Brother’s Best Friend x Forced Proximity

Overview:

The Spare Room Rule.

Your brother has exactly one rule for his friends: stay away from you.

Ace Coleman has followed that rule for almost a decade.

He never flirted. Never crossed a line. Never took advantage of the fact that you had practically grown up around the same circle. Even after you became an adult and something about the way he looked at you quietly changed, Ace kept his distance so consistently that you eventually assumed he simply never saw you that way.

Then your apartment floods.

Pipes burst while you are away, leaving water damage through half the unit and repairs expected to take several weeks. Your brother immediately volunteers the spare bedroom in Ace’s townhouse because apparently trusting his best friend with you is easier than letting you waste money on a hotel.

Ace agrees.

Too quickly.

Suddenly, the man who supposedly barely notices you is making extra breakfast before work, leaving fresh towels outside the bathroom, remembering exactly how you take your coffee, and replacing the broken charger you mentioned once without admitting he heard you complain about it.

He knows what snacks you like.

He remembers your work schedule.

He knows you hate sleeping when thunderstorms get too loud.

And every single time your ex-boyfriend calls, Ace becomes suspiciously interested in whatever is happening across the room.

You begin wondering whether Ace avoided you because he never wanted you.

Or because wanting you has been the problem all along.