“Eventually,” he said cautiously. “It’s not urgent.”
She rolled her eyes. “What does that mean?”
It meant that Nick’s bad habit of helping people in need had bitten him in the ass.
His offer to let a woman he’d been casually seeing stay “for a few days” had turned into a situation where the woman had become a clingy basket case and refused to move out. No matter that he’d broken up with her.
Nick’s lease was up in another month, and though he didn’t love giving up the Lower East Side studio he’d lived in for years, letting the lease lapse and them both having to find a new place to live felt kinder than kicking her to the curb.
He had a couple of weeks to figure it out, but moving in with Taylor would have its benefits. Moving in with another woman would make it finally clear to Jackie that they were really, truly done. Had never started, really.
“Hello?” Taylor said impatiently.
He let out a short laugh. “Hard to imagine why you’re having such a difficult time finding a roommate.”
Nick meant the words as a casual barb—the type they specialized in exchanging. But there was an unexpected flash of pain on Taylor’s flawless face, telling him he’d inadvertently struck a nerve.
Ah, shit.
Both he and Taylor could dish it out like nobody’s business, but his parents had raised him better than to intentionally hurt a woman.
However, Nick also knew her well enough to understand that if he offered an apology, she’d shred it with her talons and shove it up his ass, so he countered with something better than an apology.
Something she needed, even if she didn’t yet realize it.
Nick moved slightly closer to her, not enough to be inappropriate given their office surroundings but close enough to have her gaze go wary and for Nick to see Bradley tense up out of the corner of his eye, although the man didn’t say anything.
It was all the confirmation he needed that his instincts were dead on.
The thing between Bradley and Taylor had blown up. Otherwise, there’d be no way Bradley would even be letting them have this discussion, much less letting Nick this close to his woman.
And the look on Taylor’s face told Nick that the breakup hadn’t been her idea. He nearly grinned. How that must have riled the perfectly in-control Ms. Carr.
And how perfect for Nick.
He knew a woman out for revenge when he saw one, and luckily for her, playing into her plan would work out quite nicely for him as well.
Nick reached out and tapped his forefinger against the flyer on the fridge where she’d written her building’s address.
“You live two blocks from the bar where I work. I’d be a fool not to consider it,” he said quietly.
She rubbed her temples. “I already have enough going on in my life without adding in the effort of not getting arrested for killing you.”
“Too much going on…like what, Carr, your thriving love life?”
She hissed in outrage, but he held up a warning finger. Very subtly he nodded back toward Bradley.
Think this through, he silently instructed Taylor.
Calloway played right into Nick’s plan, choosing that moment to open his idiotic mouth.
“Knock it off, Nick,” Bradley said. His voice was more that of a jealous lover than a protective colleague. “Taylor, you can’t seriously be considering this.”
Nick kept his gaze trained on Taylor, waiting for the wisdom of his plan to click into place.
He saw the moment it did, her eyes widening in comprehension. Knew the moment she realized that letting Nick move in would be the ultimate fuck you to Bradley.
But then Nick saw something he didn’t expect—a flicker of hesitation in her eyes. A reluctance to use one person to play games with another.
It hinted at a moral compass that Nick, quite frankly, hadn’t expected of her. Damn it. Damn it. He really, really did not need Taylor Carr to be good underneath that hotter-than-sin body.
He considered backpedaling, but…he’d come this far.
Besides, it could be kind of interesting. And he really did need a place to live.
“Come on, Carr. Scared?” he taunted softly.
She pursed her lips, an expression he knew she thought looked haughty but was really her tell for nervousness. “Of what?” she scoffed, after too long a pause.
“You, me, all that close proximity. Might be hard to resist me.”
She rolled her eyes, clearly recovered. “I think I can handle it.”
His smile was victorious. “So. When can I move in?”
“Hell no,” Bradley said angrily.
Moron. It was the exact wrong thing to say to a woman like Taylor.
Her jaw tensed, but she didn’t so much as look at Bradley as she held Nick’s gaze and gave him the answer he needed.
“Be there Saturday, Ballantine. You can have the small bedroom.” She laid a manicured fingernail against his chest, pushing him backward as she said it.
It was a casual touch—contemptuous, even. But his body tightened the second she made contact, instantly aware of her. Wanting her.
She felt it too. He knew it by the way she hissed out a breath, the way she blinked too long, looking adorably off balance.
Taylor snatched her hand back, glaring at him as though it was his fault they had physical chemistry beneath all the animosity.
She recovered quickly and strutted past Nick—although careful not to touch him, he noticed.
Both he and Bradley turned to watch her leave, tight ass displayed in an even tighter dress to sheer perfection.
Bradley made a growling noise at Nick, and Nick grinned, knowing that Bradley was thinking exactly the same thing that Nick was.
At this rate, Nick might start out in the small bedroom.
But he’d end up in hers.
Finally.
Chapter 4
“I still can’t believe you and Nick Ballantine are shacking up.”
Taylor winced as she took a sip of her iced tea. “Can you please not say it like that? You’ll ruin my appetite for a perfectly delicious club sandwich.”
Brit Robbins reached across the table and stole one of Taylor’s french fries. “Well, what would you call it?”
“Solving a problem,” Taylor said, taking an enormous bite of her sandwich.
“Since when have you and Nick Ballantine in the same space been anything but the problem?” This from Daisy Sinclair, Taylor’s other lunch companion, and apparently not any less likely to let the whole roommate situation go than Brit, who, true to her promise on that very first day, had in fact become a best friend.
Or at least Brit was Taylor’s best friend. Taylor was pretty sure that she and Hunter Cross were sharing the spot of BFF in Brit’s life, but at least the Oxford hottie was worthy company.
Why Hunter and Brit didn’t just hook up already was a mystery to Taylor, but Brit swore up and down that he was just a friend, and Taylor let it be. And though Taylor thought they were perfect for each other, she spared her friend the whole you’re secretly in love with him lecture.
That was Brit’s business to figure out.