Page 28 of Best Man
She tapped her number in and gave him back his phone. “There you go.”
Niko sent her a quick text. “Now you have mine, too.”
“Perfect.” She let out a happy sigh and patted Niko on his muscular thigh. He liked the feel of her hand on his quad, and liked it even more when it lingered there for just a sweet second. “Thanks for talking me into this,” she said. “It’ll definitely help to have a partner in crime.”
He smiled. “Happy to help. It’s a really good idea.”
They sat in happy silence. In the distance, the sun began to slither behind the mountains.
“What a view,” Niko said.
“Sure is.”
How badly he wanted to stretch out on the bench and drape his arm around her shoulders and pull her close—but he knew he shouldn’t. It was a bad idea for so many reasons, especially when he’djustpromised Jax he wouldn’t mess around with Paulina.
“So how do we make these lanterns, anyway?” he asked, trying to steer his mind to safer topics.
“It’s pretty easy. I can send you a how-to video, if you want.”
“Sure.”
She tapped and swiped at the screen of her phone. “There you go. Sent.”
A second later, Niko’s phone chimed with a new text message—a YouTube video.
“Should we watch it right now?” he asked.
She smiled. “Sure!”
Niko pulled up the video on his phone. He scooted closer so she could see, and his knee came to rest against hers.
Oops,he thought, and he jerked his knee away.Jax would not like that.
But Paulina didn’t seem to mind. She scooted closer to him until their knees touched again. “I’ll explain it as we go, okay?” she asked.
“Okay.” He was torn. He knew they shouldn’t sit so close, but her body felt so right against his, and a forbidden thrill pumped through his veins. He didn’t have the willpower to pull himself away from her a second time.
The video began to play, and Paulina gave helpful pointers for every step of the process, but Niko couldn’t focus. Howcouldhe? When she talked, her shoulder grazed his. The gentle friction of her body, gently sawing against his, kept him from hearing any of the words that came out of her mouth.
She soon noticed. “Hey, are you watching?”
“Da,ya smotryu,” he blurted out, completely unaware he’d slipped into his native tongue.
She giggled. “Just checking, because this next part’s the hardest.” She moved even closer to point at the screen, and now their thighs met. “But it’s easy once you’ve done it a couple times. I promise.”
With Paulina so close, the clean scent of her hair infiltrated his senses. His head swirled with thebestkind of intoxication, and his resolve to be a good friend—thebest man—was weakening by the moment. He stole a peek down her back, following the gentle curve of her spine, and ogled her perfect butt.
???? ???,he thought.Oh myGod.
How badly he wanted to slip an arm around her shoulder, and let his big hand slowly fall to where itbelonged—wrapped snugly around her tiny waist. A knot began to swell in his parched throat, a terrible thirst that could only be quenched with a forbidden kiss.
His restraint was quickly melting. Hehadto have her. Jax wouldn’t have to know.
But right before he could reach his arm around her shoulder, the patio door opened.
Niko slyly slid away from Paulina and spun around to see who’d nearly caught them.Piper emerged, followed by the rest of her bridesmaids. Thankfully, they were boisterously talking and laughing, and Niko was sure they hadn’t seen a thing.
“Hey, Paulie! There you are!” Piper shouted, gesturing for her to hurry and join them. “C’mon, we’re going back to the house!”
