Hollywood Roommates

25

Her cheeks flush and she looks away. “But the other guys…”

“They’re not here. We’re alone.” I use my grip on her ass to rub her against my erection slowly, making us both even more aroused.

“Ohh,” she says, closing her eyes as I grind against her. Maybe I’ll make her come just like this. Right now I want nothing more than to see her face when she climaxes.

She shakes her head. “This isn’t right. It was only supposed to be a kiss. To make things even.” I stop and stare at her, my heart sinking. “Is that the only reason you’re kissing me? To even things out between us three?”

“No!” She presses a soft kiss to my lips. “Even before Shane kissed me I wanted to kiss you too. But this is turning into more than kissing…”

I nod, understanding what she means. “And whatever we do, you can do with the other guys.”

“Exactly.” She tilts her head as she studies my face. “Are you okay with that?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never shared a woman with my best friend and my brother before.” I kiss her again, teasing her lower lip with my teeth. “But I think it would be worth it to have you.”

She sighs. “I worry this can only end badly.”

I want to protest more, to tell her everything will work out somehow, but I’m not sure I believe that.

Before I can stop her, she climbs off my lap and stands up, leaving us both unsatisfied. “I’m sorry,” she says. “I don’t want to hurt you or the other guys.”

“I understand.”

And I really do. I can’t deny I’m disappointed, because there is nothing I want more than to make her come, preferably with me inside her, but I also don’t want to ruin my friendship with the other guys either. Kissing is one thing, s*x is another. And while I may have casual s*x with women all the time, I get the feeling s*x with Allie will be anything but casual.

Sex with her will mean something. I’m not sure I’m ready for that either.

I check the time and sigh. “I need to get to work anyway.”

She nods. “I’ll start going through these scripts.”

I get to my feet and capture her mouth again one more time, unable to resist giving her another kiss. “You’re the best.”

Then somehow I force myself to walk away from the one woman who’s ever made me feel something real.

Chapter Twenty

ALLIE

I’m reading through my third script for Matt when Shane gets home. I can hear him two floors above me in the kitchen, banging around with so much irritation it leaves no doubt it’s him and not one of the other guys.

I mark my page in the script and head upstairs before he does anything rash. I’ve filled the kitchen with all of my cooking supplies and god only knows what he’s doing with them. Definitely not cooking, from what I’ve seen so far.

When I get up there, half of the baking trays are on the counter along with my rice cooker, and he’s pulling more things out of another cabinet with vigor.

“What are you doing?” I ask, horrified.

He throws a mixing bowl on the counter, then turns to me. “Where the hell is the blender?”

“Oh, it’s over here.” I brush past him to the other side of the kitchen and pull out the blender.

“That’s not where it goes.” He gestures wildly at the kitchen. “How can you find anything in this chaos?”

I glance around, bewildered. “You’re the one making a big mess, not me.”

“Because nothing is in the right spot! I had everything perfectly organized in here and then you came along and messed it all up!”

It seems our kiss last night was only a temporary ceasefire between us. “I added my own stuff to the mix, that’s all.” I casually shrug. “I use things and then I put them away where it seems like they should go. It’s not my fault if I can’t remember your complicated system.”

He lets out a frustrated sound and begins grabbing things from the fridge. “It’s not complicated. All you have to do is pay a tiny bit of attention and it’d make sense.”

“Maybe you can make me a color-coded spreadsheet next time.” I cross my arms and watch as he throws fruit and almond milk into the blender. “Don’t worry, I’ll be out of your hair soon. School starts in a few weeks anyway.”

The loud, whirring sound of the blender cuts off any further conversation between us. I silently fume, preparing my next comeback, but when it’s done, he turns to me and his face is calmer.

“I’m sorry, Allie. Work has been difficult this week.” He hands me the smoothie he made, which is pale pink.

“What’s this?” I ask, surprised.

“Strawberry banana.” He turns back to the blender to make another one. “Thought you might like it.”

“Oh. Thanks.” I take a sip. It’s really good and totally unexpected. “What’s going on at work?”

He blends his smoothie, then turns back to me. “Nadia is making my life hell and the producers are not happy. They’re pissed because my chemistry with her is gone.” He scowls. “What did they expect? I walked in on her f*****g my stunt double in her trailer.” I nearly choke on my smoothie. “I had no idea.”

“No one did. We kept it quiet and out of the press. Just like no one knows that I was so angry I crashed my car into a tree. Brooke covered that up for me.”

“Ahh. That’s why you owed her a favor.”