Page 5 of Against The Boards

I glared at Noah. “What is she doing here?”

Noah cringed. “I thought T told you since he texted me to come over here to distract you.”

“That’s why you came over to see if I needed help?” I asked.

I thought Noah was just being nice. The dude was a legit Canadian stereotype; I never thought he had an ulterior motive.

He ran a pale hand through his newly grown-out beard.

“Noah,” I growled.

“Rox is moving here.”

I felt all the blood rush to my head. I hoped he meant Philly and not here as in this condo.

Here’s the thing. I never planned on having a feud with Roxanne Desjardins. When I first met her, my brain shut off at the sight of the curvy, statuesque woman. Instead of saying, “Hello,” like a normal person, I blurted out, “Are those things real?” while staring at her tits.

I malfunctioned when I saw a beautiful woman, and she was one of the hottest women I had ever seen. Too bad she hated my guts.

Let’s just say the animosity between us wasn’t exactly one-sided anymore. It didn’t stop my wandering eyes from liking what they saw, though. She made my blood boil in more than one way. Dealing with Roxanne was normally only a yearly occurrence since she lived in Canada, but if she was moving to Philly, that spelled trouble.

“Be nice, and don’t stare at her chest so much,” Noah said.

I opened my mouth to protest, but he sent me a piercing glare. Okay, he definitely had me there. A couple months ago, when Noah and his girl were broken up, Rox came to town to check up on Noah. He may have called me out about staring at Rox too much.

I couldn’t help it, though. She might get under my skin, but she was all long legs and curves a big guy like me wanted to get his hands on. It was too bad she wanted to murder me in my sleep. She was probably a hellcat in the sack. Not that I would ever find out.

“Be nice,” he said again and walked out into the living room.

I usually was nice, but she was the one who always started it, and once it started, it seemed like neither of us backed down from a fight.

With a sigh, I followed him into the other room. Noah sat on the couch next to Rox while TJ sat in the armchair. I slid into the armchair on the other side of the room and tried to avoid eye contact.

I peered over at TJ with a raised eyebrow. “What’s up?” I asked.

TJ looked at me and then at his twin as if to warn us to play nice. “Roxie got a job in Philly, and she needs a place to stay for a while.”

Oh no. This was what I was afraid of. There was no way we could cohabitate. We would kill each other.

Rox had her arms crossed over her chest and a scowl on her face. She looked thrilled to learn that we would be roommates for the foreseeable future. What a shocker. Not like I particularly wanted to live with someone who hated me with the passion of a thousand fiery suns.

I studied her for a second and noticed her bleach blonde hair was now as black as midnight. It didn’t come to her waist anymore either, but it still looked like hair you wanted to sink your hands into. Paired with her Snow White complexion and her signature dark lipstick, the change looked great on her.

Too good.

Goddamnit, why does she have to be so hot?

My eyes tracked down her body, and I held in the groan at how sexy her long legs looked in that tight pencil skirt. At six-foot-four, tall girls did it for me. The Desjardins twins clocked in at five-foot-eleven. On T, it made him short for a hockey player, but on Rox, it made her look like a sexy Amazon.

“My eyes are up here,” she snapped.

I scowled and crossed my arms over my chest. I opened my mouth to retort, but Noah sent me a frosty glare, so I swallowed it instead.

TJ kicked her foot. “Be nice.”

“What the fuck for?” she asked.

I scrubbed a hand across my bearded jaw and tried to be civil. “So, where did you get a job?” I asked.