Page 21 of Wild Promises

"Hopefully my bed fits in there." I blew over the steaming coffee.

"It should."

Then we fell silent. This was awkward. I couldn't remember ever feeling this way around Xander. He was the one person I could be myself with. Did that change when you lived together? I hoped I hadn't made a mistake.

My phone buzzed. "That's the movers. They're parking now."

"I'll go meet them. Finish your coffee."

I sat on the stool at the island, marveling at how nice it was to let him take care of things for me. With Hugh, I was the one who'd arranged everything. He was never home for movers or the installation of anything. He was too important for such details.

The next time I was with someone, I'd want to be on equal footing. I wouldn't let anyone make me feel like I was inferior.

A few minutes later, the guys came in with boxes.

The first one asked, "Where to?"

I hopped off the stool to show them the spare bedroom. Once we had the bed assembled, I added sheets and a comforter. It would be a while before I could unpack everything.

I had another full week of work. I unpacked clothes for the week and toiletries for the bathroom. Sharing a bathroom with Xander would be interesting.

"You ready to eat?" Xander asked.

"Yeah, what are you thinking? Delivery?" I could eat an entire pizza myself.

"I thought we could go out."

I wiped the sweat off my face. It wasn't cold outside, but unpacking was hard work. "Where were you thinking?"

"There's a brick-oven pizza place nearby."

"It will be nice to walk to places." That was a possibility in New York, but I hadn't wanted to eat out by myself. "Let me jump in the shower. Then we can go. Unless you need to?"

"You go first."

I swallowed. I hadn't considered what it would be like to live with Xander. That it would feel like so much more than anything else we'd ever shared before. I gathered clothes, then stepped into the bathroom. It smelled like him: soap and aftershave.

When I turned on the water, the scent only intensified. Why had I never noticed how sexy Xander smelled before? I'd definitely noticed the way he filled out that shirt and those jeans. I was flustered from watching him lift heavy boxes and furniture all day.

And the way he knew his way around tools didn't turn me off either. But if we were going to live together, we couldn't give into any temptation to make this more than a friendship. I didn't want to lose him.

I shouldn't have been thinking about the way he smelled, or that he was usually naked in this very shower. Does he jack offhere? I nearly groaned out loud. I'd only been living with Xander for a couple of hours, and I was already seeing him in a different light.

Xander wasn't a teenager anymore. He was all man, and his confession about watching rom-coms hadn't diminished his attractiveness. He filled out his clothes in a way I couldn't ignore. I had to get my shit together, or I wasn't going to make it through this deal.

We were pretending to be together to convince our families that we made good decisions and weren't planning to leave Telluride.

Satisfied my brain was on board with my plan even if my body wasn't, I quickly showered, dried off, then got dressed. With my hair damp, I opened the door and stepped directly into a hard and very naked chest. "Oof."

"Sorry."

"You don't have to apologize. This is your place." I stepped to the side so that he had a direct path to the bathroom.

Xander waved a hand at the still steamy room. "You done in there?"

I nodded. "Yup."

"I'll be quick," he said as he moved past me and closed the door.

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