Hollywood Roommates by Elizabeth Briggs - Cover and First Chapter

A new romance in time for Valentine's Day!

Guess what? I have a new book coming out February 8th! And it's my steamiest book yet! In fact, I originally wrote the book and planned to publish it under a pen name because it's in a new genre for me (reverse harem/mfmm). But then I finished it, read it over, and loved it so much that I thought some of my current readers might love it too. And if reverse harem isn't your thing, don't worry - I have plenty more books coming later this year!

HOLLYWOOD ROOMMATES by Elizabeth Briggs - Coming Feb 8!

Three sexy actors. One curvy English teacher. An impossible rule just begging to be broken...

When my boyfriend dumps me, I need a new place to live, fast. Luckily my best friend offers me a solution: move in with her brother and his two roommates in his Malibu beach house. Sounds good, right?

Except my new roommates turn out to be three of the hottest actors in Hollywood. Each one is gorgeous, rich, and famous—and they’re all off-limits because there’s only one house rule: no sleeping together.

They could have any woman in the world, but to my surprise they each want me. Soon there’s a new rule: whatever I do with one guy, I do with all of them.

There’s no way this can end well, but how am I supposed to choose just one of my sexy-as-sin roommates?

Unless I don’t have to choose…

*This sexy standalone reverse harem romantic comedy is intended for readers 18+ due to mature content.*

Chapter One - Allie ---- of Hollywood Roommates by Elizabeth Briggs

The proposal is coming, I know it.

Parker, my sweet, handsome boyfriend, sits before me in a navy blue suit, the wind teasing at his dark, silky hair. The pink roses he brought me rest on the marble table beside our plates. Any second now he’s going to pull out a ring and pop the question. Why else would he invite me to this specific restaurant for lunch?

We’ve been dating a year. Living together for six months. It’s totally time.

“This past year has been really great, Allie,” Parker says.

I smile at him and take a sip of my wine. “Yes, it has.”

“And you’re such a great person.” He clears his throat and yanks on his tie, looking everywhere but me. He’s obviously nervous. Of course he is. A proposal is a big deal.

I reach across the table and rest a hand over his. “Moving in with you was one of the best decisions I ever made. Some people thought it was too soon, but it felt right. Don’t you think so?”

He slides his hand away. “Yeah. Um. It’s been great.”

Yes, I’m great, he’s great, we’re all great. Okay, so Parker isn’t a master of words and clearly hasn’t prepared this speech very well, but I can live with that. Everything else about him is perfect, after all. Or mostly perfect anyway. I mean, every couple has their problems, right?

Just when I start to wonder if he’s ever going to get the nerve to do it, I spot a plane behind him. One of those small ones, flitting low across the cloudless blue sky, leaving a trail of white in its wake. As the waiter clears our plates, the plane slowly spells out the words, MARRY ME.

Hope spreads throughout my chest. It’s happening. It’s really happening.

I smile even wider at Parker, who chugs his wine like it’s water and he’s on a desert island. How adorably nervous he is. I look up again, and there, below it…

Is that an A?

I sit up straighter in my chair, my heart racing. No wonder he wanted to sit outside today. I had no idea Parker was such a romantic. This skywriting stunt totally makes up for his lack of preparing a speech.

“You were saying…?” I ask, although I can’t stop looking at the letters forming behind his head. The next letter is an L, like in my name. This is it for sure. I want to kick my feet and squee.

Parker clears his throat. “Yeah. Um. Well. It’s been a year and I think it’s time we move on.”

I nod. C’mon next letter! “Exactly. Move forward. Couldn’t agree more.”

“I care about you a lot.”

“I care about you too.” The plane draws a straight line. The start of another L?

“And I want you to be happy.”

“Of course. I am. Happy, I mean.”

“I just think that—”

There it is. A second L! I can’t hold it in any longer. I jump to my feet and clasp my hands to my chest. “Yes, I’ll marry you!”

He looks up at me with his mouth hanging open. “What?”

I sit back down with a giggle. “Sorry, I just got excited. I should have waited for you to ask me first.” I smooth the skirt of my dress and smile at him. “Okay, I’m ready. Go for it.”

His eyebrows pinch together, causing a deep line to form between them. “Why would you think I’m proposing?”

“This is the restaurant where we had our first date. You brought me flowers. And of course, there’s that.” I gesture to the skywriting behind him. The plane has already begun to form the next letter, which I know will be an I.

He turns in his chair to look. “Oh, shit.”

Wait a second. Is that…an E?

Parker turns back around as a sour feeling hits my stomach. “Allie, I’m not proposing.”

“You’re not?” No, that can’t be right. The pilot is clearly spelling my name wrong. Probably switching the I and the E. I stare up at the plane, hoping with everything I have that the letters will magically change.

“No. I’m trying to break up with you.”

My eyes snap to his face. “What?”

“Look there’s no good way to say this. I want to see other people. Well, one person. I met someone. At work.”

“You…met someone.” My head spins. The letter is definitely an E, not an I. Followed by another one that looks like it’s going to be an N. No, no, no, that can’t be right. This isn’t how this lunch is supposed to go at all.

“I was trying to break it to you easily.” Parker shakes his head. “Shit. I can’t believe you thought I was proposing.”

I stare at him, my mouth dry. Behind his head, the letters clearly spell a name that isn’t my own. Somewhere nearby, a guy named Allen is getting engaged and I’m not.

When I can speak, my voice is small. “But the restaurant. The flowers.”

“I completely forgot we went here on our first date. It’s a convenient spot near my office, that’s all. And I brought the flowers because I feel bad.” He folds his hands on the table. “Especially because I need you to move out.”

I reach for my glass of water, but his words shock me so much I knock it over. The water spreads across the table and onto Parker’s lap. Who, frankly, kind of deserves it. “You want me to move out?”

He grabs a napkin, his mouth twisting in annoyance as he wipes at the water. “Yeah. By the end of the week. So Amy can move in.”

I’m being replaced by another girl whose name starts with A. I don’t know why that makes it even worse somehow, but it does. First Allen got my proposal and now Amy is getting my apartment. I can’t tell if I’m about to break down into tears or go into a mindless rage and upend the table on Parker. Probably both, especially as his words sink in.

“How long have you been seeing her?” I ask.

Parker ducks his head, like he expects me to throw something at it. “About two months now.”

“Two. Months.” My whole world has turned upside down. All this time I’ve been mentally planning our wedding while he’s been banging some other girl.

“It just happened. A dumb work fling, but then it turned into more. I’m sorry.”

“You’re sorry?” My voice is veering into screeching territory and I don’t give a single fuck. “You’ve been cheating on me for two whole months and you’re kicking me out of our apartment and you’re sorry?”

Parker glances around at the other diners, who are all staring at us. “Keep your voice down. Like I said, I never meant to hurt you, but I really need you out of my place by the end of the week.”

The absolute nerve of him. He knows how much this screws me over. I’m so upset I can’t even form words. Instead, I grab my wine and toss it in his face. For a second I savor his look of shocked horror that probably mirrors my own, and then I turn on my heel and storm out of the restaurant.

On the sidewalk two men are kissing, one in an expensive charcoal suit, the other in a beige delivery uniform. They break apart as I walk by, beaming at each other, and I catch the name Allen on the front of the uniform.

 “Congrats,” I tell them, smiling through my tears. At least one of us is having a good day.

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