Page 4 of Touch Me Not

“It was great. I spent most of the summer interning at a literary agency in New York.”

“You were in New York all summer?” Janet’s eyes lit up. She wanted to move to New York after graduation to become a journalist, and Mike wanted to work on Wall Street. The two of them had been together for almost two years now. Despite some ups and downs, they were over the moon for each other. Lily expected a ring to show up on Janet’s finger before graduation.

“I can’t believe you were in New York all summer and didn’t think to call up your boy and say, ‘Hey, Mikey, I got a pad in NYC!’” He looked seriously injured. “Do you realize the epic parties we could have had?”

Lily laughed at his outraged expression. “Sorry, Mikey.”

“Not cool, Lily, not cool at all.”

Not even Mike’s pouting could distract her for long. Her hurt feelings surged back up, and she decided the best thing to do was escape to where she could stew over Adam’s neglect of her in private. Best to get it out before she had to deal with all the girls on her floor.

“I’ll catch you guys later. I really do need to check and see if my book is in before all the new freshmen swarm the bookstore.”

She threw a general wave at the crowd around them and headed for the bookstore. Maybe at least something would go right today and her book would be in.

Nikoli watched Lily walk away from the crowd gathered under the tree and debated following her but decided against it. Lily was not like the other girls who fell all over themselves trying to get his attention. She outright told him she had no interest whatsoever in him. If it were any other woman, he’d think she was playing hard to get. Lily seemed genuine when she’d told him to fuck off in her own way.

No, just trying to charm her wasn’t going to work.

He needed a plan.

A plan that required a little thought. Maybe even a call to hisbabushka. His grandmother would laugh her ass off, but she’d never given him bad advice in all his twenty-two years. But did he want the humiliation of confessing a woman was playing hard to get whenBabushkaalready thought his good looks were a curse?

Maybe.

Luther joined him under the tree, a grin smearing his face that irked Nik enough to want to punch his best friend. Not that the grin wasn’t warranted; it just rankled Luther could wear it at all.

This was new, uncharted territory for him, and he was unsure of how to navigate the waters. He didn’t need Luther acting like an ass about it.

“She shut you down in less than a minute!” Luther crowed.

“Shut the hell up, Luther,” he grouched.

Luther only 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,” Nikoli said darkly.

“Leave it alone, Nik.” All of Luther’s laughter died. “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.”

“That’s bullshit,” Nikoli scoffed. “They’re all the same. I just have to figure out the right notes to hit with her.”

Luther shook his head. “Your funeral.”

Nikoli knew he was only looking out for him, but Luther’s warning wasn’t going to deter him.

He’d never backed away from a challenge in his life. All the bruises and broken bones growing up attested to that with four older brothers.

“Come on, let’s go get some food. I’m starving.”

Luther nodded, but he laughed all the way to the food court.

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’d never seen what was right in front of him. He preferred the blonde airheads.

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