Touch Me Not (Manwhore, #1)(17)

She begrudgingly handed her phone to him. He let out a breath he didn’t realize he’d been holding. That was new. He’d never been nervous about a girl before, but he’d been afraid she’d just say no and walk away.

First he dialed his own number so he’d have hers and then he stored his number in her phone. “Come on, Lily Bells, let’s get you home.”

Tonight certainly hadn’t gone like he’d planned. He’d taken Lily out with the simple task of seducing her, and instead found a woman who held his attention for more than five minutes, one he actually wanted to get to know. He wanted to help her, to see her succeed. As much as he wanted all that, he was slightly terrified. He didn’t do the whole girlfriend scene, and that’s exactly the position he’d put himself in.

How the hell had he gotten so far off track?





Chapter Eight




After dropping a shell-shocked Lily off at her dorm, Nikoli drove back to his apartment. The lights were on, so he assumed Luther had already come home. He sighed, gearing up for the ribbing he was in for. He’d gone to dinner expecting to have Lily for dessert, and now he had to face Luther’s laughter. Not that he was in the mood to listen to Luther crow. He couldn’t really put his finger on how he felt at the moment. Lily had thrown him from the minute he met her, and she continued to keep him off balance with every moment spent with her.

He regretted his offer to help her now, in hindsight. He didn’t know if he had the patience to do what needed to be done. The problem was he wanted to help her. Those blue eyes of hers haunted him when he remembered the terror and the panic in them. Something bad had happened to her, and it scarred her to the point she couldn’t bear to be touched by anyone. Someone as beautiful and innocent as Lily shouldn’t be afraid. People loved her, which told him she was special and had a huge heart. His mother would adore her. Which only served to terrify him more.

Manwhore. He shook his head. He’d had no idea that’s what people thought of him. Sure, he’d slept with a lot of women, but not nearly as many as everyone thought. He’d heard girls bragging about sleeping with him who he’d never touched and had no plans of ever getting naked with. He’d just never bothered to correct the tall tales and rumors. It only enhanced his reputation. Or so he’d thought. Instead, it made him appear like the male slut of Boston University.

There were reasons he didn’t attach himself to anyone. He and Luther worked hard to make sure no one knew they were millionaires. There were several who did know, but they were the ones who read the gaming magazines or the magazines like People or Time who had interviewed them before. Most of the BU population read the magazines specializing in celebrity lives. Nikoli didn’t want a woman clinging to him for his money. When he decided to settle down with one woman, he’d damn well make sure it was for him and not the millions sitting in his bank account. He was paranoid about it, and so refused to go past a single encounter with anyone.

Luther sat glued to the TV playing Call of Duty when Nikoli opened the door. Why Luther loved that game, Nikoli had no idea. He’d played it and won and never had the urge to play again. Currently they were working on a new zombie game, one that would make Resident Evil look like child’s play. They’d employed a graphics team to design the game to look as real as possible. He and Luther were the only ones working on the programming. It was groundbreaking work, and they were keeping it as hush-hush as possible.

“No, no, no, no…dammit!”

Nikoli glanced at the TV to see Luther had been the victim of a sneak attack and was now cussing enough to make even him raise his eyebrows. It wasn’t until Nikoli heard him muttering about a grand that he understood the outburst. Luther must have had money riding on the game. Whomever had taken him out must be very good. Nikoli never bet against Luther in gaming.

“Bad luck there, man.” Nikoli tossed Luther a beer. “You going for a rematch?”

“No,” he snarled. “Little f*cker refused. He knows he’ll lose.”

Nikoli laughed and then joined Luther on the couch. He cracked open his beer and took a long draw from the bottle. Ah, he’d needed that.

“So,” Luther drawled. “How did your…date…go?”

“We talked.”

“Talked?” Luther’s eyebrows shot up. “Just…talked?”

“Do people really call me the manwhore of BU?” he asked instead of answering.

Luther laughed. “You hadn’t heard that before?”

Nikoli shook his head. “No, it was a little disconcerting. I am not a whore. I don’t sleep with every single woman I meet. I enjoy sex, and I won’t apologize for that, but I am not near as bad as Lily said.”

“Well, you do have a reputation, Nik, that’s spread like wildfire through the female population. It’s made you into a bit of a celebrity.”

“Don’t sugarcoat it.” Nikoli took another swig of his beer.

“I’m not.” Luther shook his head. “You’re an icon, man. Every woman on campus wants to mark you off her bucket list.”

“Somehow that doesn’t make me feel any better,” Nikoli muttered.

“So what are we gonna do since you struck out with Lily?” Luther asked, his face deceptively blank. “Wanna head over to T’s Pub? I think everyone else is either over at Jillian’s or The White Horse.”