‘But you’re a girl,’ he choked out with a confused expression clouding his face.
I chewed on the inside of my cheek, looking down at myself and then back at him. ‘It would appear so.’
He frowned. ‘But you said in the email that your name is Andy?’ I nodded in response.
‘Yeah, Andy, short for Andrea.’
He shook his head, running his hand down his face. ‘Look, Andy, I don’t live with girls,’ he explained, glaring.
‘Well, you’re going to have to because I paid rent and I’m not leaving,’ I retorted, my heart hammering. He smirked, moving closer until we were almost flush with each other. It took everything in me not take another step back; he wasn’t going to scare me off. His eyes travelled down the length of my body and then back up to my eyes.
‘Especially not girls like you.’
I frowned, narrowing my eyes at the attractive jackass in front of me. Who the hell did he think he was?
‘What do you mean, girls like me?’ I crossed my arms over my chest again in irritation.
He looked down at my oversized jumper, baggy jeans and ponytail before rolling his eyes. ‘Polite chicks. Daddy’s girls,’ he muttered and I raised my eyebrows.
‘Do you immediately think that you know everybody, or just me?’ I retorted, glaring into his calm eyes.
‘Don’t flatter yourself, love,’ he said through a chuckle, stepping back so that he could lean on the wall behind him.
Sticking up for myself was a bit of a rarity, but he had sparked my temper and his attitude was beyond irritating. ‘If it’s any consolation, I don’t live with obnoxious arseholes that have egos to match,’ I all but spat and turned on my heel to grab my suitcase.
‘The good girl always falls for the bad boy,’ he sneered and I smirked.
‘You’re in luck because I’m not a good girl,’ I hissed and a small smile appeared on his face.
‘Prove it.’
I narrowed my eyes and raised a quizzical eyebrow. ‘How am I meant to prove something like that?’ I asked and he grinned, showing me straight, white teeth.
‘Show me just how bad you are,’ he purred and I shoved his chest, picking up my bag and storming down the hall in the apartment. Amongst all the annoyance and anger, I’d completely forgotten to ask him which room was mine, so was now faced with a dilemma. Should I guess, or should I suck it up and ask him?
He watched me with interest, not moving from his spot on the wall. ‘You hit like a girl,’ he informed me and I huffed.
‘This may come as a shock to you, but I am a girl!’
He chuckled softly, nodding to the right to gesture which door was mine. ‘I can clearly see that,’ he replied as I pushed the door open.
Deciding to ignore him, I went inside and slammed the door behind me. I was surprised that the whole apartment didn’t shake.
The room itself was quite nice, complete with cream walls, a single bed and laminate flooring. I shoved my bag on the bed and sighed, running my hands down my face. I could hear Hunter moving around in the front room, but I wasn’t going out there again for a while, at least not until I’d unpacked. That was when my phone went off and I saw Kenzi’s number on caller ID.
‘Hi,’ I answered, carefully balancing the phone between my ear and my shoulder as I started to put my underwear away.
‘Hey, how is everything?’ she asked and I could hear the TV in the background. She was probably in her room having the time of her life with her roommate. Kenzi was pretty much the opposite of me. She was blonde, whereas I was a brunette; she was confident and totally bonkers. Every weekend when we worked at the club, she’d find someone different to go home with and would have the time of her life bumping and grinding beforehand. Kenzi was the type of girl that Hunter would be interested in.
‘Crap. My roommate is a jerk,’ I muttered, shutting the drawer and laying back on my bed with my feet on the headboard. Unpacking was the easy part; facing Hunter later that evening wasn’t something that I was looking forward to doing. I explained what had happened with Hunter so far.
‘Ouch. Mine’s alright. He’s hot,’ she added and I rolled my eyes with a smile pulling at my lips.
‘I thought he might be.’ I could practically hear the grin in her voice when she explained that Seb had an uncanny resemblance to Alex Pettyfer. We were mid-way through conversation when the door burst open and Hunter stood in the doorway. He raised an eyebrow at my position before I cut him off.
‘You can’t come in without knocking,’ I said, taking my legs down and moving to sit cross-legged.
‘It’s my flat, I can do what I like. I was going to say that I’m ordering pizza, want any?’ he asked and I sighed, letting my shoulders slump as Kenzi squawked at me down the phone.
‘Yes, please,’ I answered, holding the phone to my chest to stop Hunter from hearing my friend’s rambling.
‘Ham and pineapple. Also if you weren’t so sheltered, you wouldn’t be bothered about me barging in without knocking.’ He shrugged afterwards to exaggerate his point.
‘Stop acting like you know me,’ I stated, which only caused his grin to widen.
‘Don’t stay up too late, you wouldn’t want to miss church tomorrow,’ he cooed. I lobbed my pillow at his face, but his reflexes were quicker and he shut the door before I hit my target. I groaned into my hands and then put the phone back to my ear. Kenzi was still talking.
‘I need your help,’ I replied. This definitely got her attention and surprisingly enough, shut the girl up.
‘What with?’ she asked.
‘You know what I said about my roommate?’ I didn’t even bother waiting for her to answer me. I’d told her about Hunter and his annoying ways. I’d known the guy less than an hour and I already hated him. ‘Well, I want to throw his pathetic comments back in his face,’ I paused.
‘Sure, just flirt with him or something, make him eat his words.’ That was her grand idea.
‘Definitely not,’ I retorted and she sighed.
‘Tease him,’ she offered but I shook my head, flumping back on my bed.
‘I can’t! I don’t know how!’
‘You did it with Marco.’ Her voice had a mocking tone to it and I stifled my laugh.
‘Marco was different,’ I insisted, practically hearing her eyes roll.
‘Andy, get out there and make him want you, make him chase you and then let him see you dance. After that, dump his arse like last week’s socks.’
I rolled my eyes and stretched. That was her way of dealing with things, not mine. I was just going to have to tolerate him for the time being and work something out later. ‘Right, Kenzi, I’ve got to go, but I’ll speak to you tomorrow.’
‘Sure, meet me at the coffee shop around the corner tomorrow at three.’ There wasn’t a goodbye before I was left listening to the dial tone. I hauled my sorry backside to the door and out into the open with the lion.
Hunter was sitting on the couch with his long legs spread out. He tapped his lap teasingly but I shook my head and retreated to the arm chair.
‘Scared?’ he mocked and I narrowed my eyes at him, curling one of my legs underneath me.
‘No, I just like