Page 26 of A Roommate for Christmas
“Wow, she jokes,” he said sarcastically, holding eye contact with her before speaking again.“I’ll send you money for the last half of December since I won’t be leaving until January.Oh, and by the way, you don’t need a plus-one in a dress like that.”
Paige clocked his eyes stealing another quick scan of the dress, and she felt her face heating up.
Remember you hate him, she repeated over and over in her mind.Her brain knew this, but the butterflies in her stomach—and in more southern regions—weren’t getting the memo.
Paige stared at him as he walked toward her.It was only then that she realized he had been holding a leftover container, and she was still standing by the trash can.
She was frozen in place as he stood next to her, sliding the cupboard that hid the trash bin out and disposing of what she could only assume was his dinner.His body gave off a wave of heat that Paige wanted to curl up in.
Damn it, he smells good.
She couldn’t help but feel like Carter lingered for a second longer than he needed to before turning back toward his room.The magnetic feeling of standing close to him was something she hadn’t felt in a long time, and she hated the rush it gave her.
Her phone buzzed, breaking her trance.A text from Nadia:
You know, if you really want to piss Chance off you could always ask Carter to be your plus-one ;)
She laughed and noticed Carter’s head turn back toward her out of the corner of her eye.Paige retreated to her room to hang up the dress and felt his stare on her back until she shut the door.
Once she was back in her sweats, she threw her suitcase on her bed, still coming down from the high she had just felt standing next to Carter.As she started packing for a California Christmas, she fantasized about walking into the party arm in arm with Carter and seeing the looks on everyone’s faces.Paige was so lost in thought she forgot about the snow falling outside her window.
Chapter 9
HowcanFridaythe13th be both lucky and unlucky at the same time?Paige thought as she looked at her phone.
She checked the weather app and saw snowflakes lighting up her screen.Had it been snowing all night?It didn’t look like the snow would be slowing down anytime soon, but none of the news channels were predicting anything more than a couple of inches.
Her boss had sent out an email letting her team know they could work remotely for the day due to the weather, which she greatly appreciated.But the jury was still out on whether the Christmas party would be cancelled.
As much as Paige secretly hoped this would happen, it would mean not putting the dress back on and catching Carter looking in her direction.And Paige hated to admit she was looking forward to his attention.
On cue, Carter emerged from his room in workout attire.His only acknowledgement of her was a brief nod in her direction before rummaging through the fridge for his protein shake, which quickly reminded Paige that her fantasy about Carter returning a crush on her was just that—a fantasy.
She was looking forward to going home and seeing her parents.Even though Paige had re-decorated her condo after Carter’s tirade, he had definitely sucked out some of the holiday spirit she had been craving after last year’s breakup.Paige needed the Christmas coziness her parent’s house provided ASAP.
Paige eyed the window nervously.Most of the flights out of Chicago were experiencing extreme delays today, and she hoped the tides would turn before her own flight tomorrow.
She pushed the thought out of her mind and opened up her laptop.Before jumping into work emails, she opened up her business plan budget.
Carter had sent over half of a month’s rent last night to cover the remainder of his time in the condo.While it was still a nice bump to her savings, she needed to figure out where things stood with her freelance timeline.
After her last-minute shopping spree for a Christmas party outfit, her mortgage payment, and groceries for Thanksgiving, Paige had made only a small dent in what she hoped to save before making the leap and quitting her job.It was enough to cover a website domain and hosting platform and a subscription to her favorite graphic design software, which would allow her to get started on her branding while she waited to find a new roommate and beef up her savings.It wasn’t anything major, but it was a step in the right direction.
She crunched some numbers and came to the conclusion that with the time it would take her to find a new roommate, and knowing they likely wouldn’t be willing to pay the premium Carter had agreed to, it would be another six months before she felt comfortable leaving her job.
Paige sighed.Maybe I was too harsh on Carter.Having him stay would have expedited the timeline.
Sure, he was a grumpy, rude, arrogant ass, but she could have looked beyond all of that for the sake of his rent check.Paige was kicking herself for reacting with such a hot head after his Grinchy outburst.
Carter left his room again—this time in a white button-down with navy slacks.Paige couldn’t help but do a double take as he made his way to the door and put on his jacket.Even with layers he was sexy.
He opened the door and left without a word or glance in her direction, and Paige reluctantly got started on work.
***
To Paige’s relief, the party was cancelled.The company sent out an email just after lunch.
As hot as she felt in her party dress, she had some PTSD around the event that was starting to bubble up.She knew she wouldn’t be able to avoid Chance and Diana forever, but the cancellation meant she could at least avoid them until after the holidays.
