I’m only supposed to be here temporarily, but every minute I spend with Laura makes me determined never to leave. And it pays off, in the best ways possible. Being perpetually hard around her, hearing her moan every night-it’s more than I can take. I’m not a pushy guy, but a man has his limits. And sexual, if the sounds seeping through the paper-thin wall separating our bedrooms are any indication. What the guy across the office doesn’t tell me? That his mom is ten-out-of-ten hot. I’m told the place is clean, and the woman is easy to get along with. House hunting is a slow process, and hotel living sucks, so I jump at the opportunity to temporarily rent a room from my coworker’s mother. Hudson is fodder for my mind, but that’s all he can be… until the night he puts every fantasy I’ve had to shame. Fantasizing about him when I’m lying in my bed. Or using him for inspiration while I write my current romance novel. Turns out, my son’s coworker isn’t a like-minded gaming geek. But that’s not the background noise I get when Hudson moves in.

I never thought I’d miss the sounds of video games, but apparently, I do. Everywhere I turn in my tiny house, Hudson is there. The house is too quiet since my twenty-five-year-old baby moved out. Now my house is filled with the masculine grunting of a very fit, very handsome, younger man who owns shirts, but isn’t inclined to wear them. I never thought I’d miss the sounds of video games, but apparently, I do.īut that’s not the background noise I get when Hudson moves in. When my son asks if I’ll rent the spare bedroom to his new friend from work, I figure, why not? The house is too quiet since my twenty-five-year-old baby moved out.

Fleshing It Out by Karla Doyle