Not able to follow her line of thinking, I asked, “What?”

“I’m assuming you had to have sold yours, given that beautiful man.” She paused, tapping one fingertip against her mouth. “You do realize that he’s half-naked in a room across the hall from yours right now.”

Unbidden imagery filled my brain and I had to blink several times in an attempt to get it to stop. “And?”

She looked at me like I was insane. “And if I were you I would kick down that door and have my way with him.”

“That’s what he’s trying to avoid, remember?”

“Then he should stop walking around looking like that. Good grief. I bet every woman in a three-block radius is in constant heat just from the proximity.” She shook her head as if this were beyond her comprehension. “Explain this situation to me again, like I’m stupid. You’re living with that man and you’re not allowed to be attracted to him?”

“I think it’s okay if I’m attracted to him.” I hoped it was, because I totally was. “Just that we both understand nobody will be acting on it. And by nobody, I mean me.”

Her eyes lit up. “Does that mean he’s allowed to make a move?”

I wish. “That won’t be happening. Frederica made him think that I’m with Brad.”

“Ugh. Right. And Tyler seems like a good guy, which means he won’t do anything.” She said this with so much disappointment that I couldn’t help but laugh.

Then she added, “You are the only person I know that this could happen to. You lose all your money, can’t afford your own place, and wind up in a penthouse with a man hotter than the surface of the sun. If I didn’t love you so much, I would totally hate you. Also, are you sure there isn’t another room here? Your closet is pretty big. I could live there.”

We heard Tyler’s door open and he stuck his head back through my doorframe. “Is your car parked out front?”

“My car is,” Shay said, all but batting her eyelashes at him as honey dripped from her voice. “Let me show you where we have the rest of the boxes.”

I started to follow them, but Shay turned and hissed at me, “Stay.” So I fought off my slight flare of jealousy and went out and watched as she trailed behind him to the elevator. She turned at the last minute to mouth the letters O, M, and G at me.

I held my laughter in until the elevator doors shut. I knew she’d only been joking about moving in with me but part of me was thinking how nice it would be to have her here as my own personal security blanket. A buffer to keep me away from Tyler so that I could respect his boundaries. Because that might be the only way this could possibly work.

But Shay needed her own personal space back. Time to be the adult I kept claiming I was.

When they returned they were both laughing, and I unnecessarily directed them into my room. Shay had had her chance to do some one-on-one flirting, so this time I went down to help with the few boxes that remained. In a matter of minutes we’d cleared out the rest and had it all moved into my room. I was going to be unpacking for a long time.

Tyler put his hands on his hips, which made him look like an actual superhero. “Seems like that’s it. If you’ll excuse me, I’m off to take a shower. It was nice to meet you, Shay.”

“Likewise,” she said, and we both watched him walk into his room.

“Say nothing about him in the shower,” I told her when his door shut. My hormone-addled brain could take only so much. She gave me a wink and reached for her purse.

My phone buzzed. There was a text. From my mother.

It said:

 

    “What is it?” Shay asked. I showed her my phone.

There was no ignoring a text or a summoning of this level. My parents had made it clear they weren’t speaking to me, so to send a message instructing me to come to dinner was something I couldn’t ignore or else this would escalate to telenovela levels of drama. Everything was always on my mother’s terms.

Well, almost everything.

“Do you want to come with me?” I asked Shay, hopeful for a moment after I texted Tyler’s address back.

“Oh, I would but I have this thing where I don’t want to go.”

I sighed. “Fine. Abandon me to the wolves.”

“You’ll be fine. Tell Satan and her husband I say what’s up.”

I was in the middle of picturing my mother’s reaction to Shay’s message when she said, “Come walk me out to the car.”

“What, you don’t want to hang around in case he comes out here in a towel?” I teased.

“Don’t tempt me. Let’s go.” We headed for the elevator and waited for it to travel up to the top floor.

“Just so you know,” Shay said, “I think he’s dating someone.”

Why did that make my heart drop from my chest down to my feet? “What makes you say that?”

“I just full-court pressed him on our trip down to my car and nothing. Not even a tiny nibble. And I put out a lot of bait.”

The doors opened and we got in. “I think you’re mixing some of your metaphors.”

“Regardless, I’m glad you’re the one living here and not me. You’re a much better woman than I.”

I doubted that. I just had more reason to keep my lips and grubby paws to myself.

She went on: “I think Tyler is proof that the universe is patently unfair. How is a guy that good looking, rich, helpful, charming, and rescues abused dogs? It’s like when they were making people they just poured the entire bag of human bonuses on his head.”

The doors to the lobby opened while I was laughing at her remark. She wasn’t wrong. It didn’t seem quite fair for Tyler to be so perfect. Shay and I both waved to Gerald and I thanked him for his help.

We reached Shay’s car and I said, “And thank you for your help, too. For everything. I never would have gotten through all this without you.”

To my surprise, she hugged me. Shay was not really the hugging type. “Have fun in your new place. And just know that if you pretend to sleepwalk and accidentally climb into his bed in the middle of the night, no one will blame you.”

I hugged her even tighter while laughing again. She had no idea how much our friendship meant to me, how much I relied on it. I told her I would call her soon.

“You better,” she replied. “I want to hear what the queen of the underworld wants. Also, remember when dealing with your family that we live in Texas, so please don’t do anything that will get you the death penalty.”

“I can’t make that kind of promise.”

“Okay, okay. But if Tyler asks about me, I am single and ready to mingle!” She smiled and shook her head. She waved one last time and got into her car, then drove off. I headed back inside, eager to start my new life. When I got to the apartment, Tyler’s door was still closed and I went into my room and opened the closest box.

There were sweaters I had forgotten I even owned. At Shay’s place I had been basically living out of a few suitcases and had left most of my wardrobe in boxes. After I’d pulled out the sweaters, I found a bunch of underwear next. Cute underwear! I had so much of it!

Too bad there was no one else to see it.