by Penny Wylder
Forbidden Roommate
Penny Wylder
Contents
Forbidden Roommate
1. Cleo
2. Cleo
3. Nicholas
4. Cleo
5. Cleo
6. Nicholas
7. Cleo
8. Nicholas
9. Cleo
10. Nicholas
Epilogue
Kissing My Dad’s Best Friend
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Summer With My Dad’s Best Friend
1. Jenny
2. Jenny
3. Ben
4. Jenny
5. Jenny
6. Ben
7. Jenny
8. Ben
9. Jenny
10. Ben
11. Jenny
Epilogue
Married To My Dad’s Best Friend
1. Savanna
2. Savanna
3. Lonnie
4. Savanna
5. Savanna
6. Lonnie
7. Savanna
8. Lonnie
9. Savanna
10. Savanna
11. Lonnie
Epilogue
Hooking Up With My Dad’s Best Friend
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Epilogue
Books By Penny Wylder
Copyright © 2020 Penny Wylder
All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of the author.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and incidents are either products of the author's imagination or used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or businesses, organizations, or locales, is completely coincidental.
Sign up HERE!
1
Cleo
I glance away from the novel I’m reading to look out at the clouds and earth below. Outside the
plane window everything looks like miniatures that belong in a tiny dollhouse. I prefer my book over the view, though. The whole thing makes me a little queasy. The book I’m reading is a historical romance set in France about a young woman my age and an older man. My favorite stories are the ones with the big age gap since I’ve never been attracted to boys my age. I love history and especially historical France. It’s the most romantic place in the world and I’m so excited to be flying to Paris.
My little brother is zoned out beside me with his headphones and iPad. My parents are in the seats in front of me, talking to each other about our trip and all the things they plan to see while we’re there. My mom turns around in her seat to look at me. She keeps asking me questions about college. I’ll be attending a college in Paris this fall. And even though I’m excited about it, all I really want to think about right now is the book I’m reading.
When I read these books I feel like I can relate far more than I can with contemporary romance. I’m a twenty-year-old virgin, rare for this day and age. I was meant to live in a different time. I want to go back to a time when men had manners and it wasn’t taboo for a woman my age to date an older man in his forties.
Tara, my best friend, always teases me. She says I should consider time travel. If only it were possible. When I go to school in France, I won’t get to see her for almost a full school year. We got into the same college, but after her parents’ divorce, there wasn’t enough money for her to spend a year abroad.
I’m glad I’ll be able to get to see her for the next three weeks while she’s with her brother and dad, though. They’re also going to Paris for vacation, and my parents and her dad booked suites beside each other in the same hotel so we can be close the whole time. It’ll be so much fun spending this vacation with them instead of just with my family.
I ask my dad, “Do you think Tara and her family are at the hotel yet?” I know they had an earlier flight than we did.
“I would imagine so.”
My mom leans into my dad and whispers, but it’s loud enough for me to hear. “I’m surprised Nicholas is even going on this trip. I’m pretty sure his wife took all his money in the divorce.”
My dad nods. “It was ugly. He’d struggle less if he sold that house. It’s too big for him now that the kids are moving out. He’s so stubborn.”
I wait for them to say more, but they get quiet.
I already know the story. Tara’s parents got divorced a few months ago, but they’ve been separated since last year when he caught her cheating on him. I’m glad they split. I never liked Tara’s mom. She was always so bossy and controlling. She made little jabs about Tara’s weight and the clothes she would wear, and was always making her self-conscious. Nicholas can do better. I always thought he was so sweet and funny—and pretty hot, too, if I’m being honest. He’s been my crush for years. Their whole family seems happier and more stable with Tara’s mom gone.
I find myself fixated on the thought of Nicholas and start to feel my cheeks heat up. I remember the time, just after I turned eighteen, when I’d gotten really drunk with friends at Tara’s house. We were playing spin the bottle in the basement where we always hung out. I avoided playing because I didn’t like any of the boys who we hung out with—or any boys, really. Even then I was attracted to older men. Tara hounded me until I finally relented and played. It was just a kiss, after all. It wasn’t like I would have to be in a relationship with any of them.
I had just spun the bottle when Nicholas walked into the room. The bottle stopped and pointed right at him. Everyone laughed and teased that we should kiss. Even Tara was harassing us. Nicholas laughed. I wasn’t laughing. I wanted to. I wanted to kiss him more than anything. But he walked out.
That was the day my little crush turned into constant fantasies. I know I shouldn’t think about my best-friend’s dad that way. People would think he’s too old for me, but I don’t think forty is that much different than twenty. Not when it comes to the level of maturity between men and women.
I close my eyes and lean my head against the cool window of the plane and start to doze off. I dream about the book I’m reading and the characters merge into versions of me and Nicholas. We’re in pre-Revolution Paris, and he’s chivalrous and sweet—not much different than he is in real life. Just as we’re about to kiss for the first time, my mom shakes me awake. I’m instantly grumpy. I want to close my eyes and go back to Paris where people ride through the cobbled streets on their horses and buggies, and where Nicholas is about to kiss me for the first time.
But my dream is crushed as everyone stands and starts to get off the plane. We exit and head over to the luggage claim and grab our bags. We get a taxi and head for our hotel. We finally get to the hotel after navigating through the thick city traffic. It’s warm out and I’m tired. All the time traveling has worn me out. My parents and brother head to the hotel café for a quick snack whi
le I head for the room. I can’t wait to get out of these clothes and get a shower.
I have my luggage with me plus my tote bag that I carried on the plane. My books are stacked under my arms. I had to carry them separately because they didn’t fit in my bags and there was no way I was leaving them behind.
When I turn the corner into the hallway, I run straight into the broad, muscular chest of a man. My books and small bag tumble to the floor and scatter. I just hope I haven’t lost my place in my book. I was getting to a really good part.
When I look up, my heart stops. “Nicholas.”
He smiles and everything inside of me starts to hum with nervous energy. Whenever I see him, I feel like I lose control of my mind. My brain goes completely haywire. Doesn’t matter that I’ve been around him most of my life. He still makes my heart feel as though it will beat out of my chest.
“Sorry, I wasn’t watching where I was going,” I say. I bend down to pick up my things but he gets to them first.
He picks up one of my novels and turns it over to read the description on the back cover. His eyebrows raise and that sideways smile of his grows.
“A twenty-year age difference, huh?” he says.
The heat in my cheeks turns from mild to blazing hot in seconds. I feel the urge to fan myself. Is this what a hot flash feels like? There’s nothing I can do about it except look at the ground and hope he doesn’t notice.
“Any good?” he asks when he hands the novel back to me. Our fingers brush against each other and I feel the touch everywhere. My heart starts to beat even harder until it’s in my throat.
“It’s turning into one of my favorites,” I admit shyly, taking the book and hugging it to my chest.
I notice that he has all of his luggage with him. It’s hard to tell if he just got to the hotel or if he’s leaving. But why would he leave?
“Are you going somewhere?” I ask, feeling an irrational surge of panic hit me.
He hesitates, but before he can answer, I hear my dad’s voice break up the silence, startling me.
“Nicholas! How was the flight?” my dad asks. Through my friendship with Tara, my parents also ended up befriending Tara’s parents. They were both shocked to learn that her mom cheated. I guess she had everyone fooled. Of course, they took Nicholas’s side. He was the one who kept the stable home while Tara’s mom went to go live with her lover.
I turn to look at my dad behind me. My mom is with him and my little brother still has his nose in his iPad. If he’s not careful, he’s going to miss out on this whole trip. I have to be careful of the same thing when it comes to my romance novels. It’s easy to get lost in them, but I don’t want to miss a single second of my time in France.
Tara comes around the corner and so does her brother, Charlie. They also have their bags with them. Tara looks miserable. When our eyes meet, I can tell by the swollen, red skin around her eyes and nose, that she’s been crying.
My dad also seems to notice the sullen looks and the baggage. His excitement turns to concern. “What’s going on?” he asks.
Nicholas sighs and shrugs. “Looks like we’re going to have to find somewhere else to stay.”
“But why?” I blurt out. This isn’t the plan. Tara and I are supposed to be together. We’ve already planned the whole thing. We can’t stay in separate hotels. It won’t be the same.
“Is there a problem with the reservation?” my mom asks.
“Gina’s mad that I’m taking the kids on this vacation. She cancelled the reservations without me knowing,” Nicholas says. I look at Tara and she sniffs. A single tear rolls down her cheek. I want to go on a tirade about what a bitch her mom is for doing that, for ruining her own children’s vacations, but it’s still her mom and it’s not my place.
The muscles in Nicholas’s jaw tense. It’s not hard to tell how pissed he is. It’s written all over his face.
“The hotel doesn’t have any more rooms. We’ve called everywhere, but everything is booked for the summer,” Nicholas says.
I remember my mom complaining about how difficult it is finding places to stay in Paris because of the increased tourism in the summer. That’s why she and Nicholas booked our hotels so far in advance.
“What will you do?” my mom asks.
“I’m sure we can find one of those cheap hostels to stay in,” Nicholas says.
My stomach twists into a knot. Hostels are popular with the young and broke who want to travel, and I’m sure they’re just fine to stay in, but all I can think about is a horror movie I once watched about tourists staying in one of those places. There’s no way Tara, Nicholas, and Charlie can stay in one of those places for the next three weeks.
I look at my dad with pleading eyes. He has to do something. We can’t let this happen.
He must be thinking the same thing because he’s already putting his foot down.
“There’s no way you’re spending your vacation in a hostel,” he says with the kind of finality he uses when my brother and I try to argue with him. Relief washes over me because no one ever gets their way when he uses that voice. “You’ll be staying with us.”
I glance over at my mom, thinking she might protest at having three extra bodies in our rooms. To my surprise, she holds her head up with the same stubborn insistence.
“We couldn’t impose like that,” Nicholas says.
“Nonsense, we insist,” my mom says in her mom voice.
Tara looks at me with a bright hope that makes her eyes shine. I smile and hope that her dad isn’t so stubborn that he would turn my parents down. Nicholas glances at his kids and sees their excitement. His body relaxes and I can tell he wants to turn down my parents’ offer, but to my relief, he doesn’t.
“We’ll try to stay out of your hair.”
I run over to Tara and we throw our arms around each other. This is going to be the best vacation ever.
My gaze veers over to Nicholas who looks defeated but relieved. He’s so handsome it hurts to look at him sometimes. He’s tall and broad with a handsome face. He reminds me of a mix between Chris Evans and Ryan Reynolds. And no woman is immune to his charm. Everyone seems to stop and stare when he walks by and yet he doesn’t seem to realize it. Perhaps his ex-wife nagged the confidence out of him. I want him so bad I can taste it. A devilish smile rises up inside of me.
Now we’ll be in close quarters together. Who knows what can happen?
2
Cleo
Our suite is large and consists of a common room and three bedrooms. Great for a single family, but a little cramped for two families. We figure out the sleeping arrangements. My parents have their room, Tara and I will share mine, Charlie and my brother will share, and Nicholas will sleep on the fold-out couch.
We unpack our bags. I take a much-needed shower and throw on a gauzy summer dress. I go in my room and sprawl out on the large king-sized bed that I’ll be sharing with Tara for the next three weeks. It’s bigger than both our beds at our homes and we never had a problem sharing those during sleepovers.
Tara bounces on the bed, checking the springs. “This is going to be so much fun. I’m actually glad my mom cancelled our reservation. I love that we get to share a room,” Tara says.
Even though I hate her mom, I’m glad too. I get my best friend all to myself and I can’t help but think about Nicholas staying on our couch. The thought brings heat between my legs and an involuntary smile springs to my lips.
“Me too,” I say.
Charlie comes into the room. He’s nineteen, just a year younger than me and Tara, but he’s taller than both of us. I still can’t help but think of him as her bratty little brother, even now.
“What do you want?” Tara says in that same tone she always uses with her brother. It’s that typical annoyed older sibling voice that I tend to get with my brother, too. They care about each other but can’t help but find each other incredibly annoying.
“I don’t want to share a room,” Charlie complains. It would probably be
different if my brother was a little older. But he’s only fifteen. Charlie is also not addicted to electronics like my brother. He’s a jock. Plays all the sports in high school, always winning some kind of athletic trophy. He’s not the type to be content spending his vacation indoors. “Mom sucks for ruining our vacation.”
“Don’t talk about Mom that way,” Tara snaps.
“I’ll talk about her however I want to. This is her fault.”
I can’t help but take Charlie’s side on this one, but I’d never say that out loud.
“Then get out,” Tara says.
“I don’t have to. This is Cleo’s room, not yours. And that’s Mom’s fault.”
Tara tries to push him out the door, but he throws himself on the bed beside me. He’s a lot bigger and more muscular than his older sister, so he’s impossible to get to budge.
“This isn’t all Mom’s fault,” Tara says. “If Dad would’ve checked the reservations before we left the states, he would’ve seen that the hotel was cancelled and he could’ve made other arrangements.”