Under One Roof (The STEMinist Novellas, #1)

by Ali Hazelwood

I should start dating again. Should I start dating again? Yeah. I should. Except that . . . men.

Same thought

I wonder why I wonder.

But for some unparsable reason, when I start working on my soup I find myself making enough for two.

As he walks out, I hear him chuckle. On the other side of the phone, a female voice is saying his name.

Tsk. Who this girl might be?

“I don’t care that you saw me naked. Because I know you don’t care. Just saying, we don’t need to be weird about it. Believe me”—I laugh—“I know you’re not going to use your annoying ginger roomie’s tiny freckled boobs as spank bank material.”

I step out with a small wave and notice two things: he’s staring hard at his feet, and his left hand is a tight fist at his side.

Rain is my favorite kind of weather.

same

“Cheer up, buddy. I don’t think you’re as doomed to a lifetime of pining as you think. I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Then he hugs me back. He lifts me up like he’s too happy for me to even consider stopping himself, like this phone call I just had that changed my life changed his, too, like he’s been wanting this as much and as intensely as I have. And when he spins me around the room, one single, perfect whirl of pure happiness, that’s when I realize it. How incredibly, utterly gone for this man I am.

waaaahh

“I like you very much, Mara. I like talking to you. I like watching you do yoga. I like the way you always smell like sunscreen. I like how you manage to say pretty much whatever you want while still being unbelievably kind. I like being in this house with you, and everything we do in here.” His throat bobs. “I don’t think it’s a surprise that I really, really like the idea of fucking you.”