Roomies with Benefits Read online

I hated the people who couldn’t even tell me what they were working toward. Inside, I was seething. Even the women who came in with visions of “long, toned muscles” or “a swimsuit bod” were better than him. But I refused to let him know he was getting to me.

  “Let’s start over here,” I said.

  I had to admit, Geoff was right when he’d pegged the guy as being in pretty good shape. He clearly did a little recreational running and maybe some basic strength training at home. What was more, objectively, the guy was decently attractive. It made me all the more sure I had to keep him away from Abigail. I felt strangely jealous, if I was being honest with myself. They’d been together for two years, and what was stopping her from getting back together with him?

  I knew that was silly. Not only was it none of my business if Abigail did want to get back together with him, but Abigail had made it pretty clear that she definitely did not want to rekindle that old flame. Still, my mind was working up all sorts of scenarios, imagining the two of them together. And Jason talking about her didn’t help.

  “Seems pretty weird to me that Zach didn’t even know about the engagement,” he commented during a pause between reps. He took a sip of his water. “Abigail was always so weirdly close to him.”

  “She still is,” I said. “We just got engaged recently, and we haven’t told too many people.”

  “Wouldn’t Zach be one of the first people you would tell?” Jason asked, raising an eyebrow at me. “Or are you telling me that none of the family know?”

  “We were trying to figure out the best way to tell Zach,” I said lamely. “Things are a little complicated with me being his best friend and also his sister’s fiancé. We were just waiting until the time was right.”

  “You’re lying,” Jason said simply, shrugging his shoulders. “I don’t believe you two are actually engaged, and I’m going to get Abigail to break down and tell me the truth.”

  I laughed. “You want the truth? The truth is that Abigail doesn’t want you anywhere near her, you creepy weirdo. Why don’t you just leave her alone and find someone else to fixate on?”

  Jason gave me a mild look and started in on another rep. I could tell he was thinking something through.

  I was pushing him harder than I normally would, even for someone who was in decent shape. I wanted him to walk out of here feeling stiff and sore, and I didn’t want him to come back again for another session. I knew I shouldn’t do it, that Geoff was probably watching me and that he’d have something to say if I drove a high-paying customer away, but at this point, I’d just about had it with Jason Dean.

  Finally, Jason finished the set. He put aside the weights and stared straight into my eyes. “I know I screwed up with Abigail before,” he said slowly. “I didn’t treat her right. I didn’t appreciate her. But I’m going to get her back, and no one is going to stop me, especially not you.”

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked through gritted teeth.

  Jason gave me a once-over. “Sure, you’re attractive, but what do you really have when the lust wears off? You’re just her brother’s best friend, someone she’s known her whole life. But she and I used to actually have fun together.”

  I was about to argue with him and say that Abigail and I did have fun together, but there was some truth to what he was saying when I really thought about it. Abigail and I had never really interacted without someone else there, usually Zach. And even since she’d moved in with me, we hadn’t really spent much time together outside our breakfast routine. She was off with Brittany a lot of the evenings, or else I was out with Zach. We had talked a few times until late in the evening, but we hadn’t really done anything together.

  Jason gave me a triumphant and knowing look. Then he got up off the bench. “So, what’s next?”

  “Our time’s up for today,” I said. Technically, we still had about ten more minutes, but I was through with him. I knew he wasn’t actually there for fitness training; he was just trying to needle me and gather information about Abigail. He couldn’t pay me enough for that, whatever Geoff might have thought.

  “All right,” Jason said. A slow smirk spread across his face. “What do you think Zach would do if he knew you had fucked his little sister right here in this gym?”

  I wanted to lunge for him, but I held myself back. The last thing I needed was to attack him right there in the middle of my workplace. Besides, he couldn’t have any proof of that. Even if he somehow had access to the security tapes, the most they would tell him was that we had gone into the locker room together. There weren’t any security cameras back in the shower area for obvious reasons.

  “Get the fuck out of here,” I said to Jason, my voice dripping with disgust.

  He laughed at me, like he thought he had won, and I forced myself to turn away from him. It was only after he left that I realized I had clenched my hands into fists so hard that my fingernail marks were embedded in my palms.

  I took a couple deep breaths, glad Jason was the final appointment for the day and that I didn’t have to compose myself to deal with yet another client. I stalked into the locker room to change out of my gym wear, thankful Geoff didn’t stop me to ask how the session had gone. If he had been watching us, he knew exactly how it had gone.

  On the way home, I was still thinking about what Jason had said about how Abigail and I never had fun together. I pulled out my phone and dialed her number.

  “Hey. What’s up?” she asked.

  “Are you home?” I asked her.

  “Yeah, but Brittany and I were thinking about going to get drinks later,” Abigail said. “You’re welcome to come with us, though.”

  “Why don’t we stay in?” I suggested. “I could stop and get some takeout on the way home and we could watch a movie.”

  There was silence for a moment, and I wondered if that sounded too much like a date. Maybe I should have just agreed to the drinks thing, but I wanted to spend some time alone with her, maybe just to prove to Jason that I wasn’t just a hot body as far as she was concerned.

  “That sounds nice,” Abigail said. “To be honest, I wasn’t really feeling like drinks anyway.”

  “Any requests for dinner?”

  “Chinese food?” Abigail suggested. “I haven’t had that in a while.”

  “Sounds great, and I know just the place,” I told her. “Any specific dishes?”

  “As long as you make sure to bring me a fortune cookie, I’ll take anything,” Abigail said.

  “Cool. I’ll be home in fifteen,” I told her.

  When I got there, she was lounging on the couch, dressed in sweats with her hair in a messy bun. She had a newspaper in her lap and was going through the classifieds, looking for jobs. “I know it’s old fashioned,” she said, “but I figure it works or else people wouldn’t keep paying to put ads in here.”

  “Find anything good?”

  “Not yet,” she said with a sigh. “But at this point, I’d take anything, good or not.”

  I sat down next to her on the couch and began lifting out takeout boxes. “I didn’t know what you liked, so I got a little bit of everything,” I said. “Can’t go wrong with the leftovers, either, I figured.”

  “This looks great,” Abigail said, shifting slightly away from me. I frowned, wanting to close the gap between us, but I wasn’t sure how.

  “Jason came by the gym today,” I said.

  “How was that?” Abigail asked.

  “Terrible,” I told her. “He said he doesn’t believe in our fake engagement and that he’s trying to win you back.”

  She sighed. “Of course he is. I already knew that.”

  “And you’re really not interested?”

  I expected her to laugh or to wrinkle her nose or something. Instead, Abigail looked over at me and then shrugged. “Do you think I should get back together with him?”

  I was taken aback by the question. “I thought you really weren’t interested in him,” I said slowly. Had I been reading this whole th
ing wrong? Maybe the fake engagement had just been her way of playing hard to get, trying to see if Jason was being sincere. Maybe she had been planning on going back to him the whole time.

  I could feel a lump forming in the pit of my stomach. I wasn’t ready to end our roomies-with-benefits arrangement just yet. I had other plans for us, and I really hadn’t planned on ending it so that she could go back to Jason.

  Abigail shook her head, taking a bite of her food. “He’s an asshole,” she said, but there was something in her eyes when she said it, something I couldn’t figure out.

  I suddenly remembered that Zach had been by this morning, and I wanted to ask how that had gone. He’d asked me if he could talk to Abigail in private, and he wasn’t very happy. I had a feeling it had something to do with our fake engagement, and I’d wanted to stick around, but I’d needed to get to work anyway.

  I didn’t know how to ask, though. If she wanted me to know, or if she wanted to call off the fake engagement, she’d tell me.

  Instead, I decided to try to make this as relaxing a night as possible for her. When we’d finished with the food, I put all of it away in the fridge, telling her to keep sitting on the couch and going through the classifieds. Afterward, I let her pick the movie, and then I pulled her close, cuddling her against my chest. She sighed and then relaxed against me, her whole body going slack, and I knew I had done the right thing.

  She wasn’t really interested in Jason, I didn’t think. It was probably something with her family, maybe something Zach had said to her. Or maybe it was just that when she had been with Jason, she had felt like she had control over her life. She’d had a job and she’d had a steady boyfriend. Now she was unemployed and hooking up with her roommate. I imagined that had to be difficult to wrap her head around.

  I had never been much of a cuddler before, but I had to admit that I liked having her close to me. The trouble was, as she shifted against me, I started thinking of the other ways that I liked having her close to me. Sex with her was amazing. That wasn’t the only reason I didn’t want her to go back to Jason or to move on to someone else, but that was part of it.

  I wanted to brush the hair back from her neck and kiss the smooth expanse hidden there. I wanted to taste the sweetness of her skin, to press her down into the couch and slide slowly into her tight, wet hole.

  Abigail shifted again, and this time, her hip ended up pressed against my rapidly hardening dick. I stifled a groan, trying my best not to grind up against her. She turned her head toward me, giving me a wicked smile. “You know, I’m not wearing anything under these sweatpants.”

  Chapter 15

  Abigail

  I was surprised when Ian called after work with the suggestion that he bring home dinner and we watch a movie. At first, it had sounded almost like a date. I wondered if maybe Zach had talked to him and said that if we wanted to fake an engagement, he’d better start acting like a better boyfriend or something.

  But then I remembered that Zach didn’t want me to have anything to do with Ian, not in that sense. He thought Ian was too old for me even for a fake engagement.

  I rolled my eyes at the thought of it.

  Once I’d realized this was all Ian’s idea, it was pretty easy to figure out his motive. He no doubt figured that dinner and a movie would open me up to the possibility of having sex with him. He didn’t want to just come right out and say that he wanted to fuck me, so he’d hidden it under the guise of just hanging out together.

  Even though that morning, I’d been thinking it was time to nip this in the bud, I found myself agreeing. I didn’t really feel like going out and getting drinks with Brittany, especially since we’d just gone out for drinks the night before. Brittany was just trying to get me to spill the beans about me and Ian. She thought that if she got me drunk enough, I’d confess my undying love for him or something. I wasn’t falling for it.

  I didn’t really know why I was keeping this thing with Ian a secret from my best friend. After all, if anyone was going to be supportive of it, it was Brittany. But I guessed I was afraid that the more people who knew about this, the more likely it was that Zach would find out.

  I didn’t know how to feel when Ian brought up his training session with Jason. From the way he said it, it almost sounded like he wanted me to get back together with Jason. Was that what they were all hoping for, Ian and Zach and Mom? They wanted me to settle down and get married to someone my own age? My old boyfriend of two years?

  I didn’t want that, though. Didn’t they realize that?

  Fortunately, Ian had let the matter drop. He’d been sweet to me all evening, bringing home food and then putting it all away while I finished my disappointing search through the classifieds. Even though I knew we probably needed to have a talk, to cut this roomies-with-benefits thing short, my mind insisted there was no harm in having one last night together. I’d go sleep in my own bed afterward, I promised myself. I’d make sure I wasn’t getting too used to waking up in his bed.

  When he pulled me into his arms, cuddling me, I couldn’t protest.

  It felt good there, safe. I knew instinctively that he wasn’t going to let Jason bother me. If nothing else, he was a good friend. Not my best friend, but a good friend.

  I had a difficult time concentrating on the movie, though. I couldn’t stop thinking about how warm Ian’s chest was and how I could feel his firm muscles under my cheek where it rested against the soft fabric of his shirt. I started to feel embarrassed about the fact that I wasn’t wearing anything under my sweats. All my things were in the laundry at the moment, and I hadn’t expected things to progress like they had that evening.

  When I shifted against him, I could feel how hard he was, and I realized he wasn’t concentrating on the movie any more than I was. That was what made up my mind.

  “You know, I’m not wearing anything under these sweatpants.”

  Ian drew in a sharp breath, and instantly, his eyes went ten shades darker with lust. “Oh really?” he asked, his voice husky.

  I grinned up at him and then slid away from him, resting on my knees in between his legs. I gave him a questioning look even though I knew I already had his permission. Then I slowly dragged the fabric of his pants and boxers out of the way. His cock, already hard, sprang free. I lowered my mouth to it, flicking my tongue out experimentally, tasting the bead of precum that rested on the tip.

  Ian made a strangled noise, and I grinned, feeling powerful and sexy. It was my turn to tease him a little. I lapped at just his head, popping it into my mouth and sucking, tonguing his slit. Then I pulled away, blowing a soft breath across the sensitive skin, grinning again as he groaned.

  I lowered myself, taking him farther into my mouth, pressing my tongue onto the vein along the underside of his cock. I swallowed around him, sucking as hard as I could, using my hand to jerk what I couldn’t fit in my mouth. With my other hand, I massaged his balls, rolling them in my palm, stroking the velvety skin.

  I began to bob my head, dragging my lips along his shaft, moving first slowly and then quickly, keeping pressure by hollowing my cheeks. Ian’s hand came to rest on the back of my head, guiding me but without any real pressure, letting me set the pace.

  I fluttered my tongue against his slit again, and I could tell he was getting close based on how much precum had gathered there. Sure enough, only a minute later, he caught me by the arms and pulled me toward him and into a deep kiss. I pouted a little; I’d wanted him to finish inside my mouth. But then he slid his hand into my sweats, pushing his fingers deep inside me, and I forgot all about that.

  I was practically dripping by this point, my folds damp and ready. His fingers glided inside me, his initial strokes tentative and gentle before they became rough and quick. I gasped, rocking down onto his hand, my whole body in tune with what he was doing to me.

  He continued fingering me as he bit a line of kisses along my neck and down to my collarbone. Every little movement of his body against mine made my nerves sing w
ith fire. He could make me come just like that, I was sure, with just his fingers and his mouth.

  But he was impatient, too.

  We both stood up as if on cue and started stripping off our clothing, letting it fall to the floor. Ian pushed me down onto the couch, covering my body with his. He quickly tugged on a condom and immediately thrust inside me. I groaned, bringing my hands up and clutching the arm of the couch for support.

  Suddenly, Ian halted his rapid thrusting, leaving me breathless and aching for more. He slid slowly in and out of my body, forcing me to feel the drag of his head against my inner walls. I had already been so close to the brink, and now everything felt so intense: the press of his dick inside me, the soft kiss he placed on the pulse point on my neck, the way his hands gripped my wrists, holding them above my head. He stared down into my eyes, something deep and serious in his gaze.

  The pace of his thrusts began to build again until he was snapping his hips against mine with the force of a piston, in and out and in and out. My eyes fell shut, and I cried out as each thrust rattled through my burning core. In that instant, I lost track of who was who; we blended together in perfect harmony, our bodies moving as one.

  He moved his hands to grip the arm of the couch, pushing against it, and I reached for him, pulling him closer, clinging to him. I came harder than I had ever come before, totally losing track of myself, of time, of what Ian was doing. I was just coming in wave after wave of pleasure, entirely overwhelmed. I collapsed into the couch, totally relaxed and sated with Ian still hanging over me, a warm and welcome weight.

  I blinked my eyes open at the same time Ian did. He stroked a hand lightly down the side of my face and then pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. “You okay?” he asked.

  I giggled and pushed him off me. “Yeah, I’m okay,” I told him. “Better than okay.” I stretched hugely and then yawned. “I think I’m going to head to bed, though.”

  I wasn’t really that tired, and I’d probably do a bit more job searching before I went to bed, but I didn’t want to make things awkward between us, and I didn’t want Ian to think I was going to pass out in his arms again or anything like that.