Free Roommate Wanted (Sharing Space #1) by Nina Perez Page B

to Lila. It didn’t help our already strained relationship that I had to turn down her recent lunch invitation because Lila and I planned to spend the hour revamping a presentation for a major client. I hoped that Myra believed that was the real reason, and not that I was still mad. I wasn't, but I couldn't be sure from her voice as she said, "Okay. Well, maybe tomorrow then,” and hung up.
     
    The heat wave was a distant memory. The leaves were starting to turn, the wind was starting to blow, and navels were starting to get covered. Just as I was getting used to the change in seasons, I was also getting used to the changes at home.  As I suspected, Patrick and I didn’t see much of each other. He spent his days working at the gym and sometimes going on auditions. There were even a few nights a week that he worked at the gym giving personal training sessions to clients who were too busy during the day. By the time he got home I was already in my room reading in bed. I would hear him enter, busy about in the kitchen, and then settle in the living room watching television for a while before turning in.  A few times he'd come home while I was in the living room working on office projects on my laptop. He was always mindful to ask if the television would bother me—it didn’t—and even ask about my day. It felt pretty good going to bed each night knowing that a man was in the apartment.  I felt safer.
     
    I'd managed to avoid having to tell my mother about Patrick since she picked mid-September to go on a two-week cruise. I received a postcard from someplace in the Bahamas. I could have sworn it was hurricane season down there but, once my mother made up her mind to do something, she did it. If she got it into her head to visit the Bahamas in the middle of September, hurricanes be damned. That was my mother. I knew I couldn’t avoid telling her forever, especially since she was due home in a few days. I had to prepare myself for my own personal hurricane when she found out I was living with a man.

Chapter Seven
     
    Crossing the Line
     
    Patrick
     
     
     
     
    Living with Max and Paul had pretty much been a free-for-all. We didn’t squabble over bathroom space, groceries, or chores. Things just worked themselves out. Even though the closest I’d come to living with a woman was college co-ed dorms, I knew that the same approach would not fly living with Chloe. It was a big adjustment for her, having me in the apartment, so I was extra diligent in not leaving my crap around and remembering to put down the toilet seat.
     
    Even though we’d cleared the air I wondered if Chloe had any residual feelings over Max’s comments. She’d seemed almost offended by my saying that I had no intentions of hitting on her, but maybe that was wishful thinking on my part. In fact she’d probably thought, "Who does this white boy think he is? I know we're not going to be anything but platonic 'cause I wouldn't give him the time of day."
     
    I might have made an ass of myself and, even though what I said wasn't entirely true—a man would have to be deaf, dumb, blind, gay, and racist to not be interested in Chloe—it had to be said. I couldn't have my new roommate thinking I was a womanizer out to get into her panties. 
     
    And it’s not like they weren't nice panties. One Saturday I was returning home and ran into Chloe in the hallway on her way back from the basement laundry room. I offered to carry the basket up and she accepted. It was hard not to notice the lingerie.  She seems to be fond of Victoria's Secret in shades of blue and green. I didn't even want to think of how good they must have looked against her skin for fear of slipping on my own drool and falling down the stairs.
     
    No, I was sure a woman like Chloe was not worried about me hitting on her, but there was something there, an unease. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but I didn’t have to wonder for too long as it all became clear during what could be