Page 57 of Forbidden Billionaires, Vol. 9

Ouch. I had fallen asleep at my desk writing and my back was killing me.

I yawned and rubbed my eyes. The paper in front of me was filled with notes about what I had tried so far.

At the top was written, "How to Play with a Player.

" Ever since Rory had moved in, I hadn't been able to write.

Until now. I had a feeling my editor was going to love it.

I opened up my laptop and typed up my idea for the article.

The only problem was that my editor was going to expect me to follow through, and I wasn't sure if I could.

Rory had made it clear that the one night we had spent together was all we'd ever have.

I was quickly running out of ideas on how to be sexy and fun, yet unattached.

All I wanted was for him to ask me out for a romantic dinner and sweep me off my feet.

I hesitated when I finished writing my pitch.

The main point of the article would be about how dating was turning into meaningless hookups.

And how I thought that maybe that could change, and my attempts to figure out how.

I needed to believe that it could change.

But Rory being a part of my story, even if he wasn't the focus, was a problem.

It wouldn't really be about him, though.

And I'd use a different name. I just wanted to see if it was possible to turn a one night stand into more.

Because it should be more. Maybe this is a bad idea.

The sound of the front door opening pulled me away from the computer.

Part of the reason I had fallen asleep while writing was because I had been waiting for Rory to get home.

He was only just coming home now. Which meant he had slept over at the blonde girl's place.

Gross. I sighed and sent over the email.

A go-ahead and a deadline would surely motivate me.

And maybe getting published would make me feel better about everything.

My cell phone started to ring. I looked down at the display and saw that my editor was calling. That was fast. "Hi, Judy," I said.

"Love, love, love the idea."

"Great. I have a ton of notes about different things I can try."

"What's the ultimate goal of the piece?"

To make him fall in love with me. "To get him to change his ways. To prove that women can change this new norm. One night stand are a terrible..."

"Not sexy enough," she said, cutting me off. "Get him to commit to being friends with benefits. The readers will love that. Friends with benefits is in right now."

"What?" That's not the direction I wanted to go in at all. It was the complete opposite of what I wanted to accomplish.

"Sex sells, hon. Make it happen."

"But I..."

"This will be great. Let's do a series of articles showing your progress. So we'll need something juicy by Wednesday."

"Okay." I searched through my notes. "I was planning on dressing up really sexy and going on a pretend date. I could do that tonight. Try to make him jealous..."

"Well, what is he doing right now?" she asked, cutting me off.

"Umm..." I pulled the phone away from my ear. The shower had just started. "I think he just got in the shower."

"Perfect! Join him."

"What?!" I shouldn't have told her about the shower.

"Just hop in and act like you shower with other people all the time. Ignore him completely. Our readers will eat this up."

"Judy, I can't do that." Was she high or something?

"You can. And you will. I know you heard the rumors that we're overstaffed. Well, they aren't rumors. Freelance writers are first on the chopping block. Don't make me bring your name up to the board. I expect the first draft by tomorrow morning." Judy clicked off.

What did I just do? Why did I pitch that idea to her? I couldn't write an article about seducing my roommate. Rory knew I wrote for The Post. He might read it. Shit!

But I couldn't lose my job, either. It had taken me three years to work my way up to actually getting to write.

I didn't want to start over at a different newspaper.

Rory probably wouldn't read it anyway. He wasn't even interested in me.

And that was the problem. Regardless, I wanted that to change.

I wanted him to notice me. But I never intended it to be like this.

I threw my phone down on my desk and walked out into the hallway.

Before I could change my mind, I grabbed the handle of the bathroom door, but it was locked.

Last time I had walked in on him in the bathroom I had freaked out about him needing to lock the door.

He was actually being a really good roommate.

I ran into the kitchen and started opening up drawers.

The key to all the locks on the doors in the apartment was somewhere in here. Shit, where is it?

I pushed aside some of the items in the last drawer, but still couldn't find it.

I laughed and ran into my room. Right before Rory had moved in I had hidden the key in my room.

I had been so worried about living with a guy.

Yet I was the one being insanely forward and awkward, not him.

I grabbed the key out of my nightstand and ran over to the bathroom door.

I took a deep breath, unlocked the door, and walked in. The bathroom was full of steam. I was glad the mirror was foggy as I undressed. If I had to see myself stripping I was pretty sure I would chicken out. I can't believe I'm doing this.

I pulled the curtain back. "Hey, roomie, do you mind if I join you?" I asked and climbed in behind him without waiting for a response.

"Whoa!" Rory put his hand over his penis.

He looked so fucking sexy with his skin glistening from the water. Beads of water cascaded down his muscular abs and perfectly sculpted torso.

"What the hell, Keira?" He really didn't sound mad though. His eyes drifted to my breasts.

It was hard to focus on what he was saying when he was standing there naked. "I just really needed to take a shower. I have a meeting I have to go to." It was tempting to cover my breasts with my hands, but I resisted the urge.

"Can't you wait like five minutes?"

"Nope." I put my hand on his chest and made him move back slightly as I stepped under the water. I tilted my head and arched my back slightly, attempting what I hoped was a sexy pose under the showerhead. "There is no better feeling than a nice, hot shower. Don't you think?" I glanced over at him.

"Okay, I'm going to get out."

"Don't make this weird, Rory. I shower with my friends all the time. It's not a big deal. Can you hand me the shampoo?"

"Wait, do you really?"

"Of course." No. Who the hell showers with their friends? Awkward. "Besides, we've already seen each other naked. It's not a big deal at all."

He was still holding his hands over his junk. But he was barely covering his growing erection.

"Really, Rory, I'm not going to stare at you. " I grabbed his hand and pulled him back underneath the water. "Now please hand me the shampoo."

He grabbed the shampoo with his other hand, letting his erection spring free.

Fuck, he wants me. It was so tempting to reach out and wrap my hand around his massive cock. But that wasn't the plan. He had to come to me.

"Thanks," I said and took the shampoo from him. I turned away from him and arched my back again as I slowly lathered my hair. I moaned quietly, hoping that he could hear. When I stepped back under the water, his cock pressed against the small of my back. Holy shit!

"Oh, sorry," he said and moved away.

"It's okay. I should have warned you that I needed to get wet.

" I cringed at my own line. That didn't even make sense.

I was starting to feel sweaty instead of clean.

I wasn't sure if it was because I was so turned on or because the water was scalding.

"Do you mind turning it down a little? It's just so hot in here. "

"It is pretty hot in here."

I wasn't facing him, so I didn't know if he had turned it down, but the water still felt just as hot.

I turned around to see him staring at me.

"Excuse me, Rory," I said, and reached for the bar of soap.

I let my hand slowly brush against his erection, but I kept my eyes focused on the bar of soap on the ledge.

He grabbed my breasts and pushed my back against the cool tile.

Everything below my waistline clenched. Focus! "What are you doing, Rory?!"

"If you wanted to fool around again, all you had to do was ask." One of his hands drifted to my ass.

"What? Rory!" I pushed on his chest to make him step back. "We're just friends. Oh my God, you just made this incredibly weird!" I picked up the soap and began to lather up my breasts, cleaning off where he had touched me.

"I made it weird?" he asked as he watched me.

"Yes! And stop staring at me! What are you doing?! Get out!"

He ran his hand through his wet hair. "Wow, I really misread the situation. I just thought when you touched my..."

"Get out, Rory!" I yelled, cutting him off.

He stepped out of the shower and closed the curtain.

A second later I heard the door close. I sighed and leaned against the cold tile wall.

I was so close to having him again. If I had wanted to, I could have let him fuck me in the shower.

But I didn't want to just fool around with him. I wanted more. I needed more.

Shit, I'm falling for him. Screw the article.

I needed to talk to him. I quickly turned the water off and wrapped a towel around myself.

"Rory?" I called when I went out into the hallway.

When he didn't answer, I knocked on his door.

"Rory? I need to talk to you." I was greeted by silence.

"Come on, Rory. I'm sorry about the shower.

" This is ridiculous. I opened up his door, but he wasn't there. Damn it!

I closed his door, walked back into my room, and sat down at my desk.

I may have been falling for him, but he wasn't falling for me.

I opened up my laptop and began writing as fast as I could.

Everything just came pouring out. I wrote about how I had fallen for my gorgeous, unobtainable roommate.

I wrote about how I couldn't stop thinking about him, and about how living with him was unbearable.

I even wrote about our one night stand that didn't feel at all like a one night stand to me.

The more I thought about him, the more I realized how much more this was to me than a one night stand. It wasn't the game, or the chase, it was him. Despite what Emily thought, he was perfect for me. I looked down at article I had just written.

I wanted to learn how to play with a player.

I came up with the idea to write about my experience, with all the juicy details, so that every woman out there could do the same.

This new norm of one night stands is completely horrendous and unacceptable.

What happened to gentleman callers and flowers?

We all want more. And I wanted to fix it.

But I'm not sure I'm the right person for the job anymore.

Because I'm falling for the guy I thought I could play.

A few weeks ago, I put an ad in the paper looking for a new roommate.

That's when Rory showed up. Rory is the kind of guy that you crush on from a distance but have never actually talked to.

You know, the one with the perfect amount of scruff on his perfect face, with abs that you only see on movie stars, and a smile that makes your knees weak.

Trust me, I've tripped over my own feet quite a few times around him.

But since he was my roommate, we had to talk.

Which may have been worse than admiring him from a distance because I'm so awkward when I have a crush.

I ramble and say stupid stuff I don't mean.

Somehow we agreed to just be friends in this weird, twisted roommate pact, which I actually wanted nothing to do with.

So I started acting even more awkward. Listening to his bed squeaking with different women screaming his name every night made me physically sick.

I couldn't handle it. I completely hated that he was a player.

Because I wanted him to want me, and only me.

But I knew that was impossible. He barely even noticed me.

So my brilliant idea? I asked him for advice on how to have a one night stand.

And then I pathetically followed his advice and used it on him.

Never in a million years would I normally do something like that.

I've only ever had sex with my boyfriends.

With Rory though, I'd take what I could get.

So I experienced my first one night stand.

Despite the label, it wasn't a one night stand to me.

A better label probably would have been "best sex of my life" or "best night of my life".

I was completely and utterly hooked. All I wanted was more.

And now all I can think about is more. So I failed my assignment.

I can't play with a player because I've been completely played.

I'm falling for a guy who just wants to be my friend. So I have to listen to his bed squeak and other women scream his name. I have to sit next to him on the couch and pretend everything is fine. And I have to watch the guy I'm falling for eventually fall for someone else.

The article was basically just me saying that I was an awkward failure.

But I didn't want to write about this now anyway.

Not when I knew that I was falling for Rory.

I pressed send before I could change my mind.

Hopefully Judy would just reject it and I could move onto writing something else.

I got up and went into the kitchen. I had been writing for hours, and it was almost dark.

If Rory had gone to work, he would have been back by now.

He was definitely avoiding me. I walked back into my room and slammed the door.

The thought of eating made me feel nauseous.

None of this was fun anymore. Any thought I had of it being a game had disappeared.

I laid my head down on my desk and started to cry.

My computer dinging, signaling I had a new email, pulled me out of my pity party. It was from Judy.

"What the hell was that? I said sexy, not sappy and boring. There was nothing about how to play with a player. Talk about what you've done. Do lists. Lists are hot right now. I've already pitched the idea to the top. Don't screw me on this."

-J

I laid my head back down on my desk. Fuck me.