Page 7 of Touch Me Not: Anniversary Edition

She gave him a curious look.

“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. Hold up…his Lily Bells? What the hell was he thinking? It had to be all this talking shit. Dinner, sex, and he wouldn’t have to do any more of it with her.

The dorms came into view, and he frowned, glancing at his watch. Damn. He’d spent fifteen whole minutes talking to this chick. His longest conversation began and ended with, “Your place or mine?”

“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 it reminded him of some of the buildings in Russia. It was also close to Kenmore Square where his favorite restaurant was located. 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.”

“No, 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, and he threw her dress at her. The brazen blonde from earlier today wasn’t exactly happy about that, but 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.

Walking into the bathroom, he tossed 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 a few minutes later. “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 a few scrapes 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.

Luther found the first race thanks to a buddy he playedCall of Dutywith online. The entry fee had been harsh, three thousand dollars. They bankrupted their savings and begged and borrowed from everyone they knew. Luther’s dad donated a thousand, as had Nikoli’s uncle. Neither of them realized the money was for a race and not for their business venture, though. They’d driven down to Miami and won that first race and came away thirty thousand dollars richer.

All they’d told Luther’s dad and Nikoli’s uncle was the money came from an investor who believed in the game. When Nikoli’s uncle saw how serious they were, he’d gotten them in touch with the right people, and their game had gone into production. Thank God the old man had a few Marine buddies who were in the industry. They’d hired a business manager and a marketing manager who’d made deals with all the major players in the world of video games. A year later, that thirty thousand dollars turned into three million.

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