Natalie! I’m so glad you’re here, my dear girl.”

I was immediately swept up into a hug that reminded me of summertime and long hours spent baking together. I pulled back slightly and regarded the older woman currently strangling me with love. My Aunt Patricia was still the most stylish woman I knew, even in her early sixties, and she still smelled like lemons and sugar.

I soaked up the love and comfort of my Aunt like a flower seeking sunlight. After the events of the past semester, I felt like I was just coming out of the dark.

Fucking Brian, I thought bitterly. Why was it that beautiful men were such liars? I’d swallowed all of his lines without even a thought, especially the worst lie of them all: that we’d go public with our relationship as soon as I wasn’t his student anymore. After I’d finished the class, he’d simply made up another excuse: that he was worried about the backlash because I was still a student at the university.

I wished I’d wised up on my own and seen through his charade, but I hadn’t. Instead, I'd overheard another student crying over her boyfriend, the handsome chemistry TA named Brian. But at least I could say that once I’d seen the light, I'd acted quickly. Brian had claimed he didn’t know the girl, or that I must have misunderstood. But once the wool has been pulled from your eyes, it's extraordinarily hard to put it back.

Plus, Brian wasn’t as great of a liar as he thought he was. When I’d first told him what happened, I’d seen the fear in his eyes.

So, with a broken heart and completely smashed sense of trust, I’d put in for a transfer to Boston University. My Aunt Patty had taught in the information technology department at the university for the past ten years. It made me sad to leave Florida State behind, because I loved my school. The thought still made me a little grumpy. It wasn’t the school’s fault that they employed manipulative bastards.

“Hi, Aunt Patty. Sorry it took me so long to get here. Traffic was terrible.”

My Aunt waved away my excuses with a manicured hand. “It’s no trouble at all. I have your key and directions right here, just in case Trevor isn’t home when you get there.”

It was the first time my Aunt had referred to my new roommate by name. I was still surprised my aunt was okay with me rooming with a guy. When I’d mentioned it, Aunt Patty had just chuckled and said, “He’s not your type at all. Besides, he won’t even notice you’re there unless you speak in CSS.”

I figured out later that was some kind of computer code. My Aunt knew that I’d always gone more for the jock type. Growing up, I’d been way more inclined to talk to my aunt about boys than my own mother.

“Thanks again for finding me a place. I never would have had time after dealing with all the transfer stuff.”

Aunt Patty took my bag and placed it on the sofa. “Come have a cup of tea first. Sorry your Uncle Sidney isn’t here to greet you. He had a class he couldn’t cancel.”

“It’s no problem. Once I’m settled in, we’ll have to go out for dinner.”

After an hour relaxing over tea, I set out for my new apartment with my aunt’s list of detailed instructions and my new set of house keys. I felt a little tingle of excitement as I parked in space 601, per the written instructions, and grabbed my largest suitcase from my trunk. It hit me then that I should probably carry my least valuable things up first, so they weren’t sitting in the hallway. Luckily, I didn’t have much since there was no elevator. One big box, three smaller ones, and two suitcases. It took me five trips up and down the stairs before I got it all.

Afterward, I leaned against the wall outside my new apartment, panting. It might have been a bad idea to do all that alone, but I really didn’t want to start my relationship with my roommate by asking him for help. I wasn’t sure what strings my aunt had pulled to get this guy to agree to let me move in. If he was some kind of geeky computer nerd, then he probably was worried about having some party girl move in. So I was planning to be the best roommate ever. Easy. Quiet. He wouldn’t even know I was there.

I knocked once. The door swung open after a few minutes. The guy who stood in the doorway stared at me.

I stared back.

I could feel the moment my mouth fell open, but was powerless to stop it. This was my new roommate? My eyes scanned over him from head to toe, too overwhelmed to know what to take in first. The wild, dark hair that stood out randomly, like he’d just gotten out of bed, the chiseled jawline, or the moody green eyes currently watching me like I was prey.

Or the abs. Dear Lord, the abs. He had more dips and cuts in his stomach than I even knew was possible. Was that an eight pack?

At the last moment, I pulled my eyes back up to his face. But by his smirk, I knew he’d caught me staring. The beginnings of a blush heated my cheeks. Damn, I hated how easy it was to make me blush. I always wanted to act cool and confident, but that was pretty much impossible when my red cheeks gave me away.

Oh, you’re sexy as hell? No big deal, new roommate. I’ve totally lived with lots of half-naked sexy men before.

Right.

Resisting the urge to check if my dark hair was still contained in my usual ponytail, I gave an awkward little wave.

“Hi, I’m Natalie. I’m your new roommate.”

I was fucked.

There was no other way to put it. Just fucked.

I knew it the moment I'd opened the door. If this girl was what Professor Washington meant by mousy and quiet, then we had entirely different definitions of what mousy was. It also didn't help that she stared at me like I was a Christmas turkey and she hadn't eaten in years. Her big cornflower-blue eyes went wide and her pupils dilated

Focus, man. Now is not the time. My advisor had asked me for a favor. And, as she was helping me to find a job, I needed to get this favor right.

Besides, it would be a recipe for disaster if I started fantasizing about my new roommate. So I'd just have to shove the mental image of her full lips completely out of my head.

"Do you need a hand with anything?" I asked. Maybe if I had something to do with my hands, I wouldn't think about running them over every inch of her body. And through that thick chestnut hair, gently massaging her scalp as I angled her head to kiss her. No. None of that. "Here, let me grab that box."

"Thank you. I, uh—I really appreciate you doing this last minute. Letting me come and live with you. Seriously, are you some kind of saint?"

A saint? No. I was far from that. "Hardly. But I know what it's like trying to find an apartment in the city. Come on in." I grabbed one of the boxes and hauled it into the living room. Jesus, what the hell did she have in there? The way it jostled, I assumed books. But I couldn't be sure.

She dragged one of the suitcases just inside the door, and then took a look around. The apartment wasn't that big. But it had a spare bedroom, hardwood floors, was rent-controlled, and clean. I was a bit of a design nut, so the furnishings, while secondhand, were still stylish and eclectic. I'd been able to find cheap knockoff versions of the stuff I saw in magazines. Maybe it was my analytical mind, but I really liked smooth, clean lines.

Did she like it? Suddenly, it really mattered to me what she thought of the place. I wanted her to be comfortable here. It shouldn't matter what anyone thought, but I found myself wanting to make a good first impression.

"This is really great. I had no idea what I was going to be getting, but this is nice."

A grin tugged at my lips. I'd been lucky to get this place at all, right in the heart of Brighton, of all places. I'd worked hard on his place and would almost be sad to leave it. But I'd be moving on to bigger and better things soon.

I had only gotten the apartment because one of the guys in my major had landed a big flashy job in Silicon Valley, and had asked me to take over the lease. That was probably how that guy had gotten the apartment, too.

This place had probably passed through a slew of grad students passing it off to people they knew and liked. It was the way of things. In the crazy world of Boston real estate, you had to have an in to find a place to live.

"Your bedroom's through there. You have your own shower. This is the common area. Not huge, but not totally cramped either. You're pretty much standing in the kitchen and dining room area. My room's back that way." I inclined my head toward the opposite side of the hallway.

As I helped to pull the rest of her things into the apartment, I couldn't help but feel her hot stare on my back. I considered grabbing a shirt and putting it on, but fuck it. I kind of liked her looking. Her eyes were striking, even more striking when they were intensely focused on me.

You are asking for trouble. Yeah, but I didn't care. Because I was sneaking glances of my own.

She had the whole studious-student get up going. Basic jeans, simple top. Cardigan and the glasses perched atop her head. I had the feeling she maybe needed them for reading, instead of for walking around and shit. The damned things would likely give me sexy librarian fantasies.

Stop with the fantasies.

Problem was, once my brain had already started on that line of thinking, I couldn't help it. Those tits of hers were hard to hide under the soft cotton fabric. Seriously though, how the hell was I supposed to focus?

One of the boxes tipped over, and I caught it just before the contents came spilling out. When I looked inside, I grinned. "Oh my God, is this what I think it is?"

She flushed and made to grab it, but I quickly snatched it out of her reach, and kept digging through the box. "Is this Maximum Death? Oh my God. Tell me this isn’t Marked for Death?"

Natalie folded her arms right under that impressive chest. "So? I like bad action movies. When I need to unwind and relax, and get my mind off of whatever is bothering me, I watch one of those because they're just so absurd. Are you judging me now?"

"Are you kidding? I love action movies. Pretty much anything with an explosion or gunfight, and I'm happy." She narrowed her eyes as if she wasn't sure if I was making fun of her not. I continued and teased her. "Matter-of-fact, I'm not even sure that you’re a real fan."

"Are you insane? Anything with Van Damme or Segal, and I'm there. I love the ones when, you know, the lone random guy goes to some country, usually China, and the locals take him in, and teach him their secret arts, and then he becomes the great white hope. They're so bad."

I chuckled. "Ahh, I see my new roommate likes the classics."

"Is there really any other way to go?"

I helped her drag the last of her boxes into her bedroom. I was pretty much ready to leave her to sort things out. But then her gaze flickered to my chest again, and I couldn't help the smirk that played across my lips.

She shifted her gaze away quickly. "Uhm, I'm sorry, but you mind putting on a shirt? It's a little distracting."

Distracting? So she liked what she saw. Not that it should matter to you, because you can't have her. My dick had other ideas about that. But I wasn't listening to my dick right now, even if I wanted to.

"I have a list of house rules. Actually, only one, really: 'My house my rules.' Feel free to walk around shirtless yourself. I promise you, I won't mind."

Okay perfect, I was being a dick to my new roommate. But the frustration was already eating at me. Just knowing that I was going to be living with her was gnawing at my control. Which was even more annoying.

I was that guy, the one who never let anything slip. Never had one toe out of line, never once slipped up. Oh, I had fun. But I kept lines nice and clear, with good, proper boundaries, so there was never any confusion or question later.

Doing the kind of things that were running through my mind with my roommate would result in all kinds of blurry gray lines. And I didn't like that.

"So, I just have to deal?" she asked.

I nodded. "Yep. Welcome to the neighborhood, roomie." And then got the hell out of Dodge. One more minute closed in her bedroom with her, and my dick was going to start taking over my mind.

And that would be a very, very bad thing.