“Hey man,” said Jake as he extended his hand. They bumped fists, and Matt grinned.
Nadia hugged him next, then tried to give him a noogie. “Hey!”
“Come here, sugar. We’re all so excited for you.” Jade hugged him, too.
“Hi, Matt.” Rosie was the last one to greet him. He stared into her moss green eyes, and his voice left him. Stunned, he wasn’t sure how long he stood there before Olivia elbowed him in the ribs.
“Hug Rosie hello already, doofus.”
“S-sorry.” He leaned down and wrapped his arms around the most beautiful girl in the world. She hugged him back, and he discretely tried to memorize the scent of her hair. He let go quickly; too quickly in his opinion, but they had an audience.
“Did you get enough sleep last night?” The angel before him asked. She patted his cheek, and an electric shock jolted him at the contact. From the look on her face, she felt it too.
Shit. This couldn’t go anywhere.
“Y-yeah, I think so.” He stepped back abruptly, and mourned the loss of her soft curves. Her face turned to the asphalt under their feet. The rejection obviously hurt. But he didn’t dare give into his feelings. Olivia would kill him; besides, a girl as beautiful as Rosie deserved a more fit man than he’d ever be.
“Let’s get this party started! I want pizza.” Jade pulled him back to reality and reminded him why he was there at all.
Matt turned around and started to unlatch the mattress and box springs from the roof.
“Where’s your bed frame, Bro?”
“Uh … hang on.” Matt opened the door, pushing his laundry basket back to keep it from tumbling out. He pulled the pieces out one by one, handing them to Olivia as Jake and Caleb grunted from the weight of the mattress. Olivia grabbed Nadia and together they ran ahead of the guys, both to help with the doors and to put the frame together so they had a place to put the bed. Then Jade reached in the other side of the car and grabbed a box of books.
“That’s heavy …” His warning trailed off as she marched away and laughed.
“Sugar, I carry shit heavier than this every day for work. This is nothin’.”
Well, okay then. Matt grabbed the other box of books and headed into the building, trailed by Mia and Rosie.
He was huffing and puffing when he got to the fourth floor.Looks like Mom won’t have to worry about me exercising.When he was ready for his own place, he was looking for something with an elevator. This was going to be brutal. A door stood ajar, with Jake and Caleb coming outside of it. That had to be Olivia’s apartment.Hisapartment, now.
When he dropped off the box of books in the living room, he turned around, and almost died of embarrassment. The fair, curvy Rosie was carrying his laundry basket with his dirty briefs right on the top. This couldn’t be happening. Turning what he was sure was a deep shade of red, Matt grabbed the basket from her arms with a grunted, “Give me that,” and hurried into the bedroom and stashed it in the closet. He took a moment to breathe. She might be off-limits, but he couldn’t turn off this crush even if he wanted to.
It had haunted him since his junior year of high school, and all through college. Every girl he dated, he wound up leaving shortly after Olivia would bring Rosie with her on a visit. He automatically compared all of them to her, and no one ever matched up to this ideal he had. It never seemed fair to them for him to stay when his heart wasn’t in it. Not only was she beautiful, but she was incredibly smart. Olivia had let it slip one time Rosie hadn’t come with the squad, that she was on a full scholarship. She’d had a test and needed to study so she had skipped that trip. And he still remembered her gushing about her clinical rotation in the NICU one time, and he’d known right then that he couldn’t keep seeing … what was her name?
Oh yeah, Hillary. She’d dumped him anyway when she found out he was a virgin.
“Yo, Matt, you alive in there?” Jake stuck his head into the bedroom. “We gotta get the box spring in.”
He was in the way. Matt squeezed himself into the hallway as Jake and Caleb pushed his box spring into position. Then he headed back outside to carry more boxes.
Chapter 3
“What’sgottenintoyourlittle brother? He practically ripped the laundry basket from Rosie’s hands!” Mia asked Olivia after Matt had gone back outside.
“I have no idea. He’s probably a bit overwhelmed with all the people, it’s been a while since he’s seen us all together. And eight people in one of these apartments does feel like a crowd.”
“Still, that doesn’t mean he needs to be rude.” Mia crossed her arms indignantly.
“Mia, let it go. It’s fine. He’s probably just a bit on edge.” Rosie was more embarrassed that Mia was making a big deal out of it than she had been by the actual incident. “Let’s go get more boxes. The faster we get this done, the sooner we can order pizza. No one wants a hangry Jade.” Rosie marched back out into the hallway, not looking to see if her friends followed. She’d made a promise to Olivia that she’d help move Matt in, and she was going to see it through, even if he didn’t want her there.
With all the people to carry boxes, it only took a couple more trips before Matt’s car was empty. Relieved, Rosie ran down to her apartment as they waited for the pizza from the shop across the street. She grabbed the container of muffins she’d made to welcome Matt to the building and hiked back up the stairs.
When she got back to Olivia’s apartment — no,Matt’s apartment— she found him standing in the small galley kitchen with his sister.
“I just got you some basics, so you don’t starve, but I’ll show you where the grocery store is tomorrow,” her friend was saying.
