No blender.
No hairdryer.
No vacuuming.
Unless it’s Doris-related.
Emotional Decompression Clause:
If Roman spends a full day in a crowd, post-event recovery includes two hours of blanket-cocoon time.
I droppedthe lease into my lap and stared at the ceiling.
What. The. Hell.
I heard Roman sigh and shuffle into his room, then the click of the door as he shut it behind him.
I didn’t follow him. I sat there, stunned and slightly traumatized. My new roommate was a wolf shifter with sensory issues, a holy plate, an anti-shifter obsessed landlord, and I had an actualcontractual cuddling clause.
And somehow, the weirdest part?
I wasn’t sure if I wanted to laugh, cry, or hug him.
But the one thing I didn’t want to do? Run.
Chapter 3
Roman
I crackedfive eggs into a bowl and watched the yolks pool together.
It had been a month since Maggie moved in. Thirty days of her voice drifting down the hall when she spoke on the phone, the clink of her coffee spoon in the mornings, and the windows being open just enough to let in the city but not the chill.
I’d gotten used to the sound of her key in the lock. To the soft pad of her feet across the kitchen tile when she thought I was still asleep. To her leaving little pieces of herself in my space—a scarf draped over the back of the couch; her handwriting on a sticky note by the fridge; the lavender scent of her shampoo in the bathroom after she showered.
She’d become a steady rhythm in my life I hadn’t realized I wanted until it was there. The light teasing over breakfast, and her rolling her eyes at my “rules,” but then sitting with me quietly when the world was too loud, had become our pattern.
I’d grown fond of her. We were still figuring each other out, but I thought of her as a true friend. I didn’t know if I had ever had a true friend. Not since Willow, who had been a grounding force in my life until she wasn’t. I pushed the thought of her from my mind.
Before I started whisking the eggs, I flipped on the speaker and started singing along with Adele. Because Adele made everything better. Who the hell didn’t like Adele?
I was halfway through “Send My Love (To Your New Lover)” when Maggie’s door flew open.
