“You’re cold?” I sputter, throwing off the sleeping bag. “Don’t let me inconvenience you.”
“Hey.” He tries the door handle, but of course it’s locked. “I wasn’t talking about me. I mean it’s too cold to sleep out here.”
Isn’t this just mortifying? “I’ll be fine. Move along now. There’s nothing to see here.”
I hear a loud thunk, and wonder for a moment if Kieran punched my car. But then I sit up and realize that sound was his forehead hitting the roof. His big farm-boy body has knocked the snow off one window, and is now bent into a defeated posture against my car.
“Get out,” he says. “Come on. Take this address, okay? I have an extra room to rent. And I have enough on my conscience already. If you croak out here, I will lose my shit.”
With a groan, I open the door and climb out, wrapping my stolen sleeping bag around me. “Let me get this straight. You want me to come home with you because it’ll help you sleep better.”
The moonlight reflects off the light carpet of snow. He blinks, his handsome brow wrinkled with tension. “Something like that. But you’ll sleep better, too, right? Win-win.”
“I don’t like owing people. You don’t even like me.”
“Don’t even know you,” he growls in that abrupt way that Kieran says so many things. He squints at me. “What’s wrong? Did something happen?”
“No! Nothing!” I bark, swatting at my face. I must look like I’ve been crying. I have never been more embarrassed than I am right now. “Go home, Kieran. You don’t want me for a roommate. You don’t even want me in the same area code.”
He flinches. “Wasn’t ever about you, though.”
“It never is,” I hiss, because I’m so tired of men who can’t sort out their shit. I was an excellent companion to Brian, who wanted me desperately about half the time and then couldn’t stand the sight of me the other half.
“Look, you should have just told one of us you were sleeping in your car.”
“It’s not your problem,” I argue.
Kieran blinks. “Doesn’t mean we wouldn’t care.”
And now I feel like a heel. “It’s embarrassing, okay? I didn’t plan on leaving Nashville as quickly as I did. And I drove up here hoping to crash at my parents’ place. But they shut the door in my face. It’s not the kind of story that’s fun to tell.”
His big eyebrows furrow. “Why’d they do that?”
“It’s the gay thing.” I make sure to keep eye contact while I say it, because I never let anyone know how much it bothers me. “They’re not into it.”
“Oh.” He sighs. “Parents are the worst.”
“Yeah.” An awkward silence falls between us. I shiver against the snow falling in my face.
“Here,” Kieran says. He pulls an old business card out of his pocket and hands it to me. It’s from a barbershop, but he’s scrawled an address on the back. “It’s the white house right on the Colebury green. You can’t miss it. I’ll leave the side door open. Take the downstairs bedroom. There’s nothing in it, but it’s heated.”
“You can’t leave your door unlocked.”
He rolls his eyes. “Better lock it after you come in, then.”
At that, he walks across the lot, climbs into a pickup that’s almost as old as my car, and drives away.
I let out a shout of frustration that dies quickly in the nighttime void and then get back in my car. There’s snow in my hair now. I sit for a moment, stubborn and shivering.
He probably hopes I won’t actually show up. He did his part, right? He gave me the option, so now he can feel okay about it.
Then again, he drove over here at eleven at night to offer me a room in his house.
I ponder my choices for a little while longer. I can either sit here feeling cold and miserable all night. Or I can go someplace I’m not wanted.
It’s really freaking cold in my car, so in the end, it’s an easy decision. I’m clinging to the bottom rung of my own life, and Kieran Shipley—Lord knows why—just offered me a hand up.
I’d be an idiot not to take it.
Even so, it takes me another half hour to get up the courage to drive into the center of town and pull into the driveway of a pretty white house right on the town green. I double and then triple check the address before I walk up to the side door and try the knob.
It’s unlocked.
I take a deep breath and then push the door open. “Hello?” I call out, and the sound of my own voice echoes. “This had better be Kieran’s house. Either that, or I’m about to be arrested for trespassing. And I don’t have bail money.”
I hear what may possibly be a distant snort of laughter. And then quiet footsteps begin to pace down the dark stairs.
Kieran comes into view bit by bit. First the plaid pajama pants on long legs. And then those abs and a broad chest covered by a T-shirt that stretches tautly across all those muscles. But the darkness—or maybe it’s the late hour—softens him. “Hey,” he says quietly.
“Hey,” I grunt, sounding grumpy in spite of my gratitude. “I, uh, know it’s late. You’re going to be dead in the morning.”
“And you’re not?”
I shake my head. “If I can lie flat for five hours, it will be the best night of sleep I’ve had in a week. But are you sure about this?”
“Of course,” he whispers. “Let me give you the nickel tour.”
I follow him through the darkened rooms, where the streetlights from outside show me enough to get the lay of the land. The kitchen has been recently updated, but everything else is old school—in a good way. The ceilings are high, and there are original moldings and traditional wood floors.
“Nice house,” I say, giving a low whistle.
“I know.” He runs one hand through tousled hair. “It’s a lot nicer than I’d be renting without the insider’s price from Zara. I figured I’d rent out this downstairs bedroom.” He gestures toward the darkened doorway at the back. “That way we’d have separate bathrooms.”
“Good plan,” I agree. Lord knows I’m not strong enough to resist a glimpse of his naked body as he steps out of the shower.
I want a glimpse, of course. Because I’m still breathing.
This is probably a terrible idea, but not terrible enough for me to sleep in my car if I don’t have to.
“Upstairs there’s another two bedrooms and a bathroom. And an attic I haven’t ventured into. So I’d have more space than you. But I also agreed to do some maintenance for Zara. And a few other things.”
“Cool.” I wave a hand to indicate that square footage is not exactly important to me. “How much is the rent?”
“Your part would be six-fifty a month, plus utilities. I have no idea how much heat and electric will cost, though.”
“That’s all?” I’m stunned. “That’s cheap.”
“Well, it’s exactly half the rent. That’s why I wasn’t gonna find two roommates. Didn’t seem necessary.”