The Roommate Pact(52)
Graham
PS. Sorry I ripped your dress. I’ll buy you a new one.
17
Claire sunk into the couch cushions with a sigh. “It feels so good to sit.”
Mia, perched in the perpendicular armchair, tucked her leg underneath herself. “Busy day?”
“Very.” Claire spread her arms along the back of the couch. “But I’m so glad you came over. Graham couldn’t stop texting me today about how excited he was Noah was taking him out. I finally had to turn my phone off when the charge nurse kept giving me dirty looks.”
Graham had started back at the station on light duty, which meant he was filing paperwork all day. While it was something, it wasn’t enough. He’d already complained about needing someone to take him to and from work, and a desk job was the last thing he wanted to be doing.
Mia laughed. “I’m pretty sure Noah’s just taking him to Wings To Go.”
“Doesn’t matter. The man would be happy with a trip to stand in line at the DMV right now.” Gertrude leaped up and sidled over next to Claire’s thigh. Claire absently scratched the dog’s head and pulled up PostMates on her phone. “Is it okay if we order in? I’m too tired to go anywhere.”
When Mia didn’t answer right away, Claire looked up to find her friend watching her and Gertrude curiously.
“What’s happening?” Mia asked. “I thought you and Gertrude hated each other.”
Claire shrugged. “We’ve resolved our differences. Most of them, anyway.”
“Huh.”
Claire narrowed her eyes. “What’s that tone?”
“There was no tone.”
“Mia Agnew. You can’t lie to me. When has that ever worked?”
Mia’s eyes searched the ceiling.
“Never.”
“Okay, fine! I was just wondering if your sudden change in relationship status with Gertrude has anything to do with what’s going on with Graham.”
Claire arched a brow. “What’s going on with Graham?”
Mia crossed her arms. “You tell me.”
The two friends stared at each other for a long moment, and both could be incredibly stubborn in their own right. She’d be the one to cave this time, though, because she wanted to talk to Mia about Graham. It was half the reason she was so happy Noah had taken him out and left her and Mia to hang out tonight.
“Can we order dinner first? I’m starving.”
Mia rolled her eyes good-naturedly. “I guess. You’re milking that measly twelve-hour shift for all it’s worth, aren’t you?”
“Yep. I’m in the mood for tacos, sound good?”
“Sure.”
Claire found a nearby restaurant available for delivery and placed their order. The second she set her phone on the coffee table she felt Mia’s eyes on her.
Her friend wagged her eyebrows. “Spill.”
Scrunching her nose, Claire picked at her fingernail. “I might have taken your advice.”
Mia’s sudden squeal startled Gertrude, who leaped off the couch with a glare in Mia’s direction and slowly made her way to Graham’s room. “I knew it!”
“Yes. We had the sex.”
“And?” Mia’s eyes were wide as she leaned forward, nearly tipping off the chair.
A slow smile crept in, along with a flush of heat as she thought about last Saturday night. And again on Sunday. “It was very, very good.” How had she described him after their first kiss? Thorough.
Well. He’d certainly earned that badge of honor.
Thorough, attentive, consuming.
“Can’t say I’m surprised.”
“Mia!”
“What?” Mia shrugged. “You know I’m madly in love with Noah, but Graham’s a good-looking guy, and if his body is like Noah’s from all that climbing they do...” She fanned herself.
“You’ll hear no complaints from me,” Claire agreed.
“Not even with his cast?” Mia’s cheeks flushed, which was more her style. “How did that work, exactly?”
“I was on top.”
“Is there even another option?”
“I don’t know... I don’t think so. I can tell it bothers him, though. He feels like he’s being lazy.” She laughed, remembering what he’d said on Sunday when they were gearing up for round two. “He asked if this was how women felt all the time, just lying there while sweaty men grunt on top of them.”
Mia gasped. “He compared you to a sweaty, grunting man?”
“Right? You know I didn’t let that slide. He backtracked and...made it up to me in quite spectacular fashion.” And how. “And I don’t mind for now. I sort of like being in control.”
“Why doesn’t that surprise me?”
“I have no idea.”
Mia grinned and twirled a piece of long, dark hair around one finger. “So you did it and it was good. How are you feeling about it?”
Claire tucked her hands underneath her legs. “That’s a loaded question.”
The thinly veiled avoidance attempt fooled no one.
“Okay, how about this: Has the change in your relationship with Graham also changed your feelings for him?”
This was a topic Claire hadn’t let herself marinate on for long, and she wasn’t about to start now. “I think about him more, but I’ve also been around him a lot lately. For the first week after his accident I was worried about him and constantly thinking about his next dose of medicine or if he would fall when he was in the bathroom. Now, I think about how much fun he is in bed, and I wonder how different it might be once he’s recovered. I’ll admit I look forward to seeing him, and I don’t want to stop what we’re doing.”