“Hey, Bob, turn that up!”
Both Nikoli and Lily looked to see the guy behind the counter turn the volume up on the wall mounted TV screen. A reporter stood in a park, a crime scene behind him. The body of the missing girl who had been all over the news had just been found. People started talking all at once, but Nikoli pulled his attention back to Lily. She was frowning and shaking her head.
“Are you worried about that?” he asked.
“Not really worried, just sad. Freaked too. They found that poor girl really close to campus.”
“Whoever he is, he doesn’t seem to be targeting college campuses, at least,” Nikoli offered, hoping to calm her nerves a bit. A lot of the girls on campus were starting to worry about that. Campus security had posted flyers everywhere warning women not to go anywhere alone if they could help it. He might be freaked too if he was a girl.
“Let’s hope it stays that way,” she said, staring at the TV screen. “Are you about ready to go? I lost my appetite.”
“Sure.” He signaled the waitress for the check. “One thing, though.”
“Hmm?”
“How do you plan on getting out of your seat?”
She gave him a questioning look, and he pointed at his feet, pressed up against her thighs all snug and cozy. She looked down, and her mouth dropped open. Her eyes darted from his face to his feet. He waited patiently for her to get over the shock. Julie set the check down on the table, and he nodded at whatever she said, but didn’t break eye contact with Lily.
Lily gasped and nearly had a small heart attack right then and there. Nikoli had managed to press his feet against her and she’d never noticed. How had she not noticed this? She could feel them like a hot iron burning through her pajama bottoms now that she saw them, but God only knew how long he’d been like this. She’d been too distracted to realize he’d pulled another sneak attack on her.
Strange thing was, she wasn’t about to hyperventilate. It could be because it was just his shoes and not technically him. There was no skin to skin contact. Did this even qualify as touching? Her brain screamed yes, especially when he rubbed his foot back and forth. She felt it, and it felt…nice. It was such a foreign sensation, she reached out and pushed his foot away from her without thinking.#p#分页标题#e#
Nikoli let out a low hum of satisfaction. Lily wasted no time in scrambling out of the booth and fleeing the diner. She went straight to his car and stayed there, trying to focus. She did it. She’d touched him. Oh. My. God. She did it! Relief swept through her. She’d been terrified she couldn’t do it, scared that she was too broken to fix, but she touched him!
Sure it was only a shoe, but even yesterday, she wouldn’t have been able to do that. His sneak attacks were working, making her more comfortable with him. Nikoli could distract her like no one else, and maybe that was the key to learning to touch and be touched. She could do this. For the first time since she was sixteen years old, she had hope. Hope.
Nikoli was smart enough not to say a word when he unlocked the car. She climbed in, buckled her seatbelt and smiled. “Tell me about Russia.”
Nikoli put the car in gear, and then started them moving again. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.” He laughed and spent the remainder of the car ride telling her about growing up in Russia with his brothers, about their favorite places to play when they were little, and then about their favorite hangouts when they got older. He told her about the castles, the architecture, and the culture. Everything he could fit into an hour, anyway. He did promise to tell her more when they pulled onto the dirt road leading to Jasper Moore’s house and his Mach 1.
The house was a bit run-down, the paint peeling, and he could see several shingles on the roof that needed replacing before winter set in. His beautiful car sat in the driveway, prepped and ready to go. When they pulled up, he could see what it cost Lily not to jump out of the car. She was a smart woman, though, and understood you didn’t just go wandering around a stranger’s property. Nikoli honked the horn, and they both waited for the guy to come out.
Jasper Moore was just as run-down as the house. His clothes were messy. He had a hole in his shirt, and he looked like he hadn’t showered in days. Nikoli debated telling Lily to stay in the car, but the way she was eyeballing the Mach 1 said she’d stab him if he tried. Suppressing a smile, he got out, and Lily followed close on his heels.
“You Kincaid?” Jasper had a raspy voice that sounded like he smoked one too many cigarettes. He ran his gaze over Lily from head to toe, eye fucking her as he did. Lily wasn’t even paying attention; her focus was all on the car.