Chapter One
Georgina—or Gina to her family—Lowe growled as she looked at the mess in the sink. It was official, Jared Point was a slob. She couldn’t believe she had agreed to share an apartment with him. They had both gone for the same rental apartment and neither of them could afford the costly price, but they’d gotten past their hatred of one another and agreed to share this apartment. She should have known this wouldn’t work.
They had hated each other for years.
Not exactly true. There was a time they’d been the best of friends. When they were kids, before they got to high school, where he became one of the cool kids and she became the fat, nerdy girl. Jared would poke fun at her when he was around his friends.
He did try to be secret friends, but she’d told him to go fuck himself. If he didn’t want to be her friend in front of his cool buddies, then they were not friends. Simple as that.
She shouldn’t have agreed to live with him.
“Stupid slob,” she said, rolling up the sleeves of her dress and stepping toward the sink.
Gina hated messes, and from the look of the plates and pans, he’d made himself some spaghetti sauce. It was now stuck to the dishes, and that just annoyed her even more. She had no choice but to fill the sink with warm, soapy water to allow them to soak.
Drying her hands on the towel, she shook her head, gritted her teeth, and then stormed across the apartment toward his bedroom.
She got the smaller of the two rooms, but her closet was bigger than his. Being a beautician, she liked to stay current in her clothes so customers were more than happy to come and see her.
Opening a beauty salon in the town where she grew up was a risk, seeing as people often saw her as the nerdy big girl. Customers had entered her salon as if they were going to be met with the devil himself. They had all looked scared, but when she’d stepped out with a smile and a joke, they all soon relaxed. Within months of opening her salon, she’d been able to employ a couple of beauticians who were looking to settle down locally, rather than travel to work. In the future, she hoped to allow a training program, but that was nowhere near to happening.
Now to Jared. He’d never left town, and in fact, was one of the best mechanics around. Women adored him.
Gina saw why. Jared had gotten sexier with age. She hadn’t given him much thought since she left for beauty college, but seeing him now, she realized that age had been kind to him.
He wasn’t married, but he had a reputation around town for being a wild boy. No woman had been able to pin him down.
When she asked him why he wanted to share an apartment with her, he told her straight. She’d be a good shield against women.
There had been a chance for her to walk away, but instead, she’d snapped up the apartment. It was in one of the nicest areas of town, with beautiful views of the surrounding countryside. Not to mention, the space was incredible, and there was even a pool, but she hadn’t gotten a chance to sample it yet.
Storming into Jared’s room, she expected to find his room a mess, but he surprised her by having a very nice space.
If he could keep his room tidy, then why the hell couldn’t he keep the kitchen clean? It was their communal space.
This was why she needed to set rules, and starting from this evening, she was going to force him to agree to them.
Growling, she stomped her heeled shoe on the floor and then walked back to the kitchen, getting all her aggression out on the plates and saucepans. The man was a pig. There was nothing she could do to make him leave. The rent was ridiculous, and even though her business was a success, she didn’t want to run the risk of going into debt.
With the dishes cleaned, dried, and put away, she grabbed her bag and left their apartment, being sure to lock the door behind her. She took the stairs to her car and smiled at some of the neighbors as she passed, trying to build up good relations.
Once inside her car, she turned over the ignition and headed straight toward Jared’s workplace. He didn’t own the garage, but he was one of the best mechanics around. It probably helped that the garage was owned by his best friend, Phil.
Gripping her steering wheel tightly, she saw the large, obtuse sign and quickly brought her car to a stop. After applying the hand brake, she stepped out of her car. Then with hurried steps, she found the man she hated so damn much. He stood next to a car, assessing it with a clipboard in his hands.
The moment she was close, he turned to face her, and this lazy-ass smile flooded his lips. Why did he have to look so sinfully attractive? This just made her hate him a little more.
“Don’t you dare smile at me,” she said.
“What’s got your panties in a twist, babe?”
“Don’t you babe me either. Have you heard of washing up? Soap? Boiling water? Scrubbing brush?”
He clicked his tongue and dropped his clipboard. With his other hand, he scratched his head. “Don’t have a clue what any of those mean.”
“Oh, shut it, Jared. Seriously. Clean up after yourself, okay? I’m not going to live in a pigsty. That’s our apartment. I do my part to make it livable. You need to start doing your own.” She glared at him and wanted to hit him, but instead, she just shook her head. “We’ve got a meeting tonight, at the apartment. Be there.”
****
Jared Point watched his little roommate walk away. The sway of her ass was just too damn tempting to deny himself. Moving in with Gina had been a huge mistake. He shouldn’t have done it. If he was honest with himself, he didn’t need the apartment. The place he had before wasn’t half bad, but he’d been saving and wanted to move.
That apartment had been a beacon.
The thing was, so was Gina.
Ever since she’d returned home, she had been constantly on his mind, in his thoughts. Going for the same place to rent just seemed like the universe or fate, or whatever, was trying to throw them together.
He smiled as he watched her climb into her car and drive off.
Phil, his best friend, whistled. “She looks pissed.”
“I’ll bet.”
Leaving the dishes last night had been incredibly hard. Unlike some of his friends, he never inherited the slob gene, so just leaving random plates and saucepans to wash up didn’t bode well with him. However, he did it just so Gina would have a reason to come to him.
They’d been living together for a few months now. Jared had expected them to at least talk or have something civil to say to one another, but instead, she acted like he didn’t exist. He couldn’t have that.
So, not doing dishes brought her around to him.
He could imagine her having a whole list of chores for him to do, and he intended to shirk on each and every single one.
“I know that smirk, and it never ends well,” Phil said.
“Shut up. Get back to work.”
“Hey, I’m the boss between us.”
“Please, the boss you might be, but we all know who runs the place.” He and Phil were the only two from their high school days who hung out. The rest of the guys had settled down with the high school sweethearts they knocked up, or they’d headed off to college.
For him, college had closed all doors as he hadn’t gotten the grades. Spending way too much time playing sports and partying, and not enough time studying, hadn’t helped. Jared couldn’t even remember some of the lessons, which was why he’d also started to take some additional night courses.