She took a shaky breath, and he could see the panic starting to rise up in her eyes. “Am I touching you, Lily Bells?” he asked. She shook her head. “Then don’t panic. I’m not going to touch you.”
“Then will you move so I can get up?” she asked, her voice panicked. “Please, Nikoli…I can’t…this…” She started to stutter in her panic.
“No,” he said. He saw how afraid she was, but she had to trust him. “I like you caged in, trapped. We’ve already established earlier today how happy it makes me.”#p#分页标题#e#
“You’re perverse,” she stammered, a smile tugging at her lips, despite her unease. He let out a small sigh. She was almost to her breaking point. He could see it in her eyes, feel it in the tenseness of her body.
“I just like making you blush,” he told her. “I can’t wait to see where your blush starts so I can follow it all the way up, tasting every inch of you as I go.”
She took a ragged breath, her eyes wide and panicked. He bent his head and let his nose rub alongside hers for a moment before pulling back.
“You always say you’re not going to touch me and then you do,” she accused.
“But you like it when I do that, don’t you, Milaya?”
“Yes,” she answered honestly, and Nikoli wanted to fist pump at the small victory. Until he looked into her eyes. Weariness tinged them, and Nikoli became concerned. She’d been through a lot the last few days. As badly as he wanted to kiss her, he couldn’t push her any more tonight.
He pushed himself up and off her. Lily scrambled back faster than he would have liked, but at least she didn’t move more than a foot away from him. Last night she’d have been on the other side of the room. Progress was progress.
“What time is your first class tomorrow?” he asked, picking his shirt up off the floor.
“Nine.”
He tugged it over his head. “I’ll swing by and pick you up for breakfast then. There’s this little dive I know about ten minutes from campus that serves the absolute best breakfast. Even your frou-frou stuff.”
“Frou-frou stuff?” she asked, a laugh escaping.
“Don’t think I didn’t see you giving Mike all those disgusting looks this morning.” He winked. “They serve a lighter breakfast for all the health nuts along with my steak and eggs.”
Her nose scrunched up, and he found it adorable. He wanted to slap himself for finding it adorable, but there it was.
“Do they have fresh fruit?” She inched closer to him.
“Barney gets a fresh delivery every morning just for his fruit crepes.” Nikoli said, keeping still. He wanted to see what she’d do.
“How many restaurant owners do you know?” Lily moved to within a few inches of him.
“Enough to keep you supplied in good food until we graduate.”
Nikoli held his breath as Lily stared, her expression terrified, but determined.
“Promise not to move,” she whispered.
“Scout’s honor,” he said.
She smiled and shook her head. “Put your hand out, palm up.”
Nikoli did as she asked and simply waited. She placed her hand on top of his. Barely. He felt her fingertips mostly, but it was something he didn’t think she could do, at least not yet.
“Your hand looks massive next to mine,” she murmured. She flattened her hand out and let it sit there on his. He felt it sizzle through every nerve ending in his body like a white hot branding iron. He wanted to pull her close, to kiss her, to tell her how proud he was of her, but he did none of those things. He held himself perfectly still until she pulled her hand away.
“You did good, Lily Bells,” he told her. “Very good.”
“I didn’t know if I could,” she said, her voice low and soft. “Thank you, Nikoli.”
“For what, Milaya?”
“For keeping still? For everything?” Her smile was tired, but she looked happy. “For being the manwhore that you are and making me do something I didn’t want to do, even if the girls are already texting everyone that we’re...”#p#分页标题#e#
He grinned. “Means my car stays with me if they all think you’ve lost already.”
“Not a chance, Kincaid.” She grinned right back. “That car is mine.”
He laughed and opened the door. There were several girls staring straight at him. “Her virtue is still safe, ladies. Little Miss Prude over there didn’t appreciate my joke very much.”
“I’m not a prude!” she gasped.
“Have sex with me?”