Page 43 of Best Man
“You’re really sweet,” she said.
Their eyes locked. A frantic tension danced between their bodies. Every nerve in Niko’s bodybeggedhim to lean in and give her a goodnight kiss. They both wanted it! But Jax would kill him if he found out. And besides, how could he trust himself to stop atjusta kiss?
As hard as it was, he forced himself to look away.
“So …” he croaked, his throat wrenched shut. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow?”
“Da,” she said. “Tomorrow.”
“Da?” Niko repeated, his eyes widening.“Ti gavarish pa russki?”
She giggled. “Sorry. I don’t know what that means.”
“Oh, too bad. It means, ‘do you speak Russian?’ ”
“Nope. I only knowdameans yes andnyetmeans no.”
“I see,” he said. “For a second there, I thought you might speak Russian.”
“Yeah, I noticed that earlier.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Hm?”
“You already said something to me in Russian today.”
“I did? When?”
“You don’t remember?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“When we were talking at the restaurant.”
“Oh.” He gave a shrug. “Yeah, it happens sometimes. Only when I’m distracted by something.”
“Oh,really?” She smirked. “That’s funny. Because it happened when we were watching the YouTube video, and I asked if you were paying attention.”
Busted.Niko felt a heat begin to swirl in his cheeks. He’d walked right into that one, too! “Oh. Uh. Well … yes, I was probably distracted by the video!”
She giggled and ran the tips of her nails along his bicep. “Is thatreallywhat had you distracted, Niko?”
“Da,” he insisted, swallowing loudly.
“Oh … darn.” She sighed and bit her lip. “I was hoping maybe something else had you distracted.”
“Something else?”
“Yeah. Something else,” she said in a husky voice, and her eyes darted to his mouth.
His eyes darted to her mouth, too.God,she had such a pretty mouth. So pink and so full. Heneededto taste those lips between his … but …
No no no. Stop. Think. You promised Jax you wouldn’t.
“Can I ask you a question?” she asked.
“Of course.”
“Can I call you Aleks instead of Niko? Or would you prefer Aleksander?”
