“You and Allie both.” Placing one arm around my waist, he smiled. “I’ve got you.”

He helped me to my bedroom but stopped at the threshold, as though he didn’t want to invade my space. A knot of worry formed inside me. Earlier he’d been so eager—we both had. But now things felt murky.

“So, what happens next?” I asked.

“Allie’s tough. I’m sure she’ll be fine.”

“I wasn’t talking about Allie and James. I meant us.”

“Oh, right. You mean . . .” His eyebrows jumped up flirtatiously.

“Yes.”

“That was probably the worst case of blue balls I’ve ever had, but I get it. My sister needed you. You’re a good friend.”

Oh yeah, some great friend. I was practically riding her little brother a few hours ago.

I nodded, though, and released a heavy sigh. “Maybe a rain check?”

“If that’s what you want,” he murmured, leaning down to press a soft kiss against my cheek. “But I’m working nights the next few days. You may not see much of me.”

“Okay. Good night,” I whispered, heading into my bedroom.

I had no idea how our half-finished encounter would change the atmosphere around the house, or when this rain check might be cashed in. But what happened next was totally unexpected.

Chapter Thirteen

Paige

Cannon hadn’t been lying when he’d said I wouldn’t see much of him this week. It was Thursday and our paths had crossed only twice while he was coming and going. He worked all night at the hospital, then slept all day. We occasionally left each other Post-it notes around the house, silly little things like the strict orders I gave him to stay away from my Chinese leftovers, or the note he’d left letting me know we were out of almond milk but he’d pick up more.

While I was busy not seeing Cannon, it gave me time to stew over my decision to sleep with him. My stomach had been tied in knots all week over what to do. Clearly, our failed attempt at sex was a sign from the universe. Sleeping with Allie’s little brother had been a terrible idea, after all. Horniness had clouded my judgment. I just needed to get laid, and I had a plan for how to take care of that. One that wouldn’t ruin my longest-standing friendship, or turn things weird with my new and decidedly male roommate.

It was dark outside, and Cannon was gone for the evening. As I sat with a glass of wine in one hand and my phone in the other, I scrolled through photos of guys the dating app had matched me with.

Allie had worn me down; I’d finally signed up. She’d been true to her word and had thrown James and all his shit out of her apartment, so I felt like letting her have this small victory was the right thing to do. Spending so much of this week alone, feeling lonely and sorry for myself, had only pushed me harder in that direction.

Taking another sip of chardonnay, I clicked on the envelope icon in the upper right corner of the screen. I had two unread messages—the first was an automated message welcoming me to the site, but the other was from someone named Daniel. His message was brief and playful.

Daniel: You look like trouble. ;)

I smiled and clicked on his photo to enlarge it. The brown-haired, brown-eyed man in the photo was decent-looking, I supposed. Cannon was much hotter with his messy sandy hair and huge biceps and magnetic smile. But Cannon wasn’t here right now, and he was off-limits anyway. I clicked Reply and typed a return message.

After another glass of wine and several messages back and forth, I was actually having a good time talking to Daniel. He lived one town over and worked as a financial analyst. He was thirty-two and had never been married, and his messages made me laugh. But then Daniel asked me out to dinner tomorrow night, and even though I was free, I hesitated. Part of me felt strange going out with someone else when Cannon’s cock had been this close to penetrating me only a handful of days ago. I told Daniel I would think about it and let him know tomorrow, and then went to plug my phone in to charge in the kitchen.

I hadn’t expected to be asked out on a date so quickly. Allie was right about one thing, that dating site certainly worked fast. But seriously, what was I supposed to do when a decent-looking man who seemed nice and normal suggested dinner? Say no thanks, I have a rain check to sleep with my new roommate? That would be crazy. I doubted Cannon would have turned down female attention simply because we might, or might not, be rescheduling our failed fuck session.

After filling a glass with tap water, I stood at the sink, taking small sips. It wasn’t like Cannon would even know about the date. He was working nights, and I’d probably be gone and back before he knew anything. Not that I needed to hide Daniel from him—I was perfectly in my rights to date. Wasn’t I?

I dumped the rest of the glass into the sink, then grabbed my phone and replied to Daniel, letting him know we were on for tomorrow night. Having that settled should have felt good, but instead it only left me feeling more confused.

As I went to get ready for bed, I hoped this weekend would bring me some clarity on what to do about Cannon. I had an unhealthy fascination with him, and didn’t see that ending anytime soon with us living under the same roof.

• • •

Daniel was a dud.

Okay, that wasn’t totally fair. Dinner was good and the conversation was fine, but Daniel and I simply didn’t have any chemistry. It was like talking to my cousin or a coworker. There was no spark, no electricity buzzing between us—not like my conversations with Cannon.