Chapter 23

" L ila!" The chorus of deep male voices greeted her as soon as she walked in the door. Bear, Knight, and Will were all sitting on the U-shaped sectional in the front room and eyed the bags in her hands expectantly. She'd been living with Knight and Bear for a couple of months now, and it had become a bit of a tradition for her to bring them home food if she was working a closing shift. When Bryan, the owner of The Pub, found out that she was living with Bradley U athletes, he basically gave her carte blanche to take home what she wanted. Which definitely helped her score some major points with her roomies.

Surprisingly, she'd only seen King a handful of times, mostly in passing. She suspected that he and Knight had purposely coordinated hanging out with each other when she was at work, on campus taking a few classes to ensure she could graduate early, or otherwise not at the house. Which was a relief, because her heart was still doing that stupid thing where it did a series of cartwheels in her chest and then promptly bottomed out whenever he was in her proximity. Or whenever she heard his name. She didn't quite know what to do about that, but she'd gotten a lot better at suppressing it. Hopefully one day, the feeling would fade altogether.

"You all expecting something?" she teased, even as she moved over to the kitchen island and started taking to-go boxes out of the bags. "Knight, there's ribs tonight. And Bear, some of those spicy hot wings you're obsessed with. Will, I know you're a sucker for those oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, so there are some of those as well."

Bear dug into the wings. "Seriously Lila, if I were into chicks, I'd marry you tonight."

"High praise, Bear. High praise, indeed." Lila went over to the fridge and grabbed a rose lemonade. Her guys, as she'd come to call them, knew she liked them, and they weren't always available at the grocery store, so whenever they saw them while out shopping, they'd grab a pack for her. It turned out that living with a house full of males wasn't so bad, especially since the parties were on such a smaller scale since it was summertime. She missed Wren and her girls, but that's why FaceTime, What's App, and Marco Polo existed. There were multiple threads happening so they all still felt connected.

"So Lila darling, we were talking about going super throwback and having an epic Die Hard franchise movie marathon tomorrow night. Most of the guys have never seen it. Because obviously they don't have excellent vintage film tastes like you and me," Knight said between bites. "You in?"

Lila winced. "As much as I would love to revel in the excellence that is John McClane, I can't. I have plans."

The guys started grumbling, and Lila elaborated. "Seriously guys, I have actual plans. I'm going out with Eli again."

That's right, she was dating again.

Sort of.

She'd met Eli a few weeks before when she waited on him and his friends. He'd been charming and kind and had asked for her number at the end of the night. Eli's trim build, side-parted dark-brown hair, and clear-framed glasses were attractive in a sort of tweed jacket with elbow patches kind of way, and he didn't cringe when Lila used multisyllabic words. So that definitely worked in his favor.

Eli was a few years older than Lila and was attending Bradley for graduate school. Pursuing a master's in public administration, she was pretty sure. Perhaps it was because he was older, or because he hadn't attended Bradley for his undergrad, but Eli allegedly had no interest in any of the sports teams, which suited Lila just fine. They'd gone out on a few dates, kind of fooled around a little bit, and it was…fine. His kisses felt nice-ish, albeit a little slobbery, but they definitely didn't make her burn like she did when she kissed certain other people who she refused to name. But maybe that was okay. Maybe that's what she needed at the moment.

"Invite him to join," Knight said.

"I don't know about that… You guys are awesome, but you're kind of extra sometimes. Like, I don't know if Eli can handle all of this energy." Lila waved her hand around in a circle and laughed.

Bear held up a finger. "Hold on a minute. How about a compromise? Why don't you go out to dinner or whatever you were going to do and then come back and join us for a bit?"

Lila didn't hate that idea. She mulled it over. "Yeah, I think that actually sounds fun. Besides, it's probably time he met you guys anyway." If they even made it past their next date. She got out her phone and started texting.

LILA: The boys want us to join them for part of a Die Hard movie marathon after we go out to dinner tomorrow. You amenable to that idea?

ELI: I don't think I've ever seen an entire Die Hard movie, but I suppose there's a first time for everything. Plus, it would be nice to get to know your roommates. I'm in. Pick you up at 7?

LILA: *thumbs up*

She looked up from her phone. "All right, we're in. We're going to go to dinner and then will head back here."

The guys did sort of an awkward three-way high-five and then shared some sort of a look when they thought her head was turned. Too bad her peripheral vision was second-to-none.

"Seriously though guys, go easy on him, okay?"

"Easy as Sunday morning, Li," Knight said with a smirk. "Besides, if he can't handle us, he's not the guy for you anyway. You're like a 20 out of 10, so the bar is pretty damn high."

"And now I have a battalion of older brother types ready and willing to defend my honor like it's the 1950s," Lila teased.

"Naw, we just care about you." Knight slung an arm around her shoulders.

"Your care is noted and appreciated." She stifled a yawn. "K, I'm beat, all. My bed is calling me. Try to keep the gaming to a decent decibel level," she said sarcastically, because there's no way that was happening. Normally she'd be up watching them play.

"Night Li," they all yelled as she laughed all the way up the stairs. She hoped tomorrow worked out okay, that they'd go easy on Eli. That it wouldn't be a complete disaster.

* * *

Well, this was a huge mistake.

Lila and Eli hadn't even crossed the threshold of the doorway before she sensed a difference in the energy of the room and those stupid stomach gymnastics she was trying to get rid of decided to make themselves known.

King.

A lone wolf standing in the kitchen, under the dimmed pendant lighting over the island (yeah, this house was fancy like that), eating a folded slice of pizza. Lila reckoned that it was probably his signature thin crust Italian sausage and jalape?o combination that he'd previously introduced her to and that she now craved all the damn time. Especially after mediocre meals like the one she'd just eaten. Distracted, Lila stopped short, so Eli ran into her.

"Oops, sorry, babe," Eli said, apparently thinking that calling her "babe" was an appropriate identifier in this scenario. She'd let him know later that it definitely was not. And when he slid an arm around her shoulders? Lila didn't love that either. Was there just some sort of weird vibe that was floating around in the air tonight? Or had it been way too long since she'd hung out with her ladies? Probably a bit of both. Thankfully, she didn't think that anybody had heard them because the volume of the TV was so loud.

She flipped the overhead light on to get everybody's attention. Someone paused the movie, and suddenly the full force of their scrutiny was solely aimed at the two of them. And Eli's arm was still around her shoulders.

"Lila!" they all declared, and she couldn't help but smile. Damn, if she didn't love this big pack of guys.

She subtly stepped out from under Eli's arm, and he mercifully didn't try to touch her again. "Hey there boys." She pointed to her date. "Everybody, this is Eli. Eli, meet the boys." She pointed at everybody and named them. "That's Knight, Bear, Demarcus, Will, Benny, and over in the kitchen is King."

"Nice to meet everybody," Eli said.

Knight patted a place next to him. "Saved you guys a seat. Eli, you're next to me. I need to make sure that your intentions toward my little sister are noble."

"He's your brother?" Eli whispered, confused.

"Not literally, but pretty much, yeah." Lila shrugged. She didn't want to get into it, and she was getting wary of all the eyes on her. Well, of just one set in particular.

They made their way over to Knight, and as promised, Knight wrangled Eli into sitting next to him. The space next to Lila was open, but she didn't think much of it because the guys all liked to manspread.

Demarcus hit the lights and Bear pushed play on the movie, and Lila leaned her head back to enjoy the dulcet sounds of Bruce Willis crawling through air ducts saying, "Yippee ki-yay, motherfucker." Which never got old, ever.

Whether it was the intimidating physicality of Knight's presence or the fact they weren't alone, Eli mercifully kept his hands and arms to himself. Dinner had been okay…but Lila felt like their dating experience had run its course. Eli was nice, but just not for her.

Everything was fine until somebody vaulted over the back of the couch and landed right next to her. She didn't have to look to know that it was King. She hadn't been this close to him since the last time they'd… Ahem. The juniper and citrus scent of his fancy body wash hit her nostrils, and she angled her body more towards Eli. He did not smell as good, but she was feeling a little off-kilter.

Damn her heart and its cartwheelingness.

It also didn't help that the air conditioning was apparently working overtime tonight and the house was currently the temperature of an icebox. So she was cold on top of everything else.

She suppressed a shiver then flinched when she felt the weight of fabric being draped over her shoulders. King had taken off the zip-up hoodie he'd been wearing and wrapped it around her without a word. Her initial instinct was to shrug it off, but she was cold, and she didn't want to make a scene. Plus, enough time had gone by that they could totally be in the same room together and just be friendly. It was fine .

Lila glanced over her shoulder, her eyes quickly landing on his chin. "Thank you," she murmured.

He nodded.

She threaded her arms through the sleeves and then zipped it up. Hell, Lila even put the hood up for a minute. She was instantly warmer, and also in her own personal purgatory, because now she was surrounded by King's scent in the dark. With the man himself close enough to touch. She couldn't help the heat that was pooling low in her belly, so she tried to just ignore it.

When his powerful thigh brushed up against hers? She tried not to picture the beauty that were his quads. Muscular and powerful and lickable and…

Stop it, Lila.

She moved her leg so they weren't touching anymore and had to repeat the action a couple more times before the movie ended.

She leaned over to Eli. "I'm ready to call it a night. Can I walk you out?"

He nodded, stood, and then held out a hand to help her up. She reluctantly took it and was dismayed when he didn't drop it once she was standing.

Yeah, this guy needed to go.

Once they were outside, Lila disengaged their hands. Awkwardness hung heavy, and she tried to think of what to say. "Thanks for dinner and for being willing to share our date with a bunch of Die Hard fans."

"They were nice. Make sure you thank them all for me."

"Will do."

"I'd love to go out with you again. Tomorrow, maybe? We could go back to my place, and you could meet my roommates. Or we could just hang out in my room or whatever." His implication was clear, and Lila knew she needed to nip this whole thing in the bud.

She sighed. "I don't think so, Eli. I've had fun going out with you, but I don't really see this going anywhere, and I don't want to lead you on."

He seemed disappointed but took it on the chin like a champ. He gave her a quick hug and commented that he'd see her around, and then he drove off. Lila blew out a sigh of relief and turned to head back inside.

She went to open the door just as it swung back, and she collided with whoever was exiting. "Oof, sorry!" she managed to get out before she tripped backward. Given the fact that everybody inside had almost a foot and at least 100 pounds on her, it felt like she'd just bounced off of a brick wall.

Large, strong hands grabbed her waist, steadying her. And then she looked up, right into King's dark, chocolatey eyes. "Sorry, La. Didn't realize you were on the other side of the door."

"No worries," she said, proud of herself for keeping her shit together, because it had been so long since he'd put his hands on her. This was also the most they'd said to each other since he'd ended things. Lila had forgotten how good his hands felt. How they managed to fit her somehow. And she'd definitely forgotten how much she liked the velvety depth of his voice and what caused said voice to turn all gritty and growly and sexy and…

No, Lila .

She needed to abort this mission ASAP, or her body would start trying to influence her mind, and she'd end up doing something irrational like humping his leg or kissing his face off. Or something.

"Um, I'm going to need my hips back at some point, King." She looked down to where he was still gripping her tightly, his thumb lightly tracing one of her hip bones.

"Right," he said, releasing his hands and taking a step back. "Sorry."

"No worries."

They stood there in silence for a minute, locked in place, unsure of how to proceed.

"You leaving?" Lila asked.

King nodded. So she unzipped his hoodie and started to take it off to give back to him. "Thanks for the loan…" she started to say.

"Hold on to it for now," King said. "It's colder than balls in there. I'll just grab it from Knight next time I see him or whatever."

She hesitated but then shrugged back into it and zipped it back up. "Okay. Um, thanks. That's nice of you."

"I'm trying to be nicer to my friends," King replied.

"So we're friends, huh?" Lila raised a skeptical brow.

"I'd like to be."

Her heart soared and sank in equal measure because King wanted to be friends. Which was great, but that also meant that he was past whatever else they'd been before. Lila didn't know if she'd ever fully get to the point where she felt okay about that, but she was sure as hell going to try.

"Okay, then. Goodnight, friend ." She tried out the word carefully with a tentative smile and didn't hate the way it felt coming out of her mouth, but she didn't love it either. Maybe eventually she would.

And he smiled too, just barely. Blink and you'd miss it. "Goodnight, La."