Page 25 of Sweet as Sin (Bad Habit 1)
“I can’t if she doesn’t give me a chance. That’s all I’m askin’ for: a chance.”
Chloe watched this back and forth in wordless fascination. My face was getting very hot. From the corner of my eye, I saw a camera flash though the front window, and my heart sank.
Paparazzi. They followed Nico like sharks.
“Why should she risk it? What’s in it for her except public humiliation when she sees a picture of you with some other woman on the cover of a magazine? I mean, of course, it’s a nice dream. The glamorous rock star boyfriend, what woman hasn’t fantasized about that? But it’s not reality. Not the reality Kat needs, anyway.”
This conversation had spun off from the merely strange into the twilight zone. “You guys. You realize I’m sitting right here, right?”
Chloe shushed me.
Nico took his hand from the back of my chair and ran it through his hair. The loss of the warmth of his touch left me aching.
“Okay. I hear you. And I get where you’re comin’ from. But you should consider the possibility that what Kat needs might not be what you think she needs.”
With a glance over his shoulder, he stood. He’d noticed the paparazzi, too. He’d probably developed a sixth sense for them by now.
“Ladies. Been a real pleasure. But it looks like the fishbowl just got a little smaller. Time for me to go.”
He looked down at me. He bent and kissed me softly on the mouth. Somewhere outside, another flash went off. Then another. With his lips on mine, I was too far gone to care.
“Think about it,” he said quietly, holding my gaze. Then he turned and strode away.
He’d never even gotten his drink.
So I thought about it. For the next week straight, I thought about it. When I still hadn’t come to a conclusion, I thought about it for another week after that.
I thought so much about it, I wore out the batteries in my vibrator.
I didn’t contact him. Though I looked at his number in my cell about fifty times a day, I didn’t call. Even Grace was impressed by my restraint.
“Though it’s probably only making him want you more. A man like him can’t be used to waiting. Or is that what you’re counting on?”
We were talking on the phone as I pushed a Swiffer over the hardwood in my living room on a sunny Wednesday afternoon. Dust bunnies were multiplying in every corner with the speed of . . . well, bunnies.
“Give me a break, Grace. You know I have zero game. I just haven’t called because I have no idea what I’m going to say.”
“Well, you could always talk about that lovely picture of the four of us in Star magazine.”
She was still pissed about the grainy, long-distance shot some paparazzo had snapped of Nico leaning down to kiss me in the restaurant while Chloe and Grace sat at the table, looking on. The headline had screamed, “Nico Nyx and His Harem!”
My face wasn’t recognizable, but Chloe’s and Grace’s were. The article theorized Nico had such sexual stamina he had to have at least three women at a time to satisfy him. Grace had gotten a fair bit of grief from her clients over it.
And Chloe had spent days trying to convince her douche-nozzle boyfriend, Miles, that she wasn’t part of Nico’s harem. Miles had insisted they go on another “break” while he thought about it. Ass.
“S
peaking of which, did you read the story about Avery going to rehab?”
For “exhaustion” the article said. Ha.
“Yes, I did. And ninety days seems like a pretty long time to catch up on your sleep.”
My phone chirped, announcing the arrival of a new text. I decided I’d check after I hung up with Grace. “Are we still on for dinner Saturday?”
“It’s your birthday, knucklehead, of course we’re still on! You only turn twenty-six once!”
“Ugh. Don’t remind me. I thought I’d be an actual adult by now.”
