Chapter 1

Chapter One

Kat

The knock at the door has me jumping, my nerves are so frayed. I try to calm myself. I know who's on the other side so there's no need to be all nervous and high-strung. I make my way over to the door out of breath and at the end of my rope.

I yank open the door only to find a stranger on the other side. Not who I thought it would be at all. "Um…."

Here I stand half-dressed and frazzled, and it doesn't help that the man on the other side of the door is frankly stunning. Who the hell lets their man walk around alone like this without putting a ring on it, a bell attached, and naming it when they look this damn good?

"Um, can I help you?"

With directions maybe? No way is he in the right place.

"Yeah, I'm here to move in."

The smile on my face turns shaky. Does Whitney have a boyfriend she expects to move in too? And how do I feel about both of them living here? Should I just tell her right from the start that I"m not certain if I can live with a…man and that maybe she should find another place if she wants to move him in too? Is that bitchy?

"I…are you Whit's boyfriend?"

"Nooo," he says it like I'm the one who lost their mind, "I am Whit."

I hear the words he's saying but they aren't really making any sense, so I just stand there with the door open - like my dress in the back. The thought jars me out of my stupor enough to start making the connections I should have already made.

"You're Whit." He nods. "Whit. Whit?"

I feel like there should be a bell ringing because I'm close to getting what is happening here.

"I take it Whit is not short for Whitney."

He curls his lips around his teeth and gives me a slow, over-exaggerated shake of his head in the negative. "It's Whitley. Whitley Barlowe."

He holds out his hand for me to shake it. All I do is look at it for several seconds before my mom's voice kicks in and I give him my hand.

"I'm guessing you're Kash Ford?" My heart sinks as realization finally hits hard.

"K. Ashford- as in Kat Ashford. I think we should have exchanged more than texts and e-mails."

"What, uh, do you want to do now?"

He already paid for his part of the first month's rent. And gave me enough money for the next one too.

"Yeah…um," I gnaw on my lip and some part of me shuts out my better sense, "I promised you a room. If you don't mind…I don't mind."

His brows go up high reminding me of my brother, Bear, who is not going to like this whole situation at all.

"I mean, you kind of already packed and paid and most serial killers don't kill the people they live with right? They go out to…um, come on in."

When I turn to walk away, I remember why I was having so much trouble in the first place. I turn back to find him still standing on the wrong side of the door looking me up and down in my pink tulle dress that's not quite zipped yet. I must look like a fucking screwball.

"I'm…I have to be at a wedding today. I'm a bride's maid." Like that is going to answer all of his questions. "It's these damned fingernails. How do you even do anything in them? I can barely open doors. I'm having to relearn how to wipe my own ass again for shit's sake…"

I stop talking immediately and slowly start to look up from my nails to the stunned look on my new roomie's face. Great first impression, Kat. Great. So far in the space of a couple of minutes, I have mistaken this guy for his own boyfriend, walked around half-dressed, and I just told him about my bathroom dilemma…and I don't even know this man!

"I…can you help me?" This time his brows rise even higher. "Look, I wouldn't ask but I also don't want to walk to my car with half my dress undone. I'm kind of desperate here."

There is a long pause of nothing but silence until I give up and turn to grab my purse. Half-naked it is. And then the back of my dress is being tugged on as the sound of a zipper fills the silent room. I look behind me to see that he's not only zipped me up but he's stepped into the room and closed the door.

"Are you gonna be alright getting to your car?"

"Yeah." I"m not sure about getting inside of it but he doesn't need to know that. "Thank you. Thank you so much. I uh…I have to go. But you have a key."

Before he can tell me he's not living with a crazy woman I rush through the door. He can't tell me no if I'm not here to hear it.