Page 5 of Touch Me Not: Anniversary Edition

Pushing those thoughts aside, 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. More money out of her pocket on an Amazon digital textbook.

Dejected, Lily made her way back to the cafeteria. At least she might be able to grab a bite to eat before she went to check on the girls at the dorm. As a resident adviser, she was in charge of her floor. It earned her a steep discount on her room and board.

The do’s and don’ts speech she had to give later this evening was not something she looked forward to because it would go in one ear and out the other for most of the girls. 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 from the all-natural health food store before heading into the main cafeteria area. It was more of a mall food court than a cafeteria with tables taking up the bulk of the room with stalls and shops lining both sides and even more outside the main space.

She nodded to people as she walked. 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 everyone 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 just once, but Adam loved her, and that was that.

This was exactly the situation she’d wanted to evade after high school. But Fate was not on her side. She wanted to put her feelings for Adam behind her, or at least suppress them enough so she wasn’t miserable all the time, but how could she when he was always there?

Boston was supposed to be her 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. Who knew he’d go and change his mind? Boston offered him a full scholarship too, but their team was nothing compared to LSU. And Adam lived and breathed football.

At first, she’d taken it as a sign that maybe she meant more to him than she’d first thought. The manhadfollowed her to Boston over LSU, after all. She later found out he didn’t think she could handle it on her own, and his big brother instincts 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, wanted to write but had always been afraid to try. 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 once she finally sat down and started to write.

“So, is it just me or men in general?”

Lily’s head snapped up to see Nikoli sitting down across from her. Her eyes narrowed when 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.

Her best bet was to get up and leave. 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 accent of his.

“I think it’s just you,” she told him and sighed. 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, and 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. “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.”

The eye roll she gave him irritated Nikoli. She seemed to be insulted that he’d decided to have sex with her. 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, and that rankled.

“Why don’t you want to sleep with me?” Nik honestly wasn’t sure if he wanted to know the answer.

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 youneedto 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 eyes full of scorn and disdain, Nikoli felt a little bit ashamed of how many partners he’d had over the years. It wasn’t an emotion he was used to and one that made him angry. Angry enough to lash out.

“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?”

Her face paled, and he frowned at the strange reaction. 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.

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