Lily snagged a salad and a Coke before heading into the main lunch room. She nodded to people as she passed. Several waved her over to their tables, but she wasn’t in the mood for chit chat. Depressed over Adam’s deciding to bail on lunch, she refused to try to be sociable with anyone else. Instead, she found an empty table and sat. If people came over, she’d just excuse herself, but most people knew to leave her alone when she sat by herself.
Stabbing a piece of tomato, she imagined it was Sue’s smiling face. What she wouldn’t give to be able to tell that woman what she really thought of her, but Adam loved her, and that was that. Lily had been determined to put her feelings for Adam behind her, but how could she when he was there all the time?
Boston was supposed to be Lily’s escape from everyone and everything from her past, but Adam found out she was going here and decided to tag along. She’d specifically chosen Boston because he wanted to go to LSU. He’d been given a full football scholarship there. Who knew he’d go and change his mind? Boston offered him a full scholarship too, but their team was nothing compared to LSU.
At first, she’d taken it as a sign that maybe she meant more to him than she’d first thought. The man had followed her to Boston over LSU. She later found out he didn’t think she could handle it on her own, and his big brother instincts had kicked in, trying to protect her like he always did. He’d never see her as anything but a little sister. Then he’d met Sue in their sophomore year. Nail—coffin.
New York was her new out. She’d worked her ass off over the summer, and it paid off. The literary agency where she’d interned told her they’d be willing to take her on as an assistant to one of the agents when she graduated. Lily loved books, and the opportunity to work where she could one day represent authors who wrote awesome books was amazing to her. She, herself, was polishing up a manuscript to start sending off to prospective agents. Now that she’d had the opportunity to understand what agents looked for when reading query letters and partials, she had a better grip on how to present her own work to them.
“So is it just me, or men in general?”
Lily’s head snapped up to see Nikoli sitting down at her table. Her eyes narrowed. He gave her a grin designed to melt her bones—and it did—but she refused to let him see how much he affected her. Right now, she just needed to get up and get out. She’d come over here to sulk in peace and quiet, not listen to BU’s self-proclaimed connoisseur of women attempt to hit on her for the second time today with that sexy Russian accent of his.
“I think it’s just you,” she told him with a sigh. There went her lunch. Maybe she’d be able to grab a bite after her floor meeting with the girls.
“Aw, now, Lily Bells, that’s not very nice.” Nikoli’s smile widened when he saw the flush creep up her face. “Everybody says you’re the nicest girl around.”
“Did we, or did we not, already have this conversation?” she asked. “I have no plans to sleep with you, so go find some other poor, unsuspecting girl to play with.”
Nikoli laughed outright at that. “Sweetheart, I don’t do poor, unsuspecting females. They know what they’re in for right up front. Sex. That’s all I want, and if they delude themselves into thinking anything else, it’s not my problem. I want to make sure you understand that right up front too. It’s just sex. Mind blowing sex, but still, just a one-time deal.”
Nikoli watched her roll her eyes at him. It irritated him, but it fascinated him as well. She seemed to be insulted that he’d decided to have sex with her, which didn’t sit well with him at all. There wasn’t another girl in this cafeteria who would turn him down, and he knew it, so why was he bothering with Lily Holmes? Because she didn’t want him, dammit. That rankled.#p#分页标题#e#
“Why don’t you want to sleep with me?” he asked curiously, not sure if he wanted to know the answer or not.
She wrinkled her nose and screwed up her eyes. “God only knows what diseases you have.”
“I use condoms, or we don’t do shit,” he told her, offended. “I get regular health checks too.”
“The very fact that you need to get checked for STDs regularly is a complete and total turn off.” Her voice dripped with disgust.
“No, it just means I’m smart,” he countered. “I won’t apologize for liking sex. It’s nothing to be ashamed of.” Oddly, though, looking into her blue eyes full of scorn and disdain, he was just a little bit ashamed of how many partners he’d had over the years, and that made him mad. “Is that why you’re so uptight, Lily Bells? Do you need to get laid and are just too ashamed to admit to your own needs?”