Page 31 of Pucked and Pregnant

“Oh, so this is where you ran off to,” the lease agent says, sauntering over to me, a playful sparkle to her eye. “For a moment, I thought you snuck out.”

Liv follows behind her with pursed lips and a furrowed brow. I don’t blame her. This has happened at every place we’ve seen today.

The leasing agent puts a hand on my arm and leans in close. I know if I look down, I’m going to get a perfect view of her cleavage.

I fight the urge to shove her away.

“I just had to get you before we saw the master bedroom. I don’t want you missing out oneverythingthis place has to offer,” she says.

I slip out of her grasp as gently as I can. “Actually, it’s my sister who’s interested in renting the apartment, and it looks like she’s already checking it out.”

“You’re such a caring brother,” she says, latching onto me again. “You simply have to see it now. I know she’s not going to want to move in without her big brother’s stamp of approval.”

Steam is practically pouring out of Liv’s ears, and I’m not too far behind her. Stuff like this is exactly why Connor, Dimitri, and Aiden are my only close friends. Everyone else gets really tired of always being second fiddle really fast.

Still, I let the leasing agent drag me along anyway, only because it’s the fastest way to get this over with.

She drags me to the bedroom, pointing out every feature of the master bath, then insists on revisiting the places Liv has already seen so I can give my ‘stamp of approval.’

“So, is it a winner, Max?” she asks.

“I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Olivia.”

She turns reluctantly to my sister. “Well, do you want it or not?”

Honestly, I’m surprised it hasn’t started snowing in here with how quickly the agent’s tone chills.

“Actually, I’d like to talk things over with my brother privately. Give us the room.”

“Fine. I’ll be waiting out here in the hallway.”

The agent scuttles out quickly, a faint scowl on her face.

“Well, that was a disaster,” I say as soon as the door closes.

Liv snorts. “Her head was so far up your ass I could see her eyes peeking out of your mouth.”

I laugh so hard I practically fold in half.

“So, I’m guessing this isn’t the winner then?”

“Hell no.”

“Liv, why are you trying to move out in the first place? I feel like things are going well with this whole cohabiting thing. I mean, we had a few hiccups, but we fixed them just fine. It’s not like we’re teenagers anymore, constantly at one another’s throats.”

The right side of her mouth twitches, a sure sign she’s not going to tell me the whole truth.

“I just need some space, that’s all,” she says.

“But I have plenty of space. So much space, in fact, that if we wanted to, we could go weeks without seeing each other at home at all.”

“It’s your space, not mine.”

“Okay, so we’ll make it our space then. I’ll give you some of the rooms by your bedroom. You can redecorate and completely take them over. Whatever you want.”

“I appreciate the offer, I do, but I really need my own place.”

“I just don’t get it. All you have to worry about is chipping in for utilities. There’s no reason for you to take on all those expenses for a quarter of the space you have with me.”

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