Roommate (A Real Man, 5)

  Roommate

  A Real Man, 5

  Jenika Snow

  Contents

  Copyright

  A Real Man Series

  Roommate

  Prologue

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  Epilogue

  Coming Soon: A Real Man, 6

  Excerpt: Experienced (A Real Man, 4)

  Newsletter

  About the Author

  ROOMMATE (A Real Man, 5)

  By Jenika Snow

  www.JenikaSnow.com

  Jenika_Snow@Yahoo.com

  Copyright © October 2016 by Jenika Snow

  First E-book Publication: October 2016

  Photographer: Wander Aguiar Photography

  Cover model: Andrew Biernat

  Photo provided by: Wander Book Club

  Editor: R. Cartee

  Editor: K. Alexander

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: The unauthorized reproduction, transmission, or distribution of any part of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.

  This literary work is fiction. Any name, places, characters and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or establishments is solely coincidental. Please respect the author and do not participate in or encourage piracy of copyrighted materials that would violate the author’s rights.

  Book 1: Lumberjack

  Book 2: Virgin

  Book 3: Baby Fever

  Box Set (books 1-3): A Real Man: Volume One

  Book 4: Experienced

  Book 5: Roommate

  Book 6: Coming November 2016

  Roommate

  Brendan

  I’ve done pretty damn well in hiding my feelings for her over the years, but having Meghan under the same roof as me, and only feet from my bed, makes it hard to control myself.

  The truth is when it comes to Meghan, I don’t want to practice self-control. I love her.

  Meghan

  I’ve known him nearly my whole life. He’s cocky and gets under my skin. And as much as I want to say I don’t care about him, I’d be lying.

  The truth is I love him, and I don’t know if that’ll end up destroying me.

  Brendan

  She needed a place to stay, and now she’s got a roommate … me. But I’m about to show her that I want more than a friendly arrangement. Too much time has passed, and I’m done waiting. I’m ready to step up and be a man.

  I’ve never been good at sharing, and when it comes to her, she’s mine.

  Warning: You like short, hot, straight to the point stories? Do you want drama-free sexiness that leaves nothing to the imagination? Do you want a story that is pretty unbelievable, but gives you the warm fuzzies at the same time? Well then, leave your panties at the door because that’s what’s going down in this quickie.

  Prologue

  Brendan

  I’ve only ever wanted her, and no matter how much I tried to hide it, no matter how much I tried to deny it, I couldn’t lie to myself. It was at the point where I didn’t want to ignore it, didn’t want to pretend that I was just this cocky asshole who liked to get under her skin.

  But seeing her worked up turned me on. It made me hard, made me want to pin her to my bed and show her what she did to me … show her how much she meant to me.

  “It’s over,” I heard Meghan’s mom say to my dad downstairs, but I was more focused on the girl I’d grown to love and the clear pain I saw in her eyes.

  “It’s been over for a long time,” my father said in response.

  For years, I’d pushed back how I felt for Meghan, pretended that she wasn’t anything more than my stepsister, the girl I was forced to live with because our parents were married. But it wasn’t a hardship being under the same roof as Meghan, not when my heart could stop just by looking at her.

  And even if I hadn’t technically been living at home for the last year and a half while I attended college, I came by every fucking weekend strictly to see her.

  It’s always been her.

  It’ll always be her.

  The truth was over the years I’d grown to care for her, so much so that I knew it was love and that no other girl would ever compare to her. And just when I could have gotten the balls and been a real man and told her that I wanted her in my life permanently, as only mine, this bullshit with our parents was going down.

  But, still, I said nothing; I didn’t tell her how I felt, because the thought of scaring her off and driving this wedge between us scared the shit out of me.

  I guess I’d rather keep her at this level in my life than risk her putting a wall between us because I’d opened my mouth and told her I loved her.

  She was hurting right now, and the thought of her leaving me, not being in my life, not being able to see her every fucking day if I wanted to, tore my heart in two.

  I went over to her and helped her up off the stairs. She didn’t fight me, didn’t say anything. Instead, she let me take her into my room, set her on the edge of the bed, and just hold her hand. We didn’t speak for long seconds, and I hated that I couldn’t find the words to make her feel better. I had to be strong for her, but the screaming that was going on downstairs made it hard to even think straight.

  “It’ll be okay,” I finally said, but the way she looked at me, the fact there was so much pain in her eyes, had this tightness settling at the base of my spine. I couldn’t make her feel better, and that fucking sucked.

  Just focus on her. Meghan is what’s important. She’s always what’s been so fucking important.

  Meghan

  We’ve lived under the same roof for years. My feelings for him had grown to something that consumed me, and now I was not only being pulled away from my home ... but from the guy I loved.

  I looked at Brendan. He was older than me by two years. He went to college, stayed at the dorm, but still, he came home every weekend, spent time with me, and made me feel like I wasn’t alone.

  I shouldn’t have let it show how much it bothered me, and I should have been stronger, but pretending was hard, and I’d done enough of it while living with Brendan.

  I stared at Brendan. He’s always had this cocky attitude about himself, this permanent smirk in place. But with me, I felt like he showed me a different side, the real side that was genuine and sincere. I wanted to just focus on that, absorb that, and right now, I had to tell myself this wasn’t the end.

  He might not know how I felt, or how much this affected me, but God, I felt like crying, just showing my emotions in the most physical sense. Looking at me with this sympathy in his eyes told me he thought I was upset about the divorce.

  I wasn’t.

  I’d seen this situation coming for months, knew the divorce was inevitable, but I’d hoped I’d be wrong.

  I felt like this because of Brendan, and not knowing how anything would play out, knowing I wouldn’t see him. God, I didn’t even know if I’d still live in the same city after this.

  I didn’t know how anything would play out, and I felt lost. It felt like I was spinning out of control and I had nothing to hold onto.

  What I want to hold onto is Brendan.

  1

  Meghan

  One year later

  I stared at the one-story house that would be my home for an unknown period of time.

  I drea
ded this, hated having to call Brendan and ask for help. I wasn’t feeling that way because I didn’t want to live with him, but because I was ashamed of not having any control over my life. It was like the world had opened up on me and swallowed me whole. I was embarrassed I couldn’t keep myself afloat and had to ask for any kind of help.

  But it’s Brendan.

  I exhaled. Yes, it was Brendan, and I knew he’d never look down on me, but still, this all felt so weird.

  Over the last year, after our parents divorced, Brendan and I stayed in contact. Hell, we still lived in the same city, less than an hour from each other. But time, our schedules, and life made our time hanging out less and less. I hated that. I hated that, even after all this time, I hadn’t said anything to him about how I really felt.

  I looked back at my car. It was packed full with my shit. I hated it had come to this. Moving in with my mom wasn’t an option seeing as she lived across the country now and my livelihood and schooling were here. With hardly any savings, and no time to look for a new place that I could remotely afford, this was my only option.

  Brendan was my only option.

  Be thankful Brendan helped you. He could have said no.

  Yeah, he could have, but I knew he wouldn’t.

  I loved him, and although he might not feel the same way about me, might care for me as a close friend would, I’d known I could count on him.

  During all the years we’d lived together after our parents married, I’d seen many sides of Brendan.

  Arrogance.

  Aloofness.

  Knowing he could get what he wanted because he was the epitome of what masculinity looked like.

  The knowledge that he could get any girl he wanted had gotten under my skin, but it was my own fault, because I’d let fear hold me back from telling him how I felt.

  I’d been too scared to say anything, afraid it would ruin the friendship we had. And it was that friendship I held most dear.

  At twenty, I should have had my shit together more than I did, should have had the strength to admit what I wanted. I had never seen Brendan as family, not really.

  I tightened my hold on my bags and took a deep breath before walking up to the front door. Before I could even set one of my bags down, the door opened and there stood Brendan, in all his gorgeous, six-foot-four, muscular, gorgeous glory.

  I can control my baser urges.

  I could think that all I wanted, but being under the same roof with him, alone, would really put my self-control to the test.

  Brendan

  I opened the door and tried to school my features, but the truth was I was fucking ecstatic to see her. She might have lived less than an hour from my place, but what she didn’t know was that I’d gone to see her at times. I could admit to being considered one of those creepy ass guys too obsessed with the woman he loved to stay away.

  I’d been too fucking weak to just come right out and tell her I loved her this whole time.

  Hell, I liked to think this was fate, or some shit, telling me I needed to get my life together and be with Meghan. I’d wasted enough time. She was twenty, I was twenty-two, and it was time I finally told her how I felt. I was at a good place in life to provide for her and to make sure she was happy.

  You don’t even know if she wants to be happy with you in that capacity.

  But first, she needed to get settled, get her head on straight, because I knew she was in a tough spot emotionally right now. I’d make it better for her. I’d make sure she was smiling before the night was done.

  No other girl would ever compare to her.

  What if she knew the truth? What if she knew that I haven’t been able to even think of another girl, let alone have sex with one since I fell in love with her? What would she think if she knew my ultimate goal was to keep her close to me … to make her mine?

  She was hurting right now. The thought of not being the one to be there for her, and to pick her up when she was down, made me feel like shit.

  I wanted to be the one for her always.

  Is that your excuse for checking up on her, for driving to her school to make sure she was okay, that she seemed happy? Is that your excuse for pretty much fucking stalking her?

  I wasn’t stalking her, or at least I told myself that. I was making sure she was okay. But fuck, admitting that to her felt so dirty, like I was this damn creep.

  I just love her.

  Said every fucking weirdo on the planet that watched the girl they loved.

  God, I could have laughed at my own inner ramblings.

  “Thank you again.”

  I shook my head. “You know I’d do anything for you.”

  This look of gratitude crossed Meghan’s face, and I knew tonight would most definitely be a drunk kind of one.

  “I have a bottle of whiskey with our names on it.”

  I cared about her like no other—whether she’d ever known that or would ever know it. Keeping my distance, not telling her how I felt, and pretending like she didn’t mean more than she really did, had been the worst mistake of my life.

  But she was here now, and I was going to use this opportunity to show her I’d grown the hell up and could make her happy.

  But only with me. I only wanted her to be happy with me. Selfish or not, that was the reality.

  That means telling her you scared off that asshole that had been hitting on her six months ago at school. That means you’ll have to come clean about why you were there and why you gave a shit if she dated someone.

  I was going to make her mine, no matter what.

  “It’s definitely one of those nights. Whiskey should make everything better, Brendan,” she said and laughed, but it sounded forced.

  My body tightened at the sound of my name coming from those lush red lips of hers.

  I shouldn’t be thinking anything sexual right now. She’s in a shitty mood, and I’m being an asshole.

  What Meghan didn’t know was how fucking happy I was that she was moving in with me. Of course I was a cocky bastard at the best of times, had been when we were living together and our parents were married, but I’d always wanted to be softer, sweeter to her.

  The fact she came to me for help made me feel pretty fucking fantastic.

  Now, I just had to show her I was not a total obnoxious fucker, and that what I wanted with her wasn’t some perv’s fantasy.

  “The situation that bad, huh?” I asked and stepped aside, letting her in.

  “I’d say getting booted out of my apartment without notice and having nowhere else to go is pretty bad.”

  I took one of the bags out of her hands and set it on the ground. “Good thing you have me.” She looked over her shoulder at me, and I couldn’t help but smirk. But then I saw her shoulders sag, saw that hardness on her face leave, and in its place was thankfulness. Nothing else mattered but making her feel like things weren’t so bleak.

  “I’ll get the other stuff out of your car a little later,” I found myself saying, not wanting to push her for the sheer purpose of seeing her squirm. And I did like seeing her squirm for me.

  She nodded and set her bag on the ground as well.

  “Are you hungry?” I wanted to make her feel better, even if that meant making her the only thing I could cook … something that required the grill.

  “Not really,” she said softly, looking around my place. “This is nice, Brendan.” She turned and faced me, and it took everything in me not to check her out. But that would have been a pretty fucking bastardly thing to do, given the fact she was feeling shitty at the moment.

  “Thanks.” I stared her in the eyes, and she did the same. She looked nervous all of a sudden. I noticed she twisted her hands together, kept moving back and forth on her feet, and bit her lip.

  She looked cute and sexy as hell, and it was clear she was on edge.

  “I won’t stay long. I just need to save up and find a place.”

  I shook my head. “Don’t worry about it, Meghan. You stay here a
s long as you like. It’ll be nice to have someone else here.” I scrubbed a hand over my hair, feeling the short strands scrape along my palm. I was thinking about a lot of things I’d like to do to her while she was here, all of them having to do with her in my bed.

  “I’ll pay rent—”

  “Get the hell out of here with that bullshit.” I smiled to soften the rough timbre of my voice. A second passed with her looking all serious. “You want to pay me for staying here?” She nodded. “Then you can be in charge of cooking dinner. My skills go to the extent of grilling steaks and burgers. If you can do more than that, we’re golden.” She smiled softly and that small act went straight to my heart. “Listen, let me make us some dinner, we’ll get drunk, and all this bad shit will be a memory. Okay?” It took her a second to respond, but finally, she nodded, her smile widening.

  Yeah, this would work out really fucking well.

  And if I had my way, she’d never leave.

  2

  Meghan

  I was drunk, and I knew Brendan could see it, but still, he pushed another shot my way. I stared at the house key he’d given me, that bronze piece of metal meaning more to me than he’d ever know.

  “I think I’ve had enough,” I said, but reached out and grabbed the shot glass off the table.

  “If you can say that you haven’t had enough.”

  I laughed, finding that especially funny.

  “Not that I condone emotional drunkenness, but hell, a little black-out drinking will help cleanse the pallet.”

  I smiled and shook my head, but still reached for the shot glass and tossed it back. The alcohol settled in my belly, and this warmth spread through me.

  “That’s my girl.”