“I don’t think we’re even here.” I gesture to my chest and then motion to her.
Ruby fingers the strap of her tank. “You mean this?”
I quirk a brow and wait.
She doesn’t look away as she lowers her hands to the hem. I stop breathing. I stop moving. I stop everything. That camisole, the one that barely hides anything anyway, rises up, up, up, exposing her belly ring and she keeps going until it’s over her head and on the floor. She’s braless. We’re totally even now.
I push up off the couch as she struggles to bring the footrest back up. I straddle the chair and her legs, forcing her to make space for my knees.
“I’m not sure this chair can handle both of us.” She palms my erection through my shorts.
The tinkle of a bell draws our gazes away from each other for a second. Francesca has found one of her toys and seems to want to play. She’ll have to wait her turn.
“I guess we’re about to find out how much it can take.” I put one hand on the backrest, pushing to make it recline. “Do you have any idea how long I’ve wanted to do this?”
“Do what?” She slides one hand up my chest.
“Fuck you in this chair. I wanted to do it that first night you were here.”
“Is that right?” She hooks her feet around my waist.
“It is. I wanted to bend you over, yank these fucking shorts down, and find out exactly what it was like to be inside you.” The backrest seems to be stuck. I push harder and all of a sudden it drops back with a huge crack and we land in a heap on the floor, with me on top of Ruby.
She looks around, startled. Francesca bounds past us, down the hall toward our bedroom.
“Huh. In my imagination we got a lot further than this though.”
“You killed my chair!”
“Your chair was too fragile.” I kiss her neck.
“I love this chair.”
I lift my head. “More than me?”
She makes a noise and gives me a look. She’s perfectly annoyed.
“If this chair can’t even withstand my love for you it’s worthless anyway. I’ll get you a new one. Or we can use that one—” I motion to the one that’s still intact. The huge chair we can both fit in. The one we can screw in comfortably.
“I think you broke my chair on purpose.”
“Untrue. If you hadn’t started taking off my clothes and then your clothes, your chair might very well still be in one piece.” I drop my head and kiss the tip of her nipple.
Her hand goes into my hair, gripping tight to keep me there, her voice is breathy now. “I knew I should’ve moved it to my apartment.”
I move to her other nipple. “What would be the point since you’re not going to be there much longer.”
“I still have”—she gasps when I bite gently—“some time on the sublet.”
I push up on one arm so I can look at her. “You don’t have to stay until the sublet is up. Besides, my place is closer to the theater.”
“By all of five minutes.”
“Why can’t you make this easy for me? Does everything have to be hard?”
She smiles and tightens her legs around my waist, pulling me closer until my erection is pressed against her.
“I like hard things.”
I ignore the comment, although it isn’t easy. “I want you to move back in.”
Her smile drops a little. “I thought we were waiting until the sublet is up.”
“Do you want to wait until then?”
“Well, it’s been the plan.” She plays with the hair at the nape of my neck. It’s what she does when we’re having conversations she’s unsure of.
We’re still lying sprawled out on the floor. I push up onto my knees, which causes another huge crack and the top and bottom of the chair separate completely. At least there’s absolutely no way to fix it now.
“Are you committed to sticking to the plan?” I fold back on my knees and rearrange her until she’s sitting in my lap.
She glances at the broken chair beside us on the floor and nudges the top with her toe. “I don’t have to be.”
“Then move back in. You’ve proven you can do this on your own and I know that’s important to you. We both know you can. I want us to do this together.”
“Are you sure? It hasn’t been that long . . .”
“It’s been months if you count all our video chat dates.”
“You make it sound like bad Internet dating.”
My stomach drops a little. Maybe I’ve read all the signs wrong and she’s not as interested in taking this to the next level like I am. “Is this you skirting an answer?”
“You’re so cute when you’re insecure.” She wraps her arms around my neck. “I just wanted to give us enough time to make sure it’s not all hormones driving us, and you know, that the sex wouldn’t get boring or anything.”
At my narrowed eyes she leans in and kisses me softly through a smile.
“Of course I want to move back in with you.”
“We can clean out your apartment tomorrow.”
She laughs. “No rush, though, right?”
“I want what I want, and I don’t want to wait if I don’t have to.”
“It must’ve been hell for you to wait more than five weeks between first kisses.”
“Exactly.”
“Okay, tomorrow we move me back in.”
“And tonight we celebrate.”
“Oooh . . .” Ruby bites her lip. “What kind of celebration?”
I slide my hands down to cup her ass and pull her tight against me. “A naked one, with lots of orgasms. You in?”
“Will there be naughtiness to go with the nudity and the orgasms?”
“Isn’t there always?”
She doesn’t need to answer and I don’t need to say anything else. She skims my lips with her fingertips, then replaces them with her mouth.
Every kiss is an echo of the first time. Accidental or not, some part of me recognized her as my future and now she’s mine to love.
Acknowledgments
To my partner and best friend, thank you for being my number-one supporter, and thank you to my family for always having my back. Debra, my soul sister, my girl-bestie, the pepper to my salt, I love you. Thank you for being with me all these years.
Kimberly, thank you for always being there to field questions, to be my cheerleader, my problem solver, and the most incredible agent. I’m so honored to work with you.
To my team at SMP, thank you for making this such an amazing experience. Rose, your belief in my words still makes me all sappy.
Jenn, Sarah, and Nina I couldn’t do any of this without all of you. I’m constantly amazed by how incredible you all are, and I’m so very lucky to have such a phenonmenal team.
Hustlers, you are such an amazing and wonderful group of women. I’m so very fortunate to have you all on my side.
Beavers, you’re my safe place and the best cheerleaders. I love being able to share all my boys with you!
To my Backdoor Babes: Tara, Meghan, Deb, and Katherine, I’m so glad I have somewhere to talk about inappropriate things.
Pams, Filets, my Nap girls, 101’ers, my Holidays and Indies, Tijan, Susi, Deb, Erika, Katherine, Shalu, Kellie, Ruth, Melissa, Sarah, Kelly, Melanie, and J—thank you for being my friends, my colleagues, my supporters, my teachers, and my soft places to land.
Jessica—thank you for kicking my butt so I can sit in a chair for a lot of hours every day.
To all the amazing bloggers and readers who have come on this journey with me: Thank you for believing in happily ever afters.
Acclaim for the novels of Helena Hunting
“On my all-time favorites list.”—New York Times bestselling author Alice Clayton
“A unique, deliciously hot, endearingly sweet, laugh-out-loud, fantastically good time romance!”—New York Times bestselling author Emma Chase
“A hot roller coaster of a ride!”—New York Times and USA Today bestsel
ling author Julia Kent
“Helena [Hunting] is the queen of sexy Rom Coms.”—USA Today bestselling author Daisy Prescott
“Everything I want in a romantic comedy—sizzling chemistry, laugh-out-loud humor, and plenty of steamy hot sex. I loved it!”—Melanie Harlow, USA Today bestselling author
“Ms. Hunting’s brand of storytelling is compelling and character-driven, and returning to it felt like getting together with a beloved friend from school days, leaving me wondering why we hadn’t caught up with one another much sooner.”—Natasha Is a Book Junkie
“The story came alive so vividly in my mind. My heart raced, I laughed out loud, I just was completely drawn in from the very beginning.”—Aestas Book Blog
“Helena Hunting delivers the usual panty melting steam and comical antics we’ve all come to know and love!!”—Wrapped Up In Reading Book Blog
“Helena Hunting is one of those authors who has mastered weaving romance with smart sexy humor while integrating a touching story line with raw emotional undertones that can pull all the heartstrings.”—Four Chicks Flipping Pages
Stay tuned for the next sexy standalone from Helena Hunting!
* * *
HOOKING UP
* * *
Coming soon.
* * *
Check helenahunting.com for updates.
About the Author
Author photograph © Sebastian Lohnghorn
New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of the Pucked series, Helena Hunting lives on the outskirts of Toronto with her incredibly tolerant family and two moderately intolerant cats. She writes contemporary romance ranging from new adult angst to romantic comedy.
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Dedication
Chapter 1: Keep Your Tongue to Yourself
Chapter 2: The Impact of Flu Medication and Alcohol
Chapter 3: Screw You, Awesome Kisser
Chapter 4: Dinner Plans
Chapter 5: Homes for the Homeless
Chapter 6: Movin’ On Up
Chapter 7: Firecrackers in My Pants
Chapter 8: Bon Voyage
Chapter 9: Phone Calls
Chapter 10: Luckless
Chapter 11: Party Time
Chapter 12: Mine
Chapter 13: Jobs for the Jobless
Chapter 14: Dancing Shoes
Chapter 15: Accidental Snuggles
Chapter 16: Hard to Control Hard-Ons
Chapter 17: The Jig Is Up
Chapter 18: Bliss to Bad News
Chapter 19: I Hate Brittany
Chapter 20: New Digs
Chapter 21: Worst
Chapter 22: Ice Cream Tastes Like Heartbreak
Chapter 23: Break a Leg
Epilogue: Socks
Acknowledgments
Acclaim for the novels of Helena Hunting
About the Author
Copyright Page
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
SHACKING UP. Copyright © 2017 by Helena Hunting. All rights reserved. For information address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.
www.stmartins.com
Cover art: man © Tom Cullis Photo
ISBN 978-1-250-13332-8 (e-book)
ISBN 978-1-250-15047-9 (trade paperback)
First Edition: May 2017
Our eBooks may be purchased in bulk for promotional, educational, or business use. Please contact the Macmillan Corporate and Premium Sales Department at 1-800-221-7945, ext. 5442, or by e-mail at [email protected].
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