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Iwas on edge all morning, waiting to see if she had switched out my oat milk for something dairy-based. It was risky to go back for another cup, sugarless this time, but it was the principle of the thing. I wanted my coffee, from my house, in my mug. The possibility she had switched my creamer hit me later. It turns out Charlotte drew a line in the sand on actually killing me, and since she didn’t know if I was allergic or just intolerant, she had left my dairy substitute alone.
Leslie had a sandwich from the deli down the street brought in for lunch, since I was on a conference call with people on three different continents. I had to admit, two days in and DC had the edge on lunch options over Boston. My afternoon flew by in a blur of more reports and tracking the progress of the supplies necessary to start operation payback I had ordered to be delivered to the condo. I imagined the shopper picking up confetti, soy sauce, olive oil, and Sprite, wondering if they were shopping for some weird sex thing. Nope, just a thirty-one-year-old man planning pranks. Rushing out of the office as soon as the clock hit five, I hoped I would beat Charlotte home in time to enact some revenge.
I opened the door to our unit, calling out, “Hello?” and was greeted with silence. Bringing in the bags that had been waiting at the concierge desk, I hurried to my room to hide the supplies and change out of my work clothes. Joggers and a T-shirt were definitely better pranking attire.
I paused outside the door to Charlotte’s room and took stock of where life found me: holding a bag of confetti, about to enter the room of a person who was essentially a stranger. How did I get here?
She started it. You had to ride in the elevator to your office with twelve other people because you arrived after 8:30 a.m. She’s earned this. Besides, it’s harmless.
With that, I pushed open the door to the guest room and yelled her name one more time for good measure, and then I got to work.
Chapter
Eight
Charlotte
I got back to the condo a little after six and all I could think about was what I could eat to tide me over until I could get to the store to grab some groceries for dinner. I allowed myself a few days of take-out while I got settled into a new routine, but a quick peak at my bank account today on the Metro reminded me I wouldn’t be able to live that lifestyle forever.
I was opening the door to my room, intent on changing out of today’s pantsuit, when for the third time this week, I was met with a male chest in my face. Covered in a non-sweaty shirt this time, at least.
“Hayden?” I asked, wondering why he was possibly in my room, with the door closed.
“Oh, hey, Charlotte. Bet you’re wondering why I am in your room, huh?”
“You basically read my mind.”
“Well, I got home just a little while ago and noticed a squeaking coming from your room. I recognized it as a squeaky ceiling fan, having just tightened the one in my room last night, so I thought I’d fix yours too.”
“Squeaky ceiling fan, huh?” I stepped around him and took stock of my room. Nothing seemed obviously out of place. My bed was still unmade, so he couldn’t have put rubber snakes in it. I wasn’t sure how Hayden would respond to my morning pranks, but finding him in here made me think it wasn’t going to be lying down.
“If that’s the case, then where’s the screwdriver?” I nodded at his empty hands, dangling at his sides.
“Oh, uhh…”
As Hayden fumbled to come up with a plausible reason why he didn’t have a screwdriver in hand, I walked toward the bed and pulled the chain to restart the fan blades. I hadn’t noticed a squeak when I left this morning.
The blades of the fan started to turn and rainbow paper confetti fluttered from the ceiling, landing in all corners of my room, with a concentration on my—as previously mentioned—unmade bed. I looked up at the fan in shock and then over at the giant man-child standing in the doorway, doubled over with laughter.
“So, that’s how it’s going to be, huh, Brandt? Just remember… you went into my room first.”
At that, I shouldered past him into the hallway, grabbing my clutch out of my work bag, and stormed out the door. Changing could wait until after I grabbed something to eat. Groceries would have to wait, too. Though, I definitely still needed to stop at the store. Suddenly, two-day shipping didn’t seem at all fast enough.
The next morning, I was walking to my bathroom in my robe when I heard an aggravated yell from inside Hayden’s room. Smiling to myself, I stopped my progress to wait and see if he would come out and yell at me in person or suffer in silence.
The door to his room was wrenched open, and I was blessed by Hayden Brandt in a towel yet again, though the hairless stripe on his otherwise hairy left leg did take away from the larger, sexy package a bit.
I drew my hand up to my mouth to contain my giggles, but when my eyes met his, I could tell he could hear them.
“It’s bad enough I pissed all over my feet this morning when I got up, meaning I had to shower right away and skip my run, but why is my hair falling off my leg?”
“You’ve never heard of the old replace-the-body-wash-with-Nair prank? It’s a classic. By the way… you snore.”
“I do not!” Hayden spluttered. “I can’t believe you came into my room while I was sleeping to shrink-wrap my toilet and mess with my body wash.”
“Like I said, Hayden… you came into my room first. And I have to say, you wear the hell out of that towel, but you’d also make Mr. Calvin Klein very proud with that ass in your boxer briefs.”
I left him spluttering behind me as I finished my trip to the bathroom and shut the door. I made a mental note to take my shower products to my room every day, and start using that key I found in the doorknob of the spare room when I arrived.
