Dare to Breathe Read Free

She stops and looks at me with her hands crossed in front of her chest. Is she kidding? I take a quick glance at Mandy who is nervously biting her lip and looking at the ground. Oh, shit. they actually want me to say something.
    “Umm…well trust me ladies,” I say with a small humorless smile. “I have no intention of getting involved with anyone!” If they knew my track record with boyfriends we would not even be having this conversation.
    They look at me intently then glance at each other.
    “Well, that’s all good then,” Carrie says, grabbing my hand, the tension gone from her face and body. “Let’s go introduce you properly to the wolves!”
    We head back downstairs towards the kitchen where I hear male voices. When we get there, the boys are sitting on the bar stools and their conversation stops. For the first time I take a proper look at them both. The one who was outside smoking has light-colored hair that is fairly long and falls into his face. He is tall and slim but well built. He reminds me of a typical surfer boy. His emerald eyes stare back at me with a small interested smile.
    “Hi, I’m Ben,” he says, standing up and coming up to me to shake my hand.
    I take an immediate automatic step backwards and just wave an awkward hello. I haven’t let a male touch me for a long, long time and although I know I must seem weird, I just can’t make myself start now.
    Ben’s smile falters for a moment but then he drops his hand and waves back, retreating to his chair.
    I try to make the situation less embarrassing. “Um…Hi Ben, nice to meet you.”
    His smile grows bigger and he nods back, stuffing a chip in his mouth, eyes still locked on me with interest.
    Another deep voice breaks my trance. “Hello Sam, I’m Nathan.”
    I look over at the voice and all the blood rushes to my face. This boy is seriously gorgeous and I know my body is betraying me with a furious blush. His dark hair flops over his face too but in a sexy rumpled way. His brown eyes are piercing and right now they are looking straight through my soul. Nathan does not rise to shake my hand and I feel instantly grateful. My eyes drop to his mouth which is slightly open. He has the most beautiful lips I have ever seen and for an instant I wonder what they would feel like on mine. What the hell is wrong with me?
    “Um, hi,” is all I can get out. Even though he’s sitting down, I notice he is tall. He wears jeans and a white shirt that shows off all his muscles. He looks fit, as if he works out, and I understand why Carrie gave me the heads up on him. I also notice the edge of a tattoo peeking out from the sleeve of his shirt. I have an instant desire for a closer look.
    One of the girls gently pushes my shoulder, reminding me I am in a room full of people. Carrie’s words come back to haunt me and I get my shit together.
    Chick magnet indeed!
    “This place looks great,” I say to them all. “Do you guys have any rules or anything I need to know about?”
    Carrie, Mandy, Ben and Nathan all get themselves comfortable on stools or the kitchen counter, while I lean against the fridge placing a little distance between us.
    “Well,” says Ben, “we all put money into the pot for food, which we take turns cooking and buying.” He points to a roster stuck onto the fridge. My heart drops, cooking! Oh, shit!
    “Ben is our resident chef so we try and let him cook as much as possible,” Nathan chips in with a smile.
    Ben continues. “Showers here need to be like, five minutes long as there is obviously only one bathroom, which we all share. If you bring someone home at night, make sure that they a) don’t eat all our food and b) that they don’t piss any of us off. I am the only one here who smokes and I only do that outside so if you smoke, then same rule applies.” He looks over at the others. “Anything else?”
    Carrie laughs out loud and I notice Mandy and Nathan smiling at me.
    “Nope,” someone says, “that about sums it