Page 18 of Touch Me Not (Manwhore #1)

CHAPTER TWELVE

Ignoring all the stares, he strode down her hallway and banged on the door. No answer. What the devil was she doing? His car was outside, so she had to be here. He knocked on the door again, and still nothing.

“She’s not in there.”

Nikoli turned to see a familiar face. The lusty blonde from yesterday. “Where is she?” he demanded, irritated.

“What do you want with Lily?”

“I want my damn car keys,” he muttered. “Look, Stacey…”

“Stacey?” Lusty Blonde gasped.

“Suzie?” he tried again.

“Stephanie!” she seethed.

“Where’s Lily?” He ignored her outrage.

“None of your business,” she told him. “She’s not stupid enough to fall for your…”

“Steph?” Nikoli let out a small sigh of relief when he heard Lily’s soft voice. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah, fine, just telling jerk-face here to leave you alone.”

Lily laughed. “It’s okay, Steph. He’s here to get his car.”

She opened her door and ushered him inside.

She stayed to talk to the girl for a minute, and Nikoli used the time to look around her room.

He’d been so focused on her last night, he hadn’t really seen anything.

There were no pink and purple pillows anywhere as he’d half expected.

She didn’t really scream “girly” to him, but most women he knew had a deep affection for pink and purple.

Instead, her comforter was a deep red. She had an oversized beige chair in one corner.

Her laptop sat on the desk, a simple desktop lamp beside it.

A microwave took up residence on an end table, and a TV, PS5, and DVD player sat on top the chest of drawers the school provided every student.

There was also a desktop computer under the desk as well.

The most telling thing about the room, however, were all the books Lily had stacked everywhere.

They weren’t in your face, but if you went to sit, you’d be hard pressed not to find a book.

She loved books. He filed that little fact away. It might come in handy later.

“Done ogling my room?” she asked, closing the door.

“For the minute. Keys?”

She fished his keys out of her desk drawer. “She runs like a dream.” Tossing the keys to him, she smirked. “Stop being a sore loser and pouting.”

He caught the keys and shoved them in his pocket. “I don’t pout.”

“You’re mad because I won,” she said, laughter shining in her eyes.

“You had to know there was no way your ‘baby’ could have kept up with the Mach 1. Or did you expect me not to know how to handle a racer since my dad died when I was twelve? Did you think I’d granny drive her because I’d be afraid of the horsepower? ”

Well, yeah, he had thought that, dammit.

“Sorry, Nikoli. Cars are my thing. I’ve been driving forever, and I can handle a car better than you. Guaranteed.”

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“How old were you when you started driving?”

“Fifteen, why?”

“Three,” she said smugly. “Trust me when I say I can handle a stick better than you.”

She had to be the sexiest woman he’d ever met. “Hmm…you can handle a stick better than me, can you, Lily Bells?”

He watched the blush work its way up her neck to bloom onto her cheeks. He was going to have fun discovering where it started, and soon.

“I didn’t mean it that way, and you know it!” she sputtered.

“Oh, Milaya , the things you could do to my stick…”

Lily’s eyes widened when Nikoli started to prowl closer to her, his body conveying his intent. She backed away slowly but soon hit the closet door. Nikoli kept coming. He stopped a bare inch away from her. Her pulse sped up, and she glanced everywhere but at his face.

“Eyes up, Lily.” His voice sounded firm, hard, a command, and she automatically looked up. His eyes burned with a deep, lazy fire that stole the air from her lungs. His warm breath feathered over her face. “Are you okay?”

Lily nodded, surprised he’d asked her. More surprising was the fact she was okay.

The panic was there, but it was manageable.

Instead, different sensations assaulted her.

Her breath was a little shallow, butterflies fluttered in her stomach, and she felt her own blood begin to burn with something that she didn’t recognize.

It didn’t scare her, exactly. She felt…excited.

Her hands moved restlessly, and she started to fidget.

“Stay still,” Nikoli barked, his voice stern. “Don’t move, dushka .”

“I said not to…”

Nikoli put a finger to her lips, but it was gone before she could even process it fully. “Hush, Milaya . It’s hard enough not to touch you. If you start talking, I will kiss you.”

DEFCON five started flashing in her head, but her body refused to listen to her. It wanted him to touch her, to kiss her. In this moment, she’d never wanted something as badly as she wanted him to touch her.

He must have seen it in her eyes, because his own breathing came out a little more labored. “Do you want me to touch you, Milaya ?”

“Yes,” she whispered, “but I’m afraid.”

“I know,” he said, his voice soft, “but I’m very proud of you, Lily. You’ve come a long way in just a day. You truly are magnificent.”

Lily took a shaky breath, his praise washing through her.

Nikoli’s voice was like velvet, wrapping around her, making her feel things in places she shouldn’t.

How could just his voice make her want to clench her thighs?

Dear God, she was starting to understand how so many women abandoned their clothes because of that Russian accent of his.

It could make you imagine all sorts of naughty things.

“Lily…”

Nikoli and Lily turned to see Adam standing in the doorway, staring in shock at the two of them. It only took a moment for his expression to turn to one of fury. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“Came to pick up my keys,” Nikoli replied, turning so Lily was behind him. “No one teach you to knock?”

Adam growled, coming into the room. Nikoli rolled his shoulders, preparing for a fight. He’d like nothing better than to shove his fist in Boy Wonder’s face after that shit he’d pulled on Lily last night.

Lily sidestepped Nikoli, and he turned baleful eyes upon her. Didn’t the woman know when to stay put?

“Adam, what do you want?” she said, resigned.

“I came to talk to you, to apologize, but I see you are busy doing…”

“Don’t,” Nikoli said softly.

“You need to get the fuck out,” Adam snarled. “I came to talk to Lily, not you.”

“But I’m not ready to talk to you, Adam.” Lily walked over to the door and motioned for Adam to leave. “What you did…I can’t just forget it. At least not yet. You need to leave.”

“Lily, please,” Adam begged. “We can’t leave it like this.”

“You should have thought of that before you decided to be an ass,” Nikoli told him. “Now, get out.”

“Lily, you can’t trust him.”

“Right now, I trust him more than I do you.”

Adam’s face paled, but he nodded. “I’m sorry, Lils, for everything. I’ll make this right.” He started to leave but stopped in front of her. “I swear to you I will.” He gave her a quick hug, looking sad when her entire body flinched.

Nikoli noticed the flinch. She’d been around him all day, and she’d stopped flinching when he touched her. His plan was working. The longer she was around him, and the more he forced her to get used to his touch, the less it scared her.

Odd that Adam scared her, though. They’d been around each other since they were little kids.

She had to know the feel of him better than anyone else.

She even admitted that Adam had tried to help her in the beginning.

Maybe the key was she hadn’t wanted to be helped back then.

She wanted help now. Either way, it was a win-win for him.

Lily was pale when she closed the door. Nikoli had wanted to try to push her a little farther, but he knew that was probably out of the question now. “You want to come over for a while? Luther would love to hear all the details of how you kicked my ass today.”

She smiled but shook her head. “No, I have some stuff I need to do, and I promised some of the girls we’d watch a movie later. Besides, I’m not sure I want to go to your place…ever.”

“Why the hell not?” he asked indignantly. What was wrong with his place?

“It can’t be at all sterile.” Lily shuddered at the thought. “I mean, I’ve heard the stories about your furniture.”

Nikoli grinned his lazy grin. “We are going to have some fun on that furniture too.”

She shook her head. “You plan on having me sit, yeah?”

“Sit, bend over, lie down,” Nikoli purred. “On the couch, the table, the bed…yes, Milaya , you are going to become very intimate with my furniture.”

“Not in this lifetime.” She grimaced. “God only knows what kind of fluids are still there. You want me to come over? Get some new furniture, especially the table.”

“You want me to get rid of perfectly good furniture just so you’ll come over?”

“I want you to get rid of the nasty furniture covered in countless diseases.”

“It’s not covered in diseases.” He rolled his eyes. The chick was being ridiculous.

“How often do you clean your couch?” she countered. “Do you scrub your table in bleach afterward? Do you realize you could be eating nasty fluids?”

He frowned. “No.”

“So gross, Nikoli. I’m not stepping foot in that place until you clean it. There, or your other place, for that matter.”

“Lily, you were just there last night.”

“I wasn’t thinking about it then!” she yelled. “If you think for one second I’m getting into a bed other women have been in, you’re insane!”

He laughed. “I’ll buy new sheets.” He didn’t think she even realized what she’d said and where her thoughts were taking her. If she was talking about getting into bed, his chances just got a whole lot better.

“Not gonna happen, buster!” She pointed at him. “It’s the principle of the thing. Every time I look at it, I’ll think about all the women who’ve been in it before.”

Nikoli laughed out loud at her offended expression.

“It’s not funny!” she fumed.