by Apryl Baker
Sighing, she shook her head and headed for the bookstore. Maybe at least something would go right today and her book would be in.
Nik watched Lily walk away from the crowd gathered under the tree and debated following her. She was going to prove to be a challenge. He couldn’t think of a single time he’d ever had to work for a woman. They usually fell all over him, but not Lily. She had outright told him she had no interest whatsoever in him. Maybe she was just playing hard to get? Something told him that wasn’t her game, though. She had zero interest in him, and it rattled him.
Luther joined him under the tree, and the disgusting grin across his face irked Nik almost enough to punch his best friend. Not that it wasn’t warranted; it just rankled he could wear the grin at all. This was a new experience for him, and he didn’t like it one bit.
“She shut you down in less than a minute!” Luther crowed.
“Shut the hell up, man,” he grouched.
Luther laughed. “Hell, no. This is a first, and I am going to take extreme advantage of all the ribbing I can do.”
“Not for long,” Nik said darkly.
“Leave it alone, Nik.” All the laughter had gone out of Luther’s voice. “Lily is not the kind of girl you just fuck.”
“Then what kind of girl is she?” Nikoli’s mind was already plotting how to get her into his bed.
“She’s the kind of girl you marry,” Luther told him.
“That’s bullshit, man,” Nik scoffed. “They’re all the same, just have to figure out the right notes to hit with her.”
Luther shook his head. “Your funeral.”
Nikoli knew Luther was only looking out for him, but Luther’s warning wasn’t going to deter him.
He always got what he wanted.
Chapter Three
The bookstore was just as crowded as Lily suspected it would be. All the new freshmen were eager to get their things sorted quickly. At least this was her last year here, the last year she’d have to deal with seeing Adam and Sue together. He was her best friend and she loved him, but being around him hurt a lot. He never saw what was in front of him. He preferred the blonde airheads.
With a sigh, she fought her way to the front counter, only to discover the book had not yet arrived. Class started on Monday, and they didn’t expect it in until sometime next week. Well, that was just flippin’ great. Dejected, Lily made her way back to the cafeteria. At least she might be able to grab a bite to eat before she needed to go check on the girls at the dorm. She was in charge of one of the floors and got a steep discount on her room and board because of it. The do’s and don’ts speech she had to give later this evening was not something she looked forward to. Inevitably, each semester someone just had to try sneaking either booze or their boyfriends into their rooms after hours. College kids were college kids, no matter the school.
Lily snagged a salad and a Coke before heading into the main lunch room. She nodded to people as she passed. Several waved her over to their tables, but she wasn’t in the mood for chit chat. Depressed over Adam’s deciding to bail on lunch, she refused to try to be sociable with anyone else. Instead, she found an empty table and sat. If people came over, she’d just excuse herself, but most people knew to leave her alone when she sat by herself.
Stabbing a piece of tomato, she imagined it was Sue’s smiling face. What she wouldn’t give to be able to tell that woman what she really thought of her, but Adam loved her, and that was that. Lily had been determined to put her feelings for Adam behind her, but how could she when he was there all the time?
Boston was supposed to be Lily’s escape from everyone and everything from her past, but Adam found out she was going here and decided to tag along. She’d specifically chosen Boston because he wanted to go to LSU. He’d been given a full football scholarship there. Who knew he’d go and change his mind? Boston offered him a full scholarship too, but their team was nothing compared to LSU.
At first, she’d taken it as a sign that maybe she meant more to him than she’d first thought. The man had followed her to Boston over LSU. She later found out he didn’t think she could handle it on her own, and his big brother instincts had kicked in, trying to protect her like he always did. He’d never see her as anything but a little sister. Then he’d met Sue in their sophomore year. Nail—coffin.
New York was her new out. She’d worked her ass off over the summer, and it paid off. The literary agency where she’d interned told her they’d be willing to take her on as an assistant to one of the agents when she graduated. Lily loved books, and the opportunity to work where she could one day represent authors who wrote awesome books was amazing to her. She, herself, was polishing up a manuscript to start sending off to prospective agents. Now that she’d had the opportunity to understand what agents looked for when reading query letters and partials, she had a better grip on how to present her own work to them.
“So is it just me, or men in general?”
Lily’s head snapped up to see Nikoli sitting down at her table. Her eyes narrowed. He gave her a grin designed to melt her bones—and it did—but she refused to let him see how much he affected her. Right now, she just needed to get up and get out. She’d come over here to sulk in peace and quiet, not listen to BU’s self-proclaimed connoisseur of women attempt to hit on her for the second time today with that sexy Russian accent of his.
“I think it’s just you,” she told him with a sigh. There went her lunch. Maybe she’d be able to grab a bite after her floor meeting with the girls.
“Aw, now, Lily Bells, that’s not very nice.” Nikoli’s smile widened when he saw the flush creep up her face. “Everybody says you’re the nicest girl around.”
“Did we, or did we not, already have this conversation?” she asked. “I have no plans to sleep with you, so go find some other poor, unsuspecting girl to play with.”
Nikoli laughed outright at that. “Sweetheart, I don’t do poor, unsuspecting females. They know what they’re in for right up front. Sex. That’s all I want, and if they delude themselves into thinking anything else, it’s not my problem. I want to make sure you understand that right up front too. It’s just sex. Mind blowing sex, but still, just a one-time deal.”
Nikoli watched her roll her eyes at him. It irritated him, but it fascinated him as well. She seemed to be insulted that he’d decided to have sex with her, which didn’t sit well with him at all. There wasn’t another girl in this cafeteria who would turn him down, and he knew it, so why was he bothering with Lily Holmes? Because she didn’t want him, dammit. That rankled.
“Why don’t you want to sleep with me?” he asked curiously, not sure if he wanted to know the answer or not.
She wrinkled her nose and screwed up her eyes. “God only knows what diseases you have.”
“I use condoms, or we don’t do shit,” he told her, offended. “I get regular health checks too.”
“The very fact that you need to get checked for STDs regularly is a complete and total turn off.” Her voice dripped with disgust.
“No, it just means I’m smart,” he countered. “I won’t apologize for liking sex. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” Oddly, though, looking into her blue eyes full of scorn and disdain, he was just a little bit ashamed of how many partners he’d had over the years, and that made him mad. “Is that why you’re so uptight, Lily Bells? Do you need to get laid and are just too ashamed to admit to your own needs?”
He watched her face go pale and frowned. Was she ashamed of sex? When she shot out of her seat and prepared to storm off, he grabbed her wrist, and she yanked it back with a look of terror on her face for a fraction of a second. He could almost think he’d imagined it if he hadn’t been looking directly at her.
“Don’t touch me,” she hissed. “Don’t you ever fucking touch me!” Her voice was barely above a whisper, but all eyes in the cafeteria settled on her. She had no idea how beautiful she looked with her ivory skin all flushed and her blue eyes flashing. It made him want to do some very
naughty things to her, but he ignored his own lust for a minute. Something was wrong here. Very, very wrong.
“Calm down, Lily Bells,” he said softly. “I didn’t mean any harm. I just didn’t want you to run.”
“I wasn’t running,” she said hotly. “I just didn’t want to suffer your unbearable ego one more minute.”
He stared at her, his eyes sweeping from those luscious lips to her perky breasts, to her trim waist, and down to her petite feet. Color flooded her face, and it made the blood rush downward to settle right where he didn’t need it to right then. “Mmm…I was hoping you’d run so I could chase you.”
“Problem here, Lily?”
Nikoli wanted to shout in frustration. No less than six members of the football team, two of whom were from his own frat house, stood behind Lily. How the hell was he going to wear her down if he couldn’t get five minutes alone with her?
“No, Jimmy.” She smiled up at the guy who’d spoken. “Nikoli and I were just discussing his STD status.”
His mouth fell open. She did not…the little…oh hell no. He stood up himself, ready to…damn, he didn’t know what he wanted to do.
He heard laughs all around, some not as concealed as others. Fury radiated from him in the next second. The laughs stopped as fast as they’d started when he rolled his shoulders, muscles rippling. Football player he wasn’t, but he fought with the best of them and had beaten all the guys standing across from him bloody at one time or another over the last three years. They knew better than to cross him. He gave them his best hard-ass stare, and several took a step back.
“You know what?” Lily shook her head and started walking away. “I don’t have time for the testosterone showdown. I have more important things to do.”
“Let me buy you dinner, at least.” Nikoli leapt after her, ignoring the snickers behind him. He wasn’t letting her get away that easily. He made sure not to touch her this time around, though. “You didn’t get to eat your lunch.”
“Will you go away and leave me alone if I let you buy me dinner?”
He gave her his patented cocky grin. “Trust me, Lily Bells, you won’t want me to leave you alone.”
She gave him a long-suffering look like someone would give a child and resumed walking back toward the dorms. “I am not sleeping with you now, or tomorrow, or a year from now. What do I need to do to get it through that thick skull of yours?”
“Milaya, there are so many things I can think of you doing to me.”
“What does that mean?” she asked, frowning.
“It’s Russian.”
“But your last name is Scottish.”
“My mother is Russian, but my father’s family originated in Scotland before they moved to the United States. When he joined the army, he was stationed in Russia, where he met my mother.”
“Did you grow up in Russia?”
He had her talking, and he let out a little sigh of relief. He didn’t normally ever talk about anything personal with a woman, but this one was different. She wasn’t falling for his usual BS. There were also her football players following them at a discreet distance. Luther was right about one thing. Lily was not one to be used and abused lightly with so many would-be protectors waiting in the wings. Even knowing he could get the shit beat out of him, he didn’t care. He wanted her.
“Until I was fourteen. Then Dad sent me and my brothers to live with my Uncle Brian in Virginia the summer before I started high school. He wanted us educated in the States where he grew up. My parents still live in St. Petersburg, though.”
She smiled. “I’ve seen photos of the city. It looks beautiful.”
“It is,” Nikoli agreed. “I miss it sometimes. There are so many places I used to roam when I was a kid. My brothers and I used to play in old ruins and pretend we were great knights fighting for Mother Russia.” He let out a laugh. It had been years since he’d thought of that.
“How many brothers do you have?”
“Five.” They always brought a smile to his face. All of his brothers, except Victor, were older, and he’d been their punching bag until he was old enough and strong enough to beat them black and blue.
“No sisters?”
He laughed. “Thank fuck, no.”
She gave him a curious look at that. “My brothers and I are all very much alike, and if we’d had to defend a sister against guys like us…” He shook his head. “We’d never have had any fun.”
“So they’re all jackasses too?” She looked up at him, her tone innocent, but her eyes danced with mischief.
Nikoli grinned, thinking about his brothers’ reactions to that statement. They’d like his Lily Bells, indeed they would. Hold up…his Lily Bells? What the hell was he thinking? He had to bag this chick quick before they got around to more talking.
He saw the dorms up ahead and frowned, glancing at his watch. Damn. He’d spent fifteen whole minutes talking to a woman. His longest conversation began and ended with ‘your place or mine?’ Definitely had to get her in the sack fast and be done with it.
“So, dinner?” he asked as they came to a stop outside of one of the East Campus Brownstones, one of the smaller dormitories on campus. He liked it and the area where it was located. There was a lot of old world charm to the dorm, not like all the modern ones built in the last couple decades. The architecture screamed colonial, and the feel of it reminded him of some of the buildings in Russia. It was also located close to Kenmore Square. He rubbed his hands together at the thought of how quickly they could have access to a bed or couch—or anywhere, really. He wasn’t that picky when it came to sex. The floor did the job as well as a bed.
“I thought you might have forgotten that.” She let out a long-suffering sigh. “You do realize if I go to dinner, we are not having sex afterward? I’d just be going so you’d leave me alone the rest of the year?”
“I might change your mind.” He watched her shiver at the smoldering look in his eyes.
“No,” she said, “you won’t. I have more self-respect than some of the women I’ve seen you with. Besides, I’ve had to clean up after you before, and it’s not a situation I’d ever put myself in.”
“Clean up after me?”
She laughed harshly. “Remember that spiel you gave me about women knowing it was just sex, and if they had other thoughts, it was on them?”
Nikoli nodded slowly, a sinking sensation creeping into the pit of his stomach.
“I’ve had to sit and listen to some of those girls, let them have a good cry, and then tell them you’re nothing but a jerk and not worth their time. Why would I ever do that to myself?”
“You wouldn’t,” Nikoli replied quickly. “You know the deal up front. Just sex.”
She sighed like he’d missed some big point. In her mind, he probably had, but Nikoli was clueless as to what. He didn’t speak girl.
“Why the hell not?” she muttered. “Not like I have other plans anyway. If you’ll go away, then yes, I’ll go to dinner with you, but you have to promise you’ll stay away from me for the rest of the year.”
She just waved a red flag in front of his face, and she didn’t even know it.
“You’ve got a deal, sweetheart.”
Chapter Four
She smiled coyly at him, and he threw her dress at her. The brazen blonde from earlier today frowned at him. Nikoli was not in the mood to deal with her. He’d worked his frustration out with her, yeah, and the sex had been good, but not great. She just needed to get dressed, and then get the hell out.
He threw the used condom in the trash and started the shower. He could hear Luther in the other room explaining to her she needed to leave. She was a clinger. How had he missed that? Luther would take care of it, though. He always did. Nikoli sometimes felt bad about putting him in that position, but not enough to keep from doing it again. Luther knew him, accepted him for the asshole he was, and never judged him. They were like brothers. He loved him as much as he did his own brothers. Luther knew that too. It was
why he put up with so much shit from Nikoli.
“Nik, get your pearly ass out here!” Luther called through the door. “I got a line on a ’69 Mach 1, fully modded.”
Those last two words almost caused Nikoli to slip as he got out of the shower. Luther and his dad had introduced Nikoli to cars, and his very own love affair had been born. Luther and he both did rally and off-road racing. Luther’s dad frowned on it, but didn’t say much else. That old man had bailed them out of more than one scrape because of racing. If Nikoli’s father had known some of the shit the two of them got into on the racing scene, he’d personally drag Nik’s ass back to Russia and put him under lock and key. Those boys in the Miami scene were heavy hitters and pulled no punches. You either survived or you didn’t, and Nikoli loved it.
They’d been looking for an old American muscle car that already had the modifications they needed for the upcoming race in Miami, or one that could be modded. The race they wanted to enter had a few hitches, and not having to worry about getting the car’s electronics knocked out was the key. They’d entered the race last year, only to die three hundred yards from the finish line from a tech bomb attached to the car. Nikoli had bashed a few heads, but couldn’t do much else.
“We could still overhaul your Fiat,” Luther offered as Nikoli exited the bathroom. “It’s smaller and lighter.”
Nikoli shook his head. “No, we don’t want any repeats of last year. What’s the payout this year, you heard?”
“Four hundred grand, last count. Entry fee went up to twenty thousand.”
Nikoli nodded. “That’ll bankroll the new programmers.” He and Luther had started their own business at the age of seventeen. They’d both been huge gamers and took that love to a new level. They’d designed and programmed a shooter game that eventually blew up once it was released. They hadn’t wanted to sell the game, so they’d tried to figure out how to manufacture, promote, and distribute it themselves. Getting a bank loan just wasn’t possible for the two of them at seventeen. So they found an alternate route—fast cars and underground races.
