I glared at him. “Thanks for those words of wisdom, babe.” I rolled my eyes at him and took the ice cream.
He winked as he got to his feet. “Anytime, sweets. Anytime.”
I threw the lid at his retreating back. It bounced off his hard ass and landed on the end of the couch. “Where are Dallas and Harper? I figured they would be back by now.”
“Still shopping.”
I hoped they would be back before Jesse got here. It was already after four, and I needed my two best friends here to diffuse the whole “Linc is living in the apartment” situation. It wasn’t like he didn’t know that I had a male roommate. I had told Layla and Jesse all about him. Fitness model, check. Good friend, check. Gay, double check.
Linc was all of those things. But looking at him, talking to him, you would never guess that he was one of the gayest men on the planet. He was sexy as sin, and I will honestly admit that when the dude walked around in little to nothing—okay, sometimes nothing at all!—I wasn’t shy about looking. Neither were Harper and Dallas.
Still, it was going to be hard to convince Jesse that big, hulking, sin on two legs Linc Spencer was the guy I had told him all about. When I had first met Linc, I hadn’t believed that he was gay either. It had taken him bringing some random guy home from a club one night to make me believe. And only then when they had started making some very X-rated sounds from the bedroom across from the one I shared with Harper.
Yeah, Jesse was going to hit the roof when he showed up to pick me up.
At five, my roommates still weren’t home, and I rushed to get ready. By ten to six, I was ready and waiting, impatient to get this over with. I was almost tempted to ask Linc to hide when Jesse got here but didn’t want to hurt my friend’s feelings. He was a Demon’s Wings fan and would want to meet Jesse.
The door opening startled me, and I looked up to find both Harper and Dallas entering the apartment. Each had their arms loaded with bags, and I figured Dallas was being rebellious again and maxing out her mother’s credit cards. Her hair was pulled back from her face, exposing the dimple in her right cheek. She had been one of Europe’s highest paid models from the age of fifteen until last year when she had turned twenty-one.
That was when her contract had come up for renewal with her agent and she had refused to sign on again. Modeling had never been her thing. In fact, she hated every second of it. Her mother had been the one to force Dallas into it and signed the original contract, making her unable to get out of it until it ran out. When Dallas had refused to continue, her mother had gone ballistic.
Since then, she had made sure that her mother wouldn’t want her to do the model thing. She had tattooed and pierced her body until her mother nearly had a stroke from just looking at her. I applauded Dallas’ rebellion. It was her body, after all.
Of course I had lent my support and went to get a tattoo with her on Valentines’ Day. My first ink had left me with an addiction for it. I was already thinking of what I wanted next, and this time I was going to go all out with a big piece of ink on my back. Compared to Dallas, Harper looked like a librarian in her cashmere skirt and cardigan. Her caramel colored hair was pulled back in a French braid and her glasses hid those lavender eyes of hers. I had met Harper my first day of NYU, and we had become friends fast. When my roommate had gone all psychotic bitch on me the second week of spring term, and I had needed a place to stay, she offered me the twin bed in her room.
“Hey, you should see the car downstairs,” Harper said as she dropped down beside me on the couch. “Stretch limo in front of this building? That just seems too funny.”
I grimaced. “That’s probably Jesse.”
Harper’s eyes grew huge behind her dark frames. “What’s he doing here? Did you know he was coming?”
I shook my head. “Not until about two hours ago.” I stood and smoothed a hand over my sundress, a gift from Dallas the last time her mother had pissed her off and she had gone Fifth Avenue crazy on her mom’s cards.
Just as I slipped on my wedges, the phone rang. Dallas picked it up because she was the closest to it. “Yes?” she asked, her southern accent never failing to make me smile. “Oh. Okay. He can come up.” She replaced the phone and grinned at me. “Rock star in the building!”
Linc came out of his room down the hall. His hair was damp and all he was wearing was a pair of basketball shorts and a smile. My mind went blank for a moment as I drooled over the sight of all those hard angled abs and tight pecks. And then I remembered that Jesse was on his way up in the elevator and Linc was running around half naked.
“Put a shirt on!” I said, pushing him back down the hall to his room. “And some pants. Your free balling and I don’t want my brother-in-law getting hysterical about you walking around with your junk hanging free!”
Linc laughed. “Oh my God, Lana! Relax. I can handle your in-law.”
I pushed him hard. “Go, Linc. Please.” The doorbell rang and I jumped. “Please,” I cried. He didn’t know Jesse like I did. I didn’t want my friend with a broken nose or something bleeding.
Harper was already standing by the door. “Wait!” I called to her, making sure the door to Linc’s room was closed behind him before letting her answering the door. “Okay, go ahead,” I said, smoothing my dress down once again.
Harper giggled and pulled the door open. I wasn’t ready, but then I doubted I ever would be.
When I saw Jesse standing in the door way my heart hurt. I hadn’t seen him since he and Layla had flown out to New York with me in January. He looked good, especially in his suit. Despite the anxiety I felt over his reaction to Linc, I found myself running across the living room and throwing my arms around Jesse.
Strong arms tightened around me as he lifted me off the ground in a bear hug. He laughed and swung me around once before setting me on my feet. “It’s good to see you, Lana.”
I had to blink to keep the tears from falling. “I don’t know why you’re here, but I’m so happy to see you.”
His eyes darkened, changing colors rapidly. “We can talk later.” His raised his eyes to look at Harper and then Dallas. This was the first time he had seen my roommates and best friends. “Hello, ladies,” he greeted with an easy smile.
“Oh shit.” Dallas fanned herself with her hand. “You are hotter in person than I expected.”
I rolled my eyes at her. “Jess, this is Dallas Bradshaw and that’s Harper Jones.” I introduced them. “Guys, you know who he is, so whatever.”