Touch Me Not (Manwhore, #1)(36)

She smiled, but shook her head. “No, I have some stuff I need to do, and I promised some of the girls we’d watch a movie later. Besides, I’m not sure I want to go to your place…ever.”

“Why the hell not?” he asked indignantly. What was wrong with his place?

“It can’t be at all sterile.” Lily shuddered at the thought. “I mean, I’ve heard the stories about your furniture.”

Nikoli grinned his lazy grin. “We are going to have some fun on that furniture too.”

She shook her head. “You plan on having me sit, yeah?”

“Sit, bend over, lie down,” Nikoli purred. “On the couch, the table, the bed…yes, Milaya, you are going to become very intimate with my furniture.”

“Not in this lifetime,” she said, grimacing. “God only knows what kind of fluids are still there. You want me to come over? Get some new furniture, especially the table.”

“You want me to get rid of perfectly good furniture just so you’ll come over?”

“I want you to get rid of the nasty furniture covered in countless diseases.”

“It’s not covered in diseases.” He rolled his eyes. The chick was being ridiculous.

“How often do you clean your couch?” she countered. “Do you scrub your table in bleach afterward? Do you realize you could be eating nasty fluids?”

He frowned. “No.”

“So gross, Nikoli. I’m not stepping foot in that place till you clean it. There, or your other place, for that matter.”

“Lily, you were just there last night.”

“I wasn’t thinking about it then!” she yelled. “If you think for one second I’m getting into a bed other women have been in, you’re insane!”

He laughed. “I’ll buy new sheets.” He didn’t think she even realized what she’d said and where her thoughts were taking her. If she was talking about getting into bed, his chances just got a whole lot better.

“Not gonna happen, buster!” She pointed her finger at him. “It’s the principle of the thing! Every time I look at it, I’ll think about all the women who’ve been in it before!”

Nikoli laughed out loud. She looked offended.

“It’s not funny!” she fumed.

“Yeah, Lily Bells, it’s funny as hell.” His grin only made her more furious, but he didn’t care.

“Trust me, Kincaid, I’m not stepping foot in there until you buy some new furniture.”

“You’re serious, aren’t you?”

“Dead serious.”

“How would you even know if it’s new or not?” he asked.

“I’ve been to your apartment before,” she told him smugly.

“When?”

“Remember when I tutored Luther?”

He groaned. Luther had been embarrassed about failing one of his classes last year, and Lily must have come by the apartment to help him. She knew what the furniture looked like. Dammit. He was going have to spend money.

“Fine, I’ll buy some f*cking new furniture. Happy?”

Lily smiled. “Yes, very.”

“How happy?” he asked, moving closer to her.

Her eyes narrowed. “Not that happy.”

He stopped moving and studied her for a moment. She looked nervous, but the fear and panic from last night weren’t in her eyes. He wasn’t stupid enough to think it couldn’t rear back up if he pushed too hard. All the progress he’d made today would be lost if he didn’t do this just right.

“Come here, Lily.”

“Why?” She took another step backward.

“Come. Here.” He put more force into his words, into his voice.

Lily frowned, but shuffled closer. “What do you want?”

“Here.” He pointed to the spot right in front of him. “Don’t make me ask again.”

He fought a smile at her indignant expression. She didn’t like being told what to do. At all. She moved to within inches of him, though, despite the anger in her eyes.

“Was that so hard?” he murmured.

“Depends on why you decided to go all alpha male.” Her eyes were warier than they had been a minute ago.

“Patience is only a small part of helping you, Lily,” he told her solemnly. “The other part is dominance. You need rules and structures to completely heal.”

Her eyes narrowed and he held up his hand to stop her before she said anything. “Last night you were a mess, Milaya, crying and nearly going into a panic attack at the thought of my hands on you.”

“And?”

“And do you feel that way today?” he asked gently. “Do you feel anxious being this close to me? Do you need to run, to hide, or to flinch away from my touch?”

Her eyes widened slightly.

“The answer is no, Milaya. I didn’t give you choices today. You spent the day with me, dressed exactly as I wanted you dressed. I helped you decide to touch me by trapping you, distracting you so you couldn’t panic. I set the rules for our outing today, and you are stronger, more confident now because of those rules.”

“I…I’m not sure what you want me to say.” Her eyes were full of questions and uncertainty.