Annika is done with waiting…
She’s known since kindergarten that Leo is the one and as soon as she gets to New York, their shared future will begin. But she arrives to find out that Leo is avoiding her and has to make a deal with Leo’s grumpy but hot roommate, Thom. It’s amazing that he can make her simmer with just a glance—never mind that she forgets all about Leo in Thom’s presence. When she learns that Leo has dumped her for someone else, Annika realizes she has no tears to shed. Seducing Thom seems like the ideal way to make up for lost time—but can she persuade him that all she wants is to feel alive again?
Thom is prepared to wait for the good stuff…
He’s learned the hard way that romance on the rebound never works—and he won’t be burned again. He never would have expected to even like Leo’s fiancée, much less to find Annika just about perfect. Temptation is impossible to resist: not only are they sharing a small apartment, but they’re working together at F5F for the same two weeks—and Annika makes steady progress over his objections. Just when Thom realizes he’s falling fast, Leo tries for a reconciliation. It’s the same story all over again—but this time, can he convince Annika to choose a future with him?
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An excerpt from When Annika Met Thom:
Annika’s first experience of Manhattan didn’t win her over. The train got into Penn Station a bit late and she was momentarily disoriented by how complicated the station was—and how filthy it was. Leo wasn’t there to meet her, which he hadn’t promised to do but she’d had hopes. She wrangled her luggage alone, glad that she’d packed lightly, but didn’t have the patience to work out the subway map. Instead, she went up to the street—hauling Percival’s cage up about a zillion stairs—and tried to hail a cab.
She failed her first Manhattan test. They all drove right past her, as if she was invisible. A guy in a suit strode to the curb and raised his hand. A cab cut across two lanes of traffic to squeal to a halt before him. Annika tried to figure out what he’d done differently and switched the cage to her other hand to try again.
“Just take this one,” the guy said with a smile.
“Seriously?”
“Seriously. Welcome to New York.” He put her suitcase on the floor in the back while she maneuvered the cage onto the seat. When she turned to thank him, he was stepping into another cab.
“Thank you!” she shouted and he waved to her again.
“Meter’s running,” the driver reminded her and she got in, liking the city a bit more than she had a few minutes previously. She gave him the address and he sighed mightily.
Before she could ask, the screen mounted on the back of his seat—behind the iron grill—began to play a safety reminder about seatbelts.
Annika was busy looking out the windows for her first glimpse of the glittering city she’d always wanted to visit. It wasn’t glittering on this spring day. The rain was pouring down and the pedestrians looked as if they shared her cabbie’s mood as they navigated their way around large dark puddles. The buildings stretched high into the sky, their higher floors lost in the fog, their windows sleek with water.
“New in town?” he asked finally, probably noticing how she was rubbernecking.
“First time.”
“You’ll love it. It’s the best city in the world,” he said with conviction, then leaned on his horn.
The traffic was incredible, the streets clogged with yellow cabs that honked a lot. They made slow but steady progress, stopping for red lights, then surging around slower cars to get a better position. There was a lot of construction and Annika was curious about the pits that opened into the street. In one of her college courses, they’d learned about the rock beneath the city, the Manhattan schist, upon which every skyscraper’s foundation rested. They’d learned about the tunnels and myriad services buried beneath the metropolis, a feat of engineering that delivered water and electricity to ten million, and transported them daily. Annika wanted an underground tour as well as a visit to all the tourist sites.
She felt her anticipation rise. Leo was going to be thrilled when she surprised him with the news that she’d be moving east instead of just working on a two-week assignment. The future they’d envisioned for years was going to start and she couldn’t wait. Her firm was opening an office here to serve the east coast and she was first in line to transfer. It wasn’t a done deal yet, but she trusted in the future.
After all, she and Leo were destined to be together. It was kismet that this opportunity even existed. Of course, she’d get the job. With that confidence, she’d brought Percival to get him settled here first.
The ferret was fussing, but he’d been in the cage for a while. She knew he needed a bit of exercise, and probably something to eat.
Soon.
They drove down Broadway and she practically had her nose pressed to the glass as the buildings began to look familiar. It was like she’d stepped into a movie.
“Is this the Flatiron district?” she asked the driver, guessing the answer from the architecture.
“Yes, ma’am.” He pointed through the windshield. “And there’s the building it’s named after.”
Annika had recognized the triangular Flatiron Building already and was peering down the side streets. She knew the buildings had steel frames in this neighborhood and were among Manhattan’s first skyscrapers: many of the older structures dated from the turn of the last century. They were shorter, because the schist was deeper beneath the surface, but she loved the more human scale. She couldn’t wait to explore.
They turned on Houston, which was wide and lined on each side with big stores. There were pedestrians everywhere she looked, which was exciting, too. She loved walking in cities, people-watching and window shopping.
When they finally turned down a narrower avenue lined with apartment buildings, she was on the edge of her seat in anticipation.
Minutes to Leo! She had been envisioning a sex-filled reunion for weeks and was impatient to arrive.
The cab stopped in front of an older building, one that wasn’t as ornate as some of its neighbors. It was maybe six stories high and there was a park across the street. The street was lined with parked cars on one side and Annika could see that there were shops and restaurants on the street level of many of the buildings. They weren’t as fancy as the ones on Houston, but she liked that it looked like a neighborhood. A car behind honked as she was getting her bags out, and the cabbie waved his hand dismissively at the other driver.
He did the same when she thanked him, but he smiled and wished her a good trip.
The rain seemed to be falling harder. She was soaked by the time she got to the door of the building and she couldn’t help noticing that the entrance was distinctly grimy. The security door was propped open with a cinder block, which couldn’t be very safe but it made her life easier in the short term. She carried everything to the elevator and pressed the button, heaving a sigh of relief. Almost there. She could hear voices and smell cooking but there was no one around.
It made her realize how hungry she was.
She had to jam her weight against the elevator door to have time to get everything out, since it had been programmed for very quick stops. By the time she’d located the apartment door, then gotten her suitcase and Percival’s cage down the corridor, she was ready for a nap.
A kiss.
A great meal.
And truly awesome sex. Lots of it. That would be the perfect welcome to the Big Apple.
She knocked crisply on the door, anticipation high.
There was no answer.
Percival ran around his cage in a manic burst of energy and she wished he’d be quiet.
She checked the number and knocked again, harder.
A door opened down the hall and someone looked out. Annika ignored the curious neighbor because she heard the deadbolt on Leo’s door. She smiled as the door swung inward.
“Surprise! I’m a day early!” She spoke before she realized that Leo wasn’t the one who had opened the door.
And then she blushed, because the guy who had answered the door didn’t say anything. He just looked at her.
Leo had said his latest roommate was a big guy, but that description hadn’t prepared Annika for the truth. This guy was massive. He was like an upright refrigerator and looked just as likely to move out of the way. He only opened the door a few inches but his size was obvious. Did he have to duck to go through the door? Turn sideways? It was also easy to remember Leo’s jokes about how stupid Thom was.
Funny but Annika didn’t have the sense that this guy was dumb. Cautious, certainly, but there was an intensity in his expression that made Annika wonder whether he let people underestimate him.
Why would anyone do that?
His eyes were dark and his hair was dark brown and wavy, a little too long. He had a bushy beard that was darker than his hair and his gaze was piercing. He was wearing a black T-shirt and she could see extensive tattoos on his arms that continued beneath the shirt sleeves. There were Celtic knots winding up his arm from wrist to elbow, as if he was wearing the Book of Kells. The T-shirt was also tight enough to reveal that he was completely ripped. His expression was impassive or maybe inscrutable. If she’d had to cast someone as the leader of a notorious motorcycle club, he’d get her vote.
Actually, he’d get her vote for more than that. She could cast him as an action hero, the taciturn guy who always got the job done, no matter the price. She could see him in a movie, as the heroine’s unlikely ally, the gruff one who never said much—let alone the right thing—and ran off with the heroine’s heart. She could imagine him peeling off that T-shirt, gaze smoldering, then making love to a woman so thoroughly that she forgot her own name.
Annika wanted to lean forward and take a deep breath of testosterone, maybe run her hands over him, maybe follow her fingers with her tongue. Annika blinked. She wasn’t going to be attracted to Leo’s hulk of a roommate, no matter what he looked like, no matter how welcome his obvious masculinity was. She straightened, reining in her thoughts. It would be a bad idea to surrender to impulse, no matter how desperate for intimacy she felt in this moment.
Leo. She was minutes away from being with Leo.
In the back of her mind, she acknowledged that Leo wasn’t half this hot and she’d never wanted to run her tongue over him.
She was losing her mind out of sexual deprivation.
Meanwhile, this guy was staring at her, like he’d never seen a woman before.
Maybe he was mute.
On the other hand, she wasn’t saying much either.
“Hi. Leo’s expecting me.” She smiled and put down her suitcase, then switched the cage to her left hand so she could offer her hand. “I’m Annika.”
He looked her up and down, his gaze lingering on Percival’s cage. He didn’t take her hand and he didn’t open the door any wider. “Tomorrow,” he said firmly, as if it was non-negotiable. His voice was low and rumbly, like he was a mountain surrendering a secret. Annika felt her body respond to the sound in a most unwelcome way. He spared a glance over his shoulder and closed the door a bit, as if to hide her from view. From whose view? “Leo said you’d be here tomorrow.”
“Yes, that was the plan. But I was able to leave Tuesday instead of Wednesday, so I’m here a day early.” Her smile was beginning to feel stiff. “Can I come in and put these down, please?”
“Tuesday? It’s Saturday.”
“I didn’t fly,” Annika explained, understanding his confusion. Few people liked the train as much as she did. She lifted Percival’s cage. “I took the train. It was easier.”
“Slower.”
“I like that about the train. There’s time to see where you are, instead of just zooming over it.”
“Portland,” he murmured finally, proving that he did know about her.
“Portland, Oregon,” she agreed wearily. “Portland to Chicago, Chicago to Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh to New York. And here I am.” She eased a little closer to the door but he still didn’t budge.
“He said tomorrow.”
Maybe he was stupid. “We’ve been over that,” Annika reminded him.
“Leo was going to call you.” His voice had dropped lower, so deadly soft that Annika felt prickles rise on her skin. That rumble was incredibly sexy and her reaction made her obvious that it had been way too long since she’d seen Leo.
Touched Leo.
Had Leo touch her.
Even though Leo did not have a low sexy rumble of a voice.
Hmm.
A bit late, she realized what he’d said. Annika felt the first twinge of alarm. “Why would Leo call me? He gave me his address. He told me to come here. Isn’t he home?”
The huge guy shook his head slowly. “You should go.”
“Go where?” Annika demanded but he began to shut the door.
It appeared that he thought the matter was resolved and thus undeserving of further comment.
Annika thought otherwise.
“No. Wait! I could come in,” she said again. “I could put this down and wait for him…” There was a snort from the apartment, then the sound of claws on hardwood and the guy looked back.
“No, Cerberus,” he ordered. “Stay!”
Cerberus?
“Just let me come in and…”
“I have to go to work,” he said with resolve. “You would be here alone. It would not be a good idea.”
This soliloquy was astonishing for both its length and its content. “Why wouldn’t it be a good idea? I’m going to stay here, in Leo’s apartment for two weeks. That was the plan. That is the plan.” Annika heard her voice rise. “What exactly keeps that from being a good idea?”
And why was it up to him?
A huge black nose shoved between the door frame and the guy’s thigh before he could answer. If it was the nose of a dog, this was the biggest dog she’d ever seen in her life. Its black head was above his waist and the nose itself had to be three inches wide.
When the dog sniffed, Annika was sure half the oxygen was sucked out of the corridor.
Annika took a step back, then another. The nose disappeared and the dog howled, the sound making the hair stand up on the back of her neck. Then it barked and she could have sworn the floor vibrated.
The hound of the Baskervilles was in Leo’s apartment.
Strange that he hadn’t mentioned it.
“No!” the guy said to the dog. Thom. He had to be Thom. “Shhh, Cerberus. Keep it down!”
The dog barked louder, ignoring him, the sound of nails on hardwood more insistent. It sounded like it was running laps around the apartment.
Something crashed and she winced.
“You have to go,” Thom said to her, with more than a hint of desperation. “You’re getting her excited.”
“I don’t care. I have to come in, not leave,” Annika countered, trying to work with a moment of weakness. “We can work this out inside.” She seized the door knob and pushed. It had to be futile because he was about eleven times bigger than her, but she was tired and had nowhere else to go.
“No,” Thom said, and she didn’t know whether he was talking to her or the dog.
He looked back, hinting that he spoke to the dog, and Annika jammed her foot into the gap between the door and the frame. Good thing she’d worn her Blundstone boots.
The dog appeared again, taking advantage of the slight widening of the gap between the door and the frame. Its head was huge, its eyes bright, and it barked in excitement at the sight of her. Thom tried to close the door and finally spotted her boot in the way. He seemed to be debating whether he should forcibly remove it.
But one glimpse of the dog’s teeth up close and personal made Annika release the door knob. She dropped Percival’s cage and the dog barked with excitement, the loud woof reverberating in the corridor. Percival hissed as the dog shoved its entire head through the gap.
“Now you’ve done it,” Thom muttered.
The dog was enormous, pitch-black and perfectly named. It was exactly the kind of animal you’d want to have guarding the gates of Hell—or anything else, for that matter—even with just the one head. It lunged further into the corridor, moving with unexpected speed, then shoved its nose against the metal bars of Percival’s cage, tail wagging with enthusiasm. The tail struck the walls of the corridor on either side.
The dog suddenly howled and retreated a few steps.
Percival must have bitten its nose, but Annika felt vindicated.
Thom swore, seized the dog’s leather collar, and bodily hauled it back into the apartment, which was some kind of feat. Thom stepped into the corridor, shutting the door quickly behind himself.
Damn. He was huge.
Annika’s eyes widened as the dog’s weight landed audibly against the door. It barked more insistently. The door vibrated. Percival hissed and raced around his cage.
Thom stood with his back to the door, arms folded across his chest, and glared at her. “You have to go.”
The door was opened further down the corridor again and an older woman shouted for silence. “I’ll report you and that dog!” she cried.
“She’s just protective, Mrs. Moriarty. A watchdog for all of us.”
She? The dog was female?
“She’s too big!” the woman insisted.
“There’s no weight restriction on pets in the building,” Thom replied calmly. “One dog per apartment.”
“That’s a horse, not a dog!” Mrs. Moriarty countered and slammed her door.
Thom exhaled then glowered at Annika, as if the situation was her fault. His eyes were amazingly dark and thickly lashed. “Maybe you can see why it’s not a good idea for you to come in,” he rumbled.
“But—”
“Cerberus likes small rodents. They make nice snacks.”
“Ferrets are not rodents,” Annika said, beginning a familiar lecture.
He held up a hand but she ignored him.
“And not it: him. This is Percival and he’s stressed from spending so much time in his cage. He needs to be on his harness and run around a bit…”
“Leo didn’t mention that you had a pet.” He turned and opened the door slightly, which just meant that the dog shoved its nose through the gap again. Its tail was wagging so hard that its head was vibrating and it—no, she—was obviously curious. Cerberus looked like she was smiling.
She also was clearly unafraid of Leo’s roommate.
Annika’s father always said that dogs were the best judges of human character.
“I have to stay here.”
“You can’t stay here.” Thom was resolute. He was the best threshold guardian ever.
“I’ll just come in and talk to Leo.”
“He’s not here.”
“I’ll wait until he comes back.”
Thom shook his head. “Not a chance.”
“I have nowhere else to go,” Annika countered.
“Call Leo,” he replied.
“You mean he won’t be back soon?”
Thom shook his head and sympathy touched his expression for the first time. “He said he’d call you,” he confided, his tone suddenly gentle.
Annika sat down hard on her suitcase. His expression told her everything she needed to know. Something had gone very wrong since she’d last talked to Leo the week before. He wasn’t here and he wasn’t going to be here and she had nowhere to stay as a result.
Shit.
What was she going to do?
Excerpt from When Annika Met Thom
Copyright © 2022 Deborah A. Cooke
Deborah Cooke: Author 