go change. Can you stay in here for a few minutes?”

  “Sure.”

  Five minutes later, she was dressed in a bright pink t-shirt and khaki shorts with the pizzeria’s name splashed over the t-shirt.

  “I’m done,” she called out and heard him turn off the shower.

  Sid stepped out of the shower in his shorts and a towel draped over his shoulder. Amy turned away refusing to let him watch her drool over his chiseled muscles as she attempted to dry her hair using an old-fashioned hand dryer that refused to run for more than twenty seconds at a time.

  “Looks like you are having fun drying your hair,” he teased and enjoyed the death stare she gave him but saw something more than annoyance play in those eyes. He knew she had the same thoughts go through her mind when they stood together in silence under the shower.

  “You have no idea. I can dry the rest of my hair at home. I’m ready to go when you are.” She ran her fingers through her damp hair.

  “We aren’t going back yet, we just got here.” Sid’s team confirmed she had no one following them and they were done planting the additional bugs in the apartment. He had, what he felt like a weird feeling, to spend time with her outside the apartment where every word she said was exclusively for him and not recorded for analysis.

  “Don’t be ridiculous, I’m not signing up to be a flamingo all day.” She pulled on her pink t-shirt scrunching her nose.

  He laughed walking toward her. “That’s a poor choice of a bird for you.”

  “Yeah? What bird describes me best?” She chuckled flattening her back on the wall as he moved closer to her.

  He held the towel around his neck standing inches from her looking down into her eyes. “A bird that is slightly graceful, flighty, and yet is a symbol of serenity.”

  Her cheeks were flushed crimson when she picked up the depth in his words. “Flighty?”

  “Irresponsible sometimes… like when you dive into cold water to attack a sea lion.” He slowly pushed a lock of damp hair away from her face, his fingers barely touching her cheek. “A bird that looks fragile yet is very strong.”

  “A Swan… right?” she whispered and immediately noticed the shift in his manner.

  Sid couldn’t believe he had lost focus on his mission, his mission to investigate Amy to protect the Swan. The Swan.

  “Let’s go back to the apartment. I’ll have Alberto pack the food.” He almost growled before leaving the bathroom leaving her shell-shocked and irritated at the change in his behavior.

  Sid gritted his teeth when he realized a potential suspect distracted him and his duty to the Swan and his country. Amy had to be treated as a suspect no matter how he felt about her or around her. He cursed at his negligence as he pulled his phone out when it beeped.

  John: Sir, we found a badly damaged memory card in the van.

  Sid felt a punch in his stomach at the thought of being wrong about Amy and that she could be connected to the Barkha Group.

  Sid: What’s on it?

  John: The team is taking it to the lab to get it analyzed. It was coated with blood.

  Sid: So it was from the guy?

  John: Yes. It was hidden in the back pocket of the passenger seat. She couldn’t have done it, sir.

  Sid: Let’s not jump to conclusions. I need the data from the card. I need to know the source of the download and if other copies have been made from the memory card.

  John: Yes, sir.

  “Sid,” Amy called out stepping out of the bathroom. He was looking at his phone standing by the deck. She repeated his name when he didn’t move, and he slowly turned to look at her as she approached him.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing.” He shrugged.

  “What do you mean nothing? One second you are showering me with compliments, and the next minute you look at me like I’m your arch-enemy.” She spoke like she read every slight expression of his like an expert. He was unreadable to most people, and for her to see right through him sent a shiver up his spine.

  “I got a text, and I need to get back to the apartment to work.”

  “Okay, you could have just told me instead of just walking out that way… I don’t like that,” she declared adamantly making him smile.

  Sid knew he was neck deep into something with her and hoped to clear her as a suspect as soon as possible.

  “I’m sorry, we can eat here if you want to…” He couldn’t believe how much the gloom in her eyes affected him.

  “No, get it to go. I don’t want to look like a pink swan.” She laughed walking back indoors.

  He smiled looking into the open water wondering what it was about her that calmed him and kept him away from his inner monster. It made him wonder if it was her empathy to stop for a stranger in the middle of the night that gave him hope there was good left in the world. He was glad he was on a mission requiring him to hang out with a normal person rather than the suspects he had to torture in enclosed spaces.

  Amy gave him a different perspective of life and a sense of calm and peace he had always craved. Her smile, attitude toward life, and the way her sweet scent stirred every muscle in him. The feeling made him think what he had with her was somewhat real, but he was convinced it couldn’t be real and even if it were, it wouldn’t last.

  Chapter 6

  Sid turned off the
audio recordings from the different parts of the apartment and scrunched his nose. It had been three weeks since he had moved in, and there was nothing they could find to tie Amy to the radical group except for the damaged memory card found in the van. The card was unreadable from the damage. He was convinced she was innocent and could close the investigation, but something about her made him want to stay back. He couldn’t get himself to leave.

  Sid: Find out why she was on that highway that late.

  Sid: Is it possible that she just gave him a ride?

  John: It is possible but highly unlikely. The injured guy didn’t ask her for her contact details, and she gave the hospital a fake address.

  John: She could have called 911 and left or called and stayed back. Why bring him to the hospital? He talked to her like he was giving her instructions.

  Sid: True… is it possible she is an acquaintance to that guy and has no clue what he was doing?

  John: Why was she on the highway at the exact same time? Seems like too much of a coincidence.

  Sid: I want someone to drive to that spot of the accident, and this time with the same phone and same carrier as Amy. See if we can get more clues at the site of the accident.

  John: It is only a few hours away, and I was planning to go to Lanesville. Since it is on the way, I’ll do it myself.

  Sid: Thanks, John.

  Amy was interesting, and he found her to be more interesting every minute he spent with her. Her quirks were annoying and cute all at the same time. Her need to save the planet in her weird way made him laugh every time he saw the note posted on the sink about turning off the faucet while scrubbing the dishes. He barely saw her during the weekdays and looked forward to seeing her over the weekend—that meant another twelve hours if he missed seeing her before she left for work, and he couldn’t wait. He wanted to see her at that moment no matter what she was doing, and he reasoned with himself it was the best time to switch out the bug in her bathroom, so the audio was clearer on the recording.

  “You’re nuts, Sid,” he muttered as he walked toward her room. He stopped right outside her bedroom door and turned away to walk back toward his bathroom. He tugged hard enough on the flush lever and broke it off.

  “Amy.” He knocked and stuck his head through her bedroom door when she didn’t respond. He called out again with urgency in his voice like he was in pain.

  “In here, Sid,” she responded from the bathroom.

  “I need to use your bathroom… now!” He opened the bathroom door like he had no control over his actions.

  “What the fuck, Sid. Get out,” she yelled from behind the floral shower curtain.

  “The friggin flush in my bathroom is broken.”

  “You don’t just barge into my bathroom while I’m using it,” she yelled speaking over the shower.

  “Just stay behind that shower curtain. Don’t come out until I’m done.” He pulled the old bug out from behind the water tank of the toilet and attached the new one.

  “Are you done?”

  “Wait! Let me pee in peace.”

  “You can take your own sweet time if it is your bathroom, I need to get to work,” she grumbled.

  “Hold it, I will take you to work today.”

  “Really?”

  “Yes.” He flushed and washed his hands.

  “Fine, get out now.”

  “I’m not done.”

  “You washed your hands, get out.”

  “I’m looking for a towel.”

  She opened the shower curtain and stuck her head out glaring at him. “Use my towel and get out.”

  “Fine.” He wiped his hands and left.

  “Let me know when you are ready, and I’ll take you.”

  “Get out of my bedroom and wait by your door.” She snarled.

  He laughed at her irritation and sent out a message to John that he had switched out the bug in her bathroom. He could have done it after she had left for work, but he couldn’t take the risk of being caught later because he accidentally moved the bathroom roll in her bathroom by a centimeter, at least that was the excuse he made up in his mind.

  Twenty minutes later, she stepped out of her bedroom holding her tote and shoes and looked at him with searing heat.

  “What?” He shrugged.

  “What was that?”

  “What?” He stood up and walked toward the main door.

  “Sid, why did you barge into my bathroom? What kind of a pathetic excuse was that to walk into my bathroom while I’m in the shower.”

  He stood looking at her without responding. She took a deep breath and walked toward him and stood a foot away from him.

  “Do we need to talk about what happened over the weekend a few weeks ago after our kitchen faucet fight?” She was upfront about it, and all he could think of doing was a repeat.

  “What do we need to talk about?”

  “Sid, we are roommates. I don’t want us to get carried away and make things complicated,” she managed to say even though all she wanted was for him to join her in the shower. She had been taking herself to her happy place almost every night since the kiss so she didn’t rip his clothes off every time she saw him. It had been a tough few weeks living under the same roof and not being able to touch him or be touched as she wanted him to every time her eyes fell on his long fingers.

  “Fine, aren’t you going to be late?”

  “Are we good? No barging into my bathroom again.”

  He turned away from her, and she wanted to kick herself for trying to be a responsible adult. She followed him out the door only to crash into his chest when he stopped short.

  “Stop barging into me,” he grumbled holding her to him by her waist.

  “Are you okay?” She ran her arms around him looking up at him.

  “Yeah,” his voice was soft.

  “Kiss me,” she said abruptly and felt a shudder pass through him.

  “What?”

  “You know how to barge into my bathroom pretending to pee, but you don’t know how to kiss me? Kiss me like you did that Saturday night.”

  He didn’t move and looked at her in disbelief. She smiled going up on her toes to brush her lips against his. “I’m not good at pretending.”

  He stood frozen refusing to give in, and she planted a kiss on each of his cheeks before she led him toward the elevator by his hand. He stood frozen to the wall of the elevator looking at her like she was an alien.

  “Have you never been kissed before?” she taunted.

  He smiled shaking his head but did not respond.

  “I don’t want a ride if you’re going to be like this in the car.”

  “I won’t, let’s go.”

  He got into the driver’s seat, his mind in turmoil to the point he wondered if he should be driving.

  “Let me drive, it’s easier than giving you instructions, and I cannot watch another minivan get crushed by this beast.” She got out of the car and went around to the driver’s side.

  Sid didn’t respond but crossed over the center console and settled into the passenger seat without another word. He sat in silence as she maneuvered the powerful vehicle through the morning traffic. He wanted her more than he had ever wanted anyone, but he knew it was a form of obsession, and it wasn’t anything real—it couldn’t be because he knew everything about her yet nothing about her.

  “Sid, what’s wrong?”

  “Nothing, I’m okay.”

  “I’m sorry if I…”

  “I’m glad you kissed me, Amy, and I want to kiss you back, too, but I can’t. You don’t want to be around someone like me.”

  She pulled into a smaller street and then finally into an alley. She put the vehicle in park and unclicked her seatbelt and pounced on him with her hungry lips. He met hers with his demanding and starved lips. There was no tenderness, and she didn’t want any. She wanted him to kiss her till he tasted her blood.

  She flattened her palms on his cheeks, her nails grazing his skin. He groaned sinking
his fingers into her ass cheeks when she sucked in his lower lip between her teeth.

  “Why are we fighting this?” she mumbled against his lips.

  “I don’t know,” he growled, and she knew he was as confused as she was about what they had going on between them. All she knew was there was no explanation as to why she felt so drawn to him when her first reaction to him was annoyance. She wanted more even though she knew there was possibly no shot at a long-term relationship even if she wanted it.

  He pulled away from her running the pad of his thumb on her lower lip. “I want you.”

  “I want you, too, will you take me out on a date tonight?”

  “Yes.” He smiled and brushed his lips on hers. “I need to take care of something before I take you out. Meet you at the apartment after?”

  “Good, now let me take us to work.” She sat back into the driver’s seat and merged back into the traffic.

  Ten minutes later, she waved to Sid as he drove off smiling to herself like a fool. She had a boatload of work to finish that day, but nothing bothered her, and she told herself she was going to leave at six to be back on time.

  John had not responded to him in hours, and he wondered what was going on as he waited impatiently for more information. He jumped from his seat at the bar close to Amy’s office when he finally received his text.

  John: Sir, we need to talk.

  Sid called John without waiting another second. “Hello, sir.”

  “Where have you been John?”

  “Sir, the section where the accident happened has zero cell phone reception. It is a stretch of twenty-five miles with no signal, and I didn’t have signal on both the phones this time.”

  “Is that why Amy drove him to the hospital?” Sid wanted her to be clear of any link to the radical group.

  “Yes. I have a feeling she was trying to be helpful and got roped into this mess,” John declared.

  “John, I love you so much right now.” Sid laughed running his fingers through his hair.

  “I want to do one more thing before we give an all clear to Amy, sir,” John interrupted Sid’s happy thoughts.