by Ellis, Aven
I open the door to the hip restaurant, and people are crowded around the waiting area. The smell of warm cinnamon rolls and fresh brewed coffee greets me when I step inside. I drink it in, as I love the scent of breakfast.
I’m about to go to the hostess stand to put our name on the list when I spot him.
Oh shit. Shit. I should never have agreed to this.
Niko is leaning up against a wall, reading a folded up newspaper with one hand. He has his right leg braced against the wall behind him. He’s wearing a blue and green plaid shirt with a gray crewneck over the top. His jeans are well-worn and fit him just right.
And in his left hand he’s holding a motorcycle helmet.
I’m rooted to where I’m standing. Niko is simply sexy-as-hell, with his dark hair and the way his five o’clock shadow shades his gorgeous olive skin, but he rides a motorcycle, too?
I need to cancel. I need to run. I need to get out of here because it’s going to be too damn hard to sit across a table from him and fight back desire for him.
It’s freaking impossible.
But while I’m considering my options, he lifts his eyes from his paper. And through those long black eyelashes, his Mediterranean Sea-colored eyes meet mine.
A smile lights up his gorgeous face, revealing the dimple in his cheek, and, oh, I’m so beyond screwed.
I make myself approach him, and my stupid-should-know-better heart is humming with excitement.
“Hey, Lexi,” Niko says, grinning at me. “Good to see you.”
“You beat me here,” I tease, smiling back at him.
“I’m starving,” he admits. “So I got here early to get our name on the list.”
A man jostles me from behind in the crowded waiting area and I’m pushed into Niko’s chest.
The second I brush against him, his crazy sexy scent washes over me. I breathe in his rich spice and cedar cologne, and as soon as I do, guilt floods me.
He’s my coworker.
I don’t need to get turned on by the scent lingering on his olive skin.
I blush furiously and push back from him.
“Sorry,” I manage.
“No worries.”
I clear my throat. “So how was the road trip? Other than losing the last game?”
“It went really well,” Niko says, moving to place the newspaper back in the rack where he apparently took it from. “I was able to go out with the traveling crew and get to know them better. Shared some dinners, that kind of thing, but I was ready to come home.”
I bite down on my lip. Oh, how I wish I were the reason he wanted to come back to Dallas.
“Niko, party of two,” the hostess calls out.
Niko motions for me to go first, and he falls into step behind me. The hostess greets us, grabs some menus, and leads us to a nice booth in front of a window.
I slide into my seat, and Niko moves in across from me, putting his helmet down first.
“So you ride?” I ask, nodding in the direction of his helmet as I flip open my menu.
“Yeah,” Niko says, his eyes sparkling. “My bike is my guilty pleasure. I bought one after I got my first full-time TV gig.”
“What kind of motorcycle do you have?”
Niko rubs his hand over his jawline. “Uh, a BMW R 1200 RT.”
“BMW makes motorcycles?” I ask, clueless.
Niko laughs. “Yes. For a very, very long time.”
“Obviously my BMW motorcycle education is lacking,” I admit.
“I’ll tutor you,” Niko says, flipping open his menu and casting his eyes downward.
I shift my gaze to his full lips. I’d prefer you’d tutor me in kissing.
“So what’s good here?”
I blink, horrified by my thoughts. I’ve got to get myself together. He’s a coworker. A friend. What the hell am I thinking? Do I have a desire to torture myself by dreaming of things that will never happen?
Yes. Apparently I do.
I refocus my attention to the menu. “I can only speak for one thing,” I say, “because I get it every time I come here. But I love the Cap’n Crunch French toast. With a side of bacon.”
Niko glances up at me, once again looking through his amazing fringe of eyelashes. “Is that right?”
Our server stops by and we order some coffee. After she leaves, I grin at Niko.
“It’s crazy good. Sweet and crunchy cereal on the outside, drenched in maple syrup . . . I can’t resist it. And I don’t even try to.”
“I like that about you.”
I furrow my brow. “You like what?”
“You like to eat,” Niko says, shifting his gaze back to the selections on the menu. “My last girlfriend didn’t. Going out to eat was an ordeal because she was really picky. I think there were about five foods she ate.”
“There has to be more than five.”
“Hmm. Maybe seven. But not more than eight.”
We both laugh at that. The server comes back, setting down two big mugs of coffee for us. We place our orders, with me going for the Cap’n Crunch French toast and Niko getting scrambled eggs, hash browns, and toast.
I reach for the creamer and dump some into my coffee. I pick up my spoon and begin to swirl it into the hazelnut-infused house blend.
“So what’s the story on the last girlfriend?” I ask. “Besides the fact that she liked no more than eight foods, and I’m sure you’re grossly underestimating that fact.”
Niko arches an eyebrow at me. “Oh, are you defending her now?”
“Be careful, Niko, slander isn’t nice,” I tease.
He laughs. “So the story on Jessica who I shall not slander is an easy one. We dated for two years, but the last six months were nothing but dragged-out drama. She hated that I traveled for my job. It was hard on her, and I could never do enough to reassure her that I missed her when I was on the road. And when I was home I needed to spend every minute with her, and if I wasn’t with her, I was reassuring her that I wanted to be with her.”
“That sounds suffocating,” I say softly.
Niko is quiet for a moment. “It was. But I’m gone a lot, and it’s something that a woman has to be willing to take on when they date me. And when I’m home working, I’m not around for dinner. I work late. Then add my family dynamic and it’s enough to send any sane woman screaming. It wasn’t worth it for Jessica. I guess I wasn’t enough for her in the end.”
Surprise fills me. Niko thinks he wasn’t enough? Jessica was lucky to have him, and she was too stupid not to see it.
And I’d be willing to deal with all of that to be with him. Niko is worth it. I know he is.
“So what about you?” Niko asks, interrupting my thoughts. “Did your ex eat more than ten foods?”
I laugh. “I don’t have many ex-boyfriends.”
“Come on.”
I shrug. “Not recent ones. I date, but I haven’t met anyone I’d like to see on a regular basis.”
Except for you, I think.
Damn it! I need to stop this. Niko has made it clear to me, and even to guys he works with at TATS, that he doesn’t date coworkers. I need to say it out loud. I need to put it out there and have him confirm it before these feelings get more out-of-control than they already are.
“Besides, it’s not like I’m going to date anyone I work with,” I lie, taking a sip of my coffee. “And that’s where I am most of the time—at work—so it kind of limits my dating pool, so to speak.”
I study him for a reaction. Niko’s face briefly changes. Almost like he was upset by what I said. My breath catches in my throat. Hope fills me. Could Niko be changing his mind about that, about dating at work?
Could I be the one that changes his rules?
“Right
.” Niko shifts his gaze to the sunny streets of Uptown for a moment. Then he turns back to me. “I understand where you are coming from. Dating a coworker. That makes things complicated, doesn’t it?”
My throat goes dry. “Um, yes.”
“So it’s not worth the risk,” he says softly. “Right?”
I force myself to nod as any shred of hope I have evaporates into thin air. “Exactly.”
But as the word passes my lips, my heart wants to take it back.
You’re worth the risk, Niko. I’d take that risk for you.
But I can’t say that. Not when it’s obvious he’s not interested in me in that way.
My head understands.
But my heart is struggling.
And I have no idea how to reconcile the two.
“I think you’re wrong,” Kenley declares. “Niko likes you.”
I blush furiously. We’re shopping in Uptown on Saturday afternoon, looking at dresses for Dallas Demons Casino Night. And while Kenley is wandering around trying to find the perfect outfit for the event, I fill her in on the brunch date I had a few hours earlier with Niko.
“Yes, as a friend,” I emphasize. “Now more than ever I’m convinced of that fact.”
“I disagree.”
“Why do you refuse to believe I have once again been dealt the friend card? You have seen this over and over. It always happens when I like a guy. Why should Niko be any different?”
“Because it is,” Kenley says simply. “And since you haven’t been dealt the friend card, you should try on this one.” She stops and selects a short, gold-beaded dress, smiling as she takes it off the rack. “Niko would like to see some leg I’m sure.”
“I’m not going,” I say firmly. “I have no business being there.”
Kenley puts the dress back and rolls her eyes. “Would you stop? Of course you do. You’re coming with me. And CiCi won’t let you get out of it either. If she’s going, you’re going.”
I lift an eyebrow. “How did you get your mother to agree to this?”
Kenley moves across the hardwood floor, to another display of festive party dresses.
“Mom’s new life coach has told her to broaden her mind with new experiences,” Kenley says, pausing and studying another shimmery dress. “So she said she would go with her girls. And by girls, I mean me, Amanda, and you.”
“But I don’t want it to seem like I’m there trying to see Niko.”
Because as the Dallas Demons producer, Niko is sure to be at Casino Night.
Kenley lets out an exasperated breath. “Would you stop? This isn’t a fraternity party back at TCU. You aren’t going to be standing around with a red Solo cup next to a keg waiting for him to walk in. This is a professional charity event. One your best friend is working. You have every right to be there. Looking gorgeous of course.”
Despite how my heart is hurting right now, I laugh.
“Lexi, Niko wants to see you. I saw the way he looked at you at the Demons Club, and it wasn’t the way a man looks at a friend. And I don’t know why you two are wasting time with this ‘we can only be friends’ crap when it’s so obvious you both want something more.”
“Kenley, he told me that he wants to be friends. Why are you refusing to let this go?”
“Not all men make a move right away,” Kenley says knowingly as she circles another display. “Look at Nate. He liked me but was too afraid to act on it at first.”
“Niko isn’t Nate.”
“No, he’s not. But come on, Lexi. He held your hands to warm them. If that doesn’t scream I’m interested I don’t know what does.”
“He was simply being nice.”
“Would you listen to yourself? Nobody is that nice!”
On some points here Kenley is making sense. But yet I know what he told Jake about not dating where he works . . .
“Niko made it clear he doesn’t date where he works.”
Kenley stops and stares at me. “To you?”
I swallow. “Um, no, to a guy in my department.”
“Well, what did you expect him to say? He just started there, Lexi. Do you think a guy like Niko, who by all accounts is a classy, good guy, would say to some random coworker that he’s hot for you?”
As I consider her words, I see my situation with Niko in a new light.
Could Kenley be right?
Could Niko be interested after all?
Then I remember what I said to him only a few hours ago at brunch.
About me not dating coworkers.
“Oh no,” I gasp. “I’m going to be sick.”
Kenley’s face fills with concern. “What? What’s wrong?”
I draw a breath of air as nausea fills me. “I messed this up. I completely messed this up.”
“Lexi, how is that possible?”
I draw a breath of air, trying to get the knot in the pit of my stomach to go away. “I told Niko I don’t date where I work.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I thought that’s what he wanted to hear.”
Kenley wrinkles her nose. “Okay, not the best thing you could have said to him, but that still doesn’t make this impossible.”
“Of course it does!”
“Not when two people like each other. You can only fight an excuse for so long,” Kenley declares. Then she flashes me a knowing smile. “And if he hasn’t asked you out by Casino Night, he will as soon as he sees you there. Because you are going to look hot that evening.”
“Kenley, I—”
Kenley grabs me by the shoulders. “Enough of this. You’re going to continue to get to know Niko and spend time with him. If nothing happens, so be it, but right now my gut tells me something is going to happen. Now are you going to continue to waste time, or are you going to shop for a sexy dress for Casino Night?”
I see the belief in her eyes, and I allow belief to flicker in my heart once again, too.
Kenley might be right.
Maybe our attraction is both ways.
“Okay,” I say, nodding.
“Finally.” Kenley turns her attention back to the rack and whips out a long, platinum, sequined maxi skirt, one with a high slit up the side. “This would be so chic with a black halter top. I’m trying this on.”
I nod, thinking it would look sophisticated and sexy on Kenley.
“And this,” Kenley says, grabbing a sequined, champagne-colored shift dress off the rack, “would be perfect for Holly. I’ll take a picture of it and see if she wants me to pick it up for her.”
Holly is Nate’s sister, who is a senior at Northwestern. And she’s going to fly down to attend Casino Night, too.
“I’m going to check out the necklaces,” Kenley says. “But would you please stop worrying and go find something beautiful to try on? Casino Night might be lucky for you, and I’m not talking about blackjack.”
I stand rooted to the floor, watching as Kenley goes off to the necklace display and begins studying all the glitzy pieces beckoning her attention. But her words stay stuck in my head.
Could Casino Night be my lucky night?
I wander through the boutique, once again trying to sort out my conversation with Niko and what Kenley’s interpretation of my situation is in my head.
And then I see it.
My dress.
I move to the display in the corner of the store. On a mannequin I spot a gorgeous black dress. It’s short with spaghetti straps. The bodice is all sequins, and flirty tiers of fringe cascade down to right above the knee.
I pick up the hanger, and the fringe sways sexily back and forth. Excitement fills me as I take the dress and find a mirror. I hold it up to my chest, watching as the layers sway against me, and I love the way it looks without ev
en trying it on.
It’s everything I want to feel on Casino Night. Classy and fun and flirty. I want Niko to see those qualities in me when I walk in the room wearing this dress.
I want him to want me.
I blush again. I’ve never felt this way before. Yes, I’ve had boyfriends in the past—way, way in the past—and of course I’ve had sex. But everything with Niko is different. There’s a maturity between us. We’re so on the same page in life—starting our careers, wanting to build our professional lives with TATS. We share the same dry sense of humor, the same obsession for random pop culture facts, the same passion for hockey. I love his sensitivity and the way he’s representing himself to others. He’s thoughtful and gentle, yet stands up for what he wants. And his looks and sexiness is simply the icing on the cake.
He’s a good man. The kind of man every woman should want in her life.
I stare at my reflection in the mirror, clutching this beautiful dress to my chest. I imagine walking into the event, and Niko seeing me from across the room. And maybe this moment will be what pushes us from coworkers to something more.
Determination fills me.
I want this good man to be my man.
And perhaps Casino Night will be the night that everything changes.
Chapter 12
The One Online Dating Service Profile Question: How long will you wait for a guy to make the first move?
My write-in answer: When it’s a guy like Niko, I’ll wait however long it takes . . .
I’m in such a good mood this morning it’s stupid.
It’s Monday, the week before Thanksgiving. And this year, I feel like I have so much to be grateful for. I swipe my ID badge against the employee entrance of TATS, and I feel so blessed to be walking through these doors, even if it is at the early morning hour of seven o’clock.
And today I’m editing my first Demons Magazine show.
I feel electricity shoot through me as I open the doors. I met with the producer, Mike Sullivan, last Friday. We went over the four segments of the show, how he wanted it laid out, and the music he wanted. My job is to take the video segments and polish it up to create the actual TV show.
