Page 36 of The Temporary Roomie: Extended Edition

I scoff. “Unless she’s around me—then she’s the feistiest, least agreeable woman on the planet.”And completely adorable.

Cooper is eyeballing that stage like it holds all his unrealized dreams, but Lucy leans forward, eyes narrowed on me. “I know! Which has always been odd to me. You seem to trigger her in ways no one else does. Literally, no one. Jessie loves everyone—but not you. She’s strongly opposed to—”

I hold up my hand. “Yeah, yeah, I get the point.”

“Just hide in her closet and jump out and scare her,” says Cooper, still staring at the stage and clearly only halfway tuned into this conversation.

“Huh?” Lucy and I both say at the same time.

Cooper begrudgingly drags his eyes back to our table and shrugs while taking a sip of his beer. “Oldest prank in the book. Hide, then jump out and scare her. Simple. Easy. Effective. No preparation needed.”

I stare at him. “That’s a terrible idea.”

“Is it? She’ll scream, you both will laugh, she’ll fake punch you or something, you’ll pull her up close, and thenboom—making out before you know it.”

Because I’m excellent at keeping my emotions concealed, Cooper has no way of knowing that his idea has my heart hammering against my chest with excitement when I say, “I’m trying to get back at her for all of her pranks—not make out with her.”

Both Lucy and Cooper laugh in a way I don’t appreciate.

“Okay, suuuuure.” Lucy leans into Cooper’s side so he can drape his arm around her.

Cooper smiles. “We all know all this fighting and pranking between you two is nothing but foreplay. You like her; she likes you—”

“But you guys are too stubborn to admit it, so you have to revert back to adolescent ways to test the waters.”

I bounce my finger between the two of them snuggled up in the booth. “I really hate when you two do this. Your united front is obnoxious.”

Cooper slides out of the seat and sets down his beer before grabbing Lucy’s hand. “All right, enough chitchat. Come on. I know you’ve been dying to sing all night, Luce. Personally, I hatekaraoke, but I’m not one to stand in the way of my wife’s desires, so let’s go sing some Shania Twain.”

Lucy gives a flat, unamused smile before letting him pull her out of the booth. “Oh yes, my passionate love for karaoke—I totally forgot.”

She stands up, and he kisses the top of her head. “I know you better than you know yourself.” He holds out his phone toward me. “Film this, would ya? For the grandkids one day.”

“Just admit you’re going to post this on Instagram later with an eye roll emoji and a caption that says,Lucy made me do it.”

He smirks. “Admit you’ve got it bad for your roommate.”

“Touché. Give me your phone.”

I’m in Jessie’s closet. In her freaking closet. I’m a grown man—a doctor!—who is looked up to, respected, and trusted to keep people alive and bring humans into the world, and I’m standing in a woman’s closet for a dumb prank. I rushed up here the second I got home from work.

The longer I stand in here, the worse this idea becomes. Why did I let Cooper talk me into this? He justhadto plant ideas of making out with Jessie in my head—which would also be a bad idea! I can’t just make out with her on a whim because I feel like it. She’s been through serious trauma. She’s had a man leave her with a child, a child who will be entering this world very soon.

And yet . . . if she wants to make out with me, I sure as hell am not going to stop her.

That woman makes me completely crazy—but lately it’s turned into the good kind of crazy. I go to sleep thinking about her, wondering what kind of stupid prank she’s going to pull on me tomorrow. I stare at the ceiling, seeing only her smiles and the way her nose crinkles when she wants to stick her tongue out at me but also wants to act like an adult. I love knowing she paints her nails when she can’t sleep. Every morning I make it apoint to look at her toes and note what color she chose the night before.

I can’t deny it anymore: I’m attracted to her. Actually, I’m not sure I ever denied that. What I have to come to terms with is that I think I’m starting to havefeelingsfor her. I find myself wanting to know as much about her as I can. We’ve lived together for over a week now, which means we only have another week or two left before she moves back to her house, and I’m already dreading it.

Anyway, this is a terrible idea to hide in her closet. I’m getting out before she comes in and—

Oh shoot.Is that her? Yep. She just walked into her room and closed the door behind her.

I’m stuck in here with my bad decision. This is terrible, and my pulse in my neck is telling me I’m a freaking idiot and going to pay for this in a big way. Grown men shouldn’t hide in women’s closets—ask any stalker locked away behind bars. Annnnnd now I’ve officially waited way too long to jump out, and I’m going to look extra pervy if she finds me. I need to just commit and jump out before it gets to be too long, but I’m way too embarrassed. I do not want her to know I ever even considered this choice.

Maybe I can just hide in here all night?

I hear Jessie humming to herself and moseying around her room, and this only adds to my anxiety.

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