Seeing his lips curve up and hearing the sound of his laughter made me do the same.

“Cute.” His brows twitched in amusement. “Sorry about the mess. You don’t need to clean up. Let me do it.”

He extended his arms to reach for the bag, but I pulled away before he could. Again, I noticed his tattoo and looked away when he noted my eyes on it. “That’s okay. I’m just waiting for Lexy to come by. I really don’t have much to do.” I had to unpack the rest of my belongings, but there wasn’t much.

Elijah went to the kitchen, came out with another trash bag, and started cleaning on the opposite side of me. I turned toward Ellie’s door. The sound of the toilet flushing was a sign she was awake. As I wondered when Ellie would make an appearance, I decided just to ask instead of waiting. “Do you think Ellie will come out soon?”

Elijah stiffened and turned toward me. Racking his hair back, he looked flustered. “About that…what did Jimmy tell you about Ellie?”

At this point, I was really getting annoyed. “What do you mean? When Jimmy found out I was coming here, he told me that his old room was available. That Ellie was really nice and he thought we would get along. Then he texted me the address and said he would take care of the details. He texted me the date I could move in. That’s all. Jimmy is always busy so I didn’t want to call and bug him. In fact, he never answers his phone anyway, but his texts were clear enough.”

Elijah raised his brows, crossing his arms in front. “That’s it?” He sounded irate. “That’s all he told you? You two didn’t bother to talk on the phone, to talk about the little details?”

I crossed my arms and held my guarded stance. Why was he mad at me and why did he care that we hadn’t talked about details? What little details? There was nothing to discuss. “I don’t understand why you’re upset. This isn’t your place. I mean…I kind of understand because Ellie is your…girlfriend?” My tone ended with a question and the word “girlfriend” came out hesitantly. I knew I was assuming.

Elijah laughed out loud. “Ellie is not my girlfriend. Having a girlfriend is not my thing.”

“Oh.” It was all I could say at that moment. I guess they were just having sex or maybe it was a one-night stand.

“Look.” His tone was soft and low. “After I tell you who Ellie is, you don’t have to live here if you don’t want to. I can help you find another place.”

“Okay,” I said, narrowing my eyes on him in confusion. I decide to sit on the sofa while Elijah remained standing.

“Jimmy and I were fraternity brothers. He rushed a year ahead of me. Being roommates, he would bug the hell out of me to rush. I thought I’d give it a try, but I knew right away it wasn’t for me, so I got out. For that short amount of time, Seth and I shared Jimmy as big bro. One of the things they did at the frat was call us by girls’ names. You get the picture?”

When I didn’t respond, he continued. “Ellie is a guy, not a girl.”

Then it hit me. I have a guy roommate and seeing Elijah come out of Ellie’s room half naked only meant…. “So you’re trying to tell me that you’re g*y?” I shrugged sheepishly, praying that I was right.

Elijah’s eyes practically rolled back into his sockets as he slowly dragged his hand down his face in frustration. His tone clearly stated that he was. “Alex, I’m not g*y. I’m faaaar from being g*y. I love women. I have sex with them…lots of sex.”

Holy shit! He did not just say that to me. Blushing from his words, I shot my eyes down to my fingers folding into each other. I couldn’t look at him. I didn’t want him to see how embarrassed I was. Nobody ever confessed to me that they had lots of sex with women and that they loved it.

“Alex,” he called softly with a smooth, seductive tone. At least that is how it rang in my ears.

Slowly gazing up, I jerked back and hit the back part of the sofa when I saw his face far too close to mine. With his knees bent, his hands were planted on either side of the sofa cushion near my thighs. My heart went into overdrive as my eyes outlined his muscular biceps, up to his shoulder, his dark stubbles, and then…bam! My eyes were deadlocked on his.

Frozen in place, I was mesmerized. His piercing brown eyes sucked me in. I wanted to trace his thick brows with the tips of my fingers, down to the perfect base of his nose, around his high cheekbones, and across his smooth, kissable lips. I swallowed a nervous gulp, feeling little tremors rush through every part of me. I swear I felt like I was shrinking…dissolving into the sofa…melting into his scent. Though I had expected him to smell like cigarettes being this close to him, he actually smelled nice—minty.

Holding me captive with that look, I knew at that moment he would be my fantasy, the one I would dream about in bed…the bad boy with the tattoos, with that arrogant attitude, the heartbreaker. If only he drove a motorcycle and wore a leather jacket, he would be the complete badass package.

“Yes,” I think I answered. I couldn’t remember.

Still looking into my eyes, he said slowly, “I...am…Ellie.”

“Ellie.” I repeated, soaking in his words. “Uh…hi, Ellie,” I said in monotone. I didn’t know why I said that, but it was all I could think of to say at that moment. What could I say when Ellie turned out to be…well, a he and not a she. “Elijah…Ellie.” I understood now. I finally figured out what he was trying to tell me all this time. Why didn’t he just come out and say that in the first place? And who was in his room? Then the shock wore off and it hit me hard. Oh My God! I had a hottie for a roommate. This was bad. VERY BAD!