Her chest rises and falls, eyes locked on mine, and my heart rate kicks into high gear. Then her gaze drops, drifting down my body, and her mouth breaks into a grin. “Is that why you’ve got a little situation going on there?”
I play dumb. “What? My computer?”
Her smile grows. “Your computer?” She shakes her head. “No. I don’t think that’s what I mean.”
I lean back, casual as hell, even though my pulse is losing its damn mind.
“What do you want me to say?” I shrug. “Yeah. I’m turned on. You look hot. There. Happy?”
She smiles, and it’s so goddamn beautiful, so innocent, I almost forget she basically ditched me tonight.
Now all I can think about is kissing her, smothering that gorgeous mouth with mine.
“Oh, you’re not even trying to deny it.”
“Why deny it? I’m not ashamed.” I redirect, because if I don’t, I’m going to do something stupid. “So why were you at Pilates for four hours?”
“Why are you still stalking me?” she shoots back.
“Jordan.” My voice drops. “I’m serious.” I trace a line down her forearm. It’s meant to be platonic. I touch her like this all the time, but tonight it’s doing something to me. To the air. Like the temperature just climbed ten degrees. “You avoiding me?”
“What? No.” She shifts, pulling her arm away, and I wonder if she feels it too. The charge. The heat. “No, I’m not avoiding you, Matt. I just needed to move my body for a while. I was sitting a lot today. I took two classes. One at six and one at eight.”
Makes sense. She loves Pilates.
“It’s why I smell so good,” she teases, grinning.
She does smell good. Fucking incredible, actually.
“Why didn’t you text me back?” I ask.
“I did text you back,” she says, defensive. She grabs her phone. “I said,I’ll be at Pilates tonight. Be home around—”She swipes through her messages, then freezes. “Oh, shit.” Her eyes widen. “I never sent it.”
She turns the screen toward me. “See?”
The message is typed out, clear as day.
Unsent.
She runs a hand through her hair. “God, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to leave you hanging.”
Her gaze drifts around the room, slow and avoidant, before landing back on me.
She hesitates. “Matt… I know this situation is anything but normal, but… I’m not going anywhere, alright? I agreed to this. I just want it to feel as normal as possible. Like we’ve always been.” Her voice softens on the last part. “Only, now we’re roommates.”
Right. Like we’ve always been.
It’s never been like this. Living together. A sexless friendship.
I nod. “You’re right. Totally normal. Just you and me.”
“Just you and me,” she repeats. “Could be kind of fun.”
She takes my hand, and my shoulders relax, a weight lifting.
This. Right here.
This is why it could only be Jordan. She’s the only one that could take something so fucking abnormal and make it feel normal. The only one who’d plaster a smile on her face and make itfun.The only one I trust to follow through for Cole.
