When Clara walked into my house, she spun in a slow circle, taking in the haphazard blanket crumpled on the couch and Chinese food containers scattered on the coffee table.
Embarrassment heated my skin.
“I wasn’t expecting company.” I tried to move quickly to pick up some of the mess, but I stumbled and had to recenter myself.
Heat scorched up my neck. I hated that she’d seen that—how awkward and slow I was now. Before, I could carry a sheet of drywall up a staircase without breaking a sweat. Now walking around my own damn coffee table required concentration.
Frustrated, I turned to her. “What do you need?” I meant for the words to come out bored, but they landed closer to defensive. I was so goddamn tired of being someone’s project. Their penance. Their proof they were a good person.
Clara’s shoulders straightened. “It’s not about what I need, but whatyouneed.” Her face brightened as a hand went to her chest. “Me.”
Of course. The universe had a sick sense of humor. Out of all the people to show up and offer themselves as a solution, it had to be the one woman I was not allowed to want.
My brows scrunched. “You?”
She nodded. “Yes. Me.”
I let out an exasperated breath. “I’m not following. Why are you here?”
Clara’s gray-blue eyes narrowed as her finger swirled around my living room. “You need someone to help with ... all this. I need to get the hell out of my parents’ house. I help you. You help me. We live happily ever after.” Her eyes rolled as a pink blush stained her cheeks. “Temporarily, of course.”
I tried to process exactly what Clara was proposing but came up short. “You want to ... move in with me?”
She nodded, eyes bright. “Yes. We’ll be roommates. I can help you with whatever you need. I’m a fantastic roommate.”
This insane plan hadHayeswritten all over it. I shook my head. “No. Absolutely not.”
There was no way in hell I was letting a walking sex dream move in with me. Not when she was Hayes’s little sister and I was barely holding my shit together as it was. I had no business thinking about her mouth when I could barely make it into my own shower.
Clara’s grin widened. “It’s happening.”
My arms folded. “No. It’s not.”
Clara popped one hand on her hip and lifted her shoulder. “Okay. I’ll let Hayes handle you. He was chomping at the bit over the idea of him rooming with you while I took over his house.”
A muscle jumped in my jaw. The image of Hayes moving his crap into my spare room, hovering and clamping me on the shoulder with that earnest, apologetic face, made my skin crawl. I loved the guy, but I didn’t want him watching me struggle to put on a sock.
My hackles rose. “Whoa. Wait a minute. What the hell are you talking about?”
Clara pressed her lips into a slim smile. “My overzealous brother is ready and eager to make amends ... and that included being your live-in helper.”
Fucking Hayes and his Boy Scout honor code.
He was only trying to make up for the way things had gone down. For the fact that I’d only been on that dark, winding road because of him. Guilt sat between us like a third person in every room, and the last thing I needed was it sleeping down the hall.
“I do not need your brother, or anyone else for that matter, moving in with me. I’mfine.” The words tasted like a lie even asI said them. Fine men didn’t have take-out containers for decor and a permanent dent in their couch.
Clara’s brows rose as she dramatically looked over my disheveled house. “Clearly.” She blinked her eyes at me and scrunched her nose. “When’s the last time you showered, Wes? I can smell you from here.”
Humiliation pricked hot under my skin. It was one thing to know I’d let myself go. It was another to have Clara fucking Darling wrinkle her nose at me like I was something she’d stepped in.
“I just worked out,” I deflected. I adjusted my stance, ignoring the sparks of pain that shot down my leg. “This plan is actually insane.”
Clara shook her head. “It’s not that crazy. You don’t have family around to help you get all”—she waved a hand in front of me—“this figured out. I’m here to help, but I’ll stay out of your way. I promise.”
My molars ground together. I couldn’t believe I was even considering it, but if Clara was even half as stubborn as her brother, I had a hell of a fight on my hands. “What’s in it for you?”
Nobody did anything for free. Not for me, not anymore. There was always a string attached—pity, obligation, guilt. I searched her face for it, and all I saw was exhaustion and something that looked a lot like my own brand of lost.