Cutie and the Beast: A Roommates to Lovers Single Dad Romance (Cipher Office Book 3)

by Smartypants Romance

  The job itself isn’t hard, and I really enjoy the family atmosphere. Moms talk to other moms as they make playdates, staff interact with toddlers they’ve helped raise from newborns, and Dinah gets updates regarding kids who aged out of the childcare center after attending for years. It’s nice to know everyone cares about each other so much. As much as I’d liked my former career, I feel like I must have done something right for the heavens to shine down on me the way they did with this job.

  “Everything still running smoothly?” Dinah keeps jotting down notes on her paperwork and doesn’t look up at me when I finally stroll back her direction.

  I lean against the counter, pleased to be able to answer positively. “Yep. I think we’re officially on the downward slope of the madness for the day. Can I ask you a question?”

  “Sure.”

  “What do you think of me adding some ‘stations’ to the room.”

  This makes her finally look up. “What kinds of stations?”

  “Well, we already have the reading corner and obviously the TV area for cartoons. What if we brought in a small table for the kiddos who want to get their homework done before they get home?”

  “You think any of these kids would want to do that?”

  I shrug because I honestly don’t know for sure. “It’s worth a shot. Jayden seemed all too happy to get his reading done. If it doesn’t work, we can always take it out.”

  Dinah leans back and rocks the office chair back and forth. “Fine with me. But I’m making a hard rule—no glitter. I don’t care what projects the kids have, do not bring glitter in this room.”

  I laugh at her insistence, mostly because I get where she’s coming from. “Agreed. I am not vacuuming satan’s decorations off this floor.”

  “HA! Satan’s decorations. I like that,” she says with a smile. “Hey, can I ask you a personal question?”

  Weird topic change, but when you’re working with the unpredictability of kids, you don’t really have the luxury of pussyfooting around topics, I suppose. “I guess it depends on how personal, but sure.”

  “You’re looking to move, right?”

  I raise my eyebrows in question. I know I’ve never mentioned finding a new place to live to Dinah. In fact, the only one who might even have a suspicion about it would be Keely, and that’s only because living with my mother came up in the conversation.

  “Yeah, Keely told me,” Dinah admits before I can answer. She clasps her hands behind her head as she relaxes into this conversation. I’m glad one of us is. “The boss bounces a lot of ideas off me. I think it’s because I’m the oldest one here. She thinks I’m trustworthy.”

  “Are you?”

  “No complaint so far. I wouldn’t have asked except I might know of a situation that could work for you.”

  Keely is forgiven.

  “You have my attention.” I look around the room, making a quick sweep with my eyes to make sure things are still under control while this hopefully-life-changing conversation happens.

  “You’ve met Abel, right?”

  “Briefly. Does he own a property or something?”

  “Kind of.”

  Something about her tone makes me take notice, but I’m too busy making sure our two problem kids aren’t about to engage in a smackdown for it register.

  “He’s hoping to rent out his master en suite to help pay the mortgage.”

  My eyes whip over, looking at her in disbelief. “You want me to move in with him?”

  Her head bobbles back and forth briefly. “I guess that’s one way of looking at it.”

  “What other way is there of looking at it? He’ll live there, and I’ll live there. I’ll be cohabitating with a man I’ve only met in passing twice.”

  “You won’t be living in the same room as him,” she says with a laugh. “He’ll be down the hall. Besides, he’s not just a guy. He’s also a single dad with an eight-year-old daughter who goes to the same school as your daughter.”

  I open my mouth to argue again, but she’s not wrong.

  “I know it seems a bit unconventional to us old folks, but if Abel was a woman—Hey!” she yells, interrupting herself. “Cooper! Ryder! I’ve got my eye on you two.” She points to her eyes and back at them, the threat written all over her face before continuing her case for my living arrangement. “What was I saying? Oh yeah. If Abel was a woman, you’d be thinking what a great idea this was. Not only would you have a nice place to live that didn’t cost you an arm and a leg, but there’s also a live-in playmate for Ainsley.”

  I blink a few times as I process what she’s saying. The idea of moving my daughter and myself into a strange man’s home is a little weird. But the circumstances make it a little less odd. Don’t they?

  “Speak of the devil…” I hear Dinah say through the haze of my thoughts. Looking up, I realize Abel has walked in the room.

  “Ladies. How’s Mabel doing?” He gestures with his chin to the middle of the room where his daughter and my daughter are spotting each other on gymnastics moves. What’s that saying about the teacher’s kid always being the biggest troublemaker? The proof is doing a cartwheel right next to a baby.

  “Ainsley. Come here please.”

  Little Mary Lou Retton and her sidekick grab hands and run over to me. As soon as Mabel sees her dad, she gasps and clings to Ainsley.

  “It’s not time to go yet, is it Daddy? I don’t want to leave my best friend.”

  As Ainsley puts together what Mabel is saying, she holds on tighter as well. The two of them look like monkeys hanging on to each other, and they’re squeezing so tight their ponytails are about to get tangled together.

  “Not quite yet, Squirt.”

  “Yay!” the girls begin yelling and jumping up and down.

  Holding my hands up, I try to get them to calm down. “Okay, okay girls, let’s not get out of control again.”

  They stop with the jumping, but the smiles on their faces aren’t going away anytime soon. It’s amazing how quickly kids can have a new best friend. I hope they don’t catch wind of Dinah’s idea or there may be attempted manipulation disguised as tantrums.

  “Ainsley.” She finally looks up at me. “We’re not supposed to do gymnastics here, remember? The babies can get hurt.”

  Her face falls as the lightbulb turns on and she remembers that whole safety issue I keep having to drill into all their heads. “Yes, ma’am,” she says sheepishly, and Mabel rubs her back in support.

  Oh boy. If these two end up living together, I can already imagine how they’ll work together to take me down.

  “You know what would be fun to do?” Both girls turn their attention to me, big eyes waiting for me to make some magnificent statement. “I think you should teach some of the little kids how to dance.”

  Their faces light up and I can practically see the ideas running through their brains. I need to prepare myself. I’m sure at some point they’ll ask for poster board so they can have sign-up sheets and charge by the hour.

  “What kind of dance do you want me to teach, Mama? Hip Hop or Contemporary?”

  “Surprise me,” I say, and they race off to coordinate their new class.

  Abel is watching the girls with rapt attention. He has that same look of parental pride we all have when we see our kids’ faces light up. “Where does yours take dance?”

  “She doesn’t.” I sigh. As much as she would love it, it’s not in the budget right now. I don’t tell him that, of course. Nor do I tell him I’m hoping after we move, I can find it in our monthly expenses to get her started. “She trains at this great online place called YouTube.”

  He chuckles, eyes still on the girls. “You can find some great tips there. I’ve been known to utilize them a time or two to make sure I’ve got fresh ideas for my clients.”

  “That actually makes me feel like a way better mom. So, thanks.”

  “See? You guys get along already,” Dinah interjects. “This is perfect.”

  I drop my chi
n to my chest and shake my head slowly. She’s pushing this issue hard. I just wish I understood her intentions. Is it because she’s a fixer? Or does she think there could be something more here? I don’t understand her motivation, but it’s too late to stop her now.

  She stands up and waves her hands animatedly. “Abel, Elliott is trying to find a new place to live. I’m gonna check on the kids now.”

  Well done, Dinah. That wasn’t obvious at all.

  Feeling stupid for being embarrassed by all this, I look up at Abel who seems completely unaffected. It’s almost like he knew this was coming, but there’s no way. I’ve worked here for three days and have only spoken to him a couple of times. Unless he has a weird psychic ability, he’s probably just better at hiding his shock than I am.

  “Dinah said she knew a potential roommate, but I didn’t realize it was you.”

  Or maybe Dinah isn’t as trustworthy as Keely thinks.

  But there’s no reason to split hairs about it now. I don’t think Abel has what I’m looking for, but it never hurts to get the information.

  “She seems convinced it’s a good idea for both of us.”

  Abel chuckles at my assessment. “I’ve learned Dinah is usually not wrong. Unless she’s trying to sort her own business out, of course.”

  “Of course,” I agree. “I have the same problem.”

  “Don’t we all? That’s part of why I asked her to put some feelers out. You weren’t here for the fire, but I’m sure you read about it, right?”

  I nod, because who didn’t? It was all over the news when it happened. It’s not everyday people have to be evacuated from the locker rooms because exercise equipment is on fire.

  “I lost a lot of clientele, so money is getting really tight and I’m trying to find a way to offset my mortgage a bit. I figured a roommate, er housemate, might take some of the pressure off. And it’s a three-bedroom, two-bath house for Mabel and me. We don’t need all those bedrooms.”

  “But you know I don’t come alone, right? You wouldn’t be taking on just me. You’d also have…” We look over and see Ainsley incorporating some gymnastics into her dance moves. The other kids have quit trying because they can’t keep up. “Tom Holland channeling Rihanna over there coming with me.”

  Abel doesn’t answer. Instead, he bursts out laughing. “I knew I saw those moves somewhere. Man, that was the best LipSync episode ever.”

  “I only saw that part when it went viral, but obviously my daughter found it as well. And memorized it, from the looks of it.”

  “Good thing I have an unfinished basement I use as Mabel’s playroom. She’ll have a ton of room to practice all her dance moves.” I raise an eyebrow at him and his assumption I’m interested in what he has to offer at all. “Come over and look at the house. This may not be the right fit for either of us, but we won’t know until we can walk through and talk about the layout and expectations, right?”

  I look at him while I process my thoughts. He doesn’t strike me as a creeper, and Dinah has worked with him for a long time. I don’t think she’d recommend this kind of thing if she thought she was putting me or my child in harm’s way.

  And he does have his own daughter. Our kids go to the same school. We work at the same company. Maybe this could be a good thing. If we got really lucky, maybe we could even help each other out a bit.

  No matter what I do, I can’t be sure I’m making the right decision if I don’t at least go look at the place.

  Decision made, I nod my head, eliciting a smile from him. “Yeah. Yeah, you’re right. When do you want me to come and see it?”

  Behind me, I hear Dinah burst out with “Yes!” but I ignore her. This might not work out, but either way, something tells me things are finally looking up.

  Chapter Seven

  ABEL

  “How many square feet is it?”

  Elliott looks around at the crown molding and seems impressed by the canned lighting. I’ve put a little bit of work into the house—fresh paint, updated tiles, new mirrors in the bathrooms. All of that stopped when May left and I needed to save every penny for bills, but I’m still proud of what I’ve done with the place. This is the first home I’ve ever owned, and I want us to live here for a long, long time, so it’s all been a labor of love.

  “A little over than fifteen hundred for the living areas.”

  Elliott’s eyebrows lift. “That’s it? It feels much bigger.”

  Her comment makes me smile. “It’s the floorplan. Whoever designed it really knew how to use the space.” Happy shrieks come floating up from the stairs. “It also helps that there’s a basement. I’m sure it would feel smaller if Mabel was kickboxing in the living room.”

  “No doubt.”

  We wander in the direction of the large, open living room. Elliott is still assessing. I only had a few hours to get this place clean before she and Ainsley came over. We tossed around waiting until the weekend, but I really want to get someone moved in before I have to make my next mortgage payment. And I get the feeling Elliott wants to get out of her current location sooner rather than later. So, we decided to get together as soon as she got off work tonight.

  The girls, who would normally be heading for bath time right now, have made it clear they have no problem with this change of plans. Playing in the basement is the eight-year-old version of going to a club in college, I suppose. As long as they keep any strobe lights and dubstep to a minimum, I don’t mind indulging them this one time.

  Besides, it gives me time to assess Elliott in more than just the physical sense. Sure, I’ve noticed she’s beautiful. With her shoulder length blonde hair, brown eyes, and full ass, I’m not the only one, I’m sure. It’ll be interesting to see if living with her will lead to me having fantasies about her, or if real life will squelch any physical desires I might have. But that’s not what I need to be thinking about right now. Tonight I need to focus on whether or not this match up will work.

  “You’re okay with people moving in and invading your living area and your kitchen? It doesn’t feel weird to you?”

  I’m not really sure how to answer her question, because it does feel kind of strange. But under the circumstances, I can’t really take that into consideration when making these decisions. “A little. But the way I see it, you and I work opposite shifts. We’ll overlap for a couple of hours at night, and on weekends, but that’s about it. The biggest thing I have to remember is not to sleep naked anymore.”

  Her jaw drops open, which makes me laugh. That’s the reaction I was going for.

  “I’m kidding, Elliott. We all wear pajamas in this house. In fact, that probably should be rule number one.”

  She relaxes a little now that she knows I’m kidding. I may have to go for shock value statements again, though. Her reactions are pretty humorous.

  “Speaking of, have you thought about how the sleeping arrangements would work? Who lives in which room?”

  I gesture for her to follow me up the front stairs to the second level where all three bedrooms and both bathrooms are, explaining my thoughts as we go.

  “Right now, I’m in the master, but I plan on moving into the bedroom across the hall from Mabel’s regardless. Those two bedrooms are down this way,” I gesture to the right as I step into the hall. “There’s a full bath she and I would share right here. It sort of separates these rooms from the master area. Gives it a bit of privacy.” Turning toward my current bedroom, I lead her into the large room. “Pardon the mess. I was so busy tidying up downstairs, I completely forgot to make my bed.”

  “Trust me, an unmade bed is the least of my worries right now,” she says while waving me off absentmindedly, too focused on looking around the large room and attached bathroom. It’s not a huge master. Nothing fancy. But the double sinks come in handy when more than one person is in there getting ready for the day.

  When she opens the walk-in closet door, I quickly push my underwear under the bed and pull the blankets up over the pillows. I’m not
a slob, but I guess I was in a rush this morning. Somehow, it feels strangely intimate for someone to see my dirty drawers on the floor.

  Closing the door behind her, she keeps her hand on the knob. “When I first thought about moving out, I assumed Ainsley and I would be in separate rooms. But this is so big, I don’t think I’d really mind bunking with her while we live here.”

  “If you don’t mind me asking, why are you looking to move? I’m not trying to be nosy. I figure if we’re talking about living together, well, why?”

  A small smile graces her lips and I’m grateful she doesn’t appear offended by my interest. “In a nutshell, I need to get away from my mother before our relationship is ruined.”

  That wasn’t the answer I was expecting at all. “That bad, huh?”

  She shrugs her shoulder, but I don’t miss the fact that she also looks somewhat defeated. Interesting. “It isn’t that it’s bad, per se.”

  “Famous last words,” I joke, but she’s not biting.

  “I don’t think my mom hears herself talk sometimes and doesn’t realize how negative she sounds. Which is weird because she’s not a negative person, and I know we’ve invaded her home, but we live such different lives and can’t seem to find out how to gel.”

  I know Elliott has shifted from explaining to venting, but suddenly, I realize what a good conversation this is to have. Running into issues and misunderstanding with her mother is a reminder that we’re going to need some rules in place for sure. But we probably also need an open dialogue about respecting each other’s differences. I’ve been known to leave a dirty dish or two in the sink if I’m too tired to get to it. If that’s going to be one of her pet peeves, this may not work out.

  I opt to bring that part up later, though. No use mentioning my proclivity to leaving oatmeal bowls soaking in the sink. I’m still trying to make a good impression. “How so?”