“I mean one half of each pair, smartass. I have an entire drawer full of odd socks. Where are they?”
“Oh, that.” He nodded slowly. “God, that’s gotta be annoying.”
“Ethan!” I threw my hands out. “I agreed not to change the Netflix password again. Give me my socks!”
He took a step back and pointed at the hedgehog cage. “I don’t have all of them right now, but Mr. Prickles is enjoying sleeping in a few. I’m not sure you’re going to get those back.”
My jaw dropped. I shoved past him into the room and toward the cage on top of his dresser.
Yep. Sure as shit, there they were. Three of my socks being used as a bed for a spiky pig.
“Great.” I took a step back. “Just great. I’m going to kill you.”
“You already are,” he said dryly. “Because you still aren’t wearing a bra.”
I spun on the balls of my feet. “Oh, does that bug you? Me not wearing a bra?”
He stared at me.
I grabbed my boobs and pushed them up and together. “This kills you?”
He worked his jaw, his nostrils flaring.
“Good. Because if you think it was bad before, it’s now all-out roommate warfare, Ethan. And this shirt just became my new favorite shirt, so I hope you get your little friend under control before it gets too awkward!” I dropped my boobs and stormed out of his room with what I hoped was a strut with a dramatic flair but was probably just an awkward hobble with a hint of annoyance.
“Ava!”
“What?” I demanded, spinning around to face him.
He stalked up to me, wasting no time at all. His hands were rough as he grabbed me and pulled me against him, his lips slamming down on mine.
What was happening?
He softened after a second, but only slightly. My body reacted before my mind did, and through the spinning in my brain, I was vaguely aware of the fact that my braless boobs were pressed against his naked chest with only a very thin layer of cotton.
There was also the issue of his hand wrapped around the back of my neck.
Oh, and his tongue moving against mine.
He was kissing me.
Ethan was kissing me.
I was kissing him.
Kissing Ethan.
And neither of us were stopping it.
But oh, Jesus, it was something else. His grip on me was unwavering, and the ferocity he kissed me with duplicated itself in shivers that tingled across my skin, leaving all the hairs on my arms standing on end.
It was the most stomach-fluttering, heart-pounding, desire-churning kiss I’d ever had in my life.
And it was with Ethan.
The best kiss of my life would go down in history as being with him. This would be the benchmark for which all other kisses would be held against.
That was it, then. I was already ruined for all other men. Wonderful.
Ethan flexed his fingers against the back of my neck, slowly pulling away from the kiss. He lingered for a moment, his lips hovering barely a breath away from mine.
“Um,” I breathed, needing to break the silence.
He pulled back just enough to meet my gaze. “For the love of fucking God, put a bra on, Ava.”
Then, with those words, he released me.
And headed straight for the bathroom. He pulled the door shut behind him, and the lock clicked. Less than a minute later, I was still standing in the hall, almost paralyzed.
I couldn’t move. How was I supposed to move now?
The sound of the shower being turned on shook me out of whatever post-kiss haze I was in. I touched my fingers to my lips, my eyes widening, and jerked to life.
Ethan had just kissed me.
And now he was in the shower with a hard-on that’d just been pressed up against my stomach.
Oh, Jesus.
What the fuck was going on?
***
“Kissed you?” Reagan leaned across the table, her eyebrows shooting up.
“Kissed you?” Halley echoed, doing the same. “What? Why? How?”
“All excellent questions.” I fiddled with the rim of my wine glass. I wasn’t in the habit of drinking before work, but I was hungry and I was stressed, and I needed something to take the edge off my constant thinking.
“What happened?” Reagan asked, looking a little too much like the old ladies at the church who thrived on gossip.
I ran through the whole story, starting with the remote thing last night. It was the only way to get the full context, but even I knew the answer as to why he’d kissed me before I’d finished telling the story.
“It was the boob-grab,” Halley said immediately.
Reagan nodded. “You brought this on yourself.”
Groaning, I dropped my forehead to the table. “I can’t do this, guys. I can’t. It’s too much. This is a disaster.”
“Yep,” she said brightly. “A complete and utter shitshow, and it’s all your fault.”
I fake-sobbed into my arms.
Halley snorted. “It’s simple. Just end the roomie war and be done with it. You’re only interacting the way you are because you’re actively trying to piss the other person off.”