Page 14 of Naughty Nicky

“I guess I could have given you the Wi-Fi.”

I bug my eyes out at him. “Wi-Fi?! I thought you were trying to live off the grid here.”

He smirks at me, and his eyes sparkle with mischief. “Hardly. I do have my own business I need to run.”

I open my mouth to snap at him but can’t find any words.

“Show me. Let me see what you do.” He pats the seat next to him on the couch, and I hesitate. I’ve managed to keep my distance from him to calm the crush, but I just know sitting next to him will churn those butterflies in my stomach.

He gives me the Wi-Fi password, and I login to my Instagram to show him my feed.

“Pen in the Wild? I like it,” he says in reference to my handle.

I don’t say anything as he scrolls through my feed, looking at all the pictures and videos I’ve posted. I am shy of twenty thousand followers, which to some may seem like a lot, but isn’t much compared to the hundreds of thousands or millions some of the travel influencers I look up to have.

“You’re talented, Pen. This is really good content.”

My stomach flips at his compliment, and I am suddenly at a loss for words. Me, Penelope James, cannot find words over a compliment from the hunk of a man sitting next to me. One who smells like fresh air and winter snow with just a hint of musk.

My cheeks start to turn the color of a tomato as I watch him look through more of my content.

“You have something special here. It’s a shame you couldn’t keep at it.”

I frown. I hate thinking about how I wasn’t smart enough with my money and how I ran myself into debt trying to make it in some stupid career that only one percent of people could ever make it in.

I grab my phone from him and turn the screen off. “Yeah.”

He turns to look at me. “Hey, I didn’t mean to upset you.”

“I’m not upset,” I lie as I grab my glass and down the rest of the whiskey in it. I grab the bottle and pour myself some more. “We should play a game,” I say, changing the subject.

He gives me a look like he knows I am changing the subject, and he doesn’t look too happy about it. “What kind of game?”

“Something fun…” I trail off as I try to think of something interesting.

“I don’t like that look on your face.”

“What look?”

“The look like you are about to tell me we should play truth or dare or something.”

I throw my head back in laughter because that is exactly what I was thinking.

5

NICK

My heart skips a beat watching Penelope laugh with her head thrown back. I don’t miss the way her eyes sparkle with joy, the edges of her eyes crinkling with delight. Her gorgeous smile lighting up the room. This room hasn’t seen laughter in a long time, and I miss it.

“You have a mischievous look, Pen.”

She smiles at me, and I feel it hit right in the gut. Why does she have this effect on me? She’s my best friend’s little sister, I should be seeing her as my sister but for some reason I am seeing her in a very different light right now. One that I quickly need to hit the brakes on.

I grab the whiskey bottle from her and pour more into my glass. Although drinking is probably not going to stop these feelings that I get from just looking at her.

“I mean, you said it, and I think that sounds like a great idea.”

I take a sip from my freshly poured glass. “We aren’t in middle school, Pen.”

---