My Billionaire Cashback System! I Get Paid for Investing in Beauties

Rose took off her shoes by the door before stepping farther into the apartment. Adrian shut the door behind her and followed a few steps back.

It felt normal enough.

Well, excluding the part where there was a woman somewhere in his bedroom wearing his shirt and her underwear.

Then it felt extremely suspicious.

"Your room’s oddly..." Rose glanced around. "Plain."

"I moved in two days ago."

"Mm. Right." She kept walking.

Adrian stayed behind her, doing his best to look like a man who definitely wasn’t hiding a woman in his bedroom.

He was pulling it off.

Rose stopped beside the couch. Her gaze dropped to the black bra half-tucked beneath the coffee table.

Adrian’s stomach sank.

He’d meant to move it. He really had.

He’d just been distracted by Rose knocking on the door, Jenna being in his bedroom, his missing phone, and the general collapse of his ability to make good decisions while hungover.

Rose looked at the bra. Then at him. She said nothing.

That seemed worse.

"That’s..."

"Don’t lie to me." She said. "Whose is it?"

Not a question. Not really.

Adrian looked at the bra again. His brain produced several possible answers. None of them survived even a second of consideration.

"I found it in one of the moving boxes." That sounded clean enough.

Rose’s eyes narrowed slightly. "Really?"

"Yeah." He responded. "Probably my mother’s."

Rose’s expression changed.

"I was going to... figure out what to do with it."

Rose turned fully toward him. "That’s really what you’re going with?"

Shit.

"That’s the story."

She stared at him. He stared back.

He’d committed to the lie. There was no graceful retreat from this particular cliff.

Rose’s gaze dropped to the bra again before returning to him.

"Show me the rest of your apartment."

Adrian blinked. "What? What does that have to do with..."

"I’ve never been here before." She cut in casually.

Adrian understood immediately. She wasn’t interested in the apartment. She wanted to see what he was hiding.

"I’m allowed to look around, aren’t I?"

Fuck. What was he supposed to do now?

"Yeah." He stepped aside. "Of course."

Rose started with the bathroom.

Adrian followed her to the doorway and stopped there.

She peeked into the shower, opened the cabinet beneath the sink, then checked behind the bathroom door.

Nothing.

Adrian quietly exhaled. He hadn’t realized he’d been holding his breath.

Rose turned on the tap.

Water ran for a few seconds before she shut it off.

"Good pressure. Actually pretty nice."

"Apparently."

She dried her fingers against the edge of the towel and walked past him.

Adrian followed. The bedroom was next. Every part of him became slightly more alert.

Rose pushed the door open before he could reach for her arm. The room looked exactly as it had when he left it.

Bed. Desk. Lamp.

Chair covered with clothes he’d been had on last night.

And, most importantly, no Jenna.

Adrian’s shoulders loosened. Rose took a slow look around. Then she opened the closet. A bunch of hanged clothes.

Nothing else.

She checked the other side.

Still nothing.

Adrian watched from beside the desk, trying not to look like a man waiting for a bomb to go off.

Rose closed the closet. Then crouched beside the bed.

Adrian’s eyes followed her automatically. His shoulders finally loosened.

"I don’t believe it." Rose called out.

Fuck. Adrian’s shoulders snapped tight.

"What is it?" He said, his tone still surprisingly innocent.

She reached underneath. Paused. Then pulled something out.

His phone.

Adrian stared at it.

He’d been looking for that thing all morning. Apparently it was in the one place he didn’t look.

Rose stood and placed it on the mattress. "You dropped this."

"Yeah."

She gave him a look. "So you’re careless now?"

"I was hungover."

"Hungover." She gave him a look. "And you said you were fine?"

"I did say kinda."

He looked at her for a second. Rose sighed and headed for the door.

Adrian picked up the phone and pressed the power button.

Nothing. Dead. Of course.

He’d been hoping for at least one piece of good news this morning.

Apparently, the universe had decided that was too generous.

They returned to the living room.

Rose sat on the couch. Adrian plugged in his phone before taking the opposite end of couch.

Adrian noticed the space she’d left between them. He wasn’t sure if she wanted him to close it.

Neither of them spoke. The only sound was his phone charging on the table.

Adrian glanced toward the bedroom. The door remained open. No sound came from inside.

He looked back at Rose. "You said you wanted to talk."

She rested her hands in her lap. "I did."

For once, she wasn’t looking at him. Her attention stayed fixed on the coffee table.

"I’ve been thinking about last night."

Adrian waited.

"About Maya."

The name landed heavily. He didn’t move. Rose took a breath.

"Neither of us knew." A pause. "So I thought about it and decided that I don’t think either of us did anything wrong."

Adrian nodded. "That’s... you’re right."

"But knowing now..."

She paused. Her fingers tightened slightly against each other.

"I can’t keep pretending it doesn’t change anything."

"Hmm." Adrian looked at her. "So you’ve already decided."

Rose finally met his eyes. "I’ve spent the whole morning trying to figure out what I’m supposed to do with that."

"You don’t have to do anything."

"I know." Her voice softened. "That’s the problem."

Adrian didn’t have an answer for that. Rose looked down again.

"When I came here, I thought maybe I’d just check on you. Make sure you were okay."

A small, almost embarrassed laugh escaped her.

"Then I saw the bra."

Adrian winced.

"Yeah."

"And I thought, ’Okay. Apparently, I’m going to have a much more complicated morning than I planned.’"

"Seems you overreacted..."

The corner of her mouth twitched. Then the expression faded.

"I also realized something."

Adrian waited.

"I don’t want to keep pretending this is nothing." She gestured vaguely between them. "That isn’t me."

Her voice was quiet. But he felt the words land somewhere behind his ribs.

He looked at her hand. Then back at her face.

She took a breath.

"I don’t want to be your fake girlfriend anymore."

Adrian stayed still. She looked directly at him.

"I want to be your girlfriend."

The room went quiet. Adrian looked at her properly.

She looked composed, but Adrian caught the tension in her shoulders and the uncertainty she couldn’t quite hide from her eyes.

This was honestly not what he had expected from her. Not after what had happened between him.

Dating Maya’s sister should’ve felt complicated. Maybe it still would. But that wasn’t the part Adrian was struggling with.

He wanted Rose. The answer came easier than he expected.

"Then be my girlfriend."

Rose blinked. "That’s it?"

"What else is there to say." He replied. "I don’t want to overcomplicate it. I want you."

He said it, then immediately remembered Jenna was still somewhere in the apartment.

Please don’t let her hear that.

Then Rose laughed quietly as the tension finally left her shoulders.

She shifted closer. Then closer again. Until she leaned against his side.

Adrian looked down at her. He wasn’t entirely sure what he was supposed to do next.

So he put an arm around her. Rose settled against him as though she’d been waiting for permission.

"So... it’s official now," she murmured. "We’re actually boyfriend and girlfriend now."

"Heh." He smiled. "Yeah. I have a hot sophomore for a girlfriend."

She smiled. "Don’t make it weird, hentai."

Adrian looked down at her. "How does that make me a hentai?"

Rose tilted her head back, her expression softening as she looked at him. "Adrian."

Adrian raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"You talk too much."

She leaned in and kissed him. Warm. Unhurried.

Her hand settled against his chest as she shifted closer.

Adrian barely had time to register the change in her expression before her hand slipped lower, fingers finding his belt.

He responded in kind.