***
At the top of the stairs, Tyler looked toward Rose’s room. She’d left the door half-open. Was it an invitation?
He approached, padding quietly across the carpet, and peeked inside. Rose was lying on the bed, propped on a mound of pillows with her legs stretched out and crossed at the ankles. She was playing with her phone. To his delight, she hadn’t changed, or put on a sweater. His Rose, after being caught in mini shorts, would be covered head-to-toe by now. Something was definitely up with her.
Tyler knocked on the door and stepped inside without waiting for permission.
“Oh,” she said, surprised. “I thought you’d be downstairs making peace with Georgiana.”
“What’s up with the shorts?” he asked.
She looked down at herself. “I was behind with my laundry, and this was the only clean set left.”
“Weren’t you against Victoria’s Secret and their objectification of women?” Tyler retorted.
“I didn’t buy them.” Rose shrugged. “They were a present from Marcus.”
She said it casually, but he knew her well. He could detect the lingering sadness hidden behind that simple response. As a loyal friend, he ought to feel sorry for the abrupt way her relationship with Marcus had ended. Instead, Tyler couldn’t help but be relieved that Marcus had moved to LA and out of their lives for good. But now a new emotion had entered the mix—a fierce jealousy he’d never experienced before. He was jealous that Rose would wear something so not like herself for Marcus.
Tyler sat on the bed next to her. He took her right foot into his left hand, placed it in his lap, and started massaging her ankle. Time to switch on the charm and make Rose talk.
Three
Rose
Rose was extremely aware of Tyler’s thumb swirling around her ankle. How long had it been since he’d tried to sleep with her? Tyler had been “well-behaved” since that stupid night two years ago when she’d refused him in no uncertain terms. She almost flinched at the memory. At the time, she’d been so taken with Marcus that she’d been harsh with her best friend, treating him with contempt—and not in their usual playful way. Rose hoped Tyler had been drunk enough not to remember how badly she’d turned him down. But given that he hadn’t tried anything ever since, not even after her breakup, some of it must’ve sunk in. Before that night, his cute, double-meaning jokes and her constant turning him down had let Rose believe she and Tyler weren’t together by her choice. That if she only wanted, she could be his girlfriend. That he’d be different for her. But not anymore.
A tingle rose up her legs from where Tyler touched her with the tips of his fingers. It had been easier to say no to Tyler when he was hitting on her once a week. But now she was out of practice and vulnerable. Especially when he was standing in her room looking impossibly hot in sweatpants and nothing else. Rose’s gaze traveled over his naked chest and down to his sculpted stomach before she forced herself to adopt a neck-and-above only view policy. Not that staring at his face helped. With messy light brown hair, gray eyes, and lips to die for, Tyler was gorgeous. And he knew it.
“So what’s up with Georgiana?” Rose put her phone down and looked at Tyler expectantly.
“Oh, nothing,” he replied.
“It must’ve been something if she felt the need to call you ten times on a Saturday morning.”
“I’ve already told you it was nothing.”
“So why was she sorry about nothing?”
“Why do you have to always insist so much when it comes to Georgiana?”
“And why are you so adamant about not telling me? You used to tell me everything!”
“I still do.”
“No, you don’t.”
Tyler’s shoulder tensed and his grip on her feet tightened. “I can’t stand the two of you bickering anymore. I’m always caught in the middle.”
“I’ve never said anything bad about Georgiana,” Rose said, feeling her cheeks warm up. “But apparently she doesn’t have a problem talking behind my back.”
Tyler held her gaze for a few seconds before looking at the floor, embarrassed.
Comprehension dawned. “The argument, it was about me, wasn’t it?” Rose said, leaning forward. She folded her legs, her ankle slipping away from Tyler’s grip. “Why does she hate me so much?”
“Don’t be melodramatic. She’s just jealous, that’s all.”
“Why am I the only friend she’s jealous about? Especially when I’m the only one you haven’t slept with.”
“Well, you’re the only friend who lives with me. And Georgiana has this theory: the fact we haven’t slept together is more meaningful than if we had. She actually said she wished we’d done it before I met her and got over it!”
“And what exactly makes Georgiana think sleeping with me would make you get over us?”
“Would it?” Tyler asked with a hint of flirtation. He raised one eyebrow and smirked, making one of his cutest, mischievous faces.
“It doesn’t matter. We’re not going to test it.” Rose kept her sulky frown. “So, what was she going on about this time?”
Tyler released a breath. “Georgiana asked me when you were planning on moving out.”
Rose shot out of the bed as if it were made of burning coals. “I didn’t know I’d overstayed my welcome,” she spat. It was just like Georgiana to stick her posh nose into Rose’s life, where it didn’t belong.
True, Rose was living in Tyler’s swanky apartment without paying any rent. But only because Tyler didn’t let her pay her share. To compensate, Rose did what she could. She bought most of the groceries and paid all the bills. Even though she and Tyler had never spoken about it, she thought he was fine with their arrangement. Georgiana had already made a snarky comment once to her: “How nice it must be to live rent-free in such a nice neighborhood.” Rose could only imagine what other things along that line she was telling Tyler. The thought made her livid.
“I can start packing immediately.” Rose moved to grab some discarded clothes from a chair.
“Rose, will you calm down?” Tyler said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her onto his lap. “I’ve told Georgiana to piss off.”
“You know I feel guilty about not paying rent,” she protested, trying to ignore the fact that she was sitting on top of him and they were both half-naked.
“And you know I don’t want you to pay anything. You already sneak around and pay all the bills before I even have a chance to open them. It’s more than enough.”
He put his hands around her waist, making her stomach drop.
“Are you sure?” Rose asked. She needed more than just a physical assurance.
“Rose, my life has improved since you moved in with me. The fridge used to look like a war zone, but now you make sure I eat all my vegetables,” he joked.
“I bet she just wants me out so she can move in,” Rose couldn’t help saying.
“As if.” Tyler snorted, and the goofy sound made Rose happier than she’d been all morning.
She beamed at him, looking him straight in the eyes. Tyler stared back with a strange intensity, and suddenly, Rose’s smile disappeared. He leaned in closer, slowly, and her breath caught in her throat in anticipation
Four
Georgiana
A few miles away, in another posh neighborhood of Boston, Georgiana paced around her living room. As she circled the couch, she was seething with hatred for Rose, anger for Tyler, and resentment for Marcus. Whom she didn’t exactly know, but who she was positively sure had ruined her life by moving to LA.
She tried Tyler’s number again. When he didn’t pick up, she threw her phone across the room and let out a growl. The phone hit an armchair and bounced off its soft cushions, landing on the carpeted floor.
This wasn’t going to work. Another woman living with Tyler wasn’t right. How could he not see it? What was his house, a stupid co-ed? A charity? Georgiana didn’t know for sure, but since Rose and Tyler came from the same rich neighborhood in D
allas, she doubted Rose had money problems. She was just a parasite. Tyler’s best friend was poison ivy, and she was sprouting roots in his house.
Why wasn’t he picking up his damn phone?
Georgiana checked the time on her Rolex: 9:45 already. She’d been calling him for almost an hour now. Bracing her arms on the back of the couch, Georgiana stared out of her floor-to-ceiling windows without focusing on anything in particular. Maybe his phone was switched to silent and he hadn’t heard it ring. What if Tyler was still asleep? It wasn’t unusual for him to sleep late on weekends, and they’d been arguing until the small hours last night. Tyler had left her apartment at—three, four a.m.? By the time he’d gotten home and to bed, it must’ve been late.
That was it, she decided, Tyler was still sleeping. Nothing to worry about. Yeah, they had a row, and he’d taken Rose’s side, again, but it would pass. It always did.
Georgiana’s nervous fingers tightened their grip on the soft cushions’ fabric. Men! They could sleep through everything. Unlike her. She’d barely slept and had been forced to use all of her willpower not to call him before nine—Georgiana didn’t want to come off as the hysterical girlfriend.
Anyway, Tyler asleep or not, the problem remained. Georgiana needed to weed the poisonous bitch out of her boyfriend’s place. The sneaky little ho was after her man. She’d probably been since puberty. Why did Marcus have to dump Rose and give her the perfect excuse to move in with Tyler? To feed off his generosity and good nature?
If Tyler and Rose stayed under the same roof much longer, something was bound to happen. Tyler’s relationship with Rose wasn’t strictly brotherly—no matter how many times Tyler swore it was. Georgiana didn’t believe in male-female friendships. And their body language sent a clear message: there was tension between them. The fact they hadn’t done the deed yet wasn’t an assurance it would not happen in the future. It was even worse, in a way. It built pressure, making Rose—the one girl Tyler had never had—too big of a temptation for him to resist.
Why did everything have to go down this way? And why now?
Georgiana felt as if a cosmic conspiracy was in place to undermine her relationship with Tyler. But she wasn’t a “live and let live” kind of girl. She was used to taking action and gaining control over things. She’d even tried to convince her brother to provide a distraction for Rose as soon as she’d moved in with Tyler six months ago. Ethan, five years their senior, was drop dead gorgeous and a womanizer. But he’d refused without even meeting Rose. And now was dating one of Georgiana’s best friends, Alice, so his charms were out of the picture. To hell with him, too. Georgiana needed a different plan, something final that would keep Tyler and Rose apart for good.
Georgiana turned away from the window and started pacing the apartment again in search of inspiration. It took her a few laps of the room before an idea began forming in her mind. At first, she couldn’t quite grasp it. Georgiana was sure she’d overlooked something, but couldn’t put her finger on what. Then, out of the blue, a possibility came to her. She needed to talk to her dad and see if he could help her.
Georgiana sprang into action. She grabbed her bag and car keys from the coffee table and hurried toward the door. Halfway there, she paused and turned around to go get her phone. She picked it up from the floor and checked the screen, only half-hoping to see if Tyler had called her back. He hadn’t.
Never mind, he could wait. Right now, she had bigger fish to fry. Filled with purpose, Georgiana plonked the phone into her bag and exited her apartment. She felt strangely calm and regenerated. It was good to finally have a plan.
It’d be complicated to achieve, and she’d have to pull a lot of strings to make it work. Hard, but not impossible. And, oh, Rose wouldn’t even know what had hit her. Georgiana opened her car and sat behind the wheel. She paused a second with her finger on the ignition button. She closed her eyes, imagining the face her rival would make when she found out. It’d be priceless. But now wasn’t the time to celebrate, it was the time to set her plan in motion. To pull it off, she had to act quickly. Georgiana revved the engine and backed out of her parking spot, speeding away on the almost empty street.
Five
Tyler
Tyler watched the smile disappear from Rose’s face, dazed by her beauty. Her dark eyes sent a clear message. It wasn’t his best friend staring at him, but a woman who wanted him. After all this time, would she finally give in? Today, of all days, when he’d least expect it, and when he hadn’t tried one of his many stunts to seduce her?
His pulse picked up, and his skin started to burn around his neck where Rose laced her hands. Suddenly, Tyler realized where they were. In her room, on the bed, already half-naked and on top of each other.
Rose’s face was only inches away from his own—one breath away. Tyler leaned in closer as if to kiss her and felt her body stiffen on his legs, but she didn’t move away. Nor did she make any motion to get up. Rose’s eyes widened, and she inhaled sharply, but she didn’t retreat.
Tyler didn’t need any more hints. This was his opportunity; he would not waste this chance and give Rose time to think about what was happening or to change her mind. He bent her backward and pressed his lips to hers.