“I don’t.” I put my hands on my hips. “Maya, you didn’t even call me to ask if it would be all right with me.”
“I was going to talk to you about it once you were back. I didn’t realize he was planning on moving in as soon as I handed him the keys. I thought he’d hold off for at least a couple of weeks.” She brushes past Julian. “Tilly, he’s a good guy. He works long hours so you’ll hardly see him.”
“You’re trying to run my life again,” I whisper.
“No.” She reaches to push my hair back behind my shoulders. “I’m trying to help one of Julian’s friends. Give him a chance, sis. Can you do that?”
I look back at Julian. His blue eyes brighten as he smiles.
“I’ll give it a chance,” I agree softly. “I hope I don’t regret it.”
“You won’t.” She tugs me into a hug. “You’re going to love Sebastian as much as Julian and I do.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Sebastian
“This is why I live alone.”My youngest brother, Liam, lets out a long exhale. “Maybe you’re wrong and she didn’t see your dick. ”
“I’m not wrong,” I reply as I look back at the closed door of his office. “You’re sure I’m not interrupting you? There’s a woman in the waiting room.”
He skims his finger over the screen of the cell phone on his desk. “I’ve got five minutes before my next appointment.”
You wouldn’t know by looking at him that Liam is a grief counselor. He’s wearing gray pants, a white button-down shirt and black shoes. That part fits the bill. It’s the rest of him that doesn’t.
His shirt sleeves are rolled up to reveal forearms covered in tattoos. His shoulder length dark blond hair is tied into a messy low knot and a beard covers his jaw.
Considering the fact that he towers above me a good two inches at six-foot-five, he’s got an undeniable presence that can’t be ignored.
“The woman who saw my dick last night is Julian’s future sister-in-law.” I pace in front of his desk. “She didn’t come right out and say she saw me nude, but she could barely look at me.”
“Maybe she’s shy.” He crosses his arms over his chest. “If she’s not making a big deal about it, why are you?”
It’s a valid question. I should have let it roll off me, but once I got back into my bedroom after Matilda went into hers, I let my imagination wander.
Julian is protective of Matilda because he’s about to become part of her family. His fiancée, Maya, is even more vigilant when it comes to her younger sister. She told me to watch over Matilda, not flash her within the first ten seconds of seeing her.
I don’t need this to come between one of my closest friends and myself. I have to address it before Julian hears about it from Matilda.
“Julian and I have been friends a long time. I don’t want something like this to fuck it up.”
“I hear you. Why are you living with this woman? Why not find another guy to live with?” Liam looks down at his phone again. “You’ve got two more minutes.”
For most of the past ten years I’ve lived alone. It wasn’t until a few months ago that I took on a roommate. It was a buddy from work who needed a place to hang his hat after his marriage went south.
He took over the second bedroom and then one night a week, his kids took over the apartment.
When he decided to get his own place, I saw it as the perfect time to make a change in my life.
I called Maya and set up a time to talk to her about the possibility of selling my apartment. I picked it up years ago at a reasonable price. I’ve kept an eye on the market so I knew that if I got out now, I’d pocket a nice profit.
She listed it and sold it within a week for the full asking price with a thirty-day close.
My salary as a homicide detective with the NYPD keeps a roof over my head, food on my table and clothes on my back, but the windfall from the sale of my current two-bedroom apartment is enough to set me up in a new place and pad my savings account at the same time.
“I didn’t expect my place to sell that quickly,” I say, walking toward his office door. “A decent priced rental is hard to come by right now. Maya said her sister had an extra spare room and the rent is low, so I grabbed it before someone else did.”
“Why the rush to move in? You had some time before the new owner came knocking on your door, didn’t you?” he asks.
