Touch Me Not (Manwhore Series #1)

Chapter Seventeen

"Can you start loading dirty dishes into the dishwasher, please?"

He jumped down and did as she asked. The sink only had a handful of dishes and several spoons. "Why are so many spoons dirty?"

"Tasting spoons. No one wants to eat after someone else. That's gross, Nikoli." She picked up the colander of meat and added it to the sauce, turning the burner off. "Where are your baking pans?"

He pulled out the drawer under the stove. There was exactly one pan. Thankfully, it was a large one. She took it, and he leaned against the counter beside the stove and watched her put the layers of lasagna together.

It felt good to have her in his kitchen, cooking. No one had cooked for him since he'd come to America. His uncle told them if they wanted dinner, it was up to them. They'd scrounged around. Ate lots of sandwiches and takeout. He hadn't had a home-cooked meal since he'd visited his parents over a year ago.

It was nice.

Once she'd put the pan in the oven, he helped her clean up. Neither of them spoke. Tension hummed in the air around them, and Nikoli fought to keep his hands to himself.

"It's gonna take about an hour for the lasagna to get done, and then it'll have to rest for another half hour or forty-five minutes."

"So, what do you want to do for the next two hours?" He knew what he'd like to do.

"Well..." She twisted her hands, one of her tells. "I thought...maybe..."

"You thought maybe what, Milaya?"

"You said we'd talk about Laney every day, and my therapist thinks it's a good idea."

"You talked to your therapist about us?"

She nodded. "She had some interesting thoughts about you."

"Really?"

"But I'm not telling you about our session, so don't ask. Doctor-patient confidentiality and all that."

"Okay, Lily Bells, I won't ask. Let me grab us some drinks out of the fridge, and then you can tell me a story about you and Laney."

She smiled hesitantly and picked up her bookbag off one of the barstools. When she sat down, she reached inside and pulled out a photo album.

He settled down beside her, handing her one of her nasty cherry Dr. Peppers.

"I haven't looked at this since before she died, but I thought maybe with you here, I might have the courage to open it."

He smiled and leaned over, careful to let her see what his intentions were, then kissed her temple. A shiver went through her, and he sat back, content. He was glad she trusted him enough to share something so personal with him.

Lily licked her lips and took a fortifying breath before opening the album to the first page. A picture of her and Laney took up the entire front page. They were eleven and at the state fair, cowboy hats perched on their heads, and they had on identical jean shorts and green tank tops.

"Which one are you?"

Lily felt his shoulder press into hers as he leaned over to look and let her breath out then breathed in deeply. As long as he didn't take her by surprise, she could tolerate him touching her. When it became too much, she knew he'd back off.

But for now, she liked how it felt, liked the heat seeping into her skin from his. It gave her the strength she needed to look at these photos.

"This one." She tapped the girl on the left. "We decided to dress alike and confuse everyone. By the time we were done, our parents were ready to murder us. It was a good day. One of the last days we spent together as a family. Dad died at the end of the summer."

"I'm so sorry you lost them both."

She turned the page. It was a picture of her, Laney, and Adam in front of the barn on his dad's farm. "Adam dared us to jump off the roof onto the hay bales. Laney didn't want to, but I was the first one up there. I broke my arm when I fell. Mom grounded us for a month. We were ten."

"And Boy Wonder?"

"I thought his dad was going to kill him. It was the one and only time I think his dad ever laid a hand on him, but he tore him up with a switch."

"A switch? What's that?"

"You guys didn't have those in Russia?"

"My English is good, but sometimes I don't always get all the different meanings of things."

"It's a tree branch they use to whip you with."

"His father whipped him with a tree branch?"

"Not a big one, a little one. Like I said, it was the only time he ever did that, but none of us knew how dangerous jumping off the roof of the barn could be. We might have died. I think that more than anything drove his father to do it. Sometimes, pain really is the only lesson you remember. I never jumped off a barn roof again. A broken bone hurts."

"I know. I've broken more than a few myself."

"You and your brothers raise hell growing up?"

"God, yes. Once Kade convinced Conner to hold a block of wood so he could chop it into firewood. Only he missed the wood, and the blade sliced through Conner's finger. Cut it off except for a little strip of skin. He ran into the house, blood squirting everywhere. Mama had just mopped the floor, and when she saw it, she almost passed out, but she grabbed him up and rushed him to the hospital. Papa was furious with all of us. I think we worked more that summer than we ever have. He used us as child labor to build a new fence, to put in a pond Mama wanted. We cleaned out the garage and so many other things. He kept us so busy, we didn't have time to get into trouble."

"Oh my God. Was your brother's finger all right?"

"Yeah. They sewed it back on, only what they used to stitch it up, he was allergic to. His finger swelled up so fat, it didn't even look like a finger. He was in the hospital for a month."

"You guys have us beat on crazy."

"Good thing too. Wouldn't want this beautiful skin scarred up." He took her hand and brought it to his lips. "This okay?"

She nodded. It was more than okay.

Lily let herself lean into him and showed him more pictures of her and Laney. Adam was in most of them. He'd grown up with them. They were all either at her house or his. She missed him. Maybe it was time to forgive him.

Nikoli laughed at the stories she told him. He'd tell her more things he and his brothers did growing up after each one she told him. They spent the rest of the evening exchanging stories, eating dinner, and having a nice evening.

It was simple, and one Lily loved.