Hollywood Roommates

5

I’m tempted to run out of the house, hop in my car, and speed away while praying I never see any of these guys again, but I’m tired of letting men step all over me and more than a little desperate too. Shane might think he can dissuade me from staying here with his complete lack of manners, but he’s nothing compared to the sixteen-year-old boys I deal with on a daily basis. I can handle him. “It’s nice to meet all of you.” I prop my hands on my hips, slap on a confident smile, and face the three people I’m going to be living with for the next few months. Three of the sexiest men in Hollywood…who happen to be my new roommates.

Chapter Four

SHANE

Brooke’s friend is f*****g gorgeous.

There is absolutely no way she can move in with us.

The second I saw her, it was like every part of me woke from a long sleep. She stirred something deep inside me with her bright smile, wavy red hair, and that retro dress that hugged her curves. And those curves, damn. A man could lose himself in a body like that for days and never want to come up for air. I tried to look away, to make the tightening in my chest and in my jeans stop, but by then it was already too late. The damage was done.

I saw the way the other guys checked her out too. Matt, like she was going to be his next one night stand. Luke, like she was another fangirl he’d f**k to forget his ex-wife. I can’t let either of those things happen. Not to my sister’s best friend.

“Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself?” Matt asks, sliding an arm around Allie’s shoulders. He leads her to one of the boxy white sofas in the living room, while casually stroking her back.

She sits beside him with a friendly smile and then launches into a long spiel without once stopping for air. “Well, I’m a high school English teacher, although I’m on summer break right now, so I’m only teaching a few hours of summer school. I have an older sister named Kristen who is a vet. Brooke and I were college roommates and we’ve been best friends ever since. I’m deathly afraid of spiders. I like to bake and craft and read. I love holidays, every single one of them. And anything that’s colorful and sparkly. Oh, and animals. Dogs, cats, birds, you name it, I love them all.”

“No pets,” I snap.

“No pets, got it.” She flashes me a smile, but it’s different from the one she gave Matt. This one says, bite me. It also shows off the dimples in her cheeks, which somehow manage to be both cute and sexy at the same time.

“What happened to your last place?” Luke asks, from where he’s perched on the arm of the couch.

Her smile falls. “My boyfriend dumped me and kicked me out of our apartment. I thought he was proposing. There was this plane and these flowers and—oh, never mind. Turns out he’d been cheating on me for two months.” She lets out a pitiful laugh, then quickly looks at me, her green eyes turning hard again as they meet mine. “Brooke said you have a spare room I can use for a while. I’ll pay whatever I can and after school starts again I’ll be able to save up some money for a new place.”

Shit, this keeps getting worse. Not only is she a beautiful woman in a house full of single guys who are used to getting any girl they want, but she just got out of a serious relationship. She’s like a mouse caught between three cats, all sharpening their claws and eyeing her with hunger. Any one of us could pounce on her.

Not that I would, of course. I have no interest in her. Seriously.

“We need to discuss this,” I say, glancing at Luke and Matt. “Privately.”

The guys both flash Allie their trademark charming smiles, then follow me into my office at a leisurely pace. I shut the door behind us and turn to them. “This isn’t going to work.”

“What’s the problem?” Matt asks.

Luke leans against the edge of my desk. “I like her. It was cute how flustered she got around us.”

I give them both a level glare. “She’s a woman.”

Matt grins. “Glad you noticed. I was starting to think you’d forgotten what that was.”

I cross my arms, ignoring his jab. “One woman living with three men. You don’t see a problem there?”

Matt shrugs. “It’s only temporary.”

Luke rubs his chin as he considers. “There are definitely pros and cons to living with a woman. Pro, she’s really hot. Con, we can’t walk around in only our underwear anymore.”

“I don’t see why not.” A slow grin spreads across Matt’s face. “Maybe she’d join us.”

“No, she won’t,” I say. Why am I the only one who sees what a disaster this is going to be? With three cocky guys like us in one house, it’s a miracle we all get along as we do. Adding a woman into the mix will only complicate things. Especially one who we’re all picturing in her underwear at this very moment.

“She has nowhere else to go,” Matt says. “I vote she can stay.”

“Me too,” his older brother adds.

My jaw clenches. “Too bad neither of you gets a vote. This is my house, not a damn democracy.”

Matt rolls his eyes. “Fine, we don’t get a vote, but we can tell you when you’re being a d**k. Like now.”

“You took me in when I had nowhere else to go, and we should do the same for her,” Luke says.