Touch Me Not (Manwhore Series #1)

Chapter Seven

Lily gaped at Nikoli. How had he figured that out? "Awesome skills, there, Sherlock, but you couldn't be more wrong."

"I saw how you looked at him."

"Does it really matter?" She lowered her eyes, feeling dejected. She needed to learn to conceal her feelings better if Nikoli, a complete stranger, could see the truth.

"Of course, it matters," Nikoli said. "Does he know?"

"What do you think?" She focused her attention on the people walking along the sidewalk outside. "He's getting married in four months."

Nikoli stared at her, and it made her squirm. She couldn't quite read his expression, and it made her nervous. As long as they'd been talking about cars, she'd been fine. She adored cars as much as some women freaked out over shoes. To her surprise, she'd been having fun before Adam showed up. There weren't many people she could sit down and talk shop with. He'd surprised her.

"Why don't you tell him?" Nikoli asked her after a long moment.

"Because he thinks of me as his little sister," she admitted bitterly. "He's never seen me that way."

"Oh, I think you might be surprised there." Nikoli gaze swept to Adam and Sue's table. "The way he's glaring at me right now smacks of jealousy."

Lily forced herself to refrain from looking in Adam's direction.

"Again, you're wrong," she told him. "He's only looking out for me. I am, after all, going to dinner with Boston U's very own manwhore."

Beer spewed, and Lily laughed out loud. Nikoli looked at her, aghast.

"What did you just call me?" he demanded, his eyes smoldering.

"A manwhore," she replied sweetly.

"I am not a manwhore!" he denied hotly, which only made Lily laugh harder. He looked so shocked.

"Yes, yes, you are," she wheezed. "You sleep with a different woman every night, sometimes several a day. You define the word 'whore.' It's your nickname with most of the girls."

"I am a connoisseur of women," he growled. "Yes, I enjoy sex, but that doesn't make me a whore!"

Lily giggled, thinking about her earlier conversation with Janet about him hooking on the corner. She wondered what he'd say to that, but he looked so upset she decided to hold that little tidbit for later.

"I'm not sure I want to sleep with you anymore," he told her petulantly.

She only laughed harder. Gods, she hadn't laughed like this in ages. Her sides ached from it. She caught Adam staring at her from the corner of her eye. He looked bewildered and alarmed. It was almost as comical as the outraged look on Nikoli's face.

"This is a situation I've never been in before." Nikoli leaned back. "The girl I want to sleep with is in love with her best friend, who's getting married."

"It's not your average quandary," Lily agreed, trying to stop laughing.

Nikoli stared at her, his look calculating, and it made her nervous, drying up her laughter. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"I'm thinking, here, Lily Bells," he said softly, his eyes measuring.

Lily's sense of self-preservation went on high alert—DEFCON two, to be exact. Her eyes narrowed. "There's nothing to think about here, Nikoli. Adam's getting married, I'm moving to New York when we graduate, and you're not sleeping with me tonight."

"No, I'm not sleeping with you tonight," he agreed, shocking her. "I have other plans for you, Lily. Things we can't really discuss here, though."

"We can discuss anything you want right here out in the open." No way was she going anywhere private with him. That might not bode so well for her.