Little White Lie Read online

  Contents

  .

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Epilogue

  Dear Friends,

  Also by Tarrah Anders

  About the Author

  .

  NOT FOR SALE OR DISTRIBUTION

  by

  TARRAH ANDERS

  .

  It wasn’t long before they stopped being just roommates and started something else.

  Chapter One

  Dean

  “I’m confused. It goes where?” my roommate, Kaley, asks with a tilt of her head.

  “It goes in the hole.” I smirk while fighting the urge to crack up.

  “How on Earth would it fit in that hole? I mean, it’s too big, the hole is too small.” She pouts and crosses her arms over her chest.

  “That’s the point. It’s part of the word problem.” I pick up the paper and read it to her again.

  She shakes her head and crosses her arms over her chest.

  Being a guy, I look as her breasts are pushed up by the movement, with the V-neck shirt she’s wearing giving me an excellent view of her cleavage.

  “Dean, why can’t you do my homework for me? That would make this a lot easier.” Her lower lip pouts out, her eyelashes bat as she stares at me.

  “Because I have my own homework to do.” I shoot back at her as I stand and retreat from the living room back to my bedroom.

  I’m not lying, I have a crap-ton of homework to do. Tonight is the first night that I’ve been home before nine, and I intend to take full advantage of it. I finished training early tonight because of the power going out at the gym. So while being home this early wasn’t planned, it is nice to have a quick break in my daily regimen.

  “I need more help, Dean! You’re my best friend, my roommate, and the most smartest person that I know.” She whines, following me.

  “Call Denise.” I tell her. “She’s good at homework.”

  “Your sister and Todd are going out tonight, something about keeping the love alive,” she says.

  “Either way, I need to do my own homework. If I keep talking to you about your homework, I will get nothing done.”

  I pull out my English Lit book, notebook, and a pen out of my backpack, sit down at the head of my bed and lean my head back against the wall as I close my eyes.

  Her voice is far away, but I know that it shouldn’t be. Then a moment later, she shakes my shoulder.

  Apparently, I fell asleep.

  I shake my head and my eyes focus on Kaley.

  “I thought you were doing your homework?” she asks.

  “I came in here to do it, but I don’t know what happened.” I rub my eyes.

  “You’ve been in here for two hours,” she says softly. “You alright?”

  “Yeah. I am probably just catching up on sleep. What’s up? Did you need more help on your homework that I won’t give?”

  “No,” she hesitates and bites her lower lip. “Alright, so, you know how I’ve told you that my parents are super conservative?”

  “Yeah, what about it?” Where the hell is she going with this?

  I recall off-handed comments she’s made, but we’ve never really had that specific conversation, at least that I’m aware of.

  “Well, they may or may not be coming to town to visit for a few weeks.” She fidgets with the hem of her shirt.

  “That’s cool.” I shrug.

  “Yeah. Well, my parents…they may not like that I have a male roommate.”

  “Are you asking me to stay away from the apartment while they’re here?”

  “Not exactly.” She squirms.

  “Spit it out, Kaley.”

  “I may or may not have told my parents that you were my live in boyfriend and that my sister can stay here.” She says quickly and hides her face in her shirt.

  “Whoa, okay. Back it up. Where is your sister going to stay? We only have two bedrooms.”

  She looks at me, waiting for me to catch up to speed. And when I do, my eyes widen and I’m actually speechless.

  “So, they think that you and I... we’d have to share a room? Which probably means that we would have to share the same bed and did you really not think this through? Did you say your sister can stay here? How old is she? Where am I going to sleep?” I run off question after question as I push myself off the bed and look around my room. “Is she staying in my room? That means I have to sleep in your room. Kaley, you need to talk a little more.”

  “Slow your roll. Okay, so I didn’t think it all over when I was talking to them. I was kind of half listening and just agreeing with whatever they were saying.”

  “Well, this is great.” I run my hand through my hair.

  “It’s only for a couple of weeks and they’ve never been to Seattle before, which means that they may just never be around, they may just come over here and sightsee the entire time.”

  “How many weeks exactly are we talking here, Kale?” I steady myself by placing my hand on the top of my dresser.

  “Three.”

  “Three.” I mumble.

  “I’m sorry.” She looks at me, her eyes full of emotion. I can see the war waging in the right or wrong and with guilt for choosing the wrong.

  “So, what do we have to do?” I ask resigned, knowing that there’s no changing the situation.

  “Well, either I move into your room or you move into mine. My room is more lived in, you really should decorate in here.” She says looking around.

  “Your sister?”

  “She’s sixteen, but not the cool type. She’s a bookworm, kind of shy and probably, alright most likely, will stay with us to spy on me for my parents.”

  “Sleeping situation?”

  “Together.”

  “And you and I?”

  “We’re in a serious and committed relationship.”

  “Why wouldn’t I have met your parents before if we were serious?”

  “Since we’ve lived together, how often have I gone home?”

  “Good point.” I nod.

  She hasn’t gone home since I’ve met her, and I met her through my sister two years ago.

  “Let me get this straight, you and I are together and shacking up. Your conservative parents are okay with that?”

  “They wouldn’t want me living with a guy unless it was... you know.” She shrugs.

  “I know what?”

  “You know, heading somewhere.”

  “Oh geez. This is a mess you got us in, you know that, right?”

  “Please, please, please? It’s only three weeks. Most of the time you aren’t home anyway with all the team stuff. So, it will just be like a bare minimum of playing along.”

  “All we have to do is play house?”

  “Yes.” She nods eagerly.

  Kaley Valentine is beautiful. If she wasn’t my sister’s best friend, and my roommate, I would likely have tried to hook up with her at one point or many for that matter. Kaley has long wavy light blonde hair, gray-blue eyes, perfect pink lips and a small cleft in her chin. She’s gorgeous, but we’re friends and we friend zoned each other by proxy of my sister right away. Not only is she a roommate, she’s a good friend too, someone that lets me know when I’m being an idiot, and she even makes sure that I keep my head on straight.

  “Oh, you’re so going to owe me.” I shake my head. “When are they coming?”

  “This weekend.”

  “Great. I have a bye week next week. I have a game this Friday night. But then my next game isn’t
until the following Saturday after my bye.” I groan, leaning my head back, hitting the wall. “I have light practice and so far zero press meetings. They just had to pick that week.”

  “I’m sorry. But after that, you’ll be back on schedule, so maybe it’s not that bad.”

  I point at her. “You so will owe me. First things first, I’ll move into your room, but we’re switching beds. My bed is comfortable and much bigger. You’re going to help me move my clothes in there too. And you’re going to cook me my favorite things.” I tap my fingers and think of more ways to tease her.

  “That it?” she asks hopeful, while biting her lower lip.

  “I’m pretty sure that I’ll think of more things, but for now, yes.” I wink at her.

  Kaley

  I feel like I’m moving.

  Dean has a lot of clothes, more clothes than I thought he did, and what’s weird is that I don’t think I’ve seen half of these clothes. He primarily wears gray sweatpants around the apartment. I notice this because–hello, gray sweatpants.

  When a guy wears this, eyes zero in on certain places. And I’m a red-blooded woman, who really should, but can’t ignore that the guy who is my best bud and roommate, is hot.

  When does he wear all of these clothes, some even look expensive?

  I cleared out half of my dresser and a section of my closet to make space for his stuff, to make it look like we share the space. But he still has a lot of clothes that won't fit, which we just leave in the other room and hope my little sister doesn’t make a big deal about it.

  “I think that’s the last of it.” Dean states as he drops a few of his books on my dresser.

  “We didn’t need to get all this done tonight. We have two more days until my parents get here.”

  “Yeah, but I’ve got practice and meetings until the game on Friday night. This was the only time that I would be able to help you do all this before your family got here. Rather than make you do it all on your own. But now that I think about it, it would have been hilarious to put a camera in here and watch you move the beds.” He laughs as he tosses himself onto the bed, putting his hands behind his head.

  “We’re going to need to lay down some ground rules.” I start with a roll of my eyes.

  “Like what?” he turns his head to me.

  “Don’t over act. My parents can sniff out a bull-shitter. That’s the only rule that I can think of.”

  “Then they will see right through this, you’re not a good actress. I always know when you’re lying,” he retorts.

  “We need to look like a couple, so this means we have to touch one another.”

  “And kiss too?” he wiggles his eyebrows with a smile.

  “And kiss.” I roll my eyes even though I feel butterflies fluttering in my stomach at the thought.

  “So, we should practice. Everyone has a special kissing style. We don’t want to bump teeth when we make out. Or slobber too much. We need just the right amount of slobber.”

  “Dean, be serious here. We will not make out in front of my parents.”

  “Okay, okay. So if they find out about us not being a real couple, what will happen?” he switches his mode from playful to serious.

  “If they find out, they’ll stop paying my rent.” I try to hide the fear in my voice.

  Whenever I’ve spoken to my parents, I’ve skirted around the topic of Dean being my roommate. My parents knew of Dean because his twin sister is my best friend and previous roommate. Dean’s always hung out with us when he can, in between all his extra-curricular activities, but not once did I tell them that Dean took Denise’s place when she moved in with her boyfriend.

  When we were talking tonight, they surprised me with the news that they were coming to visit after giving me a hard time about never coming home. At that moment, I wasn’t thinking and told them that Dean was my boyfriend and that we lived together. I didn’t think any further than that.

  They remembered that I had a two bedroom and asked if I had any roommates. I came up with another lie and said that my roommate just moved out.

  Ugh, I need to write down all these lies to keep the stories straight.

  So here I am, standing in the middle of my even smaller bedroom thanks to Dean’s bed like a statue just staring at him.

  “You alright?” he asks.

  “This is going to blow up in my face, isn’t it?” I ask.

  “We’ll do whatever we can to not let that happen. I’ll play along. We’ll make your parents think that we’re in love and then they’ll be none the wiser when you eventually tell them that we’ve broken up.” He shrugs.

  “My mother may have already started planning our wedding.” I wince.

  “I want a gravy boat, make sure you tell her that.” He winks.

  How can he be so easy going with all this? Sure, he had a minor freak-out when I first told him about all this, but now he’s taking everything with ease?

  “Oh my God!” My hand flies to cover my mouth. I look to Dean and he’s looking at me, waiting for me to speak. “We’re going to have to sleep in the same bed and be affectionate with one another.”

  He nods. “You may have mentioned that already.”

  I swallow a lump. And take several deep breaths.

  “Starting tonight,” he tells me.

  “Wait, what?” my voice squeals.

  “Listen, my bed is now in your room. So, that means either we’re shacking up in the same space starting tonight, or if you would rather, you can go into my room and stay in your bed.” He has a wicked smile on his face as he knows that I’m backed into a corner.

  I’m nervous.

  Dean is just a friend.

  Albeit, a gorgeous specimen of the male species, he is still just a friend. Sure, a friend that I’ve dreamed about occasionally, a friend who I had a moment of pure lust for when we first met. But he remains just a friend. His sister put a squash to any feelings that I could have had for him without knowing that she was doing so.

  Besides, he’s not my type. My type is tall, broad shoulders, firm jaw, short brown hair, steel eyes, and tattoos with a lean body.

  Well crap! I just described Dean.

  I look over at him.

  We’ve been friends for a few years now.

  When I first met his sister, he tagged along sometimes when he had a relaxed schedule and I may or may not have crushed on him a little.

  But I couldn’t be still crushing on him today. Can I?

  I shake my head. No, we’re roommates and roommates are platonic.

  I look over to Dean. He’s smiling, his arms are crossed as he leans his hip against my dresser, showcasing the sleeve of colorful art on his right arm as they’re pressed against his massive chest.

  What were we talking about again?

  “Kale. Earth to Kale?” His voice is like honey as he speaks. I shake my head again. What is happening to me? I’m suddenly all hormones.

  I blink and focus back on his smiling face.

  The handsome smiling face.

  “Yeah?” I squeak.

  “You decide?”

  “Decide what?” I play dumb.

  “Are we starting to shack up now, or?”

  “We’re not actually shacking up, Dean.” I say with a scrunch of my nose.

  “Yeah, I know. But it sounds better.”

  “Well, we might as well. Otherwise, when my sister is here, it may seem awkward.” I think out loud.

  “Good thinking. Then you will be used to my snoring and my sleep habits.”

  “Sleep habits?”

  “I sleep naked.”

  “Oh c’mon!” I groan as I stomp like a child.

  “I’ll wear boxers, just for you. Although, I’ve never heard the request to put my pants on while I’m in bed,” he mumbles.

  “This is going to be a long three weeks, isn’t it?” I run my hand over my face.

  Chapter Two

  Dean

  I haven’t slept in boxers or any clothing since I
was much younger. I always sleep naked. Sure, if there was a catastrophe, I’d be baring my all to the world as I high tail it out of bed, but at least up until that moment, I would have been sleeping soundly.

  And right now, I can’t fall asleep.

  Whether it’s the fact that Kaley is curled in a ball on the other side of the bed in a thin tank top and booty shorts or it’s because I’m wearing boxers and trying to fall asleep.

  I feel confined. And my body is restless.

  I listen to Kaley’s breathing and hear that she’s inhaling and exhaling in an evened rhythm. She’ll never know that I slept in a bed in the buff. I’m awake before she is usually, anyway.

  No harm, no foul.

  “Dean!” A panicked voice squeals next to me. I wake with my arms wrapped around Kaley and my stiffness is pressing into her thigh.

  Shit!

  I fake that I’m still in sleep state and mumble against her skin.

  “Yes mom, just five more minutes.”

  “Dean! Get your stupid ass up and off me and put on some goddamned clothes, so help me God!”

  “Relax. Relax. It’s the middle of the night, I’m sleeping Kale.”

  “I was sleeping too until your anaconda came and started slithering on my leg.”

  Chuckling, I smile against her hair. I breathe her in, she smells like cherries and sunflowers. Her body wiggles as she tries to pull herself from my grasp but my arms wrap tighter around her again keeping her in place. Knowing that her movement isn’t helping the state of my cock.

  “My anaconda, eh?” I laugh.

  I roll over onto my back, releasing her.

  “It slithered or tapped me, that’s what woke me up. Seriously, why are you not wearing anything? You promised. Wait, didn’t you go to bed wearing clothes? I remember there being clothes on your lower half.” She covers her eyes with her hand.