I found the remainder of his clothes kicked under the side of the bed he slept on. I threw the bundle on the bed, watching as he picked each garment up and righted it before slipping them on.

“You’re staring,” he said with a grin. I turned toward the door, trying to block out all thoughts of his bulging muscles, the trail of hair that drew my eye to what his briefs were hiding, and the hint of his erection.

“My brother visits sometimes. I might have some of his things. Although, he isn’t nearly as big as you, so some of the stuff might not fit.”

“It doesn’t look like I have the option of being picky at this point.”

“I’ll be right back,” I said, exiting the room.

To the left of the bedroom and down the hall was the garage. My brother, Kyle, usually kept a spare bag for when he would stroll into town. It’d been a while since he’d come to visit, but I was sure the bag was still there waiting for him.

The cacophony of the storm was loudest in the garage where echoes of howling winds, shuffling sand, and rocks pinged off the aluminum door. I worried about what my neighborhood would look like when it was all over. Vegas had serious flooding issues, so we were used to rocks and debris filling the roads, but I feared this would be total devastation by the time we were finally able to leave our houses.

I stretched up on my tippy toes to reach the top of the shelving unit on the right side of the garage. The door to the house opened behind me, stopping my movement before I could grab the bag. My house looked small as Joel strolled through the doorway, turning slightly to ensure he didn’t hit the door jam on his way through.

“Can I get that?” I didn’t have a chance to answer him before he was pressed against me, reaching for the bag. His body was warm against mine, and I half expected him to smell like liquor and stale smoke, but was pleasantly surprised by the lingering smell of his cologne or aftershave. Whatever it was had a cinnamon smell, like scented pinecones and freshly baked pie, reminding me of fall. It was a spicy scent that tickled my nose and made me want to curl up close to him.

“Thanks.”

He placed the bag down and I opened it, pulling out the few sets of clothes, socks, and underwear that were folded nicely in the confines of the bag. I watched Joel take each item handed to him, pulling the tags into view. He showed no sign of whether or not the clothes would work before holding them up against his large frame. I must admit, just seeing the shirts held up against his chest, I knew they were one size too small, but they would show off those slick abs and concrete arms. I sucked in my bottom lip, careful to make sure I wasn’t drooling at the thought.

“These shirts are the equivalent of you walking around in a bra. You sure you don’t want me naked?” I flashed him a look that let him know how I felt about that and he shrugged. “It was worth a try.”

“The pants will probably be too short, but you could roll them up. Guys are doing that these days, aren’t they?”

“Sure, hipsters are. It’s not really my scene, but I can make do. Besides who else is going to see me, other than you? Can I just say, had we decided to just go to my place, this wouldn’t be a problem. Girls always look cute in guy clothes. All you would have had to do is throw on a tee of mine and you would have been covered. Boom. Different shirt every day would have taken care of you.”

“Well I’m not a twelve-year-old girl at a slumber party, so the tee shirt thing would work for me as much as rolled chinos works for you. Actually, it would do less for me. Either way, this is what we got.”

If the shirts were too tight I could only imagine what the underwear would look like, gripping those thighs and that sculpted ass. Or, would he just go commando? I chastised myself internally while leading him back in the living room where we could have a proper talk about what the rules should be for the next couple weeks. I think I was curious to see if he would have any rules that he would need to add to the list. My desire to get to know him a little better didn’t go unnoticed.

“As I said before,” I started, settling into the corner of the couch, waiting for him to take a seat on the other side. He sat close enough for our knees to touch, and I tried not to become distracted by the way our skin continuously brushed as he got comfortable. “With your size, I don’t think it would be fair for me to just take the bed, so I don’t mind switching days sleeping on the couch.”

“I don’t understand. Your bed was big enough for the both of us last night.” He looked genuinely perplexed by my statement, as if there wasn’t a thought in his mind that we would spend the next two weeks sleeping in the same bed together.

“That was last night. We’re talking about from here on out. I think we should create some boundaries, one of those being that we shouldn’t be sleeping in the same bed at the same time. It confuses things.”

“It’s not confusing me, pretty bird.”

I ignored his comment and pressed on, “I also have a large supply of bottled water and canned/packaged goods, which we should go over rationing later.”

“Do you have any pet-peeves I should know about? You obviously have an aversion to nudity. Anything else?”

“None I can really think of. Though I think we should try to take some time away from each other, so we don’t get cabin fever.”

“Okay, sure. Do you have a spare toothbrush?”

“Uh, yeah.”

“I should have asked earlier, but you’re not married or anything, right? There isn’t going to be some dude fighting through the storm to make it back to you, to find that you’re shacked up with me, is there?”

“No, I’m—I’m single.”

“Good. Same here.” I appreciated that he didn’t make me ask because I was almost too afraid of the answer. If a man like him was single, it was only because he chose to be. Was last night his typical night? Does he troll for drunk, vulnerable women to seduce into sleeping with him? Not that he needed his women drunk, but now that I was there stuck with him, I couldn’t help but think about the kind of man stuck there with me. It’s easy when all they have to do is pick up their clothes and leave. There’s nothing messy about it; just follow the typical protocol of creeping to the door quietly, and there are no questions to be answered, no awkward goodbyes.

“Look, this is your house and I don’t want to make you feel uncomfortable, so if there’s anything I could do to make this easier, just let me know. If that’s settled, I think we should look at how long we can actually stay cooped up in here with what’s available.”

“Okay, thankfully I just went grocery shopping yesterday, so the food should last us a bit. I’ll show you what I’ve got.”

We both got up from the couch, and he followed me through the dining room and into the kitchen. On the left, granite countertops formed a U shape following the perimeter of the walls. I’m not the cleanliest of people, but I can honestly say that my kitchen doesn’t reflect that. The fridge, microwave, and stove are stark white against the beige walls and tan-colored granite. The floors and cabinets are also white, which helps give it the “clean” look.

“Here is what I have in the fridge,” I said, opening the door and stepping to my left so he could look for himself. The kitchen was small, allowing me little space to open the fridge without hitting the cabinets. He moved in closer, and though he was touching the cabinets to the right, his body brushed against mine, making me think of the first time he touched me in the club.

That was the thing that struck me about Joel; never once had he taken into account his proximity to me. He hadn’t so much as second-guessed the way he touched me. Is this how he typically is with women, with people in general? Or is it just women he has or wants to have sex with? The thought of him sinking into me quickly evaporated when he started picking up the carton of eggs and looking at the dates on items.